Free Republic

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention used location data from tens of millions of Americans’ phones to track compliance with lockdown orders and vaccination efforts, according to newly revealed documents. The CDC specifically monitored Americans’ visits to churches and schools, as well as “detailed counts of visits to participating pharmacies for vaccine monitoring,” internal documents from the federal agency obtained by Vice show. The CDC also reportedly tracked peoples’ movement during curfews and visits between neighbors. A controversial “data broker” called SafeGraph initially provided the data to the CDC for free during the outbreak of the pandemic, the documents...

Today, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych promised to reshuffle his government and release protesters from jail. It’s a big step forward for protesters in Kiev who have filled the streets since November 21, when the president’s cabinet announced that it would abandon an agreement to strengthen ties with the European Union, and instead seek closer cooperation with Moscow. The protests have been mostly peaceful, but after violent clashes on Sunday that killed several protesters, something strange happened on Tuesday. A chilling text message showed up on cell phones in Ukraine earlier this week. “Dear Subscriber,” it read, “you are registered as...

The U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee is weighing fresh concerns about the sweeping nature of domestic spying using one controversial section of the Patriot Act. This particular part of that law is notable because it has been divisive for years — and because during those years President Obama has quietly moved from being a Senator skeptical of the provisions to being an enthusiastic spy chief whose Administration embraces them. Last Tuesday the committee met to consider the worries of some members, mostly Democrats, who say the Justice Department has drafted a breathtakingly broad interpretation of Section 215 of the Patriot Act....