SAN BERNARDINO (CBSLA.com) — A Southland man who was beaten by several sheriff’s deputies following a chase involving a stolen horse has reached a $650,000 settlement with San Bernardino County, officials announced Tuesday.

Attorneys for Francis Jared Pusok finalized the settlement with the county in connection with Pusok’s April 9 arrest in Apple Valley, according to San Bernardino County spokesman David Wert.

Pusok, 30, fled by car and then on horse in the desert while deputies chased him on foot after trying to serve a search warrant in an identity-theft investigation.

The county Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the settlement in closed session Tuesday, Wert said.

According to the terms of the agreement, the county acknowledges no wrongdoing and settles all potential claims from Pusok that could stem from the incident.

“The sole purpose of this agreement for both parties is to avoid the costs involved in litigation,” said Board of Supervisors Chairman James Ramos. “This agreement is a fair outcome for everyone involved, including the taxpayers.”

http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2015/04/21/horse-pursuit-suspect-beaten-by-deputies-agrees-to-650000-settlement/

EFF is fighting for vehicle owners’ rights to inspect the code that runs their vehicles and to repair and modify their vehicles, or have a mechanic of their choice do the work. At the moment, the anti-circumvention prohibition in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act arguably restricts vehicle inspection, repair, and modification. If EFF is successful then vehicle owners will be free to inspect and tinker, as long as they don’t run afoul of other regulations, such as those governing vehicle emissions, safety, or copyright law.

Most of the automakers operating in the US filed opposition comments through trade associations, along with a couple of other vehicle manufacturers. They warn that owners with the freedom to inspect and modify code will be capable of violating a wide range of laws and harming themselves and others. They say you shouldn’t be allowed to repair your own car because you might not do it right. They say you shouldn’t be allowed to modify the code in your car because you might defraud a used car purchaser by changing the mileage. They say no one should be allowed to even look at the code without the manufacturer’s permission because letting the public learn how cars work could help malicious hackers, “third-party software developers” (the horror!), and competitors.

John Deere even argued that letting people modify car computer systems will result in them pirating music through the on-board entertainment system, which would be one of the more convoluted ways to copy media (and the exemption process doesn’t authorize copyright infringement, anyway).

The parade of horribles makes it clear that it is an extraordinary stretch to apply the DMCA to the code that runs vehicles. The vast majority of manufacturers' concerns have absolutely nothing to do with copyright law. And, as the automakers repeatedly point out, vehicles are subject to regulation by other government agencies with subject matter expertise, which issue rules about what vehicles are and are not lawful to operate on public roadways.

The DMCA essentially blundered into this space and called all tinkering and code inspection into question, even acts that are otherwise lawful like repairing your car, making it work better at high altitude, inspecting the code to find security and safety issues, or even souping it up for use in races on a private course. We’re presenting the Copyright Office with the opportunity to undo this collateral damage and leave regulating auto safety to specialized agencies, who understandably have not seen fit to issue a blanket prohibition against vehicle owners’ doing their own repairs and safety research.

More: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2015/04/automakers-say-you-dont-really-own-your-car

Automakers are supporting provisions in copyright law that could prohibit home mechanics and car enthusiasts from repairing and modifying their own vehicles.

In comments filed with a federal agency that will determine whether tinkering with a car constitutes a copyright violation, OEMs and their main lobbying organization say cars have become too complex and dangerous for consumers and third parties to handle.

Allowing them to continue to fix their cars has become "legally problematic," according to a written statement from the Auto Alliance, the main lobbying arm of automakers.

The dispute arises from a section of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act that no one thought could apply to vehicles when it was signed into law in 1998. But now, in an era where cars are rolling computing platforms, the U.S. Copyright Office is examining whether provisions of the law that protect intellectual property should prohibit people from modifying and tuning their cars.

Every three years, the office holds hearings on whether certain activities should be exempt from the DMCA's section 1201, which governs technological measures that protect copyrighted work. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit organization that advocates for individual rights in the digital world, has asked the office to ensure that enthusiasts can continue working on cars by providing exemptions that would give them the right to access necessary car components.

Interested parties have until the end of the month to file comments on the proposed rule making, and a final decision is expected by mid-year.

In comments submitted so far, automakers have expressed concern that allowing outsiders to access electronic control units that run critical vehicle functions like steering, throttle inputs and braking "leads to an imbalance by which the negative consequences far outweigh any suggested benefits," according to the Alliance of Global Automakers. In the worst cases, the organizations said an exemption for enthusiasts "leads to disastrous consequences."

More: http://www.autoblog.com/2015/04/20/automakers-gearheads-car-repairs/

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- An Indian teenager was trying to think of a creative way to ask his girlfriend to prom, so he called the cops.

The police officers pretended to to pull the girl over, and told her to stop, put her hands on her head, and turn around.

When she did, she saw her boyfriend holding a sign that read "Will you go to Prom?".

