Free Republic

Jim Jordan, Elise Stefanik and Nikki Haley all have something in common, other than a strong affection towards President Trump. The three Republican politicians joined social media app Parler this week, adding their profiles to a site that’s emerged as the new digital stomping ground for anti-Twitter conservatives. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas arrived earlier this month and Rep. Devin Nunes of California started in February, while Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky has been a member since 2018, the year the app launched. “It’s about time y’all joined me on @parler_app,” Paul tweeted on Wednesday. “What’s taking the rest of...

WhatsApp has alleged in new court filings that an Israeli spyware company used US-based servers and was “deeply involved” in carrying out mobile phone hacks of 1,400 WhatsApp users, including senior government officials, journalists, and human rights activists. The new claims about NSO Group allege that the Israeli company bears responsibility in serious human rights violations, including the hacking of more than a dozen Indian journalists and Rwandan dissidents. For years, NSO Group has said that its spyware is purchased by government clients for the purpose of tracking down terrorists and other criminals and that it had no independent knowledge...

Exclusive: Whistleblower’s data suggests millions of tracking requests sent over four-month periodSaudi Arabia appears to be exploiting weaknesses in the global mobile telecoms network to track its citizens as they travel around the US, according to a whistleblower who has shown the Guardian millions of alleged secret tracking requests. Data revealed by the whistleblower, who is seeking to expose vulnerabilities in a global messaging system called SS7, appears to suggest a systematic spying campaign by the kingdom, according to experts. The data suggests that millions of secret tracking requests emanated from Saudi Arabia over a four-month period beginning in November...

As a friend pointed out on Twitter, rasam may cure homesickness and winter blues, but it is no cure for coronavirus. Misinformation on WhatsApp isn’t unique to my family or even my country. The app, which is owned by Facebook, is one of the world’s most popular messaging platforms, particularly in countries where internet infrastructure is sparse and underdeveloped. ...WhatsApp has become conduit for fake cures and conspiracy theories about coronavirus. ... No, cannabis can’t cure coronavirus; no, Zimbabwe doesn’t have any COVID-19 cases yet; no, Chinese people are not converting to Islam because of the outbreak. “Constant sex kills...

For the fourth time in recent weeks we have an upwards revision of the number of Americans injured in the Iranian missile strike at the Al-Asad Air Base in Iraq on January 8th. First the number was 11, then it was 34 and then it was 50. But now the number is 64..... The United States lifting sanctions against a unit of a Chinese company COSCO..... The impeachment trial of President Trump rolling forward on Newsdump Friday with a vote to not call any witnesses.... A woman who figured prominently in the House impeachment inquiry is retiring..... The United States...

The WhatsApp group would eventually lead to formal allegations that Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher fatally stabbed a wounded Islamic State captive in his care and shot civilians in Iraq in 2017. Gallagher, 40, has pleaded not guilty to the charges. A jury of mostly combat Marines will ultimately decide the fate of the 19-year-veteran and Bronze Star recipient charged with murder, attempted murder and conduct prejudicial to good order and discipline for posing with the corpse for photographs. No matter the outcome, the court-martial at Naval Base San Diego has provided a rare view into the insular Navy SEAL...

Jury finds Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher not guilty of war crimes

The FBI released 34 pages of notes, known as “302s,” of its 2016 and 2017 interviews with Bruce Ohr, the DOJ official who met with the British dossier author Christopher Steele and opposition research firm Fusion GPS’s Glen Simpson. Ohr’s wife, Nellie Ohr, worked for Fusion GPS throughout the 2016 presidential campaign, when they were hired by the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Convention. The FBI was sued by the watchdog group Judicial Watch to comply with their requests for access to the notes via Freedom of Information Act. Read the documents below:

President Trump’s adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner used the encrypted messaging service WhatsApp as well as his personal email account to conduct official business, a top House Democrat charged Thursday. The revelation came during a Dec. 19 meeting of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, which released the information in a letter Thursday. Chairman Elijah Cummings wrote to White House counsel Pat Cipollone to tell him that Kushner’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, had confirmed during the meeting that Kushner “continues to use” WhatsApp to conduct White House business.

Facebook’s efforts to crack down on fake news have been focused on its 2 billion-person social network, but a recent spate of news stories from around the world point to a different and possibly more urgent problem - the spread of misinformation on its popular messaging service, WhatsApp. Researchers have found that fake news stories and rumors spread quickly via person-to-person and group messages on the app, using its features in culturally specific ways or taking advantage of third-party workarounds to add extra layers of utility - and creating new avenues of potential abuse in the process. The resulting spread...

