If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. In 2020, as the reaction to the Covid pandemic tightened its global grip, the administration of Minnesota’s Democratic Governor, Tim Walz, controversially initiated a hotline encouraging citizens to report non-compliant neighbors, opening a Pandora’s box of surveillance reminiscent of dystopian literature. This move has once again sparked discussion about Walz, following his newly-minted status as the running mate for Vice President Kamala Harris in the imminent 2024 presidential election. Serving a dual purpose, the hotline — referred to by critics as the Covid snitch line — enabled thousands of Minnesotans to both voice their concerns about perceived health risks and expose those allegedly flouting the restrictive coronavirus-sensitive rules revolving around gatherings and social activities. https://video.reclaimthenet.org/articles/walz-9.mp4 Referred to by some as “the Office of Public Safety Stay At Home Hotline,” the service became a platform for callers to report everything from religious congregation activities to outdoor sports events. The line even reportedly recorded concerns about a local church’s activities potentially violating the mandated rules. Complaints received via the hotline were varied in nature. Anything from unmasked shopping for nonessential items to unsanctioned social gatherings was fair game, echoing mistrust amongst friends and neighbors in the wake of the controversial crackdown. If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The post Walz’s 2020 Covid Snitch Hotline Sparks Debate Amid VP Bid appeared first on Reclaim The Net.

If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The Russian government is intensifying its drive to expand the use of biometric technologies across the nation. This push comes amid growing fears over personal data security, highlighted by a surge in data breaches in recent years. In 2023 alone, RBC, a Russian research agency, reported that data breaches at Russian financial institutions escalated 3.2 times compared to 2022, with about 170 million personal records compromised. Despite these security challenges, the Russian state has placed a significant focus on biometrics. In 2018, authorities established the Unified Biometric System (UBS), a pivotal element in Russia’s digital infrastructure which was later designated as a state information system. Maksut Shadayev, Russia’s minister of digital development, noted that biometric data submissions have been noteworthy, with figures continuously climbing. As of now, approximately 18 million Russians have comprehensive biometric profiles, with 70 million having submitted some form of biometric data to various state or private institutions, according to Riddle Russia. However, many Russians are hesitant to embrace this technology. Concerns stem from not only frequent data leaks but also from a general lack of understanding of biometric technologies, which have been evolving in Russia for over a decade. Furthermore, a notable event in September 2023 saw a large number of citizens submitting petitions to halt further biometric data collection following widespread rumors about invasive data capture methods via ATMs and smartphones. Related: Australia’s Digital ID Push Is Undermined by Data Leak Disaster The historical trajectory of biometric data collection in Russia reflects a broad and deep integration of such technologies in everyday transactions and interactions. Internationally, the government is also extending the reach of these technologies to Russians living abroad, enabling them to access financial services through biometric registration. Amid these developments, privacy experts and concerned citizens argue for greater scrutiny and a reconsideration of the data collection process. If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The post Russia’s Biometric Boom Faces Rising Data Security Fears appeared first on Reclaim The Net.

If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. Evidence keeps piling up that the use of the terms “misinformation” and “disinformation” has become the ultimate tactic to manipulate and censor people and content, invalidate legitimate arguments, and control the narratives. Matt Orfalea writes about the case of Joe Biden, and the effort his team put into trying to convince voters that any (as it turned out, completely legitimate) talk about the president’s mental decline was “disinformation.” Related: Biden’s New Frontier: Targeting “Misinformation” Around The World  A Zoom call between three members of that team has now surfaced, dating to the 2020 campaign, when questions were already being asked about the state of health of then-candidate Biden. And according to them – the manipulative methods that they discuss, designed to dispel those concerns – supposedly resulted in Biden receiving 200,000 more votes than he would have. Biden-Harris digital director Rob Flaherty, Biden’s Rapid Response Director Becca Rinkevich (after the election, the White House Deputy Director of Digital Strategy), and DNC Counter-Disinformation Program creator and lead analyst Tim Durigan were on the call when they spoke about how to counter “misinformation” regarding Biden’s health and other issues. Flaherty, who is now Deputy Campaign Manager for Kamala Harris, is considered a key figure in the censorship efforts of the Biden administration during the past four years and is known for trying to influence social media like Facebook to silence Covid vaccine skeptics, including journalist Tucker Carlson. At one point, Orfalea writes, he even refused to define “misinformation” while under oath. However, Flaherty was more than comfortable talking about it during the video call, and pinpointing what “misinformation narratives” would be – for example, people discussing Biden’s corruption record, or the state of his mental fitness, among other similarly damaging topics to the then-candidate. It proceeds from this that the definition of “misinformation” would be – “anything that the Biden team found inconvenient,” Orfalea notes. Rinkevich agreed that discussing Biden’s mental decline was to be treated as “disinformation.” And, ironically, even though legacy media – searching for any explanation for the outcome of the 2016 ballot, other than the will of the voters – mercilessly criticized Facebook and Cambridge Analytica, the Biden campaign team embraced Cambridge Analytica’s “psychographic targeting.” “We targeted folks based on online behavioral cues, building out personas, based on the type of content they were consuming, what they were searching, the kinds of websites they were visiting so that we could target folks in real-time as they were exposed to that disinformation,” said Rinkevich. Then there’s “true misinformation” (what would be the opposite of that, one wonders). Tim Durigan didn’t, instead concurring that “true misinformation” was “a huge problem.” Writes Orfalea: “(Durigan) wants social media to suppress ‘true misinformation’ to promote ‘authoritative’ news sources like NYT. Big Tech’s done that since ’18, but apparently not enough for Durigan.” Get the full post here. If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The post How the Biden Campaign Redefined Misinformation to Control the Online Narrative appeared first on Reclaim The Net.

