Free Republic

Russia is expected to renew former National Security Agency contractor and leaker Edward Snowden’s request for extended asylum because ”his life is endangered,” according to a Russian government official. “I see no problem in prolonging the temporary asylum,” Vladimir Volokh, head of an advisory body to Russia’s Federal Migration Service told the Interfax news agency Friday, according to Reuters. ”The circumstances have not changed. As before, Snowden’s life is endangered so the FMS has grounds to extend his status.” Snowden was granted one year of asylum on Aug. 1, 2013 after leaking a cache of classified NSA intelligence documents to reporters, flying out of...

Since 2013, complaints to the Department of Health and Human Services have risen regarding Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act violations. The number of Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) violation complaints received by the Department of Health and Human Services spiraled upward in 2013. Complaints are on a similar high-speed trajectory for 2014, according to analysis by TrueVault. "The number of complaints through May 2014 is up 20.6% over the number received through May in 2013, so we believe that we will continue to see complaints surge through 2014," Morgan Brown, vice president of growth at TrueVault, said...

A NSA spying tool is configured to snoop on an array of privacy programs used by journalists and dissidents, according to an analysis of never-before-seen code leaked by an unknown source.The code, published as part of investigation by two German broadcasters on Thursday, contains tracking specifications for XKeyScore, a powerful NSA program that collects and sorts intercepted data.XKeyScore came to light in documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, but some observers believe the latest information -- which adds greater detail on how the agency monitors people trying to protect their privacy online -- may have not come from...

SHAMELESS sponger Josie Cunningham has admitted she smoked through her pregnancy because her unborn baby isn't the gender that she'd prefer.The glamour model, who had her boob op funded by the taxpayer, said she lit up a ciggie after learning her child was a boy. Despite being fully aware of the harmful side effects that nicotine can have on a vulnerable foetus, Josie has been puffing on 20 fags a day. Ms Cunningham became notorious after publicly announcing she'd have an abortion if it granted her access to the Big Brother house. After an angry outcry from critics, the 23-year-old...

There are fears that a piece of artwork in Cheltenham by the street artist Banksy is to be removed. "Spy Booth", depicting three spies "snooping" on a telephone box appeared on a house in Hewlett Road in April. On Wednesday, a specialist firm - used to remove a piece by the artist in North London - erected scaffolding around the work. The borough council said it "believes" the owner had arranged it due to the "condition of the render". But local street artist Dice67 said there was "no way" the scaffolding was there "to do any work on the walls"....

Today’s educational reform movement ignores the valued American ideals related to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Without fully engaging the American people, the federal government, through the Race to the Top program, coerced states to accept significant changes of which every parent should be aware: the adoption of the Common Core State Standards, expansive high-stakes testing, and unprecedented data-gathering and sharing. As a result, students’ personal freedoms are being violated, and the rights of parents are being infringed. The very creation and adoption of the standards took place in a secretive, non-democratic, and non-representative fashion, so much so...

Current IRS Commissioner John Koskinen will testify this morning at the Ways and Means Committee, as well as on Monday at Oversight, on why he testified in March that the records would be retrievable, only to change course last Friday. Koskinen offered up his opening statement in writing, in part to suggest that e-mail should not be considered an “official record” anyway: In discussing document retention at the IRS, it is important to point out that our email system is not being used as an electronic record keeping system. Furthermore, it should be remembered that not all emails on IRS...

Three senators are doubling down on their call for a sweeping end to the National Security Agency’s “dragnet surveillance.” Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Mark Udall (D-Colo.) pledged on Tuesday to fight against “limited” and “watered down” legislation to reform the spy agency, which they said includes the bill that passed the House last month. “This is clearly not the meaningful reform that Americans have demanded, so we will vigorously oppose this bill in its current form and continue to push for real changes to the law,” they wrote in an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times....

Can the NSA really listen to your iPhone’s microphone even when it is turned OFF? Experts say it is possible - but reveal the trick to beat it Technique known as an 'implant' (requires physical access—Swordmaker) Allows phone to appear switched off - but still operate some communications The NSA could technically listen in to the microphone of an iPhone even if it switched off, experts have revealed. The claim was first made by Edward Snowden during an interview with Brian Williams of NBC Nightly News. Today, experts confirmed the technique was technically possibly - and revealed a way to...

bill that has just passed the California State Senate could effectively make criminals out of many people- just for having sex. The bill, SB 967, would require “affirmative consent” before college-age couples can have sex. This would essentially outlaw sex that is had “while in the heat of passion”. From Breitbart News: SB 967, amended last week by state Sen. Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles), would mandate that college students obtain “an affirmative, unambiguous, and conscious decision by each participant to engage in mutually agreed-upon sexual activity.” ……….. “Obviously, there is a problem,” he said in the report. “SB 967...

