Free Republic

A recent study by Consumer Reports, in collaboration with The Markup, has unveiled the extensive scale of data tracking aimed at Facebook users. Some users in the study were tracked by as many as 7,000 companies. A recent study from Consumer Reports engaged 709 volunteers who provided archives of their Facebook user data. Astonishingly, Consumer Reports discovered that 186,892 different companies transmitted data about these users to Facebook. On average, data from each participant was shared by 2,230 companies, with some users’ data being shared by over 7,000 companies. This examination highlighted a lesser-known form of tracking known as server-to-server...

The body charged by President Obama with protecting the civil liberties and privacy of the American people exists in shadows almost as dark as the intelligence agencies it is designed to oversee. The Privacy & Civil Liberties Board (PCLOB) was due to meet Obama at the White House on Friday afternoon at 3pm in the situation room to discuss growing concerns over US surveillance of phone and internet records – or, at least, that´s what unnamed "senior administration officials" said would happen. The meeting did not appear on the president´s official diary issued to journalists, nor has

At an undetermined date, in an undisclosed location, the Biden administration began operating a secretive new court to protect Europeans’ privacy rights under U.S. law. Officially known as the Data Protection Review Court, it was authorized in an October 2022 executive order to fix a collision of European and American law that had been blocking the lucrative flow of consumer data between American and European companies for three years. The court’s eight judges were named last November, including former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder. Its existence has allowed companies to resume the lucrative transatlantic data trade with the blessing of...

The keynote speaker of the World Economic Forum’s 2024 annual conference in Davos was Ursula von der Leyen, European Commission President. She stated the top global risk for the EU is disinformation and misinformation, declaring disinformation destroys trust and limits the ability to “tackle the big global challenges.” In plain English, trust can only be restored by censoring inconvenient facts and evidence. Below is a short clip (1:39) highlighting her disinformation sermon. The top risk in the WEF’s 2024 Global Risk Report is disinformation. If not controlled, societies will be polarized, elections will be disrupted, and there will be mistrust...

On Wednesday, the Republican majority on the House Judiciary Committee revealed even more drastic examples of government surveillance and breaches of privacy in the aftermath of the peaceful protest on January 6th, including the searching of Americans’ private bank transactions. According to Fox News, the Judiciary Committee and the subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government described their latest findings in a letter obtained by Fox. The letter states that investigators ordered banks to search through their customers’ private transactions for key terms such as “MAGA” and “Trump,” while also claiming that the purchasing of “religious texts” were a...

A U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary subcommittee is seeking to question a former official in the U.S. Treasury's financial crimes enforcement office over revelations the agency urged financial institutions to flag customer transactions linked to phrases like "MAGA" and "Trump" as well as purchases of religious texts. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, chair of the House Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, sent a letter Wednesday to Noah Bishoff, the former director of an office in the Treasury's Strategic Operations Division of Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. Requesting a transcribed interview with Bishoff, Jordan stated that the subcommittee obtained documents...

Who watches the watchmen? All of us, if we're smart. In the age of surveillance, that means monitoring how and where the snoops put us under scrutiny. Among the people and organizations doing such important work is the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which recently updated one of its countersurveillance tools. "The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) today unveiled its new Street Level Surveillance hub, a standalone website featuring expanded and updated content on various technologies that law enforcement agencies commonly use to invade Americans' privacy," the group announced January 10. Understanding How We're Being Watched The hub consolidates information about such evolving...

I Bought A Bible, Slingshot, And Sports Gear. So I’m Probably On A ‘Domestic Terrorist’ WatchlistAll-American consumerism by a completely peaceful and law-abiding citizen somehow threatens the people running my own country into the ground.Americans who shopped at sporting goods stores and bought religious books “like a Bible” were flagged through their banks as potential domestic terrorists, Rep. Jim Jordan revealed Jan. 17. The federal government also flagged as potential criminals any transactions that involved the terms “MAGA” or “Trump,” the House Judiciary Committee chairman said. These Americans were tagged as possible “violent extremists” with zero due process or even...

Federal investigators asked banks to search and filter customer transactions by using terms like "MAGA" and "Trump" as part of an investigation into Jan. 6, warning that purchases of "religious texts" could indicate "extremism," the House Judiciary Committee revealed Wednesday. Fox News Digital has learned the committee also obtained documents that indicate officials suggested that banks query transactions with keywords like Dick's Sporting Goods, Cabela's, Bass Pro Shops and more. The House Judiciary Committee and its subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government have been conducting oversight of federal law enforcement’s "receipt of information about American citizens without legal...

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) is requesting a transcribed interview with a former Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) official for allegedly flagging consumer transactions that had the phrases “TRUMP” or “MAGA” in them. On behalf of the Judiciary Committee’s subcommittee on the weaponization of the federal government, Jordan sent a letter requesting testimony to Noah Bishoff, the former director of an office in the Strategic Operations Division of FinCEN, which is part of the Treasury Department. Jordan said the committee had obtained documents showing that FinCEN outlined “typologies” of persons of interest in materials distributed to financial institutions. He said these...

