A Hacker’s Guide to Cyber-Safety

Tennessee Star

by Timothy Summers   Protecting individual privacy from government intrusion is older than American democracy. In 1604, the attorney general of England, Sir Edward Coke, ruled that a man’s house is his castle. This was the official declaration that a homeowner could protect himself and his privacy from the king’s agents. That lesson carried into today’s America, thanks to our Founding Fathers’ abhorrence for imperialist Great Britain’s unwarranted search and seizure of personal documents. They understood that everyone has something to hide, because human dignity and intimacy don’t exist if we can’t keep our thoughts and actions private. As citizens in the digital age, that is much more difficult. Malicious hackers and governments can monitor the most private communications, browsing habits and other data breadcrumbs of anyone who owns a smartphone, tablet, laptop or personal computer. As an ethical hacker, my job is to help protect those who are unable, or lack the knowledge, to help themselves. People who think like hackers have some really good ideas about how to protect digital privacy during turbulent times. Here’s what they – and I – advise, and why. I have no affiliation or relationship with any of the companies listed below, except…

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Nashville Metro Council Rubber-Stamps Mayor Barry’s $9 Billion Transit Plan for Referendum

Under a tight deadline, the Nashville Metro Council approved – by an overwhelming margin of 29-to-1 – a proposal to add Mayor Megan Barry’s ambitions $9 billion mass transit plan to the Davidson County ballot May 1 as a referendum. The sole ‘no’ vote was cast by Councilmember Angie Henderson (District 34). However, during her vote, she made clear her objection was not due to her disapproval of the Mayor’s plan, but rather she felt the mass transit proposal had issues within the details that should be addressed first: “I want to state that I do support this being on the ballot for referendum for decision by our constituents. But I think from a committee standpoint, at this juncture, related to my concerns about the plan – seeing that my vote does not necessarily keep this from advancing – I am a ‘No’ vote today. That does not mean I am a no vote end.” Watch the entire council meeting: In all, the Mayor is asking voters to raise four separate taxes – including the sales tax – to pay for the plan, made possible by the notorious gas tax hike known as the IMPROVE Act Tax Cut Act of 2017. “The…

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Terry McAuliffe Says He’d Punch Donald Trump: ‘You’d Have to Pick Him Up off the Floor’

Outgoing Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe said Thursday that he would punch President Trump if he ever tried to “get in my space.” During an interview Thursday on MSNBC’s “Hardball,” host Chris Matthews asked the Virginia Democrat how he would react if Mr. Trump leaned over him during a debate, as he did with Democratic rival Hillary…

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Joe Carr Earns An ‘A’ Rating from Gun Rights Giant NRA, Questions Rival Shane Reeves’ ‘Aq’ Score

In a statement released on Thursday, Murfreesboro businessman Shane Reeves attacked former State Rep. Joe Carr’s (R-Lascassas) initial “question mark” rating from the National Rifle Association, contrasting it with his own “A” rating. Both men are vying for the Republican nomination in the January 25 special primary election in the 14th State Senate District. Former State Senator Jim Tracy (R-Shelbyville) resigned from the seat in November to accept a position with U.S. Department of Agriculture in the Trump administration. On Friday, Carr hit back. “Today I am pleased to announce that the NRA has scored my record and gave me an A, just as I expected,” Carr said in a statement. “My score is not qualified with a “q”, indicating it is based on responses to a questionnaire, but on my actual RECORD and RESULTS as a legislator. The mudslinging and misinformed attack from Shane Reeves, and his attempt to create an issue over the NRA delay in recording my score — through no fault of my own — is just another example of ‘his shoot first aim later’ approach in his campaign,” Carr continued. “Earlier this week Shane Reeves launched a mudslinging attack against Joe Carr concerning the National…

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John Feeley, U.S. Ambassador to Panama, Resigns; Says He Can No Longer Serve under Trump

The U.S. ambassador to Panama resigned Friday, saying he can no longer serve in his post under President Trump. Ambassador John Feeley wrote a letter to the State Department announcing his decision, Reuters reported. “As a junior foreign service officer, I signed an oath to serve faithfully the president and his administration in an apolitical fashion, even when I might not agree with certain policies,” Mr. Feeley said in the letter, Reuters reported. “My instructors made clear that if I believed I could not do that, I would be honor bound to resign. That time has come.”

