Latest news with #SanJoseStateUniversity
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Why There Are So Many Car-Ramming Attacks—and What to Do About It
A tent is erected by police on Water Street in Liverpool after a car collided with pedestrians during the Premier League winners parade on May 26, 2025. Credit - Danny Lawson—A driver on Monday evening plowed a minivan into a sea of hundreds of thousands of soccer fans celebrating Liverpool's victory in the Premier League, injuring more than 45 people, including at least four children. Fans wrapped in red scarves and dressed in the English team's jerseys were at a victory parade the day after the season's end when a grey minivan turned onto the parade route around 6 p.m. local time. The vehicle struck a man, throwing him into the air, then plowed through a larger group of people before coming to a stop, video on social media shows. The crowd reportedly charged the stopped vehicle and smashed its windows, but the driver continued driving through the rest of the crowd. In total, 27 people were taken to the hospital, including two with serious injuries, and 20 others were treated at the scene for minor injuries, according to Dave Kitchin of North West Ambulance Service. Police arrested a 53-year old white British man from the Liverpool area. Police say they do not believe the incident is terrorism-related but asked that people not speculate or share 'distressing content online' while the investigation proceeds. 'Everyone, especially children, should be able to celebrate their heroes without this horror,' British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in a statement from Downing Street. It's the latest major vehicle-ramming incident to happen across the globe. In April, a 30-year-old man sped an SUV down a closed street into a crowd of people attending a Filipino heritage festival in Vancouver, Canada, killing 11. In February, a 24-year-old man killed a mother and her daughter and injured 37 others when he rammed his car into a union rallydemonstration in Munich, Germany. In January, a 42-year-old man drove a pickup truck into a crowd in New Orleans, La., in the early hours of New Year's Day, killing at least 15 in what police called an act of terrorism. In December, at least five people were killed and over 200 injured when a 50-year-old man rammed an SUV into a Christmas market in Magdeburg, eastern Germany. And in November, a 62-year-old man slammed a car into people exercising at a sports complex in Zhuhai, southern China, killing 35. Here's what to know about vehicle-rammings, why they're so dangerous, and what to do in case of an attack. Comprehensive data is limited, but according to a 2019 study from San Jose State University researchers, 70% of vehicle-ramming incidents up to that point had happened in the last five years. In 2016, vehicle-ramming attacks were the most lethal form of attack and accounted for more than half of all terrorism-related deaths that year. A string of high-profile attacks in 2016 and 2017 killed more than 100 people, the deadliest of which happened in Nice, France, on Bastille Day, July 14, 2016, when a man drove a rented truck through a seaside promenade, killing 86. In the past six months alone, there have been 15 vehicle-ramming attacks worldwide, not counting the latest in Liverpool, killing 71 people, according to the National Transportation Security Center. Part of why vehicle-ramming has become a more frequent method of choice for mass-casualty attacks is due to the relative ease in carrying it out. 'This tactic requires little or no training, no specific skillset, and carries a relatively low risk of early detection,' nonprofit global policy think tank Rand said. 'A car, a knife—these are everyday items, often it's very unclear that someone has bad intentions with them until it's too late,' Bart Schuurman, professor of terrorism and political violence at Leiden University, told Euronews in April. In cases of orchestrated terror attacks, using a vehicle lets people get around counter-terrorism efforts that make access to firearms and explosives difficult, Schuurman added. But not all cases are orchestrated by terrorist groups. Some incidents are mental health-related, like in Zhuhai, China, or they are ideologically-affiliated but committed by an individual. It's become a 'quickly adopted' method by right-wing extremists, for example, Schuurman said, such as when a white supremacist killed one and injured 35 people who were protesting against a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville in 2016 and when a 25-year old self-described 'incel,' drove a rental van into a crowd of mainly women in Toronto in 2018, killing 10 people and injuring 16. The diversity in perpetrators and their motivations poses an additional challenge to preventing attacks. A 2018 study on the 'imitative' quality of vehicle rammings found that car-ramming incidents offer a model in terms of 'the act itself, as something that is not merely an expression of an individual or an ideology, but something that has a lure and force all of its own.' 'It subconsciously becomes part of the repertoire of options for people to express their anger in some way and they get exposed to it through the vectors of the media and social media,' sociologist Vincent Miller, who co-authored the study, told DW News. 