Penny Dean and Your Rights

Scott Horton at the Libertarian Institute is alarmed at how fast the rise in corona-moral shaming is translating into Americans snitching to police and town authorities on local small businesses and neighbors...

“Umm, umm, ummm! I’m telling on you! I’m gonna get you in trouble!” – Nickie and Melissa, Mrs. Tuttle’s kindergarten class, 1981.

Now look here, I think everyone who can possibly stay at home to try to “flatten the curve” and short-circuit this novel coronavirus, the better. But do you people really have to turn America into North Korea in the process?

A city in Texas is taking drastic measures to stop the spread of COVID-19.

Laredo will be requiring every resident older than 5 years old to wear some sort of mask when going out in public. That includes when going to the store or even pumping gas.

This comes as the U.S. Surgeon General changed its tone after learning there's a good amount of asymptomatic spread of the virus. They're now asking the CDC to discuss whether or not people should be wearing the masks to help prevent the spread.

A new report from Google shows how people throughout the world have responded to various orders and guidance from government leaders about quarantining during the COVID-19 pandemic.

[...] Another UPS package handler, Jeff Donigian, who works in Manchester, N.H., said he had been showing up to work feeling ill and coughing. He told a supervisor; he was told to go in anyway.

A UPS driver with a compromised immune system said she had been hauling packages around Northern California despite feeling sick for a week. With an avalanche of orders, her supervisor told her that UPS could not afford to lose her, even for a couple of days.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is suing the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), and the Department of Justice (DoJ) in an effort to find out what the US federal government’s systems and policies are around facial recognition.

Taiwan, in an effort to limit the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus, has implemented a geo-fence using people's mobile phones.

This technology alerts authorities when quarantined individuals leave their designated shelter locations or turn off their mobile devices.

According to Reuters, Taiwan appears to be the first country to use mobile location data as a quarantine compliance mechanism.

Privacy perspective: President has also threatened quarantine-breaking troublemakers may be shot

The Philippines has started planning an app to help the government track the movements and contacts of people who carry the novel coronavirus.

Hong Kong says it used a "government electronic monitoring system" to nab potential novel coronavirus carriers who flouted quarantine regulations. By monitoring system, it most likely means its wristband-based smartphone-tracking technology.

A late Tuesday announcement from the Special Administrative Region's government stated: "The police, following reports from members of the public and detection via the government electronic monitoring system, carried out immediate on-site investigations today.

Tracking and limiting the movements of overseas travelers, and others suspected to be COVID-19 coronavirus carriers, has proved an essential tool in controlling the pandemic.

That's according to Professor Marylouise McLaws, a technical adviser to the World Health Organization's Infection Prevention and Control Global Unit.

The Knox County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a report of several armed people cutting down a tree Friday across a driveway to force someone to quarantine because of the coronavirus outbreak.

Shortly after 3:30 p.m. Friday, a person contacted the U.S. Coast Guard asking for assistance in the area of Cripple Creek Road, the sheriff’s office said. The caller said several people with guns had cut down a tree and were telling other people to stay quarantined.

Someone with a scanner heard the report and called the Knox Regional Communications Center.