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Montgomery Bell Academy Accepts a Reported $90 Million Bequeath from Former Student and Philanthropist H. Frank Burkholder, Jr.

Montgomery Bell Academy (MBA) Headmaster Bradford Gioia announced Wednesday the private, all-boys secondary school has accepted  $90 million bequeathed from the estate of Horace Frank Burkholder, Jr. Burkholder, who graduated from the Nashville-area Academy in 1956, died in December. He was 81. “We are humbled by this extraordinary gift, a legacy given to MBA, its mission and community, by a graduate who preferred to remain understated and anonymous while he was living, giving this bequest selflessly in the highest form of nobility, generosity, and expression – to better an institution he loved,” MBA Headmaster Bradford Gioia said in a statement. In their remarks about the extraordinary inheritance, MBA said that Burkholder graduated from the school in 1956, was the captain of the State Champion 1955 football team. The school newspaper, ‘The Bell Ringer’ has archived articles from his time on the Big Red team where, as a Back, “Hajji Horace” Burkholder was a star. According to his obituary, Burkholder returned to his beloved Nashville after graduating from the University of Kentucky, where he joined Equitable Securities Corporation and worked in Municipal Bonds, and for six years, served in the Tennessee National guard. Over the years, he became known as a generous Nashville community philanthropist. In 2005,…

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Twitter Says Employees Were Openly Speaking of Censorship ‘in a Personal Capacity,’ Not for Company

Twitter says that individuals shown in an undercover video casually talking about how they plan on censoring certain viewpoints on the social media platform were speaking only “in a personal capacity.” They “do not represent or speak for Twitter,” a company spokeswoman said. The video in question, secretly recorded by Project Veritas, shows eight current or…

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Dem Representative Denies Reality, Claims There’s Really No Chain Migration

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) claimed Thursday that chain migration “doesn’t, for the most part, exist” and slammed those who believe in “this idea that chain migration is real.” She made her comments during an interview on CNN’s “At This Hour.” Jayapal, who immigrated to the U.S. from India as a teenager, urged lawmakers to avoid including chain migration limits in their proposals for how to solve their Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) dilemma.

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Cheryl Chumley Commentary: Donald Trump’s ‘Sh–hole’ Remark Reason He Was Elected

President Donald Trump reportedly suggested the United States shouldn’t take in immigrants from Haiti or other “s—hole countries” because they do little to bolster an America First agenda – and now the world is on fire, tittering about racism and vulgarities and the foul-mouthed impoliteness of this White House commander-in-chief. But really folks, this is why Trump was elected in the first place.

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Cloud Hill Withdraws from Controversial Fort Negley Re-Development Project After Archaeological Report Finds ‘Likely’ Graves

The Cloud Hill real estate development partnership announced Friday in a short statement it has withdrawn from the Fort Negley/Greer Stadium mixed-use project, citing concerns over an archaeological report which found that there is a great likelihood that the graves of slaves who build the historic fort are still resting on the grounds. At issue is a final report released by Tennessee Valley Archaeological Research (TVAR), a “consulting firm is located in Huntsville, Alabama [that works] closely with State Historic Preservation Officers and their staffs . . . to provide clients with an efficient process to comply with historic preservation laws and regulations,” which found that among the undisturbed soils along the periphery of the property indicate “that impressed slaves were likely buried in these areas during the construction of Fort Negley, it is highly likely that human remains are still present in these areas.” The proposal submitted by the Cloud Hill Partnership “accepted by Nashville Mayor Megan Barry to redevelop Fort Negley Park calls for affordable housing subsidized by government programs including tax credits and Section 8 vouchers,” The Tennessee Star reported in July, noting: The plan by Cloud Hill Partnership has already drawn fierce opposition because of concerns about historic preservation.…

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