Farewell to privacy: Lindsay Graham unveils a bill that would make encryption useless | Salon.com

Republican senators on Tuesday introduced the Lawful Access to Encrypted Data (LAED) Act, a bill that if passed would require technology companies to allow law enforcement to access encrypted data in order to carry out their warrants.

"Terrorists and criminals routinely use technology, whether smartphones, apps, or other means, to coordinate and communicate their daily activities," Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said in a statement while introducing the legislation with his Republican colleagues, Sens. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee and Tom Cotton of Arkansas. After claiming that there have been terrorism cases and other incidents involving "serious criminal activity" in which law enforcement was hindered by not being able to access encrypted information, Graham accused technology companies of not honoring court orders.

"My position is clear: After law enforcement obtains the necessary court authorizations, they should be able to retrieve information to assist in their investigations," Graham said in his statement. "Our legislation respects and protects the privacy rights of law-abiding Americans. It also puts the terrorists and criminals on notice that they will no longer be able to hide behind technology to cover their tracks."

"What this legislation would do is essentially require companies to ensure access to encrypted content right there, by decrypting it or through some other mechanisms."

Salon spoke with cybersecurity experts, all of whom agreed that the proposed legislation threatens civil liberties and could have unintended consequences.
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"The problem with that is that it fundamentally doesn't understand how encryption works. You can't create a backdoor just for 'good guys,'" Neema Singh Guliani, Senior Legislative Counsel of the American Civil Liberties Union, told Salon. "Anytime you weaken encryption, you weaken it in terms of the cybersecurity of the system itself and the product itself. The proposal is similar to what we've seen in the past and similar to those past protocols that were also rejected as fundamentally flawed. This similarly doesn't reflect a clear understanding of not only the value of encryption, but how companies would even do what the bill purports to require."

Brian Krebs, a former Washington Post journalist who specializes in covering profit-seeking cybercriminals and runs the website krebsonsecurity.com, had a similar observation.

"I think the factions of government that did want this capability really need to be careful what they wish for," Krebs told Salon. "They want this magical ability with a court order to peer inside of any locked digital box and see what's there. But these kinds of ambitions ***8212; which are not new by the way, certain parts of the government have been pushing for this for decades ***8212; it's just misguided, because any effort along these lines is invariably going to introduce a fair amount of uncertainty and unintended consequences."

He added, "I think you could think of it as asking for the authority to look inside any digitally locked box. In all likelihood, we'll open Pandora's box. That is to say, the same ability, if granted to the authorities, will essentially be used or abused against us by our adversaries, whether they be nation-states, organized crime or others."

Guliani argued that ordinary Americans should be frightened of this potential government overreach, especially those who travel abroad or engage in protest activity at home.

"They should be scared as everybody relies on strong encryption, especially when we're home these days," Guliani said. "If people are relying on the internet and digital communications, you rely on strong encryption to protect you from hackers, especially if you're protesting or are abroad to protect your yourself from the government. Even in the protest we've seen in the U S we've seen activists encourage the use of strong encryption to make sure that people have their privacy."

Andi Wilson Thompson, Senior Policy Analyst at New America's Open Technology Institute, also argued that the proposed legislation is ominous.

"I think it's really dangerous," Thompson explained. "I think that the fact that it's a more comprehensive assault on encryption is really concerning, given the wide variety of statutes that it is trying to amend. And I think that is much more concerning than a lot of things we've seen recently, because of both the time and the way that they're attempting to address this."

Like Krebs, she noted that the government has sought this kind of power for a while.

"The government, especially the Justice Department, have been pushing for this for decades, but especially for the past five years, to have backdoor corruption for law enforcement access," Thompson pointed out. "Every time there was any sort of terrorist attack or public criminal situation where they can say that encryption has prevented access to information because of the encrypted phone or communications or something, every time that happens, they come up with an excuse."

This is silly.

At least when all this hate speech cancel culture **** really gets going we can ban the use of the word ****** and delete 98% of rap music from the world.

You'd think but some silly cracker will come up with an exception. "No - that's history - that's important. We cannot destroy culture". Some ****.

Yo tiktok kids

TikTok caught copying iOS users' clipboard contents, claims it's an anti-spam feature


A hot potato: Video-sharing social network service TikTok was already popular before the lockdowns, and its userbase saw even more growth during the last three months, but developer ByteDance’s policies and alleged ties to the Chinese government have brought controversy. Now, it’s been revealed that the app has been reading the contents of iOS users' clipboards, though it claims this was an anti-spam feature.

