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New Delhi [India], Nov 13 (ANI): Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has admitted ...
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Facebook and Twitter have become organizing platforms for activists and, as such, have become targets for governments.
WASHINGTON — Government agents in 74 countries demanded information on about 38,000 Facebook users in the first half of this year, with about half the orders coming from authorities in the United States, the company said Tuesday.
The social-networking giant is the latest technology company to release figures on how often governments seek information about its customers. Microsoft and Google have done the same.
As with the other companies, it’s hard to discern much from Facebook’s data, besides the fact that, as users around the globe flocked to the world’s largest social network, police and intelligence agencies followed.
Facebook and Twitter have become organizing platforms for activists and, as such, have become targets for governments. During anti-government protests in Turkey in May and June, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called social media “the worst menace to society.”
At the time, Facebook denied it provided information about protest organizers to the Turkish government.
Data released Tuesday show authorities in Turkey submitted 96 requests covering 173 users. Facebook said it provided some information in about 45 of those cases, but there’s no information on what was turned over and why.
“We fight many of these requests, pushing back when we find legal deficiencies and narrowing the scope of overly broad or vague requests,” Colin Stretch, Facebook’s general counsel company said in a blog post. “When we are required to comply with a particular request, we frequently share only basic user information, such as name.”
Facebook spokeswoman Sarah Feinberg said the company stands by its assertions that it gave no information regarding the Turkey protests.
“The data included in the report related to Turkey is about child endangerment and emergency law enforcement requests,” she said.
Facebook and other technology companies have been criticized for helping the National Security Agency secretly collect data on customers. Federal law gives government the authority to demand data without specific warrants, and while companies can fight requests in secret court hearings, it’s an uphill battle.
It’s not clear from the Facebook data how many of the roughly 26,000 government requests on 38,000 users were for law-enforcement purposes and how many were for intelligence gathering.
Technology and government officials have said criminal investigations are far more common than national security matters as a justification for demanding information from companies.
The numbers are imprecise because the federal government forbids companies from revealing how many times they’ve been ordered to turn over information about their customers. Facebook released only a range of figures for the United States.
Flight instructor says the FAA requires planes to land with at least 30 minutes of fuel left in the tank.
A Maine Warden Service plane forced to land on Interstate 95 last spring had a stalled engine, starved of fuel because of a pilot error.
An inspection shortly after the landing by Warden Pilot Daniel Dufault uncovered no discrepancies with the plane, according to an incident report released recently by the Federal Aviation Administration in response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by the Kennebec Journal.
A Warden Service plane is parked on a ramp of a former highway rest stop on Friday, April 26, along Interstate 95 in Litchfield. Staff photo by Joe Phelan
“There was no mechanical issue with the plane,” Col. Joel Wilkinson of the Warden Service said Friday. “The plane ran out of fuel.”
Immediately after the April incident, officials from the Warden Service said that the plane had an unidentified mechanical problem that forced the landing in the northbound lane of the highway in Litchfield.
Local flight experts said Friday that pilots are required to take off with enough fuel in their tanks that they land with 30 minutes worth left in the tanks — and not to make sure the plane is fueled is inexcusable.
“You plan a flight, you should arrive with 30 minutes of fuel,” said Paul McKeown, chief flight instructor for Maine Instrument Flight at the Augusta State Airport. “If you’re planning on landing with less than 30, that’s a problem.”
Wilkinson would not give specifics about the Warden Service’s investigation into the emergency landing, which led the service to take “corrective action” against Dufault. Wilkinson wouldn’t elaborate on the nature of the action.
Wilkinson confirmed Friday that Dufault no longer works for the agency. Dufault could not be reached for comment Friday and has declined to comment since the landing.
No one was injured and the plane wasn’t damaged during the landing, which occurred about 8:50 a.m., Friday, April 26, in the northbound lanes of I-95 near a former rest area at mile 98. The single-propeller plane had taken off from Belfast Municipal Airport on its way to Auburn/Lewiston Municipal Airport.
Dufault was accompanied by Charlie Todd, a biologist with the state Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife. They were scheduled to conduct a survey of eagle nests.
The plane, a 1968 Cessna 172 that Dufault helped rebuild a few years ago, remained parked in the rest area parking lot for about two and a half hours before it was refueled and flown to the nearby Augusta airport.
Durward Humphrey, chief pilot for the warden service, said shortly after the landing that the plane had an unidentified mechanical problem that killed its engine power. Humphrey, who flew the plane back to the airport, said it would be inspected to find out what went wrong.
A Maine Turnpike Authority traffic alert moments after the landing reported that the plane had been forced down by an empty fuel tank, and Sgt. Jason Luce of the Maine Warden Service also initially said that the plane had “a fuel issue.”
Shortly before the plane took off from the highway, wardens directed the news media to the far end of the rest area parking lot before positioning their trucks — and a sport-utility vehicle being used by a film crew for the Animal Planet series “North Woods Law” — in front of the plane, blocking the media’s view.