'The profile of the perpetrator is very hard to define. The main thing they have in common is the act,' he added. A 2021 report by Rand looked into how rental or vehicle-sharing schemes have been used in some attacks, such as was the case in the New Year's Day ramming in New Orleans. It suggested that limited collaboration between industry and law enforcement due to data protection constraints, a lack of industry-wide training when it comes to identifying a potential attacker, and insufficient security procedures during online booking can all make it harder to mitigate an attack. Pauline Paille, a Rand researcher focused on international security, told DW News that certain barriers to vehicle rentals could be implemented to mitigate against such attacks. These include stronger background checks and financial deposits, as well as geofencing—which uses location data to create virtual boundaries for cars—to block smart cars from turning into pedestrianized areas. Paille also said that urban areas could be redesigned to separate roads from footpaths. Vehicle barriers are already commonly used during large-scale outdoor pedestrian events such as festivals or parades as a mitigation strategy. The Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency offers some guidance on how to prevent an attack or what to do if one happens. While the use of a car or other vehicle often means there are fewer indicators of an attack plot, CISA suggests looking out for the following and reporting them to authorities if they seem suspicious, particularly for vehicle rental business workers: Reported theft of large or heavy-duty vehicles Difficulty explaining the planned use of a rented vehicle Nervousness or other suspicious behaviour during a vehicle rental discussion, for example insistence on paying in cash Lack of or refusal to produce required documentation for a vehicle rental Difficulty operating, or apparent lack of familiarity or experience with, a rented vehicle Loitering, parking, or standing in the same area over multiple days with no clear explanation Unexplained use of binoculars, cameras, or recording devices around a certain area In case of a vehicle-ramming attack, pedestrians should: Run away from the vehicle and towards the nearest safe area If you fall, curl into a protected position and try to get up as soon as possible to avoid being trampled Seek cover behind any objects that eliminate the direct line of sight from the vehicle Call 9-1-1 and follow instructions from law enforcement and first responders Organizers of events should: Include clear signage for emergency entry and exit points, first-aid stations, and shelter locations Define the perimeter that requires access control for pedestrians and vehicles Restrict vehicular traffic through pedestrianized areas Use remote parking and shuttle services Use physical barriers like bollards, heavy planters, and barricades, to create standoff distances between large crowds and vehicles Consider positioning heavy vehicles around the perimeter of crowded areas to serve as an additional physical barrier Contact us at letters@
Time Magazine
27-05-2025
- Time Magazine
Car-Ramming Attacks Have Increased Over the Years. Here's Why They're So Hard to Prevent
A driver on Monday evening plowed a minivan into a sea of hundreds of thousands of soccer fans celebrating Liverpool's victory in the Premier League, injuring more than 45 people, including at least four children. Fans wrapped in red scarves and dressed in the English team's jerseys were at a victory parade the day after the season's end when a grey minivan turned onto the parade route around 6 p.m. local time. The vehicle struck a man, throwing him into the air, then plowed through a larger group of people before coming to a stop, video on social media shows. The crowd reportedly charged the stopped vehicle and smashed its windows, but the driver continued driving through the rest of the crowd. In total, 27 people were taken to the hospital, including two with serious injuries, and 20 others were treated at the scene for minor injuries, according to Dave Kitchin of North West Ambulance Service. Police arrested a 53-year old white British man from the Liverpool area. Police say they do not believe the incident is terrorism-related but asked that people not speculate or share 'distressing content online' while the investigation proceeds. 'Everyone, especially children, should be able to celebrate their heroes without this horror,' British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in a statement from Downing Street. It's the latest major vehicle-ramming incident to happen across the globe. In April, a 30-year-old man sped an SUV down a closed street into a crowd of people attending a Filipino heritage festival in Vancouver, Canada, killing 11. In February, a 24-year-old man killed a mother and her daughter and injured 37 others when he rammed his car into a union rallydemonstration in Munich, Germany. In January, a 42-year-old man drove a pickup truck into a crowd in New Orleans, La., in the early hours of New Year's Day, killing at least 15 in what police called an act of terrorism. In December, at least five people were killed and over 200 injured when a 50-year-old man rammed an SUV into