#Law Article

[kdsheladiya-blog]

FREEZING OF BANK ACCOUNTS AND ITS REMEDIES TO UNFREEZE: A STUDY

Freezing of bank accounts by mechanically investigating authorities is an increasing problem faced by Indian businesses and companies. Such actions are routinely predicated on mere allegations or suspicions of tainted amounts being credited by accused persons or suspects involved in dubious financial dealings into the business or personal accounts of a bonafide party. One does not need to be an…

[dontforgetukraine]

“Our Ukrainian military has intercepted Russian phone conversations. It seems that graduates of Russian drone pilot schools practice on us, using any moving target for training. They kill and injure civilians every day.”

—Oleksandr, engineer and local drone manufacturer in Kherson

Source: ‘Human safari’ – Kherson civilians hunted down by Russian drones

[ukrfeminism]

The creation of sexually explicit "deepfake" images is to be made a criminal offence in England and Wales under a new law, the government says.

Under the legislation, anyone making explicit images of an adult without their consent will face a criminal record and unlimited fine.

It will apply regardless of whether the creator of an image intended to share it, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) said.

And if the image is then shared more widely, they could face jail.

A deepfake is an image or video that has been digitally altered with the help of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to replace the face of one person with the face of another.

Recent years have seen the growing use of the technology to add the faces of celebrities or public figures - most often women - into pornographic films.

Channel 4 News presenter Cathy Newman, who discovered her own image used as part of a deepfake video, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme it was "incredibly invasive".

Ms Newman found she was a victim as part of a Channel 4 investigation into deepfakes.

"It was violating... it was kind of me and not me," she said, explaining the video displayed her face but not her hair.

Ms Newman said finding perpetrators is hard, adding: "This is a worldwide problem, so we can legislate in this jurisdiction, it might have no impact on whoever created my video or the millions of other videos that are out there."

She said the person who created the video is yet to be found.

Under the Online Safety Act, which was passed last year, the sharing of deepfakes was made illegal.

The new law will make it an offence for someone to create a sexually explicit deepfake - even if they have no intention to share it but "purely want to cause alarm, humiliation, or distress to the victim", the MoJ said.

Clare McGlynn, a law professor at Durham University who specialises in legal regulation of pornography and online abuse, told the Today programme the legislation has some limitations.

She said it "will only criminalise where you can prove a person created the image with the intention to cause distress", and this could create loopholes in the law.

It will apply to images of adults, because the law already covers this behaviour where the image is of a child, the MoJ said.

It will be introduced as an amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill, which is currently making its way through Parliament.

Minister for Victims and Safeguarding Laura Farris said the new law would send a "crystal clear message that making this material is immoral, often misogynistic, and a crime".

"The creation of deepfake sexual images is despicable and completely unacceptable irrespective of whether the image is shared," she said.

"It is another example of ways in which certain people seek to degrade and dehumanise others - especially women.

"And it has the capacity to cause catastrophic consequences if the material is shared more widely. This Government will not tolerate it."

Cally Jane Beech, a former Love Island contestant who earlier this year was the victim of deepfake images, said the law was a "huge step in further strengthening of the laws around deepfakes to better protect women".

"What I endured went beyond embarrassment or inconvenience," she said.

"Too many women continue to have their privacy, dignity, and identity compromised by malicious individuals in this way and it has to stop. People who do this need to be held accountable."

Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper described the creation of the images as a "gross violation" of a person's autonomy and privacy and said it "must not be tolerated".

"Technology is increasingly being manipulated to manufacture misogynistic content and is emboldening perpetrators of Violence Against Women and Girls," she said.

"That's why it is vital for the government to get ahead of these fast-changing threats and not to be outpaced by them.

"It's essential that the police and prosecutors are equipped with the training and tools required to rigorously enforce these laws in order to stop perpetrators from acting with impunity."

[eretzyisrael]

Source

[bmoreisapunkrocktown]

I'm worried that y'all genuinely think that the police can't understand that a dot on the calendar you have on your dresser means that you're tracking your period.