As the Telegraph notes, TikTok was one of several applications discovered to be reading users’ clipboards back in March. A couple of developers found popular applications such as AccuWeather, Overstock, AliExpress, Call of Duty Mobile, Patreon, and Google News were all snooping on both Android and iOS. ByteDance told Forbes this was related to the use of an outdated Google advertising SDK that was being replaced.

At the time, TikTok promised it would end the practice within a few weeks, but a new feature in iOS 14 showed the snooping hadn’t stopped. Apple’s latest operating system update doesn’t arrive until the fall, but those with early access got to see how it alerts users if an application is copying and pasting text from their clipboard.

Emojipedia’s Chief Emoji Officer, Jeremy Burge, revealed on Twitter that TikTok was still grabbing the contents of the clipboard every 1 to 3 keystrokes, as shown by iOS 14.

Okay so TikTok is grabbing the contents of my clipboard every 1-3 keystrokes. iOS 14 is snitching on it with the new paste notification pic.twitter.com/OSXP43t5SZ
— Jeremy Burge (@jeremyburge) June 24, 2020

TikTok now says this is “triggered by a feature designed to identify repetitive, spammy behavior.” The company added that it has “already submitted an updated version of the app to the App Store removing the anti-spam feature to eliminate any potential confusion.”

While TikTok might no longer be reading clipboards on iOS, it’s unclear whether the “anti-spam filter” has been removed from the Android version of the app.

Back in February, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman called TikTok “spyware” and “fundamentally parasitic.” His words came soon after the TSA and US Navy banned the app over security concerns.

TikTok caught copying iOS users' clipboard contents, claims it's an anti-spam feature - TechSpot

The mask topic is heated all over.

Police in Kenya killed three people as a crowd of motorcycle taxi drivers gathered to protest the arrest of a colleague for not wearing a coronavirus mask, according to reports Friday.

The BBC quoted a police statement as saying officers shot at the crowd in the small town of Lessos after clashes broke out. The police have ordered the arrest of the officers involved.

Human rights activists for weeks have protested alleged killings by Kenyan police officers while enforcing virus-related restrictions, the Associated Press reported. They also accuse officers of using the measures to extort bribes.

A witness to the shooting, Kenneth Kaunda, told the AP that Lessos residents were tired of police shaking down people for not wearing masks.

14,000,000,000,000 in reparations
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/rob...ican-americans

Robert Johnson's Big Idea: $14 trillion in slavery reparations to African-Americans
The Big Idea is a series that asks top lawmakers and figures to discuss their moonshot — what’s the one proposal, if politics and polls and even price tag were not an issue, they’d implement to change the country for the better?

Robert Johnson, the founder of Black Entertainment Television, says it's time America atones for slavery and systemic racism by paying African-Americans reparations to make them economically equal to white Americans.

Johnson, the first black billionaire in the United States, has put a price tag on the debt America owes to African-Americans at $14 trillion.

BET FOUNDER ROBERT JOHNSON SAYS DEMS TAKING BLACK VOTERS 'FOR GRANTED,' CALLS FOR BLM TO FORM PARTY

"Nobody talks about cash, but black people understand cash," Johnson told Fox News.

Under his proposal, an estimated 40 million African-Americans would get $350,000 in direct cash payments over 30 years (costing the average taxpayer roughly $2,900 a year, according to his office). The $350,000 would signify the wealth disparity between African-Americans and white Americans.

To say this is controversial is an understatement. Some Democratic lawmakers have warmed to the discussion, but often in the form of commissions and other partial measures. A Fox News poll last year found most Americans are opposed to cash reparations. And with the government already spending trillions on coronavirus relief and the national debt pushing past $26 trillion, concerns about the country's fiscal stability would pose an obvious hurdle.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said last year of the idea: "I think we're always a work in progress in this country, but no one currently alive was responsible for that, and I don't think we should be trying to figure out how to compensate for it."

Johnson contends white Americans built generations of wealth on the backs of slave labor, and black people will never be able to catch up in wealth unless they are paid this debt.

"You want a big idea: white America, what would happen if you said, 'please forgive us and accept our apology. And by the way, we think we owe you what was taken from you for over 300 years of slavery, Jim Crow, segregation and denial of economic opportunity and rights," Johnson said.

"I think that would be a huge emotional assuaging of guilt."

Johnson, the founder of RLJ Companies, discussed his reparations proposal at length with Fox News this week. This Q & A has been edited for clarity and brevity:
Black Entertainment Television (BET) founder Robert Johnson says American owes African Americans $14 trillion in reparations. (Photo by Ron Adar/Getty Images)

Black Entertainment Television (BET) founder Robert Johnson says American owes African Americans $14 trillion in reparations. (Photo by Ron Adar/Getty Images)

Q: You’ve put forth a reparations plan that calls for $14 trillion in direct cash payments to descendants from slavery. Why do you think it's important for today's Americans to atone for the sins of the past?