a Christmas market in Magdeburg, eastern Germany. And in November, a 62-year-old man slammed a car into people exercising at a sports complex in Zhuhai, southern China, killing 35. Here's what to know about vehicle-rammings, why they're so dangerous, and what to do in case of an attack. Vehicle-ramming attacks on the rise Comprehensive data is limited, but according to a 2019 study from San Jose State University researchers, 70% of vehicle-ramming incidents up to that point had happened in the last five years. In 2016, vehicle-ramming attacks were the most lethal form of attack and accounted for more than half of all terrorism-related deaths that year. A string of high-profile attacks in 2016 and 2017 killed more than 100 people, the deadliest of which happened in Nice, France, on Bastille Day, July 14, 2016, when a man drove a rented truck through a seaside promenade, killing 86. In the past six months alone, there have been 15 vehicle-ramming attacks worldwide, not counting the latest in Liverpool, killing 71 people, according to the National Transportation Security Center. Why it's so hard to prevent these attacks Part of why vehicle-ramming has become a more frequent method of choice for mass-casualty attacks is due to the relative ease in carrying it out. 'This tactic requires little or no training, no specific skillset, and carries a relatively low risk of early detection,' nonprofit global policy think tank Rand said. 'A car, a knife—these are everyday items, often it's very unclear that someone has bad intentions with them until it's too late,' Bart Schuurman, professor of terrorism and political violence at Leiden University, told Euronews in April. In cases of orchestrated terror attacks, using a vehicle lets people get around counter-terrorism efforts that make access to firearms and explosives difficult, Schuurman added. But not all cases are orchestrated by terrorist groups. Some incidents are mental health-related, like in Zhuhai, China, or they are ideologically-affiliated but committed by an individual. It's become a 'quickly adopted' method by right-wing extremists, for example, Schuurman said, such as when a white supremacist killed one and injured 35 people who were protesting against a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville in 2016 and when a 25-year old self-described 'incel,' drove a rental van into a crowd of mainly women in Toronto in 2018, killing 10 people and injuring 16. The diversity in perpetrators and their motivations poses an additional challenge to preventing attacks. A 2018 study on the 'imitative' quality of vehicle rammings found that car-ramming incidents offer a model in terms of 'the act itself, as something that is not merely an expression of an individual or an ideology, but something that has a lure and force all of its own.' 'It subconsciously becomes part of the repertoire of options for people to express their anger in some way and they get exposed to it through the vectors of the media and social media,' sociologist Vincent Miller, who co-authored the study, told DW News. 'The profile of the perpetrator is very hard to define. The main thing they have in common is the act,' he added. A 2021 report by Rand looked into how rental or vehicle-sharing schemes have been used in some attacks, such as was the case in the New Year's Day ramming in New Orleans. It suggested that limited collaboration between industry and law enforcement due to data protection constraints, a lack of industry-wide training when it comes to identifying a potential attacker, and insufficient security procedures during online booking can all make it harder to mitigate an attack. Pauline Paille, a Rand researcher focused on international security, told DW News that certain barriers to vehicle rentals could be implemented to mitigate against such attacks. These include stronger background checks and financial deposits, as well as geofencing—which uses location data to create virtual boundaries for cars—to block smart cars from turning into pedestrianized areas. Paille also said that urban areas could be redesigned to separate roads from footpaths. Vehicle barriers are already commonly used during large-scale outdoor pedestrian events such as festivals or parades as a mitigation strategy. What to do in case of an attack The Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency offers some guidance on how to prevent an attack or what to do if one happens. While the use of a car or other vehicle often means there are fewer indicators of an attack plot, CISA suggests looking out for the following and reporting them to authorities if they seem suspicious, particularly for vehicle rental business workers: Reported theft of large or heavy-duty vehicles Difficulty explaining the planned use of a rented vehicle Nervousness or other suspicious behaviour during a vehicle rental discussion, for example insistence on paying in cash Lack of or refusal to produce required documentation for a vehicle rental Difficulty operating, or apparent lack of familiarity or experience with, a rented vehicle Loitering, parking, or standing in the same area over multiple days with no clear explanation Unexplained use of binoculars, cameras, or recording devices around a certain area In case of a vehicle-ramming attack, pedestrians should: Organizers of events should:
Yahoo
17-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Yosemite's ultra-deep canyon may have been carved in part by a ghost volcano and river, provocative research suggests
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. A provocative new hypothesis suggests that Yosemite Valley was carved by an ancient volcano and a disappearing river, both of which have long since eroded away. Geologists have long debated why Yosemite Valley is so deep, with walls that tower up to 4,000 feet (1,219 meters) above the valley floor. The prevailing explanation is that in the last 10 million years, the Sierra Nevada mountains of California experienced a period of uplift, steepening their slope and causing the rivers to flow more quickly and erode more quickly into the granite around them. But a new study, published April 3 in the journal Geosphere, suggests uplift wasn't the real reason Yosemite exists. Instead, said study co-author Manny Gabet, a geomorphologist at San Jose State University, the landscape of Yosemite and the surrounding Sierras is better explained by a long-vanished river. Millions of years ago, this river would have increased the flow to the modern day Merced River and Tenaya Creek, which would have then had enough power to slice through the Sierras to create Yosemite Valley and nearby Tenaya Canyon. "At some point in time," Gabet told Live Science, "there was a big river here. And now that river is gone." Geologists agree that in the last 2 to 3 million years, Yosemite was under a glacier that helped deepen the valley. But they also believe that this glacier filled a pre-existing deep valley, said Kurt Cuffey, a geologist at the University of California, Berkeley, who was not involved in the new research. "So why did the canyon form in the first place?" Cuffey said. There are a lot of faults on the east side of the Sierra Nevada that likely would have caused the mountains to rise and get steeper, Cuffey told Live Science. But geologists can't say how much higher the mountain range got, or if it was high enough to substantially increase the erosive power of the rivers. It's a controversial topic, he said. Uplift also doesn't explain three odd observations, Cuffey said. The first is that Tenaya Canyon, a steep and treacherous canyon that runs from Tenaya Lake into Yosemite Valley, is way too deep to have been cut by the stream that runs through it today, Tenaya Creek. "It's just a really small river," Gabet said. "You can jump across it. The mystery is, how did this tiny creek cut through thousands of feet of very resistant, very massive granite?" The second mystery is that in California's Central Valley, where the Merced River spills out of Yosemite and creates a fan-shaped layer of sediment it has carried from the mountains, there are huge deposits of volcanic rock that shouldn't be there. "You've got 8 cubic miles [33.3 cubic kilometers] of volcanic sediment deposited in the Central Valley by the Merced River, but you can't find a scrap of these volcanic rocks," in the area around the river, Gabet said. The third mystery has to do with the uneven shape of the valley cut by the Tuolumne River just north of the Merced, Cuffey said. This valley is much larger on one side than the other. It's a relatively subtle point to a non-geologist, but "that needs an explanation," he said. Gabet's hypothesis harkens back to 5 to 10 million years ago, when a chain of volcanoes had buried the northern Sierra Nevada in huge mudflows, creating a gently sloping volcanic plain with only a few mountain peaks poking out of it. These deposits are still seen north of Yosemite, but not in the area around the Merced River. "I realized these volcanic rocks that had been transported by the Merced River must have come from this chain of volcanoes," Gabet said. The peaks of such a volcanic chain would have been drained by a large, now lost river, he said. This river would have flowed from now-vanished volcanic slopes north of where the National Park is today and then gushed into the ancient Merced and Tenaya Creek, enabling them to carve out Yosemite Valley and Tenaya Canyon. RELATED STORIES —Flowing fire? Yosemite's burning waterfall explained —Photos: Take a tour of spectacular Yosemite —Earth's crust is peeling away under California The influence of this river would have made both the Merced and Tenaya Creek much larger than today's relative trickle — so large that they could have cut down the canyons. The drainage patterns from this ghost river would also explain the lopsided topography around the Tuolumne River , Cuffey said. Finally, the river would have carried the volcanic rock now found in the Central Valley down from the northern Sierra Nevada, a journey that is hard to explain otherwise. The river and volcano would have themselves eventually eroded to nothing, so there is no way to check if they ever existed. One of Gabet's students is now working on a project to try to recreate the ancient topography of the Sierra Nevada to better understand how the geology of the mountains evolved and perhaps shed more light on the possibility. "He's got a really interesting thing going," Cuffey said of Gabet. "I really don't know if it's true or not at this point, but it's a great hypothesis that we should think about."
