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Biometrics are transforming the way we travel. The technology, which identifies travelers using unique physical traits like fingerprints and faces, is becoming more common at airports in the United States. As a result, time-consuming rituals that once required repeated ID checks — such as bag dropping, security screening and boarding — are getting easier and faster. Some experts believe that this will be the year that biometric use, primarily facial recognition, becomes standard at many airports. The technology offers several advantages: enhanced security, quicker processing of passengers and a more convenient airport experience. It also raises concerns about privacy, ethics...

The leaked documents supposedly discuss spyware developed by I-Soon, a Chinese infosec company, that’s targeting social media platforms, telecommunications companies, and other organizations worldwide. Researchers suspect the operations are orchestrated by the Chinese government. Unknown individuals allegedly leaked a trove of Chinese government documents on GitHub. The documents reveal how China conducts offensive cyber operations with spyware developed by I-Soon, Taiwanese threat intelligence researcher Azaka Sekai claims. While several researchers have analyzed the supposedly leaked documents, no official confirmation of their veracity exists as of the writing of this article. We have reached out to I-Soon but did not receive...

A bill introduced Friday by California Assembly Member Mike Gipson (D) would force insurance companies to provide lawmakers with an annual report highlighting homeowners with guns in their residence. The bill, AB 3067, says: “This bill would require an insurer, by January 1, 2026, to include questions on an application for homeowners’ or renters’ insurance seeking specified information regarding the presence and storage of any firearms kept in the household, accessory structures, or vehicles kept on the property subject to any applicable insurance policy.” It continues: “The bill would require an insurer to annually report this information to the Department...

Late last year, Congress extended Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and, in doing so, secured “the nation’s warrantless surveillance powers” until April 2024. With that month fast approaching, House Republicans have unveiled a new package to reauthorize those same powers, within limits. As the Hill reports, the new package “focus[es] on more reforms at the FBI to address misuse of the powerful spy tool,” but the deal does not include requirements for a warrant, which is “deemed a red line for the intelligence community but nonetheless a top priority for privacy advocates in Congress.” The new...

The House of Representatives have delayed a vote on reforming the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and Section 702. “In order to allow Congress more time to reach consensus on how best to reform FISA and Section 702 while maintaining the integrity of our critical national security programs, the House will consider the reform and reauthorization bill at a later date,” Raj Shah, a spokesman for House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) stated on X. ... “Just as we were winning the debate on requiring warrants for domestic spying in the FISA 702 reauthorization, the Speaker yanked the bill and cancelled...

The Minnesota-based Internet provider U.S. Internet Corp. has a business unit called Securence, which specializes in providing filtered, secure email services to businesses, educational institutions and government agencies worldwide. But until it was notified last week, U.S. Internet was publishing more than a decade’s worth of its internal email — and that of thousands of Securence clients — in plain text out on the Internet and just a click away for anyone with a Web browser. Headquartered in Minnetonka, Minn., U.S. Internet is a regional ISP that provides fiber and wireless Internet service. The ISP’s Securence division bills itself “a...

House conservatives are renewing their call for an end to the warrantless surveillance of Americans as Congress considers reforming Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The short-term extension of the controversial federal government surveillance program expires April 19. "Under no circumstance should the federal government spy on the American people without a warrant! Congress shouldn't waste its time on meaningless FISA 'reform' but work to abolish this unconstitutional abuse of power!" wrote Rep. Matt Rosendale, R-Mont., Monday on X. Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., said this will be a "big week for FISA reform" in Congress. "The FBI has...

Have four retail credit cards serviced by Synchrony Bank. One of the cards (Crate and Barrel) was locked by them yesterday, with a credit balance of almost $700. Called to ask why the lock was put in place. They said that a "fraud" lock was put on. We see no unusual activity on the account and don't use it very often. None of our accounts have a balance owed. In order to remove it they are demanding biometrics. A five-second video recording showing all angles of the face - that will then be fed through an AI program to generate...

The Treasury Department has admitted that it helped law enforcement catch people involved in the Jan. 6 Capitol breach by urging banks to comb through the private transactions of customers using terms like “MAGA” and “Trump” as part of a surveillance scheme intended to fight money launderers but used to hunt Jan. 6-ers.In January, The Epoch Times reported on allegations that the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN)—the U.S. Treasury Department’s financial crime-fighting unit—was accused of engaging in “pervasive financial surveillance” by circulating materials to banks that listed keywords that could be used to flag private financial transactions of potential Jan....

