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Teen Punches Dad Unconscious When Told to Stop Texting

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A juvenile was arrested Saturday after he punched his father in the face during an argument over texting, knocking him unconscious and causing a severe head injury, according to a statement from the Yarmouth Police Department.

The juvenile, whom police did not identify, is being charged with assault and battery on person over 60 with serious injury, according to the statement. He is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday in Barnstable Juvenile Court.

The confrontation took place outside Il Montebello Restaurant on Kings Circuit in Yarmouth Port, where the family was having dinner. The father had repeatedly asked the son to stop texting, which led to an argument outside, according to the statement.

Once outside, the juvenile struck his 63-year-old father with so much force that it knocked him unconscious, the statement says. The father fell and hit his head on the ground. (Read more from “Teen Punches Dad Unconscious When Told to Stop Texting” HERE)

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Oregon Juror Jailed for Texting During Trial

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Photo Credit: Joi

A judge in Oregon noticed an unexpected glow on a juror’s chest while the courtroom lights were dimmed during video evidence in an armed-robbery trial.

The juror, it seemed, was texting.

Marion County Circuit Judge Dennis Graves cleared the courtroom and excused all jurors except 26-year-old Benjamin Kohler…

Graves held Kohler in contempt, and Kohler spent most of Tuesday and Wednesday in the county jail. He was released Wednesday night.

Read more from this story HERE.

Experts To Congress: US Law Should Be Changed to Require Permanent Storage of Billions Of Private Text Messages, Emails

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text messages

Photo Credit: Daily Caller

In a hearing before the House Judiciary Subcommittee Tuesday, a panel of technology law experts called on Congress to pass legislation mandating the long-term retention of every American’s text messages and emails in case of a future criminal investigation.

“Billions of texts are sent every day, and some surely contain key evidence about criminal activity,” said Richard Littlehale of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and a member of the panel in his written statement. “Text messaging often plays a big role in investigations related to domestic violence, stalking, menacing, drug trafficking, and weapons trafficking.”

The hearing was held to discuss potential new provisions of the outdated Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) of 1986. The panel’s suggestions included longer retention times of interpersonal electronic messages as well as the creation of and expedited federal access to these databases. Not everyone was pleased with the panel’s recommendations.

“From a consumer privacy perspective, from a network security perspective, let alone the cost perspective of storing the tens of billions of messages that are sent around the various networks … it’s really an unwieldy and unworkable idea,” said a telecommunication executive, providing background information on the proposal.

The executive cited recent worldwide hackings as an example of potential risk to public safety and security when it comes to maintaining such a database.

Read more from this story HERE.

Fed’s $6 Million “Text to Tip on Terror” Produces Zero Tips

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Photo credit: from_koThe U.S. government has blown nearly $6 million on an experimental “anti-terrorism” program in New Jersey that encourages the public to send tips via text message from their cellular phones.

Since it was launched in mid-2011, the federally-funded “Text Against Terror” project has produced no credible tips, according to a local newspaper report that reveals the feds have poured $5.8 million into the initiative. Police in New Jersey claim 307 tips have been texted so far and that includes people “testing the system.”

Of the 307 text messages, 71 “referred to something regarding homeland security,” according to the New Jersey police chief quoted in the story. The majority of the 71 texts were investigated, the chief says, and “eliminated as a cause for concern.” In other words, the costly program, funded with a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) public awareness grant, is a cash cow that’s accomplished nothing.

The taxpayer dollars have paid for advertising time on local radio and television as well as fliers and ads on buses and trains. Other expenses include reserving a domain for unlimited texting capability. In a “rare instance” when a tip has required a follow-up, the New Jersey police chief says a state Joint Terrorism Task Force is available to get the job done. It includes state police, New Jersey’s transit and port authority police and the FBI.

News of this disturbing waste of public funds for an ineffective homeland security program comes on the heels of a U.S. Senate report blasting a huge post-9/11 counterterrorism program that’s received north of $300 million but hasn’t provided any useful intelligence. Even scarier is that DHS has covered up the mess from both Congress and the public, according to the bi-partisan investigators who conducted the lengthy probe.

Read more from this story HERE.