Wardens still could be seen dumping containers of fuel into the tank spouts atop the plane’s wings. The FAA report says they added about 12 gallons.
Moments later, Maine State Police troopers closed both of the highway’s northbound lanes. The plane taxied about a quarter-mile south, turned and sped north before lifting off into the clear blue sky and disappearing from view.
Wilkinson said Friday that investigators weren’t sure immediately after the landing whether the plane had a mechanical problem or if it had simply run out of fuel.
“We had no idea why the plane could have landed in that manner,” he said. “To be fair to the employee and the investigation, we had to have (the plane) inspected and interview the employee. The results were that the plane ran out of fuel.”
Humphrey, in his report to the FAA, said Dufault called him shortly after the landing and requested cans of fuel.
“I asked what had happened and he stated he thought he ran out of fuel, but there is fuel showing on the gauges,” Humphrey wrote.
Dufault said he had to yaw the aircraft a couple times to splash enough fuel into the lines to keep the engine running a few seconds longer so he could glide to the Interstate.
“Dufault and I checked the airplane and we inspected the gauges,” Humphrey wrote. “The right gauge indicated on the empty mark and the left gauge was indicating one needle width above the empty mark.”
McKeown said the FAA requires pilots to plan daytime flights under clear conditions, like those on April 26, to end with fuel left in the tank.
Officials said at the time that Dufault was in the air about 35 minutes before running out of fuel about 10 air miles short of the Auburn airport. A typical Cessna 172 has about 38 gallons of usable fuel in a 42-gallon tank and typically gets about 4.7 to 5.5 hours at cruising speeds, according to the Cessna 172 Guide.
“Belfast to Auburn is probably about a 40-minute flight and that plane would use about six gallons of fuel to make that flight,” McKeown said.
Wilkinson wouldn’t say whether Dufault manually checked the fuel level or if he believed he could make the flight from Belfast to Auburn with 30 minutes of fuel to spare.
Sandy Reynolds, fixed-based operator for the Belfast airport and president of Maine Scenic Airways, confirmed that the airport has fueling service and there was nothing to prevent Dufault from adding fuel before taking off.
Reynolds and McKeown agreed that pilots are expected to manually check the fuel level before each flight.
“The airplane fuel tank is made so you can see into it,” McKeown said. “Every pilot is taught to visually confirm the quantity in the tank.”
Dufault believed the plane had fuel because of a gauge that read one needle width above empty. But plane fuel gauges are notoriously inaccurate, McKeown said.
“Every pilot is taught to be skeptical of your gauges,” McKeown said. “All pilots are taught don’t trust the thing unless it says empty.”
McKeown said a pilot doesn’t want to have an empty tank at the wrong time. “You really need to know when it’s getting down to empty,” McKeown said.
McKeown said fuel level would be a cause for concern well before Dufault’s situation, with one gauge reading empty and another one needle width above empty .
McKeown said the 30 minute minimum required by the FAA should be a worst-case scenario. He requires those in his flight school to plan a trip with at least an hour’s worth of fuel to spare.
“I always point out to people these laws should never be interpreted as being safe,” McKeown said. “They’re saying it’s such a bad idea that we’re drawing a line in the sand. It’s illegal at that point.”
Dufault, who was based at Turner Aviation Field, joined the Warden Service in 2003. A news release at the time said he received his pilot’s license when he was 16 and flew for Currier’s Air Service in Greenville before joining the Warden Service.
Dufault also spent more than four years as a bush pilot, flying for two sporting lodges in Alaska before returning to Maine. He was described by his peers the day of the landing as an outstanding and experienced pilot.
Dufault also is a licensed aviation mechanic who helped rebuild theCessna he was flying on April 26.
“It happens too often,” he said. “Running out of fuel is preventable and when people do it, it’s usually complacency or wishful thinking or perhaps inattention.”
Wilkinson said the Warden Service requires all pilots to do a pre-flight inspection. He said that policy has been bolstered since Dufault’s landing.
“Just like any policy, it comes down to the employee’s choice to follow that policy,” Wilkinson said.
The FAA said in its report that it was considering a test flight with Dufault to reassess his skills.
McKeown said such a test would be standard after a pilot allows a plane to run out of fuel in flight. It is unclear whether that test ever took place.
An online database shows Dufault is still a certified commercial pilot, but the FAA did not respond to emailed questions seeking additional comment on the incident report and the status of Default’s license.
“It’s fairly easy to not run out of gas in your car,” McKeown said. “The consequences of running out in a plane are obviously different and it’s relatively easy not to do that. You have to pay attention and it’s pretty easy to do that.”
The Endowment Act, legislation Corman introduced, required “any institution of higher learning” in the state that was required by a governing body to pay a monetary penalty of $10 million over the course of multiple years to pay the money into a state-administered trust fund.