See source... there is more photo/embed content than meaningful text.

Users of Instagram and Whatsapp, both of which are owned by the social network, are also reporting trouble accessing the photo sharing and messaging services, respectively. Facebook has not issued a statement on the issues, which began late Monday afternoon.

The Israeli Air Force launched a "wide-scale attack" against Hamas military targets in Gaza on Friday, after an Israeli soldier died after being hit by gunfire from the coastal enclave, according to the Israeli military. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the shooting attack took place Friday during a Palestinian protest along the fence separating Gaza and Israel. It's the first Israeli soldier killed along the Gaza fence since the last war between Israel and Hamas in 2014, the army said. The IDF responded first with tank and artillery fire, killing four people according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health....

European leaders need to bring immigration numbers down, and metadata on smartphones could be just what they need to start sending migrants back. Smartphones have helped tens of thousands of migrants travel to Europe. A phone means you can stay in touch with your family – or with people smugglers. On the road, you can check Facebook groups that warn of border closures, policy changes or scams to watch out for. Advice on how to avoid border police spreads via WhatsApp. Now, governments are using migrants' smartphones to deport them. Across the continent, migrants are being confronted by a booming...

The men, dubbed the Wolf Pack, were found guilty of a lesser charge -- sexual abuse -- which protesters considered too lenient. They are accused of gang raping an 18-year-old woman in 2016 at a bull-running festival. The sentencing also requires the men, who have been in custody since 2016, to pay the woman a total of $61,000 in compensation. One of the men, a police officer for the Spanish Civil Guard, was fined an extra $1,000 for stealing the woman's phone. According to a police report, the gang surrounded the woman in a small alcove, took off her clothes...

Germany on Thursday passed a controversial new law that expands the power of authorities to spy on the content of encrypted message services such as WhatsApp and Skype. Amid the wave of jihadist attacks in Europe, German lawmakers voted in favor of the law designed “to reinforce the effectiveness of criminal procedures”. German investigators will now be able to insert into users’ cellphones and computers spy software (or a “Trojan horse”) to access data in encrypted message services such as popular applications WhatsApp and Skype, including as part of criminal investigations. Up to now, such surveillance tools were not authorized...

Shortened title. Full title: WhatsApp accused of giving terrorists 'a secret place to hide' as it refuses to hand over London attacker's messages Amber Rudd has vowed to “call time” on internet firms who give terrorists “a place to hide” as it emerged security services are powerless to access Westminster attacker Adrian Ajao’s final WhatsApp message. The Home Secretary said it was “completely unacceptable” that Whats App – which is owned by Facebook – was enabling terrorists to communicate “in secret”, knowing the police and security services will not be able to read their encrypted communications. She has summoned WhatsApp,...

European privacy watchdogs warned WhatsApp on Friday over sharing user information with parent company Facebook, and cautioned Yahoo over a 2014 data breach and scanning of customer emails for U.S. intelligence purposes. The popular messaging service's recent change in privacy policy to start sharing users' phone numbers with Facebook - the first policy change since WhatsApp was acquired by Facebook in 2014 - has attracted regulatory scrutiny in Europe. The Italian antitrust watchdog on Friday also announced a separate probe into whether WhatsApp obliged users to agree to sharing personal data with Facebook. (emphasis mine) The European Union's 28 data...

End-to-end encryption vexing to some officials . Facebook says it has begun to offer users the option of securing their messages with end-to-end encryption, a service that soon may allow more than a billion account holders — potentially including jihad and other terror groups — to message one another below the radar of law enforcement surveillance. ... By implementing end-to-end encryption, Facebook aims to give its users a way of communicating over the network’s proprietary Messenger application in a manner intended to make correspondence undecipherable to anyone other than the sender and recipient, a possibility that alarms law enforcement officials....

WASHINGTON — While the Justice Department wages a public fight with Apple over access to a locked iPhone, government officials are privately debating how to resolve a prolonged standoff with another technology company, WhatsApp, over access to its popular instant messaging application, officials and others involved in the case said. No decision has been made, but a court fight with WhatsApp, the world’s largest mobile messaging service, would open a new front in the Obama administration’s dispute with Silicon Valley over encryption, security and privacy. WhatsApp, which is owned by Facebook, allows customers to send messages and make phone calls...