Tag: surveillance

FBI Issues Public Alert on Americans Using Foreign Apps

The FBI identified data security risks from foreign-developed mobile apps used in the United States, the agency warned in a March 31 public service announcement.

“As of early 2026, many of the most downloaded and top-grossing apps in the United States are developed and maintained by foreign companies, particularly those based in China,” the FBI said, without naming any apps.

“The apps that maintain digital infrastructure in China are subject to China’s extensive national security laws, enabling the Chinese government to potentially access mobile app users’ data.”

In the Google Play store, the most popular apps include short-form video platform TikTok, video editor CapCut, artificial intelligence video generator PixVerse, and communication app Telegram X. China-based ByteDance maintains ownership of TikTok and CapCut. PixVerse is owned by a Singaporean company, and the developer of Telegram X is based in the United Arab Emirates.

On Apple’s App Store, the top free apps include CapCut, TikTok, and Chinese shopping apps Temu and Shein.

In its alert, the FBI warned users to be aware of the types of data the foreign apps request access to when they are downloaded.

Keep reading

Trump signs order directing creation of a national voter list, a move already facing lawsuit threats

President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order to create a nationwide list of verified eligible voters and to restrict mail-in voting, a move that swiftly drew legal threats from state Democratic officials ahead of this year’s midterm elections.

The order, which voting law experts say violates the Constitution by attempting to seize states’ power to run elections, is the latest in a torrent of efforts from Trump to interfere with the way Americans vote based on his false allegations of fraud. The president has repeatedly lied about the outcome of the 2020 presidential campaign and the integrity of state-run elections, asserting again Tuesday that he won “three times” and citing accusations of voter fraud that numerous audits, investigations and courts have debunked.

The order signed Tuesday calls on the Department of Homeland Security, working in conjunction with the Social Security Administration, to make the list of eligible voters in each state. It also seeks to bar the U.S. Postal Service from sending absentee ballots to those not on each state’s approved list.

Trump is also calling for ballots to have secure envelopes with unique barcodes for tracking, according to the executive order, which was first reported by the Daily Caller. Federal funding could be withheld from states and localities that don’t comply.

Keep reading

White House App Found Tracking Users’ Exact Location Every 4.5 Minutes via Third-Party Server

The Trump administration’s newly launched White House App is under scrutiny after a software developer claimed to have found embedded code that tracks users’ precise GPS coordinates every 4.5 minutes and automatically syncs them to a third-party server. The claim, posted on 28 March 2026 by the X account @Thereallo1026, has drawn nearly 260,000 views and prompted questions about data collection practices in government-operated applications.

The post included what appeared to be decompiled source code from the app, revealing what the user described as OneSignal’s ‘full GPS pipeline compiled in.’ According to the post, the code showed the app ‘polling your location every 4.5 minutes, syncing your exact coordinates to a third-party server.’ The White House has not publicly responded to the specific technical claims.

What the Code Allegedly Shows

OneSignal is a widely used push notification platform that, according to its own documentation, updates a user’s GPS coordinates ‘approximately every 5 minutes (based on permission and system rules)’ when location sharing is enabled within a mobile app. The platform is designed to allow developers to segment and target users based on their physical location for messaging campaigns.

The decompiled code shared by @Thereallo1026 references Android location permission strings, background location access, and a foreground update time set to 270,000 milliseconds — the equivalent of 4.5 minutes — alongside a background update time of 600,000 milliseconds, or 10 minutes. If accurate, these constants suggest the app is configured to collect and transmit precise location data at regular intervals, even while running in the background.

Keep reading

REPORT TO CONGRESS: GANGSTALKING Who watches the watchers?

A small but legally significant segment of the American telecommunications market consists of privately owned carriers that operate and maintain their own physical infrastructure — including switching equipment, fiber runs, tower assets, and routing hardware. While these providers collectively represent a minority share of total subscribers, their independent control over physical network infrastructure creates structural conditions that, absent adequate federal oversight, enable systematic and illegal surveillance of private citizens without judicial authorization, law enforcement nexus, or public accountability.

