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Tag: US Senate

  • Messaging App Signal Adds Blur Tool

    Messaging App Signal Adds Blur Tool

    Popular messaging app Signal has added blur tools to help protect the identities and privacy of people in photos.

    Signal is widely to considered to be the most secure messaging platform on the planet. It uses end-to-end encryption and is open-source software. It is so secure that Edward Snowden uses it and the US Senate has urged senators and their aides to use it.

    Now the company is taking the next step, adding blur tools to help protect the identity of people in photos.

    “The latest version of Signal for Android and iOS introduces a new blur feature in the image editor that can help protect the privacy of the people in the photos you share,” writes Moxie Marlinspike, Signal’s creator and CEO. “Now it’s easy to give every face a hiding place, or draw a fuzzy trace over something you want to erase. Simply tap on the new blur tool icon to get started.”

    The new feature relies on the underlying libraries in iOS and Android. As a result, all of the processing is done on-device, ensuring absolute privacy. In the event the underlying libraries don’t detect a face and blur it automatically, the new tool can also be used to manually blur an area with the blur brush.

    This is an excellent upgrade to an already stellar application, and will surely see widespread use.

  • Elizabeth Warren, Al Franken Among Six Senators Urging a Swift Death for the Comcast/Time Warner Merger

    Elizabeth Warren, Al Franken Among Six Senators Urging a Swift Death for the Comcast/Time Warner Merger

    In a letter addressed to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler and Attorney General Eric Holder, six Senators are urging the blockage of Comcast’s proposed merger with Time Warner Cable. The letter comes just one day before representatives from Comcast and Time Warner Cable are set to meet with DoJ antitrust officials in the hopes of saving a deal that appears to be on shaky ground.

    “Should the transaction survive the FCC’s and DOJ’s reviews, we believe that Comcast-TWC’s unmatched power in the telecommunications industry would lead to higher prices, fewer choices, and poorer quality services for Americans – inhibiting US consumers’ ability to fully benefit from modern technologies and American businesses’ capacity to innovate and compete on a global scale,” write Senators Al Franken, Bernie Sanders, Edward Markey, Ron Wyden, Elizabeth Warren, and Richard Blumenthal.

    “Since the proposal was announced last year, we have heard from consumers across the nation, as well as from advocacy groups, trade associations, and companies of all sizes, all of whom fear that the deal would harm competition across several different markets and would not serve the public interest,” says the letter.

    “We’ve also heard from constituents in our home states who are rightfully frustrated about their increasingly high cable and Internet bills and are concerned that the proposed acquisition will only drive those prices higher. Unfortunately, with only a handful of cable and Internet providers dominating the market, consumers are often left with little choice but to pay the price a given provider demands and have little say over what content is made available to them.”

    If the merger were to go through, the Comcast-TWC behemoth would control 57% of the US broadband market and 30% of the cable market.

    But it’s far from a sure thing. In fact, recent reports have indicated that the Department of Justice is poised to recommend blocking the deal. Upon hearing that news, Comcast and Time Warner Cable rushed into action and are set to meet face-to-face with regulators for the first time since they proposed the deal. It is expected that Comcast will attempt to make concessions to satisfy regulators, some of whom are as wary as the Senators.

    Comcast’s official line has always been that the deal is not anti-competitive.

    “Comcast’s merger with Time Warner Cable will ensure that a responsible and committed steward delivers advanced video and high-speed data services and innovation to these customers. The proposed transaction is pro-consumer, pro-competitive, strongly in the public interest, and approvable,” says the company.

    “We urge you to defend American competition and innovation and ensure the Americans have affordable access to high-quality telecommunications services. We hope you’ll take a stand for US consumers and businesses and reject Comcast’s proposed acquisition of TWC,” say the Senators.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons, h/t Ars Technica

  • Lindsey Graham Says He’s Never Sent an Email. Ever.

    Thanks to Hillary Clinton’s private email controversy and the continuous discussion surrounding it, we now know something incredibly strange about Senator Lindsey Graham.

    According to the three-term Republican Senator from South Carolina, you won’t see him caught up in his own email controversy. That’s because he doesn’t email.

    At all.

    Speaking about Clinton on NBC’s Meet the Press, here was Graham’s response to Chuck Todd’s question about private email:

    “I don’t email. No, you can have every email I’ve ever sent. I’ve never sent one … I don’t know what that makes me.”

