Free Republic

Republicans on Capitol Hill who have championed the tech industry’s race to dominate artificial intelligence are confronting a growing political obstacle: voters angry over the soaring energy demands and utility costs tied to the data centers. The politics of data centers are still very much in flux, but GOP politicians may be particularly vulnerable to a voter backlash because of their pro-development views and President Donald Trump’s all-in support for AI — including blocking states from setting their own rules. Some are starting to seek distance from the White House. Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis floated new limits on data...

Over a decade ago, Google showed off a pair of smart spectacles called Google Glass, sparking a major ethical debate over wearables being used to covertly film people without their permission. At the time, the outrage was enshrined by the derogatory neologism “glasshole,” meaning a Google Glass wearer who was accused of having little regard for the privacy of those around them. A seeming eternity later, Meta has attempted to revive the idea with its Ray-Ban Meta glasses. While it’s arguably a significant technological leap over Google’s early forays, the debate has seemingly remained the same. Case in point, as...

‘We are building these things so damn fast that by the time they are online and activated, the problems are already built in.’Since returning to office, President Trump has made the advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) a key focal point of his second administration. Just last week, the president signed an executive order launching the “Genesis Mission,” a new “national effort” that seeks to utilize AI to “transform how scientific research is conducted and accelerate the speed of scientific discovery.”“With the Genesis Mission, the Trump Administration intends to dramatically expand the productivity and impact of Federal research and development within...

What’s Actually Happening Most of you already know what’s going on, but just in case you don’t: under the current rules, a government agency has to perform a security audit on DJI. If they don’t complete one by December 23rd, DJI automatically gets placed on the FCC’s Covered List. The truth is, no agency wants to be the one to step forward and take on that responsibility. There’s no incentive. There’s actually political risk. There’s liability. So the most likely scenario is that no audit is going to happen and DJI gets listed by default. It’s an underhanded way to...

OpenAI must produce millions of anonymized chat logs from ChatGPT users in its high-stakes copyright dispute with the New York Times (NYT.N), and other news outlets, a federal judge in Manhattan ruled. U.S. Magistrate Judge Ona Wang in a decision made public on Wednesday said, that the 20 million logs were relevant to the outlets' claims and that handing them over would not risk violating users' privacy. The judge rejected OpenAI's privacy-related objections to an earlier order requiring the artificial intelligence startup to submit the records as evidence. "There are multiple layers of protection in this case precisely because of...

Hours before the sun rose on Dallas police Chief Daniel Comeaux’s first day on the job, an elderly man in a wheelchair was shot dead near Fair Park. Two days later, the new chief stood among a cluster of officers outside the suspected gunman’s home in west Oak Cliff. He was impressed by one tool the investigators had used to arrive there: the network of license plate-reading cameras scattered across the city. “I was like, ‘Alright,’” Comeaux recalled saying, referencing the April case months later in an episode of Bridging the Divide, the Assist the Officer Foundation’s podcast, “‘explain this...

The EU is working at full speed to complete its online surveillance-and-informant network. By the end of the year, all EU member states are required to present so-called “Trusted Flaggers” -- institutions tasked with identifying “problematic” content -- to Brussels for accreditation. Politicians from Germany’s Christian Democratic Union appear especially eager. Hendrik Wüst, CDU politician and Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia, is a child of the current zeitgeist. As the leader of Germany’s most populous state, he views it as his mission not merely to preach the dominant ideology of the CO2-neutral society, but to enforce it rigorously. Together with...

US states including Wisconsin (AB105/SB130) and Michigan are pushing to ban VPNs as part of age verification laws that compromise digital privacy for everyone. This video explains why these bills are technically impossible to implement, threaten journalists and abuse survivors who rely on VPNs, and mirror censorship tactics. America's First VPN Ban: What Comes Next? | 11:34 Techlore | 278K subscribers | 162,920 views | November 18, 2025

If you're running Windows 11, your computer has a TPM Chip Version 2.0. This is one of the requirements to using Windows 11 and of course Windows 10 has been declared as "End-Of-Life". While you think that Windows 11 is an improvement, wait till you find out what this TPM chip is all about. It is such a giant invasion of privacy that I turned mine off. (Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) If you're using Windows 11, your computer has a TPM chip, Trusted Platform Module Version 2. This thing is required now to run Windows...

The Philadelphia Police Department is solving so many homicides and arresting suspects at nearly the same rate as the force was about four decades ago, according to a new report from The Philadelphia Inquirer. Homicide clearance rates have hovered between 86 and 91 percent this year, which is the highest it has since the department reached 95 percent in 1984. Technological advancements, including license plate readers and high-definition surveillance cameras have assisted the department greatly. The tools, along with social media and cell phone location analysis, not only provide more evidence for cases, but also make the crimes get solved...