She said yes.

http://www.kdrv.com/news/Police_Prom_Proposal.html

A 23-year-old Florida man who ran for city commissioner last month was pulled over by camouflaged deputies in an armored car after he had flipped them off with his middle finger Saturday.

Lucas Jewell said he was angry that Alachua County sheriff’s deputies were turning his town into a Baghdad-like military zone.

After all, Gainesville is a college town mostly filled with University of Florida students.

But deputies felt the need to dress up like soldiers because it was Orange and Blue Weekend, a three-day celebration of festivities highlighted by a scrimmage football game between Florida Gator teammates that was free and open to all ages.

Jewell, who lost his bid for city commission, knew he had a First Amendment right to flip off police considering several court cases have long determined this.

But contempt of cop rarely goes unpunished, especially when police are empowered with federally funded military gear to help keep college kids in line.

Rather than respecting his First Amendment right to express himself, they pulled him over in the armored car on the basis that he made an “improper hand signal” when he flipped them off, which is not the first time cops in Florida have resorted to that tactic when being flipped off.

http://photographyisnotacrime.com/2015/04/florida-man-flips-cops-off-and-gets-pulled-over-by-camouflaged-cops-in-armored-car/

A California cop is on paid leave for allegedly tickling and tampering with the corpse of a man shot and killed by police - and the dead man's outraged family wants answers, their lawyer said.

Bakersfield Police Officer Aaron Stringer allegedly pulled on the toes of Ramiro James Villegas' body in November, touched the bottom of Villegas' feet saying "tickle tickle," manipulated his head and told a trainee he "loved" playing with dead bodies, lawyer Mark Geragos told the Daily News.

"We are grossly disturbed by the ghoulish behavior of the police," Geragos told The News.

"The family wants answers and accountability," the prominent lawyer said.

The disturbing allegations surfaced Friday after the Bakersfield Californian newspaper obtained internal police reports regarding Officer Stringer's actions at the Kern Medical Center.

The alleged incident took place as Villegas' body lay on a gurney covered with a blood-soaked white sheet, the newspaper said.

The unarmed man was shot and killed after he led cops on high-speed chase and crashed into a signal light pole on Nov. 13.

Police later said Villegas moved aggressively toward officers and reached for his waistband when three officers opened fire and a fourth used a Taser.

No gun was recovered from Villegas.

Posted 11/07/2008

According to a use-of-force police report obtained by the ACLU, undercover Denver detectives staged a struggle with a police commander to get pulled out of the crowd without blowing their cover. The commander knew they were working undercover, and the plan was to pull them out of the crowd and pretend they were under arrest so protesters would be none the wiser.

A Jefferson County deputy, unaware of the presence of undercover police, thought that the commander was being attacked and used pepper spray on the undercover officers.

The report says that the commander and an undercover detective were sprayed, but it does not indicate how many others were affected. The report also doesn't say whether the pepper spray used on the undercover police was the first deployment of chemicals that night or whether the riot was already underway.

Spies of Mississippi is a journey into the world of informants, infiltrators, and agent provocateurs in the heart of Dixie.

The film tells the story of a secret spy agency formed by the state of Mississippi to preserve segregation and maintain “the Mississippi way of life,” white supremacy, during the 1950s and ‘60s. The Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission (MSSC) evolved from a predominantly public relations agency to a full-fledged spy operation, spying on over 87,000 Americans over the course of a decade.

The Commission employed a network of investigators and informants, including African Americans, to help infiltrate some of the largest Black organizations like National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). The MSSC was granted broad powers to investigate private citizens and organizations, keep secret files, make arrests, and compel testimony for a state that, as civil rights activist Lawrence Guyot says in the film, “was committed to an apartheid system that would make South Africa blush.”

The film reveals the full scope and impact of the Commission, including its links to private white supremacist organizations, its ties to investigative agencies in other states, and even its program to bankroll the opposition to civil rights legislation in Washington D.C.

Weaving in chilling footage of Ku Klux Klan rallies and government propaganda films alongside rare images and interviews from the period, Spies of Mississippi tracks the Commission’s hidden role in many of the most important chapters of the civil rights movement, including the integration of the University of Mississippi, the assassination of Medgar Evers, and the KKK murders of three civil rights workers in 1964.

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Things got heated outside L.A. City Hall on Sunday when demonstrators rallying in support of police clashed with protesters on the other side of the street, and the issue.

Police arrested a man who got into an altercation with a woman rallying with the police supporters.

“I think it’s racism. They came over here to target black people. They’re arresting me because I’m black,” a man said to CBS2/KCAL9’s Greg Mills while he was being handcuffed by LAPD officers.

“I think they’re arresting you because you pushed her,” Mills said to him.

The man said, “I didn’t push her. She pushed me.”

The woman who pressed charges against the man said, “I was blocking his sign, just putting my arms out, and the gentleman elbowed me across the chest.”

There were other confrontations on 1st Street as a couple hundred police supporters, including off-duty LAPD officers, held their rally

“All Lives Matter,” in response to the “Black Lives Matter” protests and the growing backlash to police shootings of black men all over the country.