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COVID Subcommittee Chair Says ‘Honesty Is Nonnegotiable’ in Upcoming Fauci Interview
Former White House chief medical adviser Anthony Fauci will once again face questions on the origins of COVID-19, vaccine mandates and how to prevent something like the COVID-19 pandemic from happening again in his upcoming closed-door congressional interview, according to the chair of the committee leading the investigation.
The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic announced in November that Fauci had agreed to a 2-day transcribed interview on Jan. 8 and 9. He will also testify in front of the panel later this year, with the date still to be determined.
Subcommittee Chair Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio) told The Hill this interview will serve as an “after-action review” of the federal government’s actions during the public health emergency for COVID-19.
“I think Dr. Fauci’s testimony is really a crucial component of the work we’re trying to do as it relates to the origins of COVID, the effects of mandates for vaccination, gain-of-function type research, scientific censorship in areas where it looks like it occurred.”
The former government researcher will take part in two 7-hour interviews during the two days he speaks with the subcommittee. Two of his personal lawyers and two government lawyers will also be present during the interview.
Meet ‘Link History,’ Facebook’s New Way to Track the Websites You Visit
Facebook recently rolled out a new “Link History” setting that creates a special repository of all the links you click on in the Facebook mobile app.
Users can opt out, but Link History is turned on by default, and the data is used for targeted ads. As lawmakers introduce tech regulations and Apple and Google beef up privacy restrictions, Meta is doubling down and searching for new ways to preserve its data harvesting empire.
The company pitches Link History as a useful tool for consumers “with your browsing activity saved in one place,” rather than another way to keep tabs on your behavior. With the new setting you’ll “never lose a link again,” Facebook says in a pop-up encouraging users to consent to the new tracking method. The company goes on to mention that “When you allow link history, we may use your information to improve your ads across Meta technologies.”
This is a privacy improvement in some ways, but the setting raises more questions than it answers. Meta has always kept track of the links you click on, and this is the first time users have had any visibility or control over this corner of the company’s internet spying apparatus. In other words, Meta is just asking users for permission for a category of tracking that it’s been using for over a decade. Beyond that, there are a number of ways this setting might give users an illusion of privacy that Meta isn’t offering.
23andMe Tells Victims It’s Their Fault That Their Data Was Breached
Facing more than 30 lawsuits from victims of its massive data breach, 23andMe is now deflecting the blame to the victims themselves in an attempt to absolve itself from any responsibility, according to a letter sent to a group of victims seen by TechCrunch.
“Rather than acknowledge its role in this data security disaster, 23andMe has apparently decided to leave its customers out to dry while downplaying the seriousness of these events,” Hassan Zavareei, one of the lawyers representing the victims who received the letter from 23andMe, told TechCrunch in an email.
In December, 23andMe admitted that hackers had stolen the genetic and ancestry data of 6.9 million users, nearly half of all its customers.
The data breach started with hackers accessing only around 14,000 user accounts. The hackers broke into this first set of victims by brute-forcing accounts with passwords that were known to be associated with the targeted customers, a technique known as credential stuffing.
From these 14,000 initial victims, however, the hackers were able to then access the personal data of the other 6.9 million victims because they had opted-in to 23andMe’s DNA Relatives feature. This optional feature allows customers to automatically share some of their data with people who are considered their relatives on the platform.
Media Outlets Are Already Calling for Online 2024 Election Censorship
The page has only just been turned on 2023 and already the narrative that much policing of online speech will be vital for 2024, an election year, has already stirred.
The legacy media outlet The Guardian, in its piece about Kate Starbird, has already complained that there may be less censorship ahead of the 2024 elections, and claimed that Rep. Jim Jordan’s committee’s reports on Big Tech-government censorship collusion are based on “outlandish claims.” This is ignoring the fact that an injunction was successfully placed on the Biden administration for its censorship pressure on Big Tech, a case that will be ruled on by The Supreme Court this year.
In an era where the policing of online speech is increasingly contentious, Kate Starbird’s role in combating what she terms election misinformation has placed her squarely in the midst of a heated debate. As a leading figure at the University of Washington’s Center for an Informed Public, Starbird has actively engaged in documenting what she and her team perceive as misinformation during the 2020 elections, particularly focusing on claims of voter fraud.