More details continue to emerge about the collusion between Democrats in Congress and Biden's weaponized DOJ in targeting Trump. =============================================================== Congressional investigators collected a stunning 30 million lines of phone data mapping contacts between conservatives and the Trump White House in the name of investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol breach, a massive dragnet that raises civil liberty concerns about the lack of limits on the ability of lawmakers to snoop on Americans' private phone calls. The mountainous collection of phone records were revealed to the FBI led by Chris Wray in late 2023 by former Rep. Adam Kinzinger, a GOP...

FBI Director Kash Patel has fired agents involved in tracking phone calls of eight Republican senators and a congressman as part of former Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation of President Donald Trump. Communication records belonging to GOP Sens. Lindsey Graham (SC), Marsha Blackburn (TN), Ron Johnson (WI), Josh Hawley (MO), Cynthia Lummis (WY), Bill Hagerty (TN), Dan Sullivan (AK), Tommy Tuberville (AL), and Rep. Mike Kelly (PA) were handed over to Smith’s “Arctic Frost” team after they subpoenaed major phone companies in 2023, Breitbart News reported. That fact was unknown to the public until this week, with Patel saying he...

Soon, the EU may have access to every photo, message and video on your phone or computer. After Germany dropped its long-standing opposition to EU chat control, leading encrypted messenger Signal issued a dire warning about privacy in Europe, with the post going viral. However, now European parties such as the Alternative for Germany (AfD) have joined in the criticism, with the party warning just before the EU Council vote that so-called “chat control” could end privacy entirely in Europe. The protest from the AfD comes after Signal threatened to pull out entirely from Europe if the EU implements its...

The FBI has already terminated employees and abolished the CR-15 squad just one day after it was revealed that several Republicans’ private communications and phone calls had been tracked. FBI Director Kash Patel on Tuesday announced the actions the bureau had taken in response to the revelation of the "baseless monitoring" during the Biden administration and promised more actions to come. "We are cleaning up a diseased temple three decades in the making — identifying the rot, removing those who weaponized law enforcement for political purposes and those who do not meet the standards of this mission while restoring integrity...

We recently uncovered proof that phone records of U.S. lawmakers were seized for political purposes. That abuse of power ends now. Under my leadership, the FBI will deliver truth and accountability, and never again be weaponized against the American people.

“FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino briefed GOP Sens. Lindsey Graham, Josh Hawley, Ron Johnson, Marsha Blackburn and more Monday” EXCLUSIVE: Former Special Counsel Jack Smith was allegedly tracking the private communications and phone calls of nearly a dozen Republican Senators as part of his investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riots, Fox News Digital has learned. A document, reviewed by Fox News Digital, revealed that Smith and his "Arctic Frost" team investigating Jan. 6 were allegedly tracking the phone calls of GOP Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Josh Hawley of...

Republican Senators Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson earlier this year released new records detailing the FBI and DOJ’s sweeping investigation that formed the basis of Jack Smith’s DC case against President Trump.Grassley and Johnson previously blew the lid off another sham investigation orchestrated by Biden’s corrupt Department of Justice and compromised FBI.According to the documents released earlier this year, the FBI and DOJ weaponized their power to target President Trump, former Vice President Mike Pence, and their allies through a probe dubbed “Arctic Frost.”“Operation Arctic Frost” was a taxpayer-funded witch hunt launched in April 2022 that seized government-issued cell phones...

@RupertLowe10 As an MP, I will not comply with Digital ID. I just won't do it, and I hope many millions of British men and women will join me. Send a message to Starmer - share this graphic absolutely everywhere. I will not comply with Digital ID.

Sir Keir Starmer is expected to announce plans for a compulsory UK-wide digital ID scheme in a speech on Friday. The prime minister believes it would help crack down on illegal working and modernise the state, according to senior figures in government. The practicalities of the scheme will be subject to a consultation, which will also look at how to make it work for those without a smartphone or passport. The previous Labour government's attempt to introduce ID cards was ultimately blocked by the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition. But earlier this month, Sir Keir said in an interview he thought the...

Texas has become the latest state to ban trans-identified men from entering women's spaces amid concerns about safety and privacy for women and girls. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 8 into law Monday. The measure, which was approved by the Republican-controlled Texas Senate in a 19-11 vote last month and passed the Republican-controlled Texas House of Representatives in an 86-45 vote, is also known as the Texas Women’s Privacy Act. The votes in both chambers fell largely along party lines, with almost all support coming from Republicans and all opposition coming from Democrats. Two House Democrats joined Republicans...