This report has been expanded beyond its original scope to address a phenomenon that intersects telecommunications abuse with organized criminal exploitation of individuals: the practice commonly referred to as “gangstalking,” its documented connections to corrupt law enforcement networks, and the use of illegally obtained surveillance data to facilitate human trafficking, coerced criminality, blackmail, and the systematic destruction of targeted individuals’ lives. This report is written in part for the benefit of members, staff, and constituents who may not be familiar with these practices and who may be skeptical of their existence. The evidence base for each section is grounded in documented federal cases, congressional testimony, and peer-reviewed research.

Keep reading

The Kill Switch Society

There was a time — not very long ago — when the automobile represented one of the clearest expressions of individual choice in a free society. Limited only by fuel, roads, and imagination, a person could choose where to go, when to go, and how to get there. The car was not merely a machine. It was mobility made personal — an extension of autonomy and freedom.

Sadly, that is no longer the case. Increasingly, this same instrument, once a tool to facilitate individual independence, has been repurposed into a system of monitoring and control. Though advertised as safety measures for the consumer, these measures were clearly designed to empower the state.

Modern vehicles are no longer just mechanical devices; they are computers on wheels. Embedded sensors track speed, braking patterns, seatbelt usage, location, and even driver attention. Event Data Recorders — commonly referred to as “black boxes” — have been standard in most new vehicles for years. Originally justified as instruments to reconstruct accidents, these devices record data in the moments before a crash. Few object to understanding the causes of collisions. But it is worth noting that once data exists, its use rarely remains confined to its original purpose.

Insurance companies now seek access to driving data to adjust premiums. Law enforcement agencies have used vehicle data in criminal investigations. Courts have admitted such data as evidence. Each of these developments can be justified in isolation. Together, they represent a quiet but unmistakable shift: the automobile is no longer simply your property — it is a source of information about you.

More recently, legislative developments have accelerated this trend. The federal infrastructure legislation passed in 2021 includes a mandate for advanced impaired driving prevention technology to be installed in all new vehicles within the coming years. While often described in benign terms — systems that passively detect intoxication or driver impairment — the practical reality is that these systems must continuously monitor driver behavior in order to function. Monitoring creates data. And data, once created, rarely remains unused. It takes on a life of its own.

Proposals and discussions around remote vehicle disablement — popularly referred to as “kill switches” — have raised further concerns. While proponents argue that such features could prevent high-speed chases or stop stolen vehicles, the existence of remote-control capabilities introduces a fundamentally different relationship between the individual and the machine. A car that can be disabled remotely is clearly not under the control of its owner.

History suggests that powers granted for limited purposes seldom remain limited. Civil asset forfeiture, initially justified as a tool against organized crime, expanded into widespread seizures affecting ordinary citizens. Surveillance authorities granted for national security purposes have been used in far broader contexts. It would be historically naïve to assume that vehicle control technologies would be immune to similar expansion.

Keep reading

‘Arctic Frost’ Scandal: Biden FBI Wiretapped Trump Adviser Susie Wiles During Privileged Attorney Call, Then Hid Evidence in “Prohibited” Files

During a high-stakes hearing of the Subcommittee on Federal Courts, Oversight, Agency Action, and Federal Rights, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) dropped a series of nuclear revelations regarding the “Arctic Frost” investigation, a sweeping, clandestine operation by the Biden-era DOJ and FBI designed to spy on the political opposition.

The Gateway Pundit has been hammering this story since February, when we reported that Biden’s FBI secretly snatched the phone records of Kash Patel and Susie Wiles in 2022 and 2023 as part of deranged Special Counsel Jack Smith’s sham classified-documents probe into papers lawfully stored at Mar-a-Lago.

Joe Biden’s FBI wiretapped a privileged attorney-client call involving top Trump adviser Susie Wiles, without the consent of either party, and then attempted to bury the evidence.

Axios reporter Marc Caputo reports that the lawyer, who has not been publicly identified, denied the accusation that he approved the FBI recording.