San Diego-based Total Communicator Solutions Inc., a leader in mobile brand management, announced today the use of the Gimbal™ context aware and proximity platform integrated with its Spark Compass platform in a pioneering research project in workplace wellness. The project, named Project Boundary , has been conceptualized by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) IDEA Lab and the Office of the National Coordinator. It is a research project undertaken in the spirit of exploring new concepts and ideas in workplace wellness that will benefit the American workplace, and to spark further innovation in this space. “Our project is...

The new director of the National Security Agency on Tuesday acknowledged that the agency uses facial-recognition tools but said the intent is primarily to identify terrorists and help prevent attacks — adding that such technologies are not broadly directed against Americans. “We do not do this on some unilateral basis against U.S. citizens,” said Adm. Michael S. Rogers, in some of his first public remarks since taking the helm of the embattled spy agency two months ago. A year after the first leaks emerged about the scope of NSA surveillance programs, Rogers is seeking to reframe the public debate that...

This is Secretary of State John Kerry’s answer.... “He should man up, come back to the United States. If he has a complaint about what’s wrong with American surveillance, come back here and stand in our system of justice and make his case....” The argument has a specious attractiveness; however, its premises are arbitrary, its logic shaky, and its implications pernicious. ...It is true that some disobedients, such as Henry David Thoreau, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, and Rosa Parks, did not seek to evade punishment. It is also true, however, that they could not possibly have done so, for...

It hardly gets more Orwellian than this. New technology would allow cable companies to peer directly into television watchers’ homes and monitor viewing habits and reactions to product advertisements. The technology would come via the cable box, and at least one lawmaker on Capitol Hill is standing in opposition.

This is why I hate Obamacare. I knew this was coming. This is why I railed against using the IRS to enforce Obamacare. I knew insinuating the IRS into your health care was just the beginning. I knew going to electronic health records was going to send this country down the rabbit hole. And here it is. The federal government is piecing together a sweeping national “biosurveillance” system that will give bureaucrats near real-time access to Americans’ private medical information in the name of national security, according to Twila Brase, a public health nurse and co-founder of the Citizens Council...

Full Title: The slightly disturbing ‘joke’ made by Valerie Jarrett on online privacy in a college commencement speech During her commencement speech at Pomona College, a leading liberal arts institution located in Claremont, California, President Obama’s senior advisor Valerie Jarrett made remarks about the president’s focus on the so-called “pay gap” between men and women (repeating the dubious claim that women make 77% of what men make), Obamacare and other administration agenda items. But it was when Jarrett deviated to talking more generally about political service that she let loose a joke that some might find a bit unsettling (though...

Swear in downtown Brighton near the Imagination Station playground, and there’s a good chance you’ll be getting a ticket. Colin Andersen learned this lesson the hard way. Upset that his friend had been ticketed for skateboarding in downtown Brighton and told to leave, Andersen said he was simply venting when he said, “This is f------ bull----.” The 19-year-old Brighton resident was hanging out with his friends on a sunny April day in a parking lot next to the pavilion and Imagination Station; Andersen said he swore under his breath and no children heard him. However, a Brighton Police Department officer...

First lady Michelle Obama is encouraging students to monitor their older relatives, friends and co-workers for any racially insensitive comments they might make, and to challenge those comments whenever they’re made. The first lady spoke on Friday to graduating high school students in Topeka, Kansas, and in remarks released over the weekend, Obama said students need to police family and friends because federal laws can only go so far in stopping racism. -SNIP- [O]ur laws may no longer separate us based on our skin color, but nothing in the Constitution says we have to eat together in the lunchroom, or...

The touch screens will only accept debit or credit cards, adding to the slow death knell of cash and coins. This all goes along with an overall revamp of McDonald's restaurants worldwide aimed at projecting a modern image as opposed to the old-fashioned golden arches with a slightly creepy (to my taste anyway) clown guy hanging around the french fries.

The U.S. Department of Justice wants new authority to hack and search remote computers during investigations, saying the new rules are needed because of complex criminal schemes sometimes using millions of machines spread across the country. Digital rights groups say the request from the DOJ for authority to search computers outside the district where an investigation is based raises concerns about Internet security and Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures. “By expanding federal law enforcement’s power to secretly exploit ‘zero-day’ vulnerabilities in software and Internet platforms, the proposal threatens to weaken Internet security for all of us,” Nathan...