Tag: cell phone

Commentary: ‘Geofence Warrants’ Threaten Every Phone User’s Privacy

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The last time your phone asked you to allow this or that app access to your location data, you may have had some trepidation about how much Apple or Google know about you. You may have worried about what might come of that, or read about China’s use of the data to track anti-lockdown protesters. What you probably didn’t realize is Google has already searched your data on behalf of the federal government to see if you were involved with January 6th.

But last month, the federal district court in DC issued an opinion in the case of  one of the many defendants who stands accused of sacking the Capitol in the wake of the 2020 election.

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Tennessee House Says No to Holding Phone While Driving But Says Yes to Voice Use

Jason M. Reynolds

The Tennessee House on Wednesday passed bill HB0164 banning drivers from using handheld phones. The bill tracking information is available here. The Senate companion bill, SB0173, was deferred on Tuesday in the Senate Finance, Ways and Means Committee and now has a scheduled hearing date of April 23. The House passed the bill on a vote of 53-38, according to the Tennessee General Assembly’s website tracking information available here. Four representatives were counted as “present and not voting.” The House sponsor is State Rep. John B. Holsclaw Jr. (R-TN-04). The highly detailed bill “summary,” with amendments, is available on the tracking page. Among the provisions are that adults age 18 and up could use a device for GPS navigation as well as an earpiece, headphone or device on a wrist “to conduct a voice-based communication; and may use a one button on a wireless telecommunications device to initiate or terminate a voice communication.” The penalties would be: A violation of this amendment will be a Class C misdemeanor, subject only to imposition of a fine not to exceed $50.00. However, if the violation is the person’s third or subsequent offense or if the violation results in an accident, the fine…

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Obama Era Lifeline Program Audit Shows Over $300M Potentially Wasted

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by Gavin Hanson   The Lifeline telecom subsidy — more commonly called “Obamaphone” — program may have wasted $336 million of its 2017 budget, according to a federal audit. A Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Inspector General released a report indicating an eight-fold increase of improper or fraudulent payments in the program from 2016 to 2017. The FCC’s IG conducted the investigation in response to a May 2017 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report that found risks of fraud and wasted tax dollars in the Lifeline program. After the GAO report and a stricter 2017 audit, the Lifeline program was seen to have wasted nearly 22 percent, compared to less than three percent from the previous year. Additionally, the GAO reported that 69 percent of Lifeline beneficiaries’ eligibility for the program had not been verified. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai responded with a proposal that primarily capped Lifeline spending at nearly $1.8 billion per year — an amount he said would be enough to cover all internet and landline access for eligible Americans. The proposal is rallying Democrats around Lifeline and against the chairman. Sept. 10 was the start of the Washington, D.C. Public Service Commission’s Lifeline Awareness Week. Critics have subsequently redoubled their efforts to lambaste the FCC and Pai for the proposed budget constraint. Democrats in the House of Representatives called…

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Lose My Number: Spam Callers Abuse of System Prevents Mobile Users From Acknowledging Calls and Texts

Julie Carr

On Monday’s Gill Report– broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 1510 WLAC weekdays at 7:00 am – Star News Digital Media National Political Editor Steve Gill discussed the mass amounts of unwanted calls from sales and insurance companies and how it is preventing people from answering and opening calls and texts much like the times of the email spam days. He went on to close the commentary by calling for a solution to this growing problem. Gill continued: How often do you refuse to answer calls that either designate on your mobile phone that they may be spam, or it’s a blocked number, or you don’t identify the number? More and more people will not answer a call on their cell phone unless they knew who it is. So, you gotta leave a message and hope they call you back. And generally, if you get a call from a number you don’t recognize or from a blocked number and they don’t leave a message that’s a pretty good sign that it was one of those sales calls or spam calls. So, more and more people are not answering unless they have your number in their phone. And now a new report…

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Malware Discovered Pre-Installed On Android Devices Including Chinese Company ZTE

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Smartphones

by Kyle Perisic   An anti-virus company has discovered malware comes pre-installed on Android phones, including on ZTE phones — a Chinese phone company with ties to the Chinese government. “Thousands of users are affected” by the ad-related malware, or adware, according to Avast, the Czech anti-virus company, in its May 24 blog. “The adware we analyzed has previously been described by Dr. Web and goes by the name ‘Cosiloon,’” according to Avast. “The adware creates an overlay to display an ad over a webpage within the users’ browser. The adware has been active for at least three years and is difficult to remove, as it is installed on the firmware level and uses strong obfuscation.” ZTE — the Chinese-based tech company President Donald Trump has been negotiating a new trade deal with after they violated U.S. sanctions on Iran — is one of the phone companies infected with the adware. China’s telecom giant was subject to a crippling U.S. ban after the company was discovered to have violated North American sanctions by selling products to Iran. The U.S. and China have been renegotiating a trade deal with ZTE. The U.S. is expected to lift the ban after ZTE pays a $1.3 billion…

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