Free Republic

Superficially at least, there may be a rich irony to Justin Pemberton’s intriguing interactive documentary I Spy With My 5 Eyes. The Canadian-New Zealand coproduction is a chilling cautionary tale about the changing nature of surveillance, making a convincing case that our daily actions are leaving glaring digital footprints that government spy agencies can easily access. I Spy With My 5 Eyes is also interactive — visitors are encouraged to share their views on this controversial topic. So, in essence, aren’t people being asked to go online and share their views about the dangers of sharing too much online?

WASHINGTON — For about $50, you can get a smartphone with a high-definition display, fast data service and, according to security contractors, a secret feature: a backdoor that sends all your text messages to China every 72 hours. Kryptowire, the security firm that discovered the vulnerability, said the Adups software transmitted the full contents of text messages, contact lists, call logs, location information and other data to a Chinese server. The code comes preinstalled on phones and the surveillance is not disclosed to users... Security experts frequently discover vulnerabilities in consumer electronics, but this case is exceptional. It was not...

Moscow — Russian government officials have swapped their iPads for Samsung tablets to ensure tighter security, the telecoms minister told news agencies on Wednesday. Journalists spotted that ministers at a cabinet meeting were no longer using Apple tablets, and minister Nikolai Nikiforov confirmed the changeover "took place not so long ago." He said the ministers' new Samsungs were "specially protected devices that can be used to work with confidential information." "Some of the information at government meetings is confidential in nature and these devices fully meet these demands and have gone through the strictest system of certification." Nikiforov denied that...

Fan Zhang, the owner of Happy Child, a trendy Asian restaurant in downtown Toronto, knows that 170 of his customers went clubbing in November. He knows that 250 went to the gym that month, and that 216 came in from Yorkville, an upscale neighborhood. And he gleans this information without his customers' knowledge, or ever asking them a single question. Mr. Zhang is a client of Turnstyle Solutions Inc., a year-old local company that has placed sensors in about 200 businesses within a 0.7 mile radius in downtown Toronto to track shoppers as they move in the city. The sensors,...

I am sick and tired of this site being taken over by Catholics ( of which I am one ) stories or proverbs. This is a news site not a religion site. Go do that somewhere else. I am not opposed to your prostilazion(sp), just not here. We lose credibility if any religious group dictates or can be quoted from this site. As a long term member of this site I regret posting this information, but the site has been buried in Catholic stuff recently and it should be shunted to some separate page.

LOS ANGELES -- Robert Culp, the actor who teamed with Bill Cosby in the racially groundbreaking TV series "I Spy" and was Bob in the critically acclaimed sex comedy "Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice," died Wednesday after collapsing outside his Hollywood home, his manager said. Culp was 79. Manager Hillard Elkins said the actor was on a walk when he fell. He was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead just before noon. The actor's son was told he died of a heart attack, Elkins said, though police were unsure if the fall was medically related. Los Angeles...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Want to catch a senator napping during a congressional hearing? Or letting a possible racial slur slip out at a campaign rally? Then log on to Internet video-sharing Web sites like YouTube.com -- the latest weapon in U.S. politics where a candidate's missteps can be viewed by hundreds of thousands of people.

Hi everyone.One of the things I have noticed lately is that, at least from where I sit, trolling activity has increased greatly recently. Many relatively new accounts, or older accounts with previously little or no activity, suddenly coming on and posting negative comments about President Reagan, saying they are lifelong Republicans but no more, and a bunch of other things that could be legitimately held beliefs on their part but when taken in aggregate make it clear that there is quite a bit of trolling action going on.I found the following to be quite illuminating. Alexa.com is a website which...