And I'm terrified that y'all think they won't go through your trash to check all those home pregnancy tests you bought.

They took apart a woman's toilet and went through her pipes to get evidence of her miscarriage.

If there is data to find, they will find it. If there's evidence to find, they will find it. It isn't possible to shift it into a form they can't find, because that's not real. You have to corrupt the data.

[anzuhan]

[millenniallust4death]

On April 22, the Supreme Court is set to hear the case of Johnson v. Grants Pass, the most significant case in decades about homeless people’s rights. The case will determine whether cities can arrest or fine the homeless — even if there’s no other shelter. As the homeless plaintiffs wrote, this would be “punishing the city’s involuntarily homeless residents for their existence.”

Mark Horvath, Adam Westbrook, and Lindsay Crous in "Criminalizing Homelessness Won’t Make It Go Away". The New York Times (16 April 2024). Link here.

The city of Grants Pass in Oregon wants to make being homeless a crime in order to drive the homeless into other areas. I am so tired.

[r3starttt]

I'm writing sweaty caitlyn... do we want it angsty or nasty but angsty too cs #seasonalsadness

[melissaschemmentisglasses]

MY JAW IS ON THE FUCKING FLOOR part. 2

Lisa Ann Walter for 1883 Magazine

[woo-sustainability]

Something I just read. Would be a good idea to contact your congressperson about this

[kdsheladiya-blog]

ડૉક્ટરની બેદરકારીમાં ક્યાં ક્યાં કાનૂની પગલાં લઇ શકાય છે?

ભારતમાં, તબીબી બેદરકારીની આસપાસનો કાનૂની લેન્ડસ્કેપ જટિલ અને બહુપક્ષીય છે, જે ટોર્ટ કાયદાના સિદ્ધાંતો, ગ્રાહક સુરક્ષા કાયદાઓ અને વિકસિત ન્યાયિક દાખલાઓના સંયોજનથી દોરવામાં આવે છે. તબીબી બેદરકારી ત્યારે થાય છે જ્યારે આરોગ્ય સંભાળ પ્રદાતા દર્દી પ્રત્યેની તેમની સંભાળની ફરજનો ભંગ કરે છે, પરિણામે નુકસાન અથવા ઈજા થાય છે. જ્યારે આવી બેદરકારી થાય છે, ત્યારે દર્દીઓને તેમને થયેલા નુકસાન માટે વળતર મેળવવા…

[carriesthewind]

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[dontforgetukraine]

During a recent nationwide air attack on Ukraine, a husband and father in Lviv suffered an unimaginable loss – his wife and three daughters were killed in a missile strike that destroyed their home. In an instant, his entire family was taken from him, leaving him to endure grief beyond words. Images of this tragedy flooded social media, serving as a heartbreaking reminder of the devastating human toll Russia’s war continues to inflict on innocent civilians. While the blame for such horrific losses is quickly placed on Putin, these victims were not killed by him alone. The missile that struck their home was not designed and built by Putin. The fighter jet that delivered it was not fueled, maintained, or piloted by him. Putin did not prepare the meals for the military and support personnel. The uniforms they wore were not sewn by Putin. Behind every strike and offensive operation is a vast network of Russian civilians and military personnel. This network includes countless individuals involved in every aspect of Russia’s so-called “special military operation,” from complex missile launches to basic administration. These tasks are carried out by average Russians working in various sectors – military, energy, manufacturing, food and agriculture, transportation, telecommunications, media. Each industry is critical to sustaining a war of this scale, and each employs millions of Russians. These workers may not hold positions of power or directly participate in combat, yet they are essential to maintaining Russia’s military efforts against Ukraine.

—Mariya Chukhnova, international security expert

Source: Opinion: Putin’s war? The case for Russia’s collective responsibility in Ukraine

[ukrfeminism]

A lawyer and the government department she works with are being sued after she made gender-critical statements at work, including expressing the belief that only women menstruate. 