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Lodi Council appoints acting city manager
May 9—James Lindsay told the Lodi City Council on Wednesday night that he was honored and excited to be able to serve the community. The Santa Clara County native was appointed acting city manager by a 4-1 vote, with Vice Mayor Ramon Yepez dissenting, and will start work immediately, staff said in a social media post after Wednesday's meeting. "This is a great opportunity to be able to get to know the community, to be able to work with you all, work with staff and work with the community," Lindsay said. "I'm looking forward to getting to my first day of work." Lindsay recently retired from the City of Saratoga, where he served as city manager for 10 years and its development director for nearly three. After retiring, he moved to El Dorado County and founded the consulting firm Sierra View Partners in Auburn. He earned a bachelor's degree in environmental studies from San Jose State University in 1992, and his career in the public sector began with the City of Milpitas in 2003 as its permit center manager before becoming its planning manager until 2005. He held similar positions with KB Home and the Campbell-based Metropolitan Planning Group until returning to Milpitas in 2007 to serve as its planning and neighborhood services director. In that role, Lindsay said he oversaw the city's growth from a manufacturing community to one of high-density and mixed use as its transportation options improved. Bay Area Rapid Transit completed its progression to the South Bay while Lindsay was in Milpitas, connecting the city of nearly 78,000 residents to the Peninsula and East Bay. Lindsay would then join the City of Saratoga in 2011, which he said was a unique situation. "It was a very financially constrained city, and to be able to operate and serve the community with those constraints was both very challenging and rewarding," he said. "One of the keystones of that work was to be able to work with the governor's finance staff to be able to rectify some property tax equities that helped open up some additional revenue." As an appointed retired annuitant, Lindsay will be earning $140 an hour as acting city manager. City Attorney Katie Lucchessi said his hours cannot exceed 960 in a given year. That equates to $134,400. Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services director Christina Jaromay, who was serving as acting city manager in a temporary role, said she developed a good sense of how Lindsay has been in an administrative role. She said a former Saratoga mayor gave Lindsay "rave reviews," while a local business owner there worked hand-in-hand with him to develop his winery. "So a broad assessment of really great reviews of Mr. Lindsay by a collaboration of leaders," she said. "And (he's) just really involved in the community and wanting to do well in the community." Councilwoman Lisa Craig-Hensley said she appreciated Lindsay's background in community development and finance, as it is of great interest to Lodi's business community. "And you're charmful approach to communication with the city council, understanding to look 90 days out for agendizing things of importance to us, both individually and as a whole," she said. Lindsay takes over for Scott Carney, who was placed on administrative leave last month pending an investigation into financial abuse claims he alleged staff were committing. Carney read a prepared statement during the April 1 council meeting alleging that the city attorney and city clerk edited staff reports without his knowledge or approval. He claimed the pair redacted parts of his approved reports to protect some employees, and that internal reviews of purchasing activity revealed evidence of widespread misuse of city credit cards to purchase personal items. Mayor Cameron Bregman ordered Carney to stop speaking before he could finish his statement, stating the city manager began speaking about ongoing personnel investigations and a non-agendized item. The Brown Act forbids city staff and elected officials from discussing personnel matters that are not placed on an agenda. In a recent social media post, Bregman said he spoke to Carney on the phone prior to publishing the April 1 agenda, offering him the opportunity to make his remarks as a "generic" agenda item. Carney declined the offer, Bregman said. During public comment Wednesday, resident John Slaughterback suggested the city perform a forensic audit into Carney's claims, or form a citizens oversight committee to monitor the process and bring any concerns to the council. "The citizens of Lodi need to feel that this investigation has not been biased in its findings," he said. "The added procedure would give residents more confidence and a credible investigation." Earlier in the meeting, the council unanimously approved a $210,000 contract with the Meyers Nave lawfirm to conduct a forensic audit. Bregman said information related to the investigation would be discussed at the council's May 21 meeting. Yepez did not disclose why he voted against appointing Lindsay Wednesday night, and did not respond to inquires by press time Thursday.
