Latest news with #governmentSurveillance
Fox News
30-06-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
JASON CHAFFETZ: Ten sneaky ways the deep state steals your data and how Trump can help you stop it
PROGRAMMING ALERT: Watch author Jason Chaffetz discuss this topic and more on Fox News Channel's "Hannity" at 9 pm ET. Imagine a world where every text you send, every purchase you make, and every mile you drive is quietly logged and analyzed by a government that never asked for permission. That world isn't hypothetical; it's here. In fact, it's the Obama-Biden legacy. Their administrations allowed executive branch agencies to use our data to manipulate elections and silence opposing voices. This shadow threat remains, ready for any partisan hand to seize. President Donald Trump's push to streamline agency data for efficiency offers hope but will need transparency and oversight. This blueprint for tyranny didn't end with President Joe Biden. Below are ten chilling ways they're harvesting your data, exposed in my new book, "They're Coming for You," (Broadside Books, July 1) with steps to fight back. 1. Buying Your Data from Brokers. What the government can't legally collect, it often buys. The feds skirt laws by purchasing your location history and shopping habits from data brokers. Apps you trust sell your every move, turning your life into a deep state cash cow. We can stop it by requiring agencies to obtain a warrant to access this data. Legislation like the Fourth Amendment is Not for Sale Act can close this data broker loophole. 2. Social Media Surveillance. Barack Obama and Joe Biden's allies coerced Facebook and Twitter to bury patriots' posts, flagging 'wrongthink' to silence dissent. "They're Coming for You" demands transparency, oversight, and whistleblower/FOIA reforms to expose this deep state grip. If we enforce these fixes, you can reclaim your free speech. 3. Cell-Site Simulators. While serving in Congress, I saw Stingrays—federal tools mimicking cell towers—suck up innocent phone data without warrants from agencies such as the IRS. I pushed a 2017 bill to stop this. A 2023 Cell-Site Simulator Warrant Act also stalled. We need to revive federal legislation to crush this deep state overreach. 4. Facial Recognition Databases. Agencies raid DMV and social media photos to spy on you, targeting protesters with impunity. Demand Congress ban this un-American snooping. 5. Financial Transactions. With Obama and Biden, the IRS and DOJ could rifle through your bank records, while the CDC bought phone data to enforce lockdowns. Insist on warrant requirements and strict oversight to expose this deep state plunder. 6. Health Records. Your vaccine status and medical history are fair game for bureaucrats to punish non-compliance. Back federal privacy laws and sweeping reforms to shield health data. Urge Congress to pass legislation and stop this deep state intrusion. 7. Internet Metadata. The NSA can track your emails and searches without cause, mapping your life. Support legislation like the Fourth Amendment is Not for Sale Act to end this intrusion. 8. AI and Machine Learning. Biden's AI tools flagged conservatives for suppression, predicting dissent. We should seek to dismantle these partisan algorithms. We need greatear transparency and oversight to curb this deep state bias. We need to push systemic reforms, ensuring accountability and stopping partisan algorithms from silencing patriots. 9. Mail Surveillance. Law enforcement has far too often peeked at your mail with no vetting—pure overreach. Call for public audits to expose this hidden violation. 10. Partnerships with NGOs and Corporations. NGOs and woke corporations launder data for the deep state, blacklisting patriots. Rally behind Trump to sever these unholy alliances. The Obama - Biden data tyranny—manipulating elections, debanking opposition voices, and muzzling speech—casts a deep state shadow. Trump's executive order to eradicate information silos and enhance data collection across agencies seeks efficiency and taxpayer savings, is a noble aim I support. Yet, the administration's lack of transparency fuels distrust, risking a tool for partisan bureaucrats or future leaders to exploit. Without full disclosure, robust safeguards, ironclad legal protections, and vigilant oversight, this system could revive Obama and Biden's abuses. We need to work to mandate transparency reports, enforce strict data limits, and champion the Fourth Amendment is Not for Sale Act. Trump has already begun to undo the Obama -Biden's legacy but only with these measures can we ensure data serves freedom, not tyranny.
