Free Republic

Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) is standing in the way of a bipartisan push to tighten sanctions on the country of Georgia, which lawmakers and advocates say is the best way to stand up for pro-democracy forces and counter Russian, Chinese and Iranian influence in the country. Mullin is blocking passage of the Megobari Act — titled the Mobilizing and Enhancing Georgia’s Options for Building Accountability, Resilience, and Independence Act — bipartisan and bicameral legislation that codifies sanctions against officials in the ruling Georgian Dream party for human rights abuses, corruption, undermining democracy and deepening ties with American adversaries. In a...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Some of the world's best-known hackers unveiled a plan this weekend to offer free software to promote anonymous Web surfing in countries where the Internet is censored, especially China and Middle Eastern nations. An international hacker group calling itself Hactivismo released a program on Saturday called Camera/Shy that allows Internet users to conceal messages inside photos posted on the Web, bypassing most known police monitoring methods. In addition, "Mixter," an internationally known German hacker, said Hactivismo was preparing in coming weeks to launch technology, which if adopted widely could allow anyone to create grassroots, anonymous networks...