Tuesday, March 31, 2026

March 31: Technology: Deepfakes: Increasing recognition if the need to detect them: Youtube has made public a deepfake detection tool for use politicians and journalists," AOL.Com reports, noting that: "As of Tuesday, YouTube, which first rolled out its likeness detection tool in October 2025, will reach out to politicians and journalists on the platform who can then decide if they want to enroll to use the tool, a company spokesperson said. Participants will need to provide a video of themselves along with government identification. YouTube will then notify participants on YouTube Studio of deepfake videos that show a likeness to their appearance. The participants can flag the content and request removal. Users who have not received the invitation to register for the tool can reach out to YouTube directly. The information provided by the participants will not be used to train AI models from Google, which owns YouTube, but will only be used to "power" the detection tool, the spokesperson told NBC News."

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P ASSAGE OF THE DAY: " The rapid development of AI has fueled the creation and widespread adoption of models that have evolved rapidly ...
Monday, March 30, 2026

31 March: David Tamihere: New Zealand: Bulletin: The Supreme Court will tomorrow release its decision on David Tamihere's last attempt to clear his name, 36 years after his double murder conviction, having been found guilty in 1990 of murdering Swedish tourists Urban Höglin, 23, and Heidi Paakkonen, 21, in the Coromandel, in a case that shocked the world, RNZ reports, noting that: "Tamihere appealed to the Supreme Court last year, arguing the Court of Appeal should have quashed his convictions in 2025 when it found there had been a miscarriage of justice. Instead, the appeal court had said the convictions should remain. Tamihere has been out of prison since 2010 but has been on a renewed quest to have his convictions overturned since a prosecution witness, prison informant Roberto Conchie Harris, was found guilty of perjury in relation to the case in 2017."

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PASSAGE OF THE DAY: " In 2024, the Court of Appeal judges said despite the miscarriage of justice, there was enough other evidence that...

Dr. Henry Lee: Nevada: NBC News (Connecticut) reports on the death of this "world-renowned forensic scientist" at age 87: Publisher's Note: I ask, how do you report responsibly about the death of a man whose illustrious career was marred by a judge's ruling that he gave gave false testimony during the trials of two men - Shawn Henning and Ricky Birch - convicted of murder in the 1980s - whose convictions were overturned, who spent 30 years in prison before being released, and who were ultimately paid $25.2 million by the State of Connecticut. I believe that the NBC News Connecticut story and video (well-worth watching) achieved that goal; Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog.

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PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I ask, how do you report responsibly about the death of Dr. Henry Lee whose illustrious career was marred by a judge...

March 30: Neonatal Nurse Lucy Letby: Sarah Knapton (Science Editor of The Telegraph) does an excellent job of explaining why the Letby case bears striking similarities to the case of Susan Nelles - the Canadian nurse I have often written about in the pages of this Blog - who was accused of poisoning babies at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children, in a story headed, "Eminent neonatologist says ‘same flawed statistical methodology’ that led to wrongful accusation of nurse Susan Nelles used in Letby case," noting that: "Dr Bohn, who retired as Chief of the Department of Critical Care Medicine in 2011, said: “The Lucy Letby case has echoes of a similar series of unexplained deaths we had in our hospital while I was there involving infants with congenital heart disease.” As in Letby’s case, shift patterns linked Nelles to the deaths which stopped immediately after she was arrested. However the timing coincided with the hospital placing new restrictions on access to digoxin and bringing in updated care protocols. The case was later thrown out before it reached trial and the nurse awarded an out-of-court settlement of $190,000 after bringing a case of malicious prosecution."

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QUOTE OF THE DAY: " Speaking about Letby’s trial, Dr Bohn added: “They need a statistical expert to give evidence at trials like these....
Sunday, March 29, 2026

Faulty DUI Tests: KFI AM 640 (iHeart Radio) reports that California's faulty DUI tests may have tainted cases for a decade, noting that: "For nearly a decade, California law enforcement agencies relied on flawed urine test kits that may have produced false or inflated alcohol readings in driving under the influence (DUI) and other criminal cases — and authorities say an untold number of convictions could now be in question."…"According to the Los Angeles Times, the California Department of Justice alerted roughly 60 law enforcement agencies and seven district attorney's offices this week that cases in their jurisdictions may have been affected by the faulty tests. The problem traces back to Andwin Scientific, a medical supply company based in Simi Valley, in Ventura County, which supplied urinalysis test kits to the state's forensic lab in Santa Rosa beginning around 2016."

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PASSAGE OF THE DAY: " Attorneys in each flagged case were notified, including the public defender's office. Assistant District Atto...