    What’s going on here? Maybe Graham hasn’t sent an email personally, but his office sure has. It’s possible that he’s 100% serious about his lack of emailing – simply because he has staff that takes care of that.

    Or, Lindsey Graham is simply misremembering. Something like that.

    Either way, it’s a bit odd when a US Senator, one who sits on a subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law nonetheless, admits to having never participated in one of the most prevalent forms of modern communication.

    If you want to ask Senator Graham yourself, here’s where you can email him. I guess I wouldn’t hold my breath for a response, however.

  • Senator: Give Cops Body Cams If You Want Federal Funding

    Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO) wants police across the nation to be equipped with body cameras, and she thinks a good way to make that happen is to tie compliance to federal funding.

    “I would like to see us say, ‘If you want federal funding in your community, you’ve got to have body cams on your officers,’” said McCaskill at an event in Missouri, according to CNN. “And I think that would go a long way towards solving some of these problems, and it would be a great legacy over this tragedy that’s occurred in Ferguson, regardless of what the facts say at the end as to whether or not anyone is criminally culpable.”

    McCaskill, who was recently tapped to lead a Senate hearing on the militarization of local police departments next month, has seen her state the center of controversy over the past few weeks. As you’re probably aware, the story of Mike Brown’s death at the hands of a Ferguson, MO police officer and the subsequent protests and police response has dominated the national dialogue.

    Like other proponents of police body cameras, McCaskill made the argument that the technology not only protects citizens from police malfeasance, but also protects police officers from false allegations.

    “Everywhere I go people now have cameras,” said McCaskill. “And police officers are now at a disadvantage, because someone can tape the last part of an encounter and not tape the first part of the encounter. And it gives the impression that the police officer has overreacted when they haven’t.”

    McCaskill’s opinions of police cameras are shared by many, as evidenced by a recent petition on the White House’s We The People petition site. That petition called for a “Mike Brown Law,” which would require all police officer in America to wear body cameras.

    “The law shall be made in an effort to not only detour police misconduct (i.e. brutality, profiling, abuse of power), but to ensure that all police are following procedure, and to remove all question, from normally questionable police encounters. As well, as help to hold all parties within a police investigation, accountable for their actions,” said the petitioner.

    Within days, the petition topped the 100,000 signature threshold. As of today, it sits with over 150,000 signatures.

    A select number of police forces around the country have already begun equipping cops with cameras – most notably the force in Rialto, California.

    Those cameras have been recording for about a year – with drastic results. Incidents of ‘use of force’ by police dropped 60 percent, and the number of complaints against officers fell 88 percent.

    Both the LAPD and NYPD are also assessing the possibility of body cameras.

    Though most feel that body cameras would do more good than harm, it’s important to note that it in no way represents a silver bullet to the unbalanced police/citizen relations in the country.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Joni Ernst Wins GOP Primary in Iowa for US Senate

    In order to achieve a majority in the United States Senate after the next election cycle, the Republican Party must win six additional seats. Fortunately for conservatives, fate seemed to be smiling on the GOP Tuesday as Republican candidate Joni Ernst dominated her competition in the Iowa state primary in order to become the Republican nominee in the highly-anticipated Senatorial race this fall.

    Ernst’s victory makes her the first female to ever be nominated for the Republican Senate from Iowa. The 43-year-old state Senator and military commander faced stiff competition in her primary race from multiple sources: former energy executive and multi-millionaire Mark Jacobs, Rick Perry-backed attorney Matt Whitaker, radio host and Santorum-supported Sam Clovis, and car-salesman Scott Schaben.

    While most political pundits expected Jacobs to present the greatest challenge to Ernst (mainly due to his record-setting self-financed campaign expenditures of over $1.65 million), but it was Clovis who finished second to Ernst with 18 percent of the vote. Ernst more than doubled her competition, finishing with 56.2 percent of the votes.

    Ernst was able to run such a successful campaign mainly through the use of contextually-strategic television ads. Her first ad was entitled “Squeal” and featured Ernst discussing the hog castration skills she obtained growing up on an Iowa farm. In the video, Ernst states that she will use her castration skills in Washington to help “cut the pork.”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9Y24MFOfFU

    The video became so popular that it was even featured on late-night talk shows across the country, bringing in much needed outside support for Ernst’s campaign and leading to another viral ad.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3mG9fNOZp4

    Perhaps the most important outside support Ernst received was from former presidential nominee and Republican Mitt Romney. While Romney has directly helped Ernst by appearing in a television ad aired by the Chamber of Commerce and by making an appearance for Ernst on the campaign trail, his more important contributions have come indirectly.