If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. Sign Up To Keep Reading This post is for Reclaim The Net supporters. Gain access to the entire archive of features and supporters-only content. Help protect free speech, freedom from surveillance, and digital civil liberties. Join Already a supporter? Login here If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The post An Open-Source, Self-Hosted App for Archiving, Syncing, and Sharing Bookmarks, Links, and Web Content appeared first on Reclaim The Net.

A police officer was injured while serving a warrant against a man accused of child sex abuse when he opened fire on deputies, Texas police said. The suspect was later found dead after a standoff, but authorities are unsure whether he shot himself or was shot by police. 'The miraculous thing is it missed everything, every vital organ.' Tarrant County Sheriff Bill Waybourn said three deputies were serving three warrants on Wednesday on a 40-year-old suspect at his home in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The man was wanted on charges of sexual assault of a child, indecency with a child, and unlawful restraint of someone younger than 17. As deputies approached the home on Elinor Street, the man fired at them, striking one deputy three times. The man barricaded himself in the home and began a standoff against law enforcement authorities, including a SWAT team that was called in. They later found that he died from a gunshot wound. "We have a Tarrant County sheriff’s deputy who’s been injured because of a violent, sick, twisted criminal, someone who wanted to try and take out some officers today, but thankfully he wasn’t successful," said Fort Worth Police Chief Neil Noakes. The deputy was rushed to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries and was released to his home. He was later identified as Deputy Todd Tipton and is said to be in good spirits. "We don’t know what caliber the weapon is," added Waybourn. "But in the back of the neck and the arm and the back. The miraculous thing is it missed everything, every vital organ."Neighbors to the deceased man said they had seen police at his home previously. KDFW-TV published video from the scene on its report on YouTube. Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Ohio Senator JD Vance (R) responded to CNN host Brianna Keilar's statements she made on-air on Thursday about his criticisms against fellow vice presidential candidate Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (D) for misrepresenting his military service.Unlike Walz, Vance deployed to Iraq while he was in the Marine Corps. Vance, and other members of Walz's National Guard unit, have said he abandoned his troops when he retired from the military as they were getting ready to be deployed to Iraq. Walz had publicly indicated he was going to deploy with his men.'When I got the call to go to Iraq, I went.' “I also think that JD Vance as a messenger on this may be an imperfect messenger because we have, as you introduced him, a combat correspondent, which was what his title was. But if you dig a little deeper into that, he was a public affairs specialist, someone who did not see combat, which certainly the title, combat correspondent, kind of gives you a different impression. So he may be the imperfect messenger on that," Keilar said.Keilar's statement received quick condemnation from Donald Trump's presidential campaign. — (@) "Brianna this is disgusting, and you and your entire network should be ashamed of yourselves. When I got the call to go to Iraq, I went. Tim Walz said he carried a gun in a war. Did he? No. It was a lie," Vance said in response to the CNN host. — (@) Walz has also allegedly misrepresented his service by claiming to have "carried a weapon of war in war" even though he had never deployed to a combat zone during his 24-year career in the National Guard. Veterans who have served in Afghanistan have also taken issue with Walz labeling himself as a veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom. One Afghanistan veteran went to then-Congressman Walz's office in Minnesota to bring it up with his staffers. Despite their agreement the label could be misleading to civilians and something would be done about it, nothing was done to make Walz's service more clear.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

This is just the fifth woolly rhino ever discovered with its soft tissues still preserved. The post Miners In Siberia Just Found A Woolly Rhino Mummy With Its Soft Tissues And Horn Still Intact appeared first on All That's Interesting.

He should be commended for his long time in the National Guard, but it is legitimate to examine the timing of his retirement and his misleading statements.

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