Elspeth Duemmer Wrigley works at an arm’s-length body affiliated to the Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) and is a chairwoman of a civil service network that represents staff with gender-critical views. 

She is one of three key signatories of an explosive letter sent in October to the cabinet secretary warning the impartiality of the civil service was under threat because anyone with gender-critical views was “openly and unlawfully bullied and harassed”. 

The confidential letter, seen by The Times, makes serious claims about a “small number of active gender ideologues” embedded in the civil service who brief against ministers and seek to alter official documents.

Duemmer Wrigley will appear at an employment tribunal next week accused of harassment for several comments and posts shared in the workplace. An employee of another body affiliated to Defra is suing the government department for allowing the network to exist and Duemmer Wrigley personally for her views. 

These include a statement made during a seminar on female autism that “only women menstruate” and a link to My Body is Me!, a book that encourages young children to understand and accept their bodies. A post in which she celebrates “diversity of belief” and explains that being gender-critical is a protected belief has also been penalised.

The Sex Equality and Equity Network (Seen) is an official civil service network with more than 700 members in 50 government departments who support the belief that biological sex is binary and immutable. Duemmer Wrigley is chairwoman of Defra’s Seen network and believes she is being targeted as a figurehead.

The claimant, who has not been named, has accused Defra bosses of creating a “intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating and/or offensive environment” and is calling for a disbanding of the departmental SEEN network and, potentially, the cross-governmental network as well. 

Duemmer Wrigley warns that if successful, the case would have a “chilling effect” that could silence all gender criticism in the civil service.

“[It] would effectively preclude any public gender-critical discourse in the workplace,” she writes in a statement. 

“It has been brought at a time when employees with gender-critical beliefs in many organisations, both in the civil service and beyond, are already facing vexatious, chilling or bullying attacks. I believe if this case succeeds, these attacks are likely to escalate. I believe if this case succeeds there will be no place in the civil service for those with sex realist views.”

It comes months after the letter to Simon Case, the head of the civil service, called for “urgent action to ensure that civil service impartiality is upheld, and freedom of belief is respected”.

It warns that unchallenged bias in relation to gender is having a direct impact on policy, based on interviews and evidence from SEEN members across government.

The letter cites efforts from some staff to “remove contributions to government consultations that relate to sex instead of gender” and “quietly briefing external organisations on how to circumnavigate ministerial direction”. 

It alleges there is an “active obfuscation of facts” among some trans activist civil servants to “prevent ministers seeing the impact of trans-inclusive policies” and evidence of internal policy being leaked to “partisan organisations”. 

Maya Forstater, executive director of Sex Matters, a human rights organisation that campaigns for clarity on sex in law, policy and language, said: “This is a shocking case, which follows revelations by civil servant whistleblowers about a ‘culture of fear’ among gender-critical civil servants across Whitehall. 

“It is not reasonable to view the existence of a network of gender-critical colleagues as ‘harassment’. 

“The civil service needs to have a robust culture of integrity, objectivity and accountability, and treat all its employees fairly. Civil servants should not expect to be kept “safe” from encountering ideas or people they don’t agree with.”

A government spokesman said: “We are unable to comment on ongoing legal proceedings.”

[mastersoftheair]

Radio Times | 27 January - 2 February 2024

[lemonbubble]

do USAmericans even know how much we (aotearoa specifically, but probably at least australia does it too) get their news

like, i will be reading a local news website and a headline or a particular phrasing about a subject kind of catches me off guard, and i'll be like "huh that's weird why would they talk about it like that?" so i look through the article and i scroll to the bottom and wow!! look at that!! literally reposted from Associated Press or The Washington Post or some shit

and there's no warning before you start the article, it's always at the bottom

so there's this weird cognitive dissonance dance where i'm reading something, assuming it to be local news, or at least a local spin on international news, and nope!! it's fucking USAmerican from a USAmerican perspective following USAmerican writing styles and i have to like... mentally go back through the article and reassess it because it's from an entirely different angle than i thought it was

incredibly frustrating!