    Both Ernst’s campaign manager and treasurer are former Romney staffers. The consulting group Ernst hired is headed by a former Romney adviser. And Ernst has also received much support from the PAC America Rising, headed by former Romney campaign manager Matt Rhoades.

    The greatest assistance from America Rising came with its release of a video showing Ernst’s Democratic opposition for the Senate seat in the fall, Bruce Braley, potentially alienating Iowa voters by insulting the most popular politician in Iowa, Charles Grassley, by calling him “a farmer from Iowa who never went to law school.”

    Coincidentally (or not), Ernst released her “Squeal” video, which spoke to her farming roots, the same day as America Rising released the Braley video, rocketing Ernst’s popularity amongst Iowa voters almost overnight.

    If Ernst wants to become Iowa’s first female Republican Senator, however, she is going to have to hope for much more outside help to come. As it currently stands, Braley has a five-point advantage in the early polls. That, coupled with the fact that he was unopposed in the primary and has a $2.3 million fund to pull from, puts Ernst at a disadvantage going into the fall campaign.

    Image via Facebook

  • Pussy Riot Meets With US Senators On Capitol Hill

    Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alekhina of famed punk rock group Pussy Riot were in Capitol Hill on Tuesday to meet with US Senators regarding human rights violators in Russia. Specifically, they want the US to add 16 officials to the current list of Russians already facing sanctions for human rights violations. “We’d like to remind our government that they have obligations that they have signed that they have to honor and we would like them not to continue having such an anti-Russian policy as they do have right now,” said Tolokonnikova.

    The meeting, including Senators Ben Cardin, Richard Blumenthal, Chris Murphy, Jeff Flake and Representative Steve Cohen, focused on Pussy Riot’s personal experiences of abuse at the hands of the Russian government. “We had a chance to talk with them about the conditions today in Russia, the experiences that they had, including the fact that they were arrested and sent to prison, how they had tried to help the citizens of Russia deal with the current deterioration of human rights in Russia,” said Cardin.

    Pussy Riot made global headlines when they were arrested in 2012 after protesting Russian president Vladimir Putin and spent two years in prison where they endured appalling conditions. According to the Russian government, “These citizens were taken in on suspicion of committing a crime, one involving a gross violation of public order, including inciting religious hatred as part of a planned conspiracy.” Pussy Riot made headlines again when they were filmed being whipped by Russian officers in Sochi at the Olympic Games.

    If Pussy Riot is successful, the officials brought to the attention of the Senate could face several penalties, including frozen assets and being banned from U.S. travel. The United States has thus far put 18 individuals under these sanctions. “The only way we’re going to get advancements on human rights is to put a spotlight on those who are violating human rights to stand up and make it clear that we will not accept these behaviors,” said Cardin.

    Image via YouTube

  • House To Cut NASA Budget To 1950’s Levels

    The Appropriations Committee of the United States House of Representatives is about to get together to work on an election year budget. One of the hot topics is funding for NASA, and what to do with some of the programs. The Appropriations Committee is preparing to cut NASA’s budget to the levels of the 1950’s. Not in dollar amounts but in percentage of GDP. When they do cut the budget it will surpass last years low and be at .48% of GDP. The actual dollar amount will be in tune with the 2006 levels of spending at $19.57 billion.

    Some of the programs that are being cut from are the Space Technology and Commercial Crew programs. They are going to add funds to the Space Launch System and the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle which happen to be congressional favorites.

    The one thing that the House needs to stay away from is trying to pick a winner. This is essentially what critics think they are doing in trying to force NASA into by suggesting that they abandon the 4 company competition for the Orion Crew Vehicle. “The Committee believes that many of these concerns would be addressed by an immediate down select to a single competitor or, at most, the execution of a leader-follower paradigm in which NASA makes one large award to a main commercial partner and a second small award to a back-up partner.”

    There are some programs that Congress is trying to force but NASA neither asked for or has use for. These are the kind of programs that people hate because they are a waste of money. The biggest one is the Space Launch System. The SLS is a rocket that is required, by law, to have the capability to lift 130 metric tons to orbit. This is a requirement for the rocket even thought there is not a current mission or one in the foreseeable future that would require a rocket with that kind of horse power. It is also so expensive that NASA can only afford to launch it once every 2 years. Maybe they know more about the Mayan apocalypse than they are letting on?