The Independent
27-06-2025
- Business
- The Independent
Has Big Brother arrived? Trump's secret effort to gather government data on millions
The Trump administration is reportedly leaning on an Elon Musk-allied tech company to build wide-ranging data tools pooling government information on millions of Americans and immigrants alike. The campaign has raised alarms from critics that the company could be furthering Musk's DOGE effort to vacuum up and potentially weaponize – or sell – mass amounts of sensitive personal data, particularly against vulnerable groups like immigrants and political dissidents. In March, the president signed an executive order dedicated to 'stopping waste, fraud, and abuse by eliminating information silos,' a euphemism for pooling vast stores of data on Americans under the federal government. To carry out the data effort, the administration has deepened the federal government's longstanding partnership with Palantir, a tech firm specializing in building big data applications, which was co-founded by Silicon Valley investor, GOP donor, and JD Vance mentor Peter Thiel. Since Trump took office, the administration has reportedly spent more than $113 million with Palantir through new and existing contracts, while the company is slated to begin work on a new $795 million deal with the Defense Department. DOGE has reportedly sought to centralize data at key agencies (Getty Images) Palantir is reportedly working with the administration in the Pentagon, the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the Internal Revenue Service, according to The New York Times . Within these agencies, the firm is reportedly building tools to track the movement of migrants in real time and streamline all tax data. The company is also reportedly in talks about deploying its technology at the Social Security Administration and the Department of Education, both of which have been targets of DOGE, and which store sensitive information about Americans' identities and finances. 'We act as a data processor, not a data controller,' the company insisted in response to the Times report. 'Our software and services are used under direction from the organizations that license our products. These organizations define what can and cannot be done with their data; they control the Palantir accounts in which analysis is conducted.' Elon Musk announces exit from Trump's government The Trump administration has reportedly pursued a variety of efforts to use big data to support its priorities, including social media surveillance of immigrants to detect alleged pro-terror views, and American activists who disagree wit Donal Trump's views.. Earlier this month, a group of former Palantir employees warned in an open letter that the company was 'normalizing authoritarianism under the guise of a 'revolution' led by oligarchs.' 'By supporting Trump's administration, Elon Musk's DOGE initiative, and dangerous expansions of executive power, they have abandoned their responsibility and are in violation of Palantir's Code of Conduct,' the employees wrote. Previous reporting from CNN and WIRED has described efforts at the Department of Homeland Security to build mass data tools to support tracking and surveilling undocumented immigrants, a key priority for the White House as deportations still aren't reaching levels necessary to meet Trump's promise of rapidly removing millions of people from the country. The effort has involved merging data from outside agencies like Social Security and the IRS, according to WIRED . 'They are trying to amass a huge amount of data,' a senior DHS official told the magazine. 'It has nothing to do with finding fraud or wasteful spending … They are already cross-referencing immigration with SSA and IRS, as well as voter data.' Since Trump took office, DOGE operatives, many of whom are unknown to the public nor have been vetted, have rapidly sought access to data at key agencies, including the Departments of Education and the Treasury, as well as the Social Security Administration, often over the objections of senior staff. DOGE efforts to access data at agencies like the Treasury have prompted pushback from staff and lawsuits (Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved) The efforts have prompted scores of lawsuits against DOGE. At Social Security, the administration also moved thousands of living, mostly Latino undocumented immigrants into the agency's 'Death Master File' in an attempt to pressure them to leave the country. DOGE itself is reportedly under audit for its action by the Government Accountability Office, a federal watchdog. An April letter from Democrats on the House Oversight Committee warned of DOGE's 'extreme negligence and an alarmingly cavalier attitude' toward sensitive data. It claimed a whistleblower had described how 'DOGE engineers have tried to create specialized computers for themselves that simultaneously give full access to networks and databases across different agencies.' The 'whistleblower information obtained by the Committee, combined with public reporting, paints a picture of chaos at SSA [Social Security Administration] as DOGE is rapidly, haphazardly, and unlawfully working to implement changes that could disrupt Social Security payments and expose Americans' sensitive data,' the letter reads.'
