Hidden Ways Big Tech Platforms Suck up Your Data

/1 Comment/in , /by

Big Tech companies such as Facebook, Google, and Amazon collect personal user data from many different sources to create “secret identities” of people in order to understand users’ personality traits, predict purchasing behavior, and ultimately sell these profiles to advertisers and sometimes the government. . .

The largest social media company in the world collects information on its 2.4 billion monthly users even when they are not on the platform by tracking their browsing history, including the news they read, pornography they watch, websites they shop at, and more.

Using a tool called “Off-Facebook Activity,” Facebook users can see all of the external browsing data the platform secretly collects without notifying anyone. Since August 2019, Facebook allows users to see the vast amounts of external data collected about them that previously no one had access to. . .

Google, which is the most visited website in the United States with billions of users worldwide, monetizes its users in two major ways, according to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit digital rights group: It gathers user data to build profiles of people using their interests, location, and demographics to let advertisers target particular groups of people based on those certain traits, and second, it shares some of its data with advertisers directly and requests them to bid on individual ads.

Its second method of making money from users is what most people would consider “selling user data.” Google helps third-party ad placement in a complicated process known as “real-time bidding.” (Read more from “Hidden Ways Big Tech Platforms Suck up Your Data” HERE)

Delete Facebook, Delete Twitter, Follow Restoring Liberty and Joe Miller at gab HERE and MeWe HERE

Donald Trump Endorses COVID Vaccine

/1 Comment/in , /by

President Donald Trump encouraged his followers who are hesitant getting the coronavirus vaccine to go ahead and get the vaccine because it is safe and effective.

“I would recommend it,” Trump said during an interview on Fox News. “And I would recommend it to a lot of people that don’t want to get it and a lot of those people voted for me, frankly. But again, we have our freedoms and we have to live by that and I agree with that also. But it is a great vaccine. It is a safe vaccine and it is something that works.”

Trump made the remarks after Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said on Sunday that it would be huge if Trump came out and encouraged people to take the vaccine. (Read more from “Donald Trump Endorses COVID Vaccine” HERE)

Delete Facebook, Delete Twitter, Follow Restoring Liberty and Joe Miller at gab HERE and MeWe HERE

Soros-Backed DA Cut Plea Deals With Violent Criminals Represented by Campaign Donors

/0 Comments/in , /by

Philadelphia district attorney Larry Krasner cut favorable plea deals with violent criminals represented by the progressive’s campaign donors, city financial records show.

Krasner took office in January 2018 after mounting an unconventional campaign that centered on his history of suing police officers as a civil rights attorney. Just five months later, he reached a plea agreement with two career criminals who murdered a Philadelphia cop, allowing them to avoid the death penalty. Defense attorneys Michael Coard and Daniel Stevenson oversaw the deal after donating a combined $2,700 to Krasner’s 2017 campaign. Coard—who has called police departments “modern versions of colonial-era slave patrols”—also served on Krasner’s transition team and vocally supported the progressive in 2017.

Months later, Krasner reached another controversial plea deal with a career criminal who shot a Philadelphia deli owner with an AK-47 during an armed robbery. Krasner campaign donor Philip Steinberg represented the shooter, who received as little as three-and-a-half years in prison for aggravated assault, a step below the attempted murder charge the DA’s office initially pursued. Krasner’s office also failed to inform the victim of the shooter’s plea hearing, a violation of state law.

Krasner is now facing a contentious reelection battle as local law enforcement groups argue that his “soft on crime” policies have led to a spike in violence. Twenty-twenty marked Philadelphia’s most violent year in three decades, with nearly 500 killed and more than 2,200 shot. The city experienced a rise in killings under Krasner even before destructive riots swept the nation in the wake of George Floyd’s death. Philadelphia saw 353 and 356 homicides in 2018 and 2019, respectively—more than any year since 2007. (Read more from “Soros-Backed DA Cut Plea Deals With Violent Criminals Represented by Campaign Donors” HERE)

Delete Facebook, Delete Twitter, Follow Restoring Liberty and Joe Miller at gab HERE and MeWe HERE

8 Dead After Shootings at Georgia Massage Parlors; Spa Shooting Suspect Had ‘Bad Day’ Before Massacre: Cops

/0 Comments/in , /by

By New York Post. The man charged with murder for a shooting spree at Atlanta-area spas had “a really bad day” and was seeking to “eliminate” a sexual “temptation” prior to killing eight people, a sheriff’s captain in Georgia claimed.