Johnson: America from its inception has been plagued by the evils of slavery, so much so that this country fought a brutal civil war to try to settle the issue. Well, obviously, the issue was not settled after the Civil War. And this country has experienced continual racial violence, segregation and discrimination since that time. And as a country that has espoused ideas about freedom, individual rights, equal treatment under the law, everything in the Declaration of Independence and Constitution, and yet at the same time have this significant division between blacks and whites. Economically, socially, educationally -- all of these things are because America has never come to grips with its original sin of slavery, which has been responsible for most of the disharmony between blacks and whites in this country.

And therefore, I'm proposing that if America can atone for that in the form of cash payments to African-Americans to make them economically equal to white Americans, two things will happen. One, African-Americans will be, in effect, financially equal in a capitalist society and given the opportunity to grow wealth for themselves and their families. And two ... unless you can atone, forgive and then repair in the form of the $14 trillion of cash, which the way I've developed it would make 40 million African-Americans equal in wealth to white Americans, we will live with this problem for generations to come.

BET FOUNDER ROBERT JOHNSON MOCKS CROWDS PULLING DOWN STATUES, CALLS THEM 'BORDERLINE ANARCHISTS'

Q: Your plan calls for $14 trillion to be paid out to descendants of slavery over the course of 30 years. How do you get to that figure?

Johnson: It's simple math. If you look at it this way, the median white American family has about $350,000 of personal net worth. African-Americans have about 10 times less than that. So about, let's say, $30,000 of personal net worth of an African-American family. In order to make everything equal. You have to bring African-Americans equal to white Americans.

And the factors that we use to determine net worth are pretty simple. Your home is your most important asset for most middle-class people. African-Americans are way behind white Americans in homeownership. Income, i.e. salaries, are the next factor in wealth. African-Americans fall behind white Americans significantly in income, savings, investments in stocks and bonds, money to put your kids in school. When you take all these factors, you come up with the fact that the disparity of wealth is something that you need to close. So in order to close that -- to bring 40 million African-Americans, up to $350,000 of wealth. Well, you multiply that number -- $350,000 – times 40 million African-American descendants of slaves. You come out with $14 trillion. That money would be paid out over 30 years.

Q: Would this be a special reparations new tax that would fund this program?

Johnson: Ultimately, it's a debt owed by the taxpayers. And reparations is a debt owed by the nation as a whole because all of the wealth that was taken from slaves. Free labor is a transfer of wealth.

That wealth of slavery found its way throughout the creation of wealth in the United States. I've often said that slaves may have died but the money that they created did not die. Money doesn't die. Money not only circulates; money multiplies. If you gave me a group of the brightest forensic accountants, I would be willing to bet you that I could trace every dollar of wealth in the United States today back to slavery.

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The $350,000 would be paid on average $10,000 to $11,000 per year for the next 30 years to each African-American descendant. Let's assume there are 170 million people who pay taxes in the U.S. If you break it down by days, it comes out to American taxpayers paying about $8 a day in reparations.

Now, anticipating the question, what about poor whites who may not have that money to pay into the reparations program? Well, we could do it like we do other taxes. It could be a progressive tax. So those white Americans with more money would pay more, like the income tax. Those white Americans with less money would pay less. And by the way, African-Americans would also pay tax on this because it's a responsibility of the nation. And we're not exempting African-Americans from paying that tax, even though they are the recipients of the damages, just as if you were to get damages awarded by a court today. The court wouldn't say, well, you have damages coming, you don't have to pay taxes. You have to pay taxes.
Robert L. Johnson, BET Founder, at BET's 25th Anniversary. (File photo by L. Cohen/WireImage for BET Network)

Robert L. Johnson, BET Founder, at BET's 25th Anniversary. (File photo by L. Cohen/WireImage for BET Network)

Q: And how do you envision these direct cash payments being distributed? And how would you determine who is eligible for the payments?

Johnson: The eligibility is any African-American, black American, who is a direct descendant of slaves. So that's fairly simple.

And the definition of who's black. We simply use the slave era definition of black. And back in slavery days ... if you had one drop of blood in you that was black you were determined to be black. You were treated as black. So we'll use that same model.

The money would come out of the taxpayers’ pockets. ... So that money would be transferred in the form of a cash payment to every African-American. It's sort of like Social Security. They send you a check.