The Independent
11-06-2025
- Business
- The Independent
Major airlines may have been secretly selling your flight data to DHS, report claims
Americans' flight data may have been sold to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) without their knowledge, internal CBP documents obtained by 404 Media suggest. A data broker, the Airlines Reporting Corporation (ARC), owned by several of the top airlines in the U.S., including Delta, American Airlines, and United, reportedly gathered the flight records of U.S. travelers and sold access to CBP. Part of the contract was that CBP wasn't allowed to share where the data had originated from, the report says. The data included passengers' names, itineraries, and financial information, according to Wired. CBP is part of the Department of Homeland Security. The agency has stated that it requires the data to support state and local law enforcement in tracking individuals of interest. This comes after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) outlined how it also bought the data. 'The big airlines—through a shady data broker that they own called ARC—are selling the government bulk access to Americans' sensitive information, revealing where they fly and the credit card they used,' Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden said in a statement. "ARC has refused to answer oversight questions from Congress, so I have already contacted the major airlines that own ARC—like Delta, American Airlines, and United—to find out why they gave the green light to sell their customers' data to the government." Publicly shared documents show that ARC is owned and operated by at least eight top U.S. airlines. Delta, Southwest, United, American Airlines, Alaska Airlines, JetBlue, as well as European airlines Lufthansa and Air France, in addition to Air Canada, all have representatives on the company's board of directors. Over 240 airlines use ARC's services for ticket settlement. The company also connects airlines and travel agencies, locating travel trends with other companies such as Expedia. It also provides fraud prevention, the ARC YouTube channel and website show. The selling of travel information is conducted via the company's Travel Intelligence Program (TIP). The documents obtained by 404 Media via a Freedom of Information Act request state that CBP needed access to the information 'to support federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies to identify persons of interest's US domestic air travel ticketing information.' The documents reveal that ARC asked CBP to 'not publicly identify vendor, or its employees, individually or collectively, as the source of the Reports unless the Customer is compelled to do so by a valid court order or subpoena and gives ARC immediate notice of same.' The data delivers 'visibility on a subject's or person of interest's domestic air travel ticketing information as well as tickets acquired through travel agencies in the U.S. and its territories,' the documents state. According to a DHS Privacy Impact Assessment, the data is updated daily and includes more than a billion records over the course of 39 months of travel, both past and future. TIP can be searched using names, credit cards, or airlines. However, the data only includes travel arrangements made using a travel agency accredited by ARC, such as Expedia. 'If the passenger buys a ticket directly from the airline, then the search done by ICE will not show up in an ARC report,' the assessment states. It also says that data is included on both U.S. and non-U.S. persons. The deputy director of the Center for Democracy & Technology's Security and Surveillance Project, Jake Laperruque, told 404 Media that 'While obtaining domestic airline data—like many other transaction and purchase records—generally doesn't require a warrant, they're still supposed to go through a legal process that ensures independent oversight and limits data collection to records that will support an investigation.' 'The government seems intent on using data brokers to buy their way around important guardrails and limits,' he added. A spokesperson for CBP told Wired that the agency 'is committed to protecting individuals' privacy during the execution of its mission to protect the American people, safeguard our borders, and enhance the nation's economic prosperity.' 'CBP follows a robust privacy policy as we protect the homeland through the air, land and maritime environments against illegal entry, illicit activity or other threats to national sovereignty and economic security,' the spokesperson added. ARC earlier told The Lever that TIP 'was established after the September 11 terrorist attacks to provide certain data to law enforcement … for the purpose of national security matters' and criminal probes.