San Francisco Chronicle
08-05-2025
- Politics
- San Francisco Chronicle
California tried to make trans people's lives easier. It unwittingly opened a backdoor to harassment
The first plaintiff in a lawsuit seeking to bar transgender athletes from college sports is someone known only as 'Swimmer A.' Keeping that person's identity anonymous was critical, lawyers argued in the suit, 'because she is currently enrolled at and attending an NCAA institution and reasonably fears retribution' for challenging the rules. Pages later, the lawsuit treats another athlete much differently. It doesn't just identify San Jose State University volleyball player Blaire Fleming by name — who at that point was not publicly out as transgender — it goes into detail about her life, from her injuries to the number of sets she recorded on the volleyball team the previous season (61). Some details, like her bruising 80 mph spikes, appear to be made up out of thin air. This dichotomy between Swimmer A and Fleming got me thinking about who is and who isn't entitled to the protection of anonymity in California. How can mudslingers stay hidden while those with the most to lose have their lives ripped apart in public? It turns out state lawmakers recently stumbled into this question as well, ironically, because of their desire to help transgender people live more authentically. The state in recent years has made it easier for transgender and nonbinary people to change their gender and sex identifier on their official documents. Unfortunately, those efforts appear to have opened a backdoor to harassment. The process for updating identification documents enables virtually anyone to access a trove of information about the person requesting the change. Under the current rules, anyone seeking to update their driver's license and other IDs must obtain a court order. That court record, which contains their home address, former name and gender and new name and gender, is public. While it's possible to seal those records, it's up to individual judges whether to OK such a request. This has given bad actors a state-sponsored tool to identify and out transgender residents. Now, two bills making their way through the California Legislature would make it harder to exploit loopholes like these. SB59 by state Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, would make records regarding a person's change of gender or sex identifier confidential. SB497, also by Wiener, would lock down access to sensitive health data to prevent other states from punishing patients who obtain gender-affirming care or abortion care in California. 'These are just human beings who are just living their lives and trying to be who they are, and there's this slanderous narrative that trans people are all trying to scam their way into women's spaces, and they're faking it and they're predators,' Wiener told me. A description of one of the bills posted by Real Impact, an anti-trans Christian advocacy group, gives away the game: 'The bill also makes sure that records from past petitions are kept private. If someone violates these privacy rules, the person who was harmed can take legal (action).' The group inadvertently acknowledges that forced outing harms its targets, and that Wiener's efforts would provide a mechanism to address those harms. Fleming, the SJSU volleyball player, told the New York Times last month that the ordeal was 'the darkest time' in her life and that she 'felt suicidal' as it was happening. Meanwhile, her teammate, Brooke Slusser, has insisted she was entitled to deeply personal information about Fleming simply by virtue of being on the same team. 'At no point during Brooke's recruitment from the University of Alabama or during the 2023 volleyball season did SJSU or Fleming advise Brooke that Fleming is a male,' Slusser complains in the lawsuit. Yet every day, we operate out in the world among other people whose politics, biases, health conditions and bodies don't match our own. Many people go to college precisely for that exposure. But in our current moment those differences can spell danger for some. President Donald Trump's recent executive orders targeting trans people don't simply deny the existence of transgender and nonbinary people. They insist transgender people have a 'corrosive impact' on society and pose a threat to women; doctors who provide gender-affirming care are guilty of 'chemical and surgical mutilation' and being a military service member who identifies as transgender ' conflicts with a soldier's commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle.' These disturbing characterizations have given Trump's supporters implicit permission to demand to know whether someone around them is transgender. Nonprofits that serve transgender communities, including several based in the Bay Area, are suing the Trump administration over some of those executive orders. Michael Munson, executive director of Forge, a Wisconsin-based nonprofit that serves transgender and nonbinary survivors of violence, said in a recent court declaration 'transgender people reached out in a panicked state asking for support on how they can update their identity documents and asking what harm could be done if they apply for name or gender changes.' During a recent training the group held, Forge leaders noticed something unusual: The vast majority of participants would provide only their first name. Meanwhile, a lawyer testifying in support of Wiener's SB59 drove home how justified those fears can be. After her client, known in court records as M.T., went through the legal process to change her gender and name, the documents appeared publicly online, including her private medical records and contact information. A court initially denied her request to seal the records, but the state Court of Appeal reversed that decision and found that 'whether a transgender person's gender identity conforms with their assigned sex at birth is intimate personal information entitled to protection under the right to privacy.' But for M.T., the damage was already done. She was outed on social media as transgender and subjected to harassing messages. Someone called her employer and revealed her identity there, too. She was fired soon after. Whether those disclosures were made by one person or multiple people, it's impossible to know: They remain anonymous.
