Here’s a scary development that could impact the privacy rights of firearms owners. The Federal Department of Justice (DOJ) has filed a legal request to compel tech companies Google and Apple to disclose information on over 10,000 persons who downloaded software Apps used to calibrate ATN night-vision scopes. The Feds say they need the info to track possible illegal exports of ATN scopes. Frankly, this is a dangerous precent. What comes next? Will the DOJ demand the names and emails of all Snipers’ Hide members, or all NRA members for that matter?
Forbes Magazine reports: “According to an application for a court order filed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) on September 5, investigators want information on users of Obsidian 4, a tool used to control rifle scopes made by night-vision specialist American Technologies Network Corp. [ATN]. The App allows gun owners to get a live stream, take video, and calibrate their gun scope from an Android or iPhone device. According to the Google Play page for Obsidian 4, it has more than 10,000 downloads. If the court approves the demand, and Apple and Google decide to hand over the information, it could include data on thousands of people who have nothing to do with the crimes being investigated, privacy activists warned. Edin Omanovic, lead on Privacy International’s State Surveillance program, said it would set a dangerous precedent and scoop up ‘huge amounts of innocent people’s personal data’.”
The purported purpose of the data harvest is to aid the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency track possible illegal exports of ATN Night Vision scopes. But this kind of sweeping information request is both over-broad and dangerous in its implications. Cybersecurity experts were stunned by the ICE request, according to Forbes Magazine:
Innocents Ensnared
The request is undeniably broad and would likely include all users of the app within America, not just users abroad who might indicate illegal shipments of the gun appendage. Tor Ekeland, a privacy-focused lawyer, said it amounted to a “fishing expedition.” “There’s a more profound issue here with the government able to vacuum up a vast amount of data on people they have no reason to suspect have committed any crime.” Ekeland added.
Even those who’ve worked in government surveillance were stunned by the order. “The idea that this data will only be used for pursuing ITAR violations is almost laughable,” warned Jake Williams, a former NSA analyst and now a cybersecurity consultant at Rendition Infosec.
Share the post "FED DOJ Demands Google and Apple Turn Over Scope User IDs"
Chris Cheng, Top Shot TV Season 4 Champion, worked at Google from 2007-2012. A self-taught amateur turned pro, he beat 17 competitors to win the title of Top Shot, a $100,000 grand prize, and a professional marksmanship contract with Bass Pro Shops. After his Top Shot success, Cheng left Google to pursue a new career in the firearms industry. He is the author of Shoot To Win, now in its Second Edition (2018). The book is available from Amazon for $19.99 (or $14.99 Kindle). You can also get an eBook version for $14.95 through Google Play with a free sample.
What is pretty remarkable, given the current state of “political correctness” in our nation is that Google invited Cheng to discuss his book at a Google Authors event. Here is the video of that interview.
Chris explains: “Google invited me back to discuss the 2nd Edition of my book Shoot to Win and it was an honor to become a two-time Google @Authors talk guest.
Given the political climate and anti-conservative accusations levied on Google and other tech companies it was notable I got invited. But more notable was that Google employees voted on authors they wanted to come speak and my name floated to the top. It goes to show that Google is trying to balance things out and bring more divergent perspectives and increase intellectual diversity.
In the talk we discussed sacrifice, hard work, and the focus required to win at life. We also discussed my advocacy for gun rights, gay rights, and freedom and how there are folks who want gay people and gun people to not exist on this Earth.
The only way we’re going to find our way out is if we have more respectable, civil dialogue to find solutions. It isn’t about agreeing on everything, but finding common ground and moving quickly where we agree.”
After winning the Top Shot Season 4 title, Chris Cheng left his job at Google to pursue a new career in the firearms industry. Cheng now travels the country speaking professionally and sharing his passion for the shooting sports. He is a Certified Pistol, Rifle, and Shotgun Instructor. Cheng also serves as a Member of the NSSF’s Outreach and Inclusion Committee where he represents LGBT and Asian interests.
Share the post "We’re Gobsmacked — Google Invites Gun Book Author to Talk"
Sad to say, here’s another example of a large tech enterprise bullying the firearms industry. Some very large credit card processors have refused to process firearms transactions, and we’ve heard reports of business insurers dropping policies for gunsmiths and gun accessory producers, or raising rates by as much as 700%. This is not a good time to be a gun retailer or gun manufacturer. These issues are part of larger battle, with major media, tech, and financial institutions targeting the firearms industry.