The Independent
31-05-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Has Big Brother arrived? Inside the secretive Trump effort to centralize government data on millions of Americans
The Trump administration is reportedly leaning on an Elon Musk -allied tech company to build wide-ranging data tools pooling government information on millions of Americans and immigrants alike. The campaign has raised alarms from critics that the company could be furthering Musk's DOGE effort to vacuum up and potentially weaponize – or sell – mass amounts of sensitive personal data, particularly against vulnerable groups like immigrants and political dissidents. In March, the president signed an executive order dedicated to 'stopping waste, fraud, and abuse by eliminating information silos,' a euphemism for pooling vast stores of data on Americans under the federal government. To carry out the data effort, the administration has deepened the federal government's longstanding partnership with Palantir, a tech firm specializing in building big data applications, which was co-founded by Silicon Valley investor, GOP donor, and JD Vance mentor Peter Thiel. Since Trump took office, the administration has reportedly spent more than $113 million with Palantir through new and existing contracts, while the company is slated to begin work on a new $795 million deal with the Defense Department. Palantir is reportedly working with the administration in the Pentagon, the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the Internal Revenue Service, according to The New York Times. Within these agencies, the firm is reportedly building tools to track the movement of migrants in real time and streamline all tax data. The company is also reportedly in talks about deploying its technology at the Social Security Administration and the Department of Education, both of which have been targets of DOGE, and which store sensitive information about Americans' identities and finances. 'We act as a data processor, not a data controller,' the company insisted in response to the Times report. 'Our software and services are used under direction from the organizations that license our products. These organizations define what can and cannot be done with their data; they control the Palantir accounts in which analysis is conducted.' The Trump administration has reportedly pursued a variety of efforts to use big data to support its priorities, including social media surveillance of immigrants to detect alleged pro-terror views, and American activists who disagree wit Donal Trump's views.. Earlier this month, a group of former Palantir employees warned in an open letter that the company was 'normalizing authoritarianism under the guise of a 'revolution' led by oligarchs.' 'By supporting Trump's administration, Elon Musk's DOGE initiative, and dangerous expansions of executive power, they have abandoned their responsibility and are in violation of Palantir's Code of Conduct,' the employees wrote. Previous reporting from CNN and WIRED has described efforts at the Department of Homeland Security to build mass data tools to support tracking and surveilling undocumented immigrants, a key priority for the White House as deportations still aren't reaching levels necessary to meet Trump's promise of rapidly removing millions of people from the country. The effort has involved merging data from outside agencies like Social Security and the IRS, according to WIRED. 'They are trying to amass a huge amount of data,' a senior DHS official told the magazine. 'It has nothing to do with finding fraud or wasteful spending … They are already cross-referencing immigration with SSA and IRS, as well as voter data.' Since Trump took office, DOGE operatives, many of whom are unknown to the public nor have been vetted, have rapidly sought access to data at key agencies, including the Departments of Education and the Treasury, as well as the Social Security Administration, often over the objections of senior staff. The efforts have prompted scores of lawsuits against DOGE. At Social Security, the administration also moved thousands of living, mostly Latino undocumented immigrants into the agency's 'Death Master File' in an attempt to pressure them to leave the country. DOGE itself is reportedly under audit for its action by the Government Accountability Office, a federal watchdog. An April letter from Democrats on the House Oversight Committee warned of DOGE's 'extreme negligence and an alarmingly cavalier attitude' toward sensitive data. It claimed a whistleblower had described how 'DOGE engineers have tried to create specialized computers for themselves that simultaneously give full access to networks and databases across different agencies.' The 'whistleblower information obtained by the Committee, combined with public reporting, paints a picture of chaos at SSA [Social Security Administration] as DOGE is rapidly, haphazardly, and unlawfully working to implement changes that could disrupt Social Security payments and expose Americans' sensitive data,' the letter reads.'