The Biden regime allegedly flagged transactions using terms like “MAGA” and “TRUMP” for financial institutions. This is a direct violation of the US Constitution. Individuals who shopped at stores like Cabela’s, Dick’s Sporting Goods, or purchased religious texts like a Bible, may also have had their transactions flagged. This is a shocking report. The House Weaponization Committee reported on Wednesday night that the Biden regime was targeting Americans who were shopping at Cabela’s and Dick’s and those Americans who may have recently bought a Bigle! We are clearly witnessing the MOST GODLESS ANTI-CHRISTIAN regime in US history! (letter from Jim...

We now know the federal government flagged terms like “MAGA” and“TRUMP,” to financial institutions if Americans completed transactionsusing those terms. What was also flagged? If you bought a religious text, like a BIBLE, orshopped at Bass Pro Shop.

The top U.S. public health agency must disclose information provided by people who experienced problems following COVID-19 vaccination, a federal court has ruled. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is being ordered to produce 7.8 million free-text entries from V-safe, one of its vaccine surveillance systems. Data from the system released under court order in 2022 showed that 25 percent of V-safe participants missed school, work, or other normal activities due to post-vaccination issues, and nearly 8 percent of participants reported seeking medical attention, such as hospitalization after receiving a shot. That data, from boxes checked by...

Civil liberties advocates have long argued that “geofence” search warrants are unconstitutional for their ability to ensnare entirely innocent people who were nearby at the time a crime was committed. But errors in the geofence warrant applications that go before a judge can violate the privacy of vastly more people — in one case almost two miles away. Attorneys at the ACLU of Northern California found what they called an “alarming error” in a geofence warrant application that “resulted in a warrant stretching nearly two miles across San Francisco.” The error, likely caused by a typo, allowed the requesting law...

Attorneys at the ACLU of Northern California found what they called an “alarming error” in a geofence warrant application that “resulted in a warrant stretching nearly two miles across San Francisco.” The error, likely caused by a typo, allowed the requesting law enforcement agency to capture information on anyone who entered the stretch of San Francisco erroneously marked on the search warrant. “Many private homes were also captured in the massive sweep,” wrote Jake Snow, ACLU staff attorney, in a blog post about the findings. It’s not known which law enforcement agency requested the nearly two-mile-long geofence warrant, or for...

The 2021 National Defense Authorization Act created the Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) reporting rule to ostensibly target money laundering. Beginning January 1, 2024, the Act mandates U.S. companies, regardless of size, to register their beneficial and controlling owners with the Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). FinCEN claims the corporate ownership database will be used exclusively to identify anonymous shell companies involved in money laundering and terrorist activities. Once again, like the Patriot Act, it grants surveillance powers violating the Constitution. There is no provision for judicial oversight to protect individual rights as if that ever mattered. Reporting requirements apply...

"U.S. intelligence officials have determined that the Chinese spy balloon that flew across the U.S. this year used an American internet service provider to communicate, according to two current and one former U.S. official familiar with the assessment." "The balloon connected to a U.S.-based company, according to the assessment, to send and receive communications from China, primarily related to its navigation. Officials familiar with assessment said it found that the connection allowed the balloon to send burst transmissions, or high-bandwidth collections of data over short periods of time." More at link

Rite Aid is banned for five years from using AI facial recognition surveillance technology in hundreds of stores nationwide. The FTC Tuesday ordered the ban because that system falsely tagged people as shoplifters, disproportionately impacting people of color and women. Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo Dec. 20 (UPI) -- A Federal Trade Commission order Tuesday banned Rite Aid from using artificial intelligence facial recognition surveillance technology for five years because it falsely tagged women and people of color as shoplifters. "Rite Aid's reckless use of facial surveillance systems left its customers facing humiliation and other harms, and its...

LANSING, Mich. (WILX) - Smart TVs are a real bargain these days and prices keep dropping. Despite TV’s getting better with more functionality, brighter pictures, and more features, prices for some TVs have dropped thousands of dollars in the past few years. Why? The reason is also the answer to the question “are smart TVs spying on us?” In a manner of speaking, smart TVs do watch us while we watch TV. But not how you might think. Most TVs do not have cameras with the exception of many SAMSUNG models but even those sets aren’t actually watching you through...

“There’s a scene at the beginning of The Bourne Identity where the film’s protagonist is sitting in a diner, trying to figure out who he is and why he has a bunch of passports and a gun stashed in a safety deposit box. Bourne also notices that he, well, notices things that other people don’t. “ ”That superhuman ability to observe his surroundings and make detailed assessments about his environment? It’s not just a trait of top secret operatives; it’s a skill known as situational awareness, and you can possess it too. “”As the names implies, situational awareness is simply...