The revelations were confirmed during the hearing titled “Arctic Frost: A Modern Watergate,” held by the Subcommittee on Federal Courts, Oversight, Agency Action, and Federal Rights.

Witnesses included:

  • Will Chamberlain (Article III Project)
  • Margot Cleveland (The Federalist)
  • Christopher O’Leary (former FBI agent)

What they described was nothing short of chilling.

Cruz walked Cleveland through the scope of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation, and the numbers alone are staggering:

  • Nearly 200 subpoenas issued
  • Over 400 Republican individuals and organizations targeted
  • Some targets had no connection to January 6
  • Others didn’t even exist at the time

Cruz asked about subpoenaing toll records of members of Congress. Cleveland confirmed it raises massive Speech and Debate Clause problems. When Jack Smith tried to force AT&T to cough up Ted Cruz’s own records, AT&T flat-out refused, saying it violated the Constitution. Smith backed down like a coward and never even tried to enforce it in court.

Cleveland made it crystal clear, Smith knew well what he was doing was illegal.

Keep reading

Hong Kong Police Can Now Demand Phone or Computer Passwords of Suspects Under National Security Law

Your passwords are no longer safe in Hong Kong.

Ever since Hong Kong returned from British rule to China in 1997, the island has devolved towards the totalitarian ways of mainland China.

In 2020, the National Security Law (NSL) imposed by Beijing crystallized this new reality.

The NSL criminalizes acts of ‘secession, subversion, terrorism, collusion with foreign forces, treason, espionage, sabotage, and external interference’.

With penalties up to life imprisonment, it even allows some cases to be tried on the mainland, and it grants police ‘broad surveillance and detention powers’.

Needless to say, this has curtailed political dissent, free speech, and pro-democracy activities in Hong Kong.

And now, it arises that Hong Kong police can demand phone or computer passwords from suspects under the NSL.

BBC reported:

“Those who refuse could face up to a year in jail and a fine of up to HK$100,000 ($12,700; £9,600), and individuals who provide ‘false or misleading information’ could face up to three years in jail.

It comes as part of new amendments to a bylaw under the NSL that the government gazetted on Monday.”

Keep reading

Jury Clears Afroman of Defamation for Mocking Cops Who Raided His House

An Ohio jury on Wednesday found the rapper Afroman not liable for defaming the sheriff’s deputies who raided his house nearly four years ago.

The verdict is a free speech victory for Joseph Foreman, a.k.a. Afroman, best known for his 2000 hit “Because I Got High.” Over the course of a three-day civil trial that captured social media attention, Afroman, who appeared in court dressed in an American flag-print suit, insisted that he had a First Amendment right to make fun of the deputies who kicked down his door and pawed through his belongings. Afroman released several music videos about the incident using surveillance footage of the raid.

“I got freedom of speech. After they run around my house with guns and kick down my door, I got the right to kick a can in my back yard, use my freedom of speech, and turn my bad times into a good time, yes I do,” Afroman told jurors on Tuesday. “And I think I’m a sport for doing so, because I don’t go to their house, kick down their doors [and] then try to play the victim and sue them.”

The sheriff’s deputies, meanwhile, were reduced in court to watching full-length music videos of Afroman mocking them and testifying about how the rapper had called them “dipshits” and made claims to sleeping with their wives.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Ohio, which filed an amicus brief in support of Afroman, applauded the verdict.

“We’re very pleased with this outcome, and we think the jury got it right. Robust protection for free speech requires leaving room for speakers to give their opinions in strong, florid, or figurative terms without fear of criminal or civil consequences,” says David Carey, deputy legal director of the ACLU of Ohio. “All the more so with speech involving criticism of government officials and their actions. Juries exercising common sense and considering the full context and actual meaning of a speaker’s words are a critical part of that system.”

Adams County, Ohio, sheriff’s deputies executed a search warrant on Afroman’s house in 2022. According to a search warrant, Afroman was suspected of drug possession, drug trafficking, and kidnapping. The deputies were searching for evidence of outlandish claims from a confidential informant that the house contained a basement dungeon. 