Michigan officials are calling upon state lawmakers to enact a mandatory state registry of all homeschooled children in Michigan. Since December 2023, Michigan state officials — including Attorney General Dana Nessel, the state House and Senate Education Committee chairs, the State Board of Education, and State Superintendent Michael Rice — have criticized homeschooling and called for stricter government regulation and oversight over homeschooled students and their parents. The motivation for these attacks was the arrest in December of two couples in Clinton County for “allegedly abusing and financially profiting from foster and adopted children.” However, instead of focusing on the...

The Biden Administration has admitted to surveilling the private financial transactions of Americans for words including 'MAGA', 'Trump' and 'Kamala' following the January 6 riots. Federal investigators in the Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) instructed banks to comb through records to look for 'extremists'. A letter from the Treasury Department, seen by Fox News, was sent to Senator Tim Scott on Friday which states 'Exchange events' began 'shortly after January 6 under the prior Administration'. It said it 'included terms such as "antifa," "MAGA," "Trump," "Biden," "Kamala," "Schumer," and "Pelosi."' The federal government was specifically 'watching' Trump supporters and...

ITALY -- Italian regulators said they told OpenAI that its ChatGPT artificial intelligence chatbot has violated European Union’s stringent data privacy rules. The country’s data protection authority, known as Garante, said on Monday that it notified San Francisco-based OpenAI of breaches of the EU rules, known as General Data Protection Regulation. The watchdog started investigating ChatGPT last year, when it temporarily banned within Italy the chatbot that can produce text, images and sound in response to users’ questions. Based on the results of its “fact-finding activity,” the watchdog said it “concluded that the available evidence pointed to the existence of...

The disclosure comes amid congressional scrutiny and a Federal Trade Commission crackdown on commercial data brokers. ... The letter by the National Security Agency, obtained by The New York Times, is the latest disclosure to highlight a legal gray zone on privacy ... The National Security Agency buys certain logs related to Americans’ domestic internet activities from commercial data brokers ... Intelligence and law enforcement agencies sometimes purchase potentially sensitive and revealing domestic data from brokers that would require a court order to acquire directly. ... The U.S. government should not be funding and legitimizing a shady industry whose flagrant...

Google's Chrome web browser will soon include a warning that "private" browsing does not prevent users from being tracked, a move that comes months after Google settled a related privacy lawsuit. In December, Google settled a $5 billion privacy lawsuit, which alleged that it spied on people who used Chrome's private browsing — or 'Incognito' — mode. A pre-release version of the browser has been found to include an updated privacy warning that addresses a key piece of evidence in the settled lawsuit — that users "overestimate" the privacy protection features in Chrome. When the change is rolled out, users...

In a news alert, multiple countries are implementing an extensive rollout of new AI cameras designed to automatically detect various violations. This development has raised concerns about the potential misuse of such surveillance systems. Speculations suggest that these AI cameras might be leveraged for enforcing health protocols like mask rules, social distancing, and even vaccine mandates. Explore the implications of this technology in this unfolding scenario.

According to a new bombshell report from Fox News, just shopping at popular sporting goods stores or buying a “MAGA” hat is now enough to get you on a government watch list. On January 17, Fox reported that, following the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot, “Federal investigators asked banks to search and filter customer transactions by using terms like ‘MAGA’ and ‘Trump.’” In addition, the Treasury Department’s Office of Stakeholder Integration and Engagement in the Strategic Operations of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, told financial institutions that purchasing “religious texts” – like the Bible – could be an...

Ohio Republican Congressman Jim Jordan says, "We now know the federal government flagged terms like “MAGA” and “TRUMP,” to financial institutions if Americans completed transactions using those terms. "What was also flagged? If you bought a religious text, like a BIBLE, or shopped at Bass Pro Shop." https://x.com/Jim_Jordan/status/1747718053365010737?s=20 https://x.com/Jim_Jordan/status/1747718064374730900?s=20

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...

While Canada eviscerates the right to free speech and association, some are apparently holding firm on the privacy rights of accused felons to warn homeowners not to post videos of thefts. In Quebec, the police are now warning citizens not to post their doorbell videos of package thieves because they are, in the words of the spokesmen, “presumed innocent.” Notably, these are scenes captured in public and posted by homeowners who had packages stolen from their doorsteps. For critics, it is a continuation of misplaced priorities and policies on crime including the statement of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that “you...

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...