Q: There’s been some reparations proposals in Washington. Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., has a bill that would establish a commission to study the impact of slavery and continuing discrimination against African Americans and then make recommendations on reparation proposals. In the House, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, authored the companion legislation. Do you support these efforts? Have you talked to them about these plans?

Johnson: I know about them and I know Sheila Jackson Lee and I know Cory, but no, I have not talked about them. And fundamentally, the reason I haven't talked about them is because they are going nowhere.

There is no need to study reparations or slavery. You can go to Google and you could have within an instant, hundreds of thousands of articles, literature, studies, on reparations and slavery. To me, this is rearranging the deck chairs on a racial titanic. It's not going any place.

REP. RO KHANNA'S BIG IDEA: BRINGING SILICON VALLEY JOBS TO RURAL AMERICA

The Democrats will never, ever vote for any reparations involving cash payments to descendants of slaves. They will never do it. And what they will do is what they have always done, which is paternalistic programs managed by bureaucrats to give support -- somewhat means-tested support -- in the black community. And call it a day. That's it. I guarantee you that's what will happen with this study. Because that's what this government ... is comfortable with: giving money to hopefully well-meaning bureaucrats to supervise money going to help black people.

If you're going to close the wealth gap, there are only two ways to do it. Either you've got to stop white people from getting wealthier, which you’re not going to. Or you got to make black people wealthier.

The only way you are going to do it is if you give them cash. Programs don't do it.

Q: How would you know if this program has been successful? Would you gauge it from an economic standpoint where you see the wealth gap lessen or be closed?

Johnson: You would obviously gauge it by closing the wealth gap. That's fairly simple because what happens when you have wealth, you do the things that white Americans have done from the time they first arrived here. They bought homes. They started businesses. They sent their kids off to college. They saved. They invested. And all of a sudden they accumulated wealth. African-Americans were denied that opportunity.

SEN. JOSH HAWLEY’S BIG IDEA: ALLOW AMERICANS TO SUE BIG TECH FOR SELECTIVE POLITICAL CENSORSHIP

The second part is really up to white Americans. Will white Americans say to themselves, 'we have atoned for an original sin. And not only that, we have made 40 million African-Americans whole for what was done to them through no fault of their own. They were dragged here on ships to be slaves. Not even people. Property. And we took advantage of the labor that they created and used it to build our wealth. Now we're saying we want to atone.'

If white people see this as a way of saying in a huge way, I apologize. I'm sorry. I can assure you there are no more forgiving people on the face of the Earth than African-American people.

Originally Posted by Brasstax

14,000,000,000,000 in reparations
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/rob...ican-americans

lol dumb

but if they all had to relocate to liberia 2, then i'm all for it. no option to stay, that's it, you get your money and you go back to the motherland. bye bye.

or you can shut the **** up already and realize that you are in the greatest nation and you're not really that oppressed at all. in fact, you don't even know what real oppression is, and you're holding yourselves back with your self-defeating culture of holding criminals and dummies with high regards.

Originally Posted by Brasstax

Farewell to privacy: Lindsay Graham unveils a bill that would make encryption useless | Salon.com


This is silly.

You can't create a form of protection that is secure from some people, and insecure to others. It's either all secure... or all insecure.

A backdoor for law enforcement is a backdoor for everyone.

You know it. Lindsay apparently has no clue.
That said - I love how these ****ers act like there is no way to unencrypted data these days. I can't count the number of ciphers and hashes that not that long ago were considered iron-clad and are now considered weak.

small price to pay if they all went back to whatever ****hole wakanda country they came from

Under his proposal, an estimated 40 million African-Americans would get $350,000 in direct cash payments over 30 years (costing the average taxpayer roughly $2,900 a year, according to his office). The $350,000 would signify the wealth disparity between African-Americans and white Americans.

Plenty of white folks are going to want reparations under that math

And all that money goes to the middle east when the hordes of blacks rush the convenience stores to buy md2020, cigarellos, and lucky 7s.

Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Tapatalk

Take it to Vegas and put it all on black

Dems in Orange County, Calif., pass resolution calling for John Wayne Airport to be renamed

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The center of goatse

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0cb7wZVFf4

WHO WANTS WANG?
How about 70 year old wang?



What do you think? Vampire? or

Originally Posted by Brasstax

14,000,000,000,000 in reparations
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/rob...ican-americans

Remember this. No matter what is done it's never good enough. And it doesn't solve racism.

The demands of BLM are impossible. If something like that is tried then every race will come running looking for reparations.

Mississippi state flag: Legislature passes bill to change state flag - CNNPolitics