Many firearms retailers and ranges may be impacted by a new “Acceptable Use Policy” from Shopify. This policy blocks a wide variety of firearms products from online stores. Many mag-fed semi-auto rifles can no longer be sold, and unfinished lower receivers are also on the “prohibited products” list.
Report by NRA Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA)
Spike’s Tactical, a Florida-based firearms manufacturer and retailer, is just one of the businesses who received an alarming email from its online store management platform, Shopify — a company used by more than 600,000 merchants [for] marketing, inventory management, payments, and shipping.
Cole Leleux, General Manager of Spike’s Tactical, said a three-sentence email from Shopify was the only notice Spike’s Tactical received alerting them to a new change in Shopify’s “Acceptable Use Policy” that will now “restrict the sale of certain firearms and firearm parts.”
According to an article by Ammoland.com, some of the new arbitrarily amended rules in Shopify’s policy “now include banning the sale of semi-automatic firearms that have an ability to accept a detachable magazine and are capable of accepting more than 10 rounds. Additionally, unfinished lower receivers are also prohibited[.] Most of Spike’s Tactical’ s products include AR-15 parts and full rifles, which would fall under those new restrictions.”
“It’s just crazy to go from no firearm policy to no guns overnight,” said Leleux, “We’ve been sitting back quietly while Google stops us from advertising — we can’t advertise on Facebook, we can’t advertise on Instagram. We are a legal business in this country and I can’t use the most popular platforms to advertise.”
Aside from how Shopify’s new policy will affect his business, Leleux says what bothers him most is the hypocrisy… Leleux says Shopify assured him it was firearm-friendly and he would have no problems. Shopify’s about-face came after Leleux spent $100,000 and signed the contract.”
Gun Shops Also Impacted by Shopify Policy Change
Shopify has also restricted a Washington state gun shop and range. Canada-based Shopify recently notified The Marksman, an indoor gun range and retail shop in Puyallup (WA), that it must remove a number of products from its online store, including semi-auto rifles. Shopify’s new Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) no longer allows the sale of many popular (and legal) firearms sold by The Marksman.
The Marksman’s Mike Grabowski explains: “The Marksman has been in business for over 38 years and has always enjoyed great community support by the public and Law Enforcement. We provide a safe place for our community to shoot and learn about safe firearms handling. Over the years we have educated … thousands of people on how to safely handle and use firearms.”
Grabowski says Shopify’s policy change was unwarranted and unexpected: “When we entered into our relationship with Shopify they expressed no concern about the products we sell. We have spent thousands of dollars building and maintaining our e-commerce presence, as well as contributing to Shopify’s income. It is unacceptable to us that they now decided that they don’t like guns and therefore will proceed to terminate their relationship with [us] and many other firearms-related companies.”
Editor’s Comment: It will become increasingly difficult for Americans to exercise their Second Amendment rights, and for hunters and target shooters to pursue their hobbies, if firearms-related enterprises are denied the ability to sell products, collect invoices, insure their facilities, or communicate with the public.
This is a worrisome trend. The example of Shopify and The Marksman is just the tip of the iceberg. Other gun-related businesses are now facing “black-balling” by big companies that handle banking, insurance, and payment processing.
Share the post "E-Commerce Company Restricts Online Firearms Sales"
UPDATE: At approximately 6:00 pm CT, the Brownells YouTube Channel was restored. We don’t know why or how — but apparently protests from Brownells customers many have played a part in getting YouTube to relent. Brownells just issued this statement via Facebook:
PREVIOUSLY…
The Brownells YouTube channel has been terminated (shut down) without warning or notice from either YouTube or its parent company, Google. On June 9, 2018, at roughly 2:00 am, the Brownells channel was pulled from YouTube. This removed ALL Brownells YouTube content, including videos that cover firearms safety, hunting skills, firearms maintenance, and marksmanship. YouTube didn’t simply block Brownells’ gun sales-related videos — it shut down the entire Brownells channel, which had offered nearly 1800 helpful videos. The Brownells channel had acquired over 67,000 subscribers since its launch in January 2007.