Jim Jordan, chair of the House judiciary committee, has emerged as a key figure in opposing what he views as the overreach of these researchers. He has focused on investigating groups and individuals involved in counteracting misinformation, especially in the context of elections and COVID-19. Central to the controversy is the practice of working with government entities and flagging content to social media platforms, which some argue leads to undue censorship and violates First Amendment rights.
Former Employee Sues City of Norfolk Over COVID Vaccine Policy, Claims ‘Religious Discrimination’
A former Norfolk city employee is suing the city for what her attorney calls “religious discrimination.” In a lawsuit newly obtained by 13News Now, Anna Anderson claims she was fired from her position with the city in 2021 because she opted out of getting a COVID-19 vaccine and claims she was unable to be tested for the virus once a week.
Anderson, who worked in the City of Norfolk’s Department of Human Services since 2008, says she wants back pay, front pay, damages and her job back.
According to the lawsuit filed in Nov. 2023, Anderson said she told the appropriate supervisors via email she was having a difficult time finding a healthcare provider who could administer weekly health screenings, asking if there were any alternative accommodations, including social distancing, wearing a mask or teleworking.
Anderson claims she never received a response from the city and was placed on administrative leave the same day she sent the email, Oct. 12. The lawsuit says she was ultimately fired on Nov. 18 for not submitting weekly tests.
Montana Appealing Ruling That Blocked State From Barring TikTok Use
Montana said on Tuesday it was appealing a decision by a U.S. judge in November to block Montana’s first-of-its-kind state ban on the use of short-video sharing app TikTok.
Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen filed a notice that the state is appealing the ruling to the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
Montana’s ban had been set to take effect Jan. 1 but U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy on Nov. 30 issued a preliminary injunction to block the ban on the Chinese-owned app, saying Montana’s law “violates the Constitution in more ways than one” and “oversteps state power.”
TikTok users in Montana also had filed suit last year to block the ban approved by the state legislature that cited concerns about the personal data of Montana users and potential Chinese spying.
Colorado Governor Says Responsibility of Social Media Restrictions ‘Belongs With Parents, Not the Government’
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) suggested in a Sunday interview he would not back state-imposed restrictions on children’s social media use, saying that responsibility, instead, should lie with the parents.
“I think the responsibility belongs with parents, not the government,” Polis said when asked in an interview on NBC News’s “Meet the Press” whether he would be open to more restrictions on social media in his state.
The interview, given jointly with Utah Gov. Spencer Cox (R), was part of an NBC special called “America’s Mental Health Crisis.” As respective chair and vice chair of the National Governors Association (NGA), Cox and Polis have launched a “Disagree Better” campaign, giving interviews and talks that stress the importance of civic unity and healthy debate.
“I certainly agree with the diagnosis that Governor Cox did, and I have some sympathy for that approach. But I do think at the end of the day, the government can’t parent kids. It’s really up to the responsibility of parents to step up. And I think it’s, in many ways, an educational effort for outreach to parents,” Polis said.
Britain’s Got Some of Europe’s Toughest Surveillance Laws. Now It Wants More
The U.K. already has some of the most far-reaching surveillance laws in the democratic world. Now it’s rushing to beef them up even further — and tech firms are spooked. Britain’s government wants to build on its landmark Investigatory Powers Act, a controversial piece of legislation dubbed the “snooper’s charter” by critics when introduced back in 2016.
That law — introduced in the wake of whistleblower Edward Snowden’s revelations of mass state surveillance — attempted to introduce more accountability into the U.K. intelligence agencies’ sprawling snooping regime by formalizing wide-ranging powers to intercept emails, texts, web history and more.
Now new legislation is triggering a fresh outcry among both industry execs and privacy campaigners — who say it could hobble efforts to protect user privacy.
“Using this power, the government could prevent the implementation of new end-to-end encryption, or stop developers from patching vulnerabilities in code that the government or their partners would like to exploit,” Meredith Whittaker, president of secure messaging app Signal, told POLITICO when the bill was first unveiled.