Capt. Jay Baker of the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office made the cryptic remark about Robert Aaron Long during a Wednesday morning press briefing on the series of shootings.

“He has an issue that he considers a sex addiction and sees these locations as something that allows him to go to these places,” said Baker, without elaborating further on what pushed Long, 21, over the edge. “It’s a temptation for him that he wanted to eliminate.”

Baker added: “He was pretty much fed up and kind of at the end of his rope, and yesterday was a really bad day for him, and this is what he did.” (Read more from “Spa Shooting Suspect Had ‘Bad Day’ Before Massacre: Cops” HERE)

___________________________________________________

8 Dead, Suspect in Custody After Shootings at Georgia Massage Parlors

By New York Post. A suspect was busted Tuesday evening for the slayings of eight people in shootings at three massage parlors staffed primarily by Asian women in Atlanta and a suburb, police said.

The suspected gunman, Robert Aaron Long, 21, of Woodstock, Ga., was captured Tuesday night about 150 miles south of Atlanta.

Authorities believe Long opened fire on five people shortly before 5 p.m. in Young’s Asian Massage in Cherokee County, Ga., officials said. Four of the victims of that shooting died, according to the sheriff’s office.

The victims included two Asian women, a Caucasian woman and a Caucasian man, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. (Read more from “8 Dead, Suspect in Custody After Shootings at Georgia Massage Parlors” HERE)

Delete Facebook, Delete Twitter, Follow Restoring Liberty and Joe Miller at gab HERE and MeWe HERE

Judge Inclined to Allow Review of Some Georgia Ballots

/0 Comments/in , /by

A Georgia judge said Monday he is inclined to unseal absentee ballots in Fulton County to allow a government watchdog to investigate allegations of voting fraud in the November 2020 election.

The Atlanta Journal Constitution reported the lawsuit filed in Fulton County Superior Court alleges fraudulent ballots were cast in the 2020 election and other irregularities occurred in the vote count at State Farm Arena in Atlanta.

Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s office investigated the claims and dismissed them. But at a hearing Monday, Henry County Superior Court Judge Brian Amero said he’s inclined to order a review by experts hired by voting-integrity advocate Garland Favorito.

The judge asked for a plan to maintain the security of the ballots, which by state law are under seal with county officials. (Read more from “Judge Inclined to Allow Review of Some Georgia Ballots” HERE)

Delete Facebook, Delete Twitter, Follow Restoring Liberty and Joe Miller at gab HERE and MeWe HERE

President-in-Waiting? Harris Seizes Spotlight With Biden’s Future Uncertain

/0 Comments/in , /by

Vice President Kamala Harris is racing across the nation promoting the coronavirus relief package and stressing the importance of vaccination, giving many voters their first good look at the possible president-in-waiting.

The focus on Ms. Harris is growing with each passing day given that she is a heartbeat away from the presidency — and that heart belongs to a 78-year-old who might not seek a second term. . .

For now, the 56-year-old former U.S. senator and California attorney general mostly serves as President Biden’s stand-in and understudy. . .

“Seems as though VP Harris’ role is still being shaped,” said Christy Setzer, a Democratic strategist. “Some aspects of her job are obvious: casting tiebreaking votes in a 50-50 Senate, leading outreach to women and communities of color on the administration’s policies.

“I suspect Harris will also take on her own meaty piece of the work, as Biden did when he led efforts for the middle class on the Recovery Act,” Ms. Setzer said. (Read more from “President-in-Waiting? Harris Seizes Spotlight With Biden’s Future Uncertain” HERE)

Delete Facebook, Delete Twitter, Follow Restoring Liberty and Joe Miller at gab HERE and MeWe HERE

DHS: Migrant Surge at U.S.-Mexico Border Is Worst in 20 Years

/1 Comment/in , /by

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Tuesday disclosed that the migration surge at the US-Mexico border is likely the worst the situation has been in 20 years.

Mayorkas, who has refused to call the situation a “crisis,” said in a statement that “[w]e are on pace to encounter more individuals on the southwest border than we have in the last 20 years.”

The statement referred to the surge as a “difficult situation,” but said his department is working to handle it “successfully.”