History of YouTube Policies on Firearms Content
No specific reason for the Brownells shut-down was provided by YouTube, but this is part of a policy shift by YouTube. For quite some time, YouTube has been de-monitizing firearms-centric YouTube channels. As a result, gun video producers no longer receive advertising revenues, or receive a fraction of what they were once paid. Then in late March, YouTube announced tough new policies limiting the type of firearms content allowed. Gun content producers feared YouTube’s new policies might doom their channels. With the Brownells ban, it appears those fears were correct…
Ars Technica reported: “YouTube is placing more restrictions on weapons-related videos, focusing on guns with new, forthcoming policy changes. According to a Bloomberg report, YouTube intends to ban videos that ‘promote or link to websites selling firearms and accessories’, including bump stocks, beginning this April. The new policy will also prohibit instructional videos that detail how to build firearms. YouTube took similar action after the Las Vegas shooting last year by banning gun-modification tutorials.
‘We routinely make updates and adjustments to our enforcement guidelines across all of our policies,’ a YouTube representative said in a statement to Bloomberg. ‘While we’ve long prohibited the sale of firearms, we recently notified creators of updates we will be making around content promoting the sale or manufacture of firearms and their accessories’.”
YouTube prohibits certain kinds of content featuring firearms. Specifically, we don’t allow content that:
Intends to sell firearms or certain firearms accessories through direct sales (e.g., private sales by individuals) or links to sites that sell these items. These accessories include but may not be limited to accessories that enable a firearm to simulate automatic fire or convert a firearm to automatic fire (e.g., bump stocks, gatling triggers, drop-in auto sears, conversion kits), and high capacity magazines (i.e., magazines or belts carrying more than 30 rounds).
Provides instructions on manufacturing a firearm, ammunition, high capacity magazine, homemade silencers/suppressors, or certain firearms accessories such as those listed above. This also includes instructions on how to convert a firearm to automatic or simulated automatic firing capabilities.
Shows users how to install the above-mentioned accessories or modifications.
Share the post "YouTube Terminates Brownells YouTube Channel — Then Relents"
Along with its main search engine, Google Inc. operates the Google Shopping web portal (www.google.com/shopping), where visitors can search for products offered by tens of thousands of online merchants. Google Shopping works great, unless you happen to be looking for gun stuff. You see, Google recently instituted a new policy blocking Google Shopping search results for many firearms-related products and accessories.
For example, searches for “ammunition”, “.308″, and “rifle” yield no results. This subject-matter-based filtering also stymies searches for prominent gun-makers, component suppliers, and gun accessory vendors. Google Shopping searches for “Beretta”, “Brownells”, “Glock”, “Nosler”, and “Winchester” all yielded this “fail” message: “Your search [term here] did not match any shopping results”. Google Shopping is even blocking results for “Leupold” — yet Leupold only makes optics. Whether you call this “filtering” or “black-balling”, the fact remains that Google Shopping is making judgments about what products (and vendors) shoppers will be allowed to view.
IMPORTANT: The firearm-related filtering ONLY is in place (for now) on the Google Shopping portal. The main Google search engine (www.google.com) still allows you to search for any keyword or search phrase. That means you can search for “rifle”, or “Glock”, or “Winchester” on the main Google search engine and you WILL get results.
Google Shopping Site Search Term Test
We did a quick sample of search terms on the Google Shopping site, testing a few dozen common terms for guns and firearms accessories. There were some surprising results, and many logical inconsistencies. “Rifle Shooting” was blocked, but “Shooting” returned results. “Reload” was blocked, but “Reloading” was allowed. Some filtering seems arbitrary. “Winchester” was blocked, but “Remington” worked. “Hornady” is blocked, but “RCBS” can be used. “Brownells” was blocked, but “Sinclair International” yielded results. “Nosler” is blocked, but “Sierra” was allowed. “Leupold” and “Weaver” are both blocked, but “Bushnell” and “Zeiss” are unrestricted. And spelling makes a difference. “Anschütz” is blocked, but “Anschutz” can be used. “Hollow Point” is blocked, yet “Hollowpoint” (as one word) is OK. You figure that out….
It’s hard to guess which search terms will work and which won’t, except you can be sure that most keyword phrases which include the terms “ammo”, “rifle”, or “firearm” will be censored. Likewise, most search terms based on cartridge types (Rimfire, 45 ACP etc.) or bullet diameters (5.56, 30 Caliber, 7mm etc.) are blocked. But you can still search for “gun”, oddly enough. And this editor can’t fathom why I can search for Bushnell, Zeiss, Swarovski, and Nikon, but not “Leupold”.
IMPORTANT: Keep in mind that this was NOT an exhaustive test of search terms, and Google could change or alter its “block list” at any time.