But the NCAA fought its enforcement, and Corman and state Treasurer Rob McCord filed suit against the sports organization in January 2013.
On Tuesday, the NCAA lost in its last attempt to have the Endowment Act declared unconstitutional when Judge Yvette Kane, of U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, denied a request for an injunction barring its enforcement.
In her ruling, Kane upheld Commonwealth Court Judge Anne Covey’s repeated affirmations of the constitutionality of the Endowment Act.
The NCAA said in a statement Friday that according to the settlement, the university will acknowledge the NCAA’s “legitimate and good faith interest and concern regarding the Jerry Sandusky matter.”
Penn State also will “commit a total of $60 million to activities and programs for the prevention of child sexual abuse and the treatment of victims of child sexual abuse”; and “Penn State and the NCAA will enter into a new Athletics Integrity Agreement that (with concurrence of the Big Ten) includes best practices with which the university is committed to comply and that provides for the university to continue to retain the services of Sen. George Mitchell and his firm to support the university’s activities under the Athletics Integrity Agreement and in the areas of compliance, ethics and integrity.”
In his opening remarks, Corman thanked McCord for joining the suit, “stepping in when no one else would.”
And he reacted to the criticism that’s been hurled at Penn State since the Freeh report was issued and the sanctions imposed in July 2012.
“For three years, my community has been rocked by a rush to judgment that many were eager to capitalize upon,” he said. “Their actions sought to punish the university and our community, with no thought to the consequences of their lack of leadership. Due process and facts matter. Today’s actions cannot give back the damage done recklessly by the consent decree, but it does end it, repeals it, and puts due process back in its proper perspective and focus.”
Voting on the settlement agreement was the first order of business at Friday’s board meeting, and the trustees voted unanimously to accept it.
A group that has been split vocally along the lines of those who supported the consent decree and the Freeh report and those who questioned them came together to vote for the resolution to start fresh.
Trustee Anthony Lubrano has been a loud voice on the issue, pushing to have the university switch sides in the lawsuit, joining Corman and McCord as a plaintiff rather than a defendant.
“Obviously, a lot happened in the past 24 hours,” he said. The settlement is something he said has been under construction for weeks, with Penn State President Eric Barron being actively involved in the process.
It was not, however, everything he wanted. Ideally, Lubrano would like to have had the consent decree voided outright, with no concessions and no further AIA. He acknowledged that the settlement did give something to everyone, and although the restoration of victories is important for many, “this was never about football,” he said.
In a statement from the NCAA, Kirk Schulz, Kansas State president and chairman of the NCAA board of governors, said, “Today’s agreement with Penn State reaffirms our authority to act. The NCAA has a legitimate role when a member’s actions threaten the integrity of college sports. We acted in good faith in addressing the failures and subsequent improvements on Penn State’s campus. We must acknowledge the continued progress of the university while also maintaining our commitment to supporting the survivors of child sexual abuse.”
Lubrano voted for the settlement specifically because it did not state that the NCAA had the authority to act, only that the organization had a reason for concern.
The statement also said that the NCAA “will aggressively defend the Paterno estate’s challenge to the validity of the now-replaced consent decree.”
Corman’s announcement was met with some skepticism in President’s Hall at The Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel, where a large crowd was gathered for the trustees’ meeting. People watched on laptops, tablets and phones, and were not happy with what they heard.
“It sounds beautiful, but this is about due process and getting to the truth,” Denise McClelland said.
Danita Griegel, of Pottsville, wants to know what the ultimate decisions will be about the points still to be negotiated between Penn State and the NCAA.
Corman’s office has faced a large number of phone calls from constituents and alumni voicing their opinions in recent days. Earlier this week, press secretary Jennifer Kocher said there were more than 50 calls, mostly opposed to settlement.
Barry Fenchak, an alumnus and a Penn State professor, is someone who didn’t want to see a settlement, but he wasn’t surprised, saying he has seen the move coming since April when Covey pushed the suit forward.
“I think they wanted to short-circuit the Commonwealth Court’s attempt” to look at the broader issues of the case, like the consent decree itself, rather than the narrower scope of the suit.
“One of the most bewildering aspects is if all of the consent decree is voided, why is Penn State still squandering $60 million?”
The Paterno estate still has its case against the NCAA and Penn State pending in Centre County Court, and Jay Paterno and Bill Kenney are still pursuing a claim in federal court. The Big Ten’s penalties against the university are still out there, too.
And there is the statue of the late coach, commemorating a career that included 409 wins, all of which are on the books again.
“The statue needs to be returned to its rightful place,” Lubrano said. Corman agrees, and said so during his Harrisburg news conference.
Adam Taliaferro and fellow members of the board applaud after unanimously approving the resolution to repeal NCAA sanctions during the on Friday at the Penn Stater. CDT Photo
State Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman talks during a news conference in Harrisburg on Friday, Jan. 16, 2015, where he announced that he had reached a settlement with the NCAA to void all Penn State football sanctions. CDT photo
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