Body camera footage of the raid showed the deputies—after the initial excitement of busting down the front door—ambling through Afroman’s house, rifling through his clothes and CDs, and trying to find false walls and secret rooms. But the hourslong search turned up no evidence to corroborate the claim of a basement dungeon. Part of the problem may have been that, as Afroman’s record label told Vice, the house did not have a basement.

Afroman was never charged with a crime.

Keep reading

Tucker Carlson Says CIA Has Been Reading His Texts and is Preparing a Criminal Referral Against Him for Alleged FARA Violation – “You Should Know What the Stakes Are”

Tucker Carlson alleged in a video statement on Saturday that the Central Intelligence Agency has been spying on him and is preparing a criminal referral against him for alleged violations of the Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA).

Under the law, it is a crime to act on behalf of a foreign principal without proper registration.

Carlson has come under fire recently for his criticisms of Israel and the war in Iran, even prompting Trump to disavow him. Following the initial Operation Epic Fury strikes in Iran on February 28, Tucker responded, calling the war “absolutely disgusting and evil.”

Trump responded to Tucker, saying he “has lost his way” and is “not MAGA.”

Many of Tucker’s other critics on the right, including Fox News host Mark Levin, have attempted to claim that Tucker is paid by Qatar to broadcast his opinions on Middle East conflicts. Most notably, failed presidential candidate Ted Cruz has ramped up his attacks on Tucker, recently smearing him as an antisemite and “the single most dangerous demagogue in this country.”

Carlson said he was “talking to people in Iran before the war,” and the CIA read his text messages to prepare a criminal referral to the Department of Justice, but that he’s “not too worried about an actual criminal case.”

“One, I’m not an agent of a foreign power. Unlike a lot of people, commenting on US politics and global affairs, I have only one loyalty, and that’s the United States and have never acted against it. Its interests are the only interests I care about because I’m from here and I have a lot of kids, so that’s not a concern. I’ve also never taken money from anybody. Don’t need it, don’t want it, and that’s provable,” he said.

“And moreover, it’s my job to talk to everybody all the time and try and figure out what’s happening around the world. That’s literally what I do for a living. And I’m not going to stop doing that, nor should I, I don’t think. I’m also an American. I can talk to anybody. I have no secrets to divulge. So, legally, I think the case is ludicrous, and I doubt it will even become a case.”

He says, “there are some people who are mad at me for my views about Israel,” and they may be filing a criminal referral to justify a warrant or as part of a humiliation and intimidation campaign, the existence of which may be leaked to the media in the near future.

“None of this, in my judgment, as of right now, is a huge threat to me. So, I’m not making this video to complain about it or whine or ask you to send me money because I’m under attack. I’m saying it because it’s true, and you should know what your own government is doing, and you should know what the stakes are, and you should know that a lot of what happens in this country that affects outcomes happens behind the scenes. Some of it is legal; some of it is not, including what I’m describing now, but it has an effect,” Tucker added, comparing the apparent investigation to the Russiagate scandal.

Keep reading

Deep State Dirt: FBI Ran Secret Surveillance on Kash Patel, Tried to Cover Their Tracks

Journalist John Solomon said newly uncovered information suggests the FBI maintained hidden investigative files targeting individuals close to President Donald Trump during the tenure of former FBI Director Christopher Wray, raising concerns about potential civil liberties violations.

Solomon made the remarks during a discussion with commentator Benny Johnson, where the two examined reports that certain politically sensitive investigations were placed into restricted systems rather than the FBI’s standard case management database.

Johnson opened the conversation by questioning reports that FBI Director Kash Patel did not initially have access to the records.

“Line in the lead here, John, that is the most alarming to me is that Kash Patel doesn’t have access to these files, or that they have been scattered to the wind,” Johnson said.

Solomon responded by explaining how certain investigations were handled differently from normal FBI cases.

“So in these politically sensitive investigations where we now know they were targeting people close to the president, lawyers, like people around the president, were lawyers advising him, advisors, movie makers, journalists,” Solomon said.

Keep reading