Free Republic

The 9th Circuit determined that forcibly mashing a suspect's thumb into his phone to unlock it was akin to fingerprinting him at the police station. JOE LANCASTER | 4.19.2024 12:50 PM As we keep more and more personal data on our phones, iPhone and Android devices now have some of the most advanced encryption technology in existence to keep that information safe from prying eyes. The easiest way around that, of course, is for someone to gain access to your phone. This week, a federal court decided that police officers can make you unlock your phone, even by physically forcing...

"This bill would basically allow the government to institute a spy draft," warns head of the Freedom of the Press Foundation.Tech companies and First Amendment groups are calling attention to a provision in a domestic spying bill that they say would significantly expand the federal government's power to snoop on Americans' digital communications—potentially by forcing employees of private businesses to become informants. The Information Technology Industry Council (ITI), a global trade group that represents major tech companies including Google and Microsoft, is calling for last-minute changes to the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act (RISAA), which could get a final...

@RonWyden As the longest serving member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, I can say with confidence that this bill is the biggest expansion of the government's warrantless surveillance power since the PATRIOT Act. I'm still doing everything in my power to stop it passing the Senate.

A former senior employee at TikTok said he was ordered to send American user data to Beijing-based parent company ByteDance, contradicting TikTok’s public claims of operating independently from China, according to a Fortune report published Monday. Evan Turner, a senior data scientist for TikTok from April to September in 2022, told Fortune that every two weeks TikTok had him email spreadsheets containing millions of American users’ data to ByteDance employees in Beijing, including the users’ names, email addresses, IP addresses, and demographics. Turner said he "literally worked on a project that gave U.S. data to China" even though TikTok had...

@RandPaul .@SpeakerJohnson was incredibly wrong to vote w/ Dems against the 4th amend. when he killed the FISA warrant requirement and wrong to give in to the Dems spending demands. As I see it now, I'm not so sure there's a difference between him being in charge and Dems being in charge.

Representative Anna Paulina Luna has called for a rare procedural move to delay the Senate’s consideration of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Section 702 extension, pushing for a new vote in the House of Representatives. This move comes in the wake of the House’s approval of a bill that further empowers the ‘Deep State’ by allowing it to surveil Americans without a warrant. On Friday, the House cast a vote of 273 to 147 in favor of extending Section 702 of FISA, a provision originally enacted in the aftermath of September 11, 2001. This legislation permits U.S. agencies to...

House Speaker Mike Johnson’s office told Breitbart News exclusively that he intends to remain as Speaker of the House after he cast the deciding vote against ending the deep state’s warrantless surveillance of American citizens on Friday. Johnson, who is now rushing down to Mar-a-Lago to hope former President Donald Trump gives him a lifeline, is facing serious questions as to whether or not he can continue in the position after a string of major policy failures on his watch. Johnson intends to hold a press conference with Trump to unveil a messaging bill meant to stop illegal aliens from...

"I don't trust you."So said Rep Mike Garcia to FBI Director Christopher Wray. Garcia accused Wray of standing relatively silent and passive about "the biggest national security threat" to the U.S. – referring to the southern border — and refused to give "little credence" in the director’s ability to do his job or lead the "brave agents" below him. "I don’t trust you to protect us," Garcia said. "I think because of your inability to lead and also shape the policies and the DOJ and at the White House, we are now in a more precarious position than we were,...

BREAKING: Speaker Mike Johnson just inexcusably voted against the American people and his voters by casting the tie-breaking vote 212-212 to defeat a FISA 702 amendment requiring a warrant to spy on Americans. This is how the Constitution dies. Brought to you by the House GOP.

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) on Wednesday explained his apparent flip-flop on a controversial surveillance law, saying that he now favors limited reforms after receiving a classified briefing. Speaker Johnson was asked by reporters why he changed his opinion on reforming Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), a controversial surveillance law that is meant to target foreign adversaries, but often surveils Americans’ communications without a warrant. Johnson this week came out against a warrant requirement for Section 702 and moved not to allow an amendment that would have barred intelligence and law enforcement agencies from purchasing Americans’ private...

