Politics

Your phone is a sleeper agent for stalkers and fundamentalist politicians

Published

4 months ago

November 11, 2024

Your phone is a sleeper agent for stalkers and fundamentalist politicians

For years, data brokers have abused Americans’ most personal data in every way possible, selling people’s identifying information to businesses, other individuals and even governments. Now, a string of news stories underscore how the industry’s practices are increasingly endangering women’s safety.

Data brokers are selling the ability to track phones that visit abortion clinics and follow them back across state lines, all the way to their owners’ homes. All it takes for this kind of 24-hour surveillance is a credit card. Given the creepy enthusiasm with which MAGA government officials are inserting themselves into women’s health choices, these tracking tools present a pressing danger for women across the country.

Again and again, MAGA politicians show that they will go to shameful lengths to control women’s bodies.

According to reports by multiple news organizations last week, the data broker Babel Street allowed a private investigator to use its Locate X tool to zero in on abortion clinics and other sensitive locations. While Babel Street advertises its tool as being for government use, in practice this private investigator received a weeklong trial subscription, apparently without any vetting whatsoever.

I’ve spent years probing data broker malfeasance, and unfortunately this news wasn’t surprising. My investigations found that wireless companies let data brokers sell Americans’ location information to bounty hunters, corrupt law enforcement officials and nearly anyone with a credit card. Earlier this year, I revealed that data brokers helped anti-abortion activists send targeted misinformation about abortion to patients at 600 Planned Parenthood clinics across the country. I discovered that automakers sold drivers’ location data and other records to data brokers for pennies. And I successfully pushed utility companies to end their practice of giving away their customers’ personal information to data brokers.

Again and again, MAGA politicians show that they will go to shameful lengths to control women’s bodies. Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Republicans have moved mountains to restrict the constitutional rights and freedoms of women, making it impossible for many women to live their lives free from government intrusion. They won’t rest until there’s a politician in every bedroom and exam room in America.

But Americans shouldn’t accept a reality where their phones are sleeper agents for stalkers and fundamentalist politicians to track women across the country. Here’s how we can fight back.

First, anyone who cares about women’s rights needs to make themselves heard and vote for candidates who have a track record of protecting those rights. The Dobbs decision to overturn women’s right to choose was the culmination of a decadeslong far-right movement to take over the nation’s courts. Democrats need to respond with the same amount of determination, which is why I introduced the Judicial Modernization and Transparency Act to reform the court system and ensure our judges better represent American values.

When it comes to violations of Americans’ privacy, our country has reached a crisis point.

Second, the executive branch should use the powers it already has to crack down on data brokers’ sleazy behavior. At my urging, the Federal Trade Commission has already started to go after some data brokers that sold location data collected from Americans’ without their consent. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is expected to announce its own regulations in the near future to extend financial privacy rules to the industry.

States can also act to protect their residents. Starting in 2026, Californians will be able to sign up for a new data broker registry, where with a single click they can require the brokers to delete their data and stop selling it in the future. The law that created that new privacy control, which will put tens of millions of Americans back in control of their own personal data, was modeled after legislation I wrote. I encourage other states to follow California’s lead.

Third, Congress needs to finally breach the corporate barricade that has blocked a strong consumer privacy law. I’ve authored my own strong privacy bills, the Mind Your Own Business Act and the Banning Surveillance Advertising Act. And in the coming months I plan to release two new bills: one that will protect Americans’ privacy by limiting how much data websites and apps can collect on Americans and preventing data brokers from amassing and selling that data, and another that will protect Americans from being spied on by their smart TVs and set-top boxes and having that data given away or sold to data brokers.

Finally, it’s notable that the vast majority of the phones tracked by Babel Street’s Locate X tool used Google’s Android operating system. Though Apple changed its privacy settings in 2021 to make it far easier for users to stop apps from hoovering up and selling their personal information, Google has failed to do the same. As a result, people who use Android phones are far more vulnerable to surveillance than people who use iPhones. It doesn’t take a genius to understand why the largest online advertising company in the world does not want to make it easy for users to stop tracking by advertising companies and their data broker partners. Google could act immediately to limit data broker access to location information and cut this slimy industry off at the source.

When it comes to violations of Americans’ privacy, our country has reached a crisis point. The repeal of Roe has only heightened the stakes for women who want to make health decisions without a politician in their doctor’s office or a stalker watching their phone. The good news is, there’s no mystery about how to solve this problem. There’s a clear path forward for protecting our privacy and safety that Americans should insist on from our government.

Sen. Ron Wyden

Ron Wyden, Oregon’s senior U.S. senator, is a senior member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

Politics

Andy Beshear hits Newsom for hosting Bannon on his new podcast

Published

14 hours ago

March 14, 2025

Blue Light Newsroom

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear took a swipe Thursday at a fellow leading Democrat, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, for hosting one of the most prominent figures in the MAGA movement on his new podcast.