To explain its content-filtering system, Google Shopping recently sent an email to vendors around the country. As received by Hamlund Tactical and then posted on the web, that email declared:
Dear Merchant,
We’re writing to let you know about some upcoming changes to the product listings you submit to Google. As we recently announced, we are starting to transition our shopping experience to a commercial model that builds on Product Listing Ads. This new shopping experience is called Google Shopping. As part of this transition, we’ll begin to enforce a set of new policies for Google Shopping in the coming weeks. A new list of the allowed, restricted, and prohibited products on Google Shopping is available on our new policy page: http://www.google.com/appserve/mkt/ApI7UWRj6OCZpd.
Based on a review of the products you’re currently submitting, it appears that some of the content in your Merchant Center account, [Vendor Name], will be affected by these policy changes. In particular we found that your products may violate the following policies:
Weapons
When we make this change, Google will disapprove all of the products identified as being in violation of policies. We ask that you make any necessary changes to your feeds and/or site to comply, so that your products can continue to appear on Google Shopping.
To help you through this new set of policies and how to comply with them, we would like to give you some specific suggestions regarding the changes needed to keep your offers running on Google Shopping.
Weapons
As highlighted on our new policy page http://www.google.com/appserve/mkt/ApI7UWRj6OCZpd, in order to comply with the Google Shopping policies you need to comply first with the AdWords policies http://www.google.com/appserve/mkt/StQ08jAzM4fVtG. We do not allow the promotion or sale of weapons and any related products such as ammunitions or accessory kits on Google Shopping. In order to comply with our new policies, please remove any weapon-related products from your data feed and then re-submit your feed in the Merchant Center. For more information on this policy please visit http://www.google.com/appserve/mkt/GbBNIGHOribLzf.
Share the post "Google Shopping Site Blocks Results of Gun-Related Searches"
In today’s economy, Free is good. Here’s a list of older shooting books that can be downloaded for FREE from Google Books. This list, created by German Salazar, includes many classic treatises on marksmanship that still have value for today’s competitive shooters. In addition, we’ve included illustrated firearm histories, such as Townsend Whelen’s fascinating book, The American Rifle, and The Gun and its Development (9th Ed.), by William Wellington Greener.
In the list below, the title link will take you to the Google Books page for each book. You can read the entire book online, or you can download it to your computer as a PDF file* and save it (or print it). You can also create your own Google Library and save the books there for access from any computer.
*To download a book, first click the title from the list above. Then, once you’re at the Google book site, look for the icon that looks like a gear in the upper right-hand corner. Click that and a pull-down menu will appear. Select “Download PDF” from the menu — this will bring up a security question to make sure you are a human. Respond to the security question correctly and your normal download prompt will appear. Choose a location to hold your new e-book, and click “save”.
Share the post "FREE Downloadable Classic Shooting and Firearms Books"
Google has launched an innovative, web-based search function that delivers a wealth of information in data-rich tables. Now when you search you can get more than just a list of websites. Called Google Squared, the new system delivers a collection of search results in a chart (table) format. The chart will contain a variety of different clickable entries, such as article titles, photos, product descriptions, and prices. Google Squared returns a huge amount of information and data from a single search.
While Google Squared can search virtually any topic from Astrophysics to Zoology, we’ve found it can be very useful when researching firearms subjects or searching for shooting products. Shown below are the results of a search for “Spotting Scope”. By default, data is grouped in six columns. However, Google Squared allows you to add other data columns, and Google can even “intelligently” suggest choices for additional columns. In this example, Google suggested Eye Relief, Magnification, Exit Pupil, Lens Coating, and Prism System — all important optical parameters. That’s pretty smart! You can also delete any column of data if it’s not needed.
Google Squared can also be used to research a particular product or do price comparison searches. Shown below are the Google Squared results for “RCBS Chargemaster”:
Google Squared is still in the development stages, but it promises to be a useful tool for veteran web users. Give it a try, and see how it performs for you.
Share the post "New 'Google Squared' Search Delivers Tables of Data"
In today’s economy, Free is good. Here’s a list of older shooting books that can be downloaded for FREE from Google Books. This list, created by German Salazar, includes many classic treatises on marksmanship that still have value for today’s competitive shooters. In addition, we’ve included illustrated firearm histories, such as Townsend Whelen’s fascinating book, The American Rifle, and The Gun and its Development (9th Ed.), by William Wellington Greener.