@BasedMikeLee Don’t fall for the hyperbole. The sky is not about to fall. We must not allow for a “clean”reauthorization of FISA 702. We must continue to fight until we can attach a warrant requirement to FISA 702. Get a warrant!

Released between the Godfathers, Francis Ford Coppola's 1974 film was a passion project – and its tale of a surveillance expert disturbed by what he hears hits even harder in 2024. Ever get the feeling you are being watched? How many cameras caught you on your way to work today? How many companies tracked your buying habits on your lunch break? Where is all this information about you going? These may be obviously pertinent questions in the digital age, when 21st-Century technology gives corporations and institutions unprecedented access to our personal information, but they've been the subject of feverish concern...

You might remember FISA warrants from the infamous and disgraceful Russia hoax saga. Well, they’re making headlines again as lawmakers debate bringing back the use of the 702 FISA warrantless searches that came about after 9/11 and during the Patriot Act frenzy and were used and abused against innocent Americans. ... Everyone’s favorite warrantless surveillance tool, FISA Section 702, returns to the US House of Representatives this week and is expected to go to a full House vote on Thursday. Or, it may all fall apart (again) in the House Rules Committee on Tuesday. This week’s congressional action follows an...

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), along with other members of the U.S. intelligence community, are pushing for Congress to expand Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 in order to fight the ongoing fentanyl crisis.According to the Brennan Center of Justice, Section 702, “Authorizes the government to collect the communications of non-Americans located abroad without a warrant from a court. While this surveillance is supposed to target foreigners, it inevitably sweeps in Americans’ private phone calls, emails, and text messages too.” (snip) However, CIA officials believe in its current form, Section 702 limits the intelligence community from...

@BasedMikeLee Just a few weeks ago, the House was ready to pass legislation prohibiting warrantless searches of Americans’ private communications under FISA 702. A few House Republicans then created a fake “national security” distraction and convinced the House to adjourn. Shameful. @RepThomasMassie The U.S. government uses the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to spy on Americans without a warrant. This week, the House will vote to require the Feds to get a warrant to snoop on Americans. Sadly this vote is likely to fail. I will demand a recorded vote & post results.

Concerns about public safety will eventually recede, but Big Brother will still be watching. Did somebody say something about never letting a crisis go to waste? That may well have been on California Gov. Gavin Newsom's mind when he announced the installation of hundreds of surveillance cameras in Oakland to address public concerns about crime. Whether or not robberies and assaults decline because of police monitoring, you can bet those cameras will remain in place long after everybody has forgotten the reason for their existence. Crime Fears Become an Excuse for Surveillance"Building on public safety investments in Oakland and the...

Paul Sperry @paulsperry_ BREAKING: Biden is mandating Americans reentering US give CDC contact tracing info or face "criminal penalties," even though CDC's COVID health emergency expired May 2023

In 2023, Oakland, California was the site of 14,554 motor vehicle thefts, an all-time high for the city. With increases in burglaries and robberies as well, violent and property crimes are higher in Oakland than they have been since the early 1990s.The California city of Oakland has approved a plan to install 480 surveillance cameras equipped with automatic license plate readers in an effort to fight rising crime in the city. Most of the cameras, 290, will be deployed inside the city while the remaining 180 will be placed on freeways. The cameras will provide law enforcement with the ability...

As part of a settlement agreement in a lawsuit alleging unauthorized tracking by the company, Google will erase a vast collection of data encompassing the web-browsing histories of millions of users. The class action lawsuit, initiated in 2020, leveled accusations against Google for purportedly deceiving users regarding Chrome's tracking mechanisms while using the private “Incognito” browsing mode. The lawsuit claimed that Google's promotional materials and privacy statements failed to adequately disclose the extent of data collection, including specifics about the websites visited by users.

A Department of Transportation component slammed the brakes following semi-furious opposition to its proposal for "on demand" law enforcement surveillance of commercial vehicles a year and a half ago. It took another six months to turn over the records after a FOIA lawsuit to compel their release, a day before they were due in court Thursday, with no indication yet from FMCSA when it would release a final rule. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration had internal conversations about those public comments over several months, including via personal email, at the same time it was stalling a Freedom of Information...