Beshear, whose popularity in a heavily Republican state has turned him into a potential presidential candidate, told reporters that Newsom shouldn’t have opened his platform to Steve Bannon, an outspoken advocate of the “America first” agenda of President Donald Trump.

“I think that Governor Newsom bringing on different voices is great, we shouldn’t be afraid to talk and to debate just about anyone,” Beshear said at a Democratic policy retreat in Virginia. “But Steve Bannon espouses hatred and anger, and even at some points violence, and I don’t think we should give him oxygen on any platform, ever, anywhere.”

The criticism of Newsom, who is widely expected to run for president, amounted to what could be an early skirmish in the next Democratic primary. It also reflects divisions within a party trying to find its footing after Trump’s resounding victory.

The California governor recently launched the podcast, which appears to some degree to be an effort to find common ground with an ascendant conservative movement.

In his debut episode, speaking to Charlie Kirk of Turning Point USA, Newsom drew widespread attention — and criticism — for suggesting that Democrats were wrong to allow transgender athletes to participate in female youth sports. He was also critical of progressives who have called for defunding the police or who use the gender neutral term “Latinx.”

Newsom defended his approach and the Bannon interview in an email statement on Wednesday, saying it is “critically important” to understand Trump’s movement and how it successfully operated in the last campaign.

In the hour-long episode, Bannon repeated the debunked claims that the 2020 election was stolen amid a discussion that also covered tariffs and taxes.

“I think we all agreed after the last election that it’s important for Democrats to explore new and unique ways of talking to people,” Newsom said.

A spokesperson for Newsom, who plans to have Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on his next episode, did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Beshear’s remarks.

The Kentucky governor, who was a featured speaker at the retreat along with Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, was not alone in criticizing the Bannon interview.

Former Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger, who was one of the few Republicans in Congress to challenge Trump, called it an “insane” decision to host Bannon.

“I am in shock at the stupidity of [Newsom] inviting Steve Bannon on his podcast,” Kinzinger said Wednesday. “Many of us on the right sacrificed careers to fight Bannon, and Newsom is trying to make a career and a presidential run by building him up.”

Politics

Top Illinois Democrat readies a Senate bid — and tells people she has major backing

Published

1 day ago

March 13, 2025

Blue Light Newsroom

Ambitious Illinois Democrats are dreaming about Sen. Dick Durbin’s exit in 2026. The latest contender: the state’s lieutenant governor.

Juliana Stratton, who first took office in 2019, is quietly positioning herself for a Senate bid if Durbin bows out, calling key Democratic figures to ask for support, according to three people with knowledge of her plans, one of whom spoke with her directly and the other two who spoke with members of her team.

And she and her staff have said that she’s already secured the support of Gov. JB Pritzker, the three people said. They were granted anonymity to discuss private conversations and avoid political retribution. She and her team have made clear she expects Pritzker to be heavily involved financially, those people said.

“Juliana continues to keep an open mind about future opportunities, and if she does decide to pursue higher office, she’d be proud to earn the governor’s support while working to build a broad grassroots coalition,” said a spokesperson for the lieutenant governor, granted anonymity to discuss private conversations.

Pritzker, a high-profile governor and potential 2028 hopeful, is already a prolific Democratic donor and party operator, and his vast personal wealth would be a significant boost to any candidate. His money and endorsement could transform the brewing shadow primary that includes several members of the state’s congressional delegation.

His team declined to discuss an endorsement or financial backing in any potential primary. “We’re not going to engage with hypotheticals for a seat that’s not even open,” said a person close to the governor’s political operation granted anonymity to speak candidly.

The governor hand-picked Stratton, then a state representative, to be his running mate in 2017 and he was a guest of honor last month at a fundraising event for her newly formed federal PAC.

Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton speaks to reporters as Gov. JB Pritzker, to her left, looks on with other state lawmakers in Chicago on Feb. 10, 2025.

Pritzker, a billionaire heir to the Hyatt hotel empire, could support that PAC as well as donate millions to any other super PACs supporting her campaign. That kind of financial support could make Stratton the front-runner in a primary that would essentially guarantee a spot in the Senate in the heavily blue state.

And if a Pritzker-backed candidate wins the race, it could help position him even more firmly as a major Democratic powerbroker, one whose influence could extend beyond Illinois political circles as 2028 approaches.

Durbin has served in the Senate since 1997 and while many Democrats expect the 80-year-old will retire, those close to him say he hasn’t yet decided.

In a brief interview Wednesday, Durbin acknowledged the lieutenant governor was among the Democrats who are preparing for his possible retirement: “She said if I run she’s not going to.”

Democratic Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi has been padding his campaign account for years for a possible Senate run. He had amassed $17.1 million by the end of 2024. His fellow Democratic Reps. Lauren Underwood, who flipped a GOP-held district in 2018, and Robin Kelly, the former chair of the Illinois Democratic Party, are also eyeing the seat.

And Illinois Democrats have made a parlor game of wondering what’s next for Rahm Emanuel, the former Chicago mayor who just returned from an ambassador stint in Japan. For now, he’s a commentator on BLN.