Mayorkas disclosed new information, including that most unaccompanied minors housed in cramped detention camps have family already in the US. (Read more from “DHS: Migrant Surge at U.S.-Mexico Border Is Worst in 20 Years” HERE)

Delete Facebook, Delete Twitter, Follow Restoring Liberty and Joe Miller at gab HERE and MeWe HERE

Disturbing New Bill Proposes Removing Cops Who Express Religious or Conservative Beliefs

/1 Comment/in , , /by

A new bill introduced by California State Assembly Member Ash Kalra in San Jose would prohibit police officers from serving if they have used arbitrarily defined “hate speech” or are affiliated with a “hate group.”

The bill, known as the California Law Enforcement Accountability Reform Act (CLEAR Act), claims to combat “the infiltration of extremists in our law enforcement agencies” and would mandate a background check for all officers who have “exchanged racist and homophobic messages.”

Kalra claims that AB 655 is necessary to prevent “the apparent cooperation, participation, and support of some law enforcement” in the Jan. 6 Capitol breach.

The bill defines hate speech as “as advocating or supporting the denial of constitutional rights of, the genocide of, or violence towards, any group of persons based upon race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, or disability.”

Pacific Justice Institute Senior Staff Attorney Matthew McReynolds said this broad and purposefully arbitrary definition could give way for Christians and conservatives to be classified as “hateful” based on the premise of rejecting abortion or supporting Proposition 8 in California, a same-sex amendment that passed in 2008. (Read more from “Disturbing New Bill Proposes Removing Cops Who Express Religious or Conservative Beliefs” HERE)

Delete Facebook, Delete Twitter, Follow Restoring Liberty and Joe Miller at gab HERE and MeWe HERE

U.S. Govt Indicted Me Because I Make Privacy Tools, Says Crypto-Chat App CEO

/0 Comments/in , /by

The CEO of Sky Global – which sold encryption chat software with customized smartphones – has come out fighting after Uncle Sam charged him with knowingly assisting the international drug smuggling trade.

“The indictment against me personally in the United States is an example of the police and the government trying to vilify anyone who takes a stance against unwarranted surveillance,” Jean-François Eap, of Canadian-based Sky Global, said in a statement following the indictment announced on Friday.

“It seems that it is simply not enough that you have not done anything illegal,” Eap continued. “There is no question that I have been targeted, as Sky Global has been targeted, only because we build tools to protect the fundamental right to privacy. The unfounded allegations of involvement in criminal activity by me and our company are entirely false.”

Those allegations are serious: one count of racketeering conspiracy, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison; and a second count of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances – including heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamine – which also comes with a life-in-prison maximum sentence. The Sky Global website has also been seized.

The US government claimed Eap and a former distributor of the company’s devices, Thomas Herdman, “knowingly and intentionally participated in a criminal enterprise that facilitated the transnational importation and distribution of narcotics through the sale and service of encrypted communications devices.” (Read more from “U.S. Govt Indicted Me Because I Make Privacy Tools, Says Crypto-Chat App CEO” HERE)

Delete Facebook, Delete Twitter, Follow Restoring Liberty and Joe Miller at gab HERE and MeWe HERE

Trump Impeachment Whistleblower: Sue Conservative Media To ‘Deradicalize’ It

/0 Comments/in , /by

Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman (Ret.), a key figure in the first impeachment trial of President Donald Trump, published an op-ed Monday at the Lawfare blog in which he proposed suing conservative media outlets to make them less “radicalized.” . . .

Now, lamenting that he had not responded by suing President Trump over tweets about him, and noting that the First Amendment “gravely” limits what government can do to stop “lies” by the media, Vindman argues that “right-wing media” (alone) should be held accountable through a lawsuit strategy:

Recent events have made the need for accountability more pressing than ever. Should anyone be surprised that viewers of right-wing media are radicalized when media personalities themselves promote radical ideas based on lies?

…

Civil consequences, rather than governmental restrictions on First Amendment rights, could be a meaningful way to take what are fundamentally money-making ventures and demand truth from them, instill rigor in their reporting, and uphold accountability. Like a tabloid being sued and paying severe penalties, media companies and right-wing media personalities will claim that what’s at stake is freedom of speech. But defamation is not covered by the First Amendment, so this is, by definition, not true. And the generous standards in defamation law for purposes of protecting the press offer a true safe haven for good-faith actors even when they err. Putting companies in fear of the real costs in civil damages for slander, libel, and false claims that can cumulatively incite violence and that can individually harm actual human beings should have a restraining effect on their behavior.

(Read more from “Trump Impeachment Whistleblower: Sue Conservative Media To ‘Deradicalize’ It” HERE)

Delete Facebook, Delete Twitter, Follow Restoring Liberty and Joe Miller at gab HERE and MeWe HERE