Politics

Your phone is a sleeper agent for stalkers and fundamentalist politicians

Published

2 years 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

Kansas becomes a surprise Senate battleground

Published

12 minutes ago

October 2, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Senate Republicans are suddenly rushing to save a Senate seat in Kansas.

On Friday, the Senate Leadership Fund, Senate Republicans’ top super PAC, reserved over $8 million in ads starting this weekend to prop up GOP Sen. Roger Marshall, according to tracking firm AdImpact.

The spending in a state where Democrats haven’t won a Senate race in 94 years comes amid a deteriorating national political environment for the GOP. The impact of spiking diesel and fertilizer prices driven by the war with Iran, coupled with President Donald Trump’s trade wars, have been acutely felt in the heartland.

Private polling from both parties shows a deadlocked race between Marshall and Democrat Adam Hamilton in a state Trump carried by 16 points in 2024.

“It’s a perfect storm,” said one senior Senate GOP aide, granted anonymity to candidly discuss the race. “The president isn’t making it any better.”

Lower Costs Now, a new Super PAC affiliated with former Vice President Kamala Harris’ Super PAC, dropped about $700,000 into the state Thursday night, and Democrats are considering more spending to bolster Hamilton. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has been including Kansas in private fundraising pitches to donors, according to two people familiar with the conversations.

It’s a remarkable shift in a state that was not high on either party’s target list just a few months ago — and shows the ferocity of the headwinds Republicans face in the final month of the campaign.

“I think we’re on track to win, but I am comforted to know that the cavalry is coming,” said Danedri Herbert, chair of the Kansas Republican Party. Herbert said Hamilton’s particular appeal as a pastor who heads the largest United Methodist church in the country, located in suburban Kansas City, made him formidable.

“I personally know people who attend or have attended that church in the past,” said Herbert. “The ones that I know are right-leaning, and so that’s troublesome. That’s trouble — just the sheer ability to reach some of those people who are just always our people. I was telling national groups early on, like, ‘you should pay attention here.’”

Republicans say the warning signs have been visible in Kansas for months as the agriculture-heavy state got hammered by a series of economic blows, including increased input prices from Trump’s tariffs, high fuel prices as a result of the Iran war, his decision to increase foreign beef imports, and heavy-handed immigration enforcement.

As diesel prices shot up just ahead of the peak harvest season, the situation started to deteriorate even more in Kansas, according to Republicans.

Vice President JD Vance visited Olathe, Kansas, in mid-September to campaign with Marshall, a sign of the GOP’s growing worries. Days later, he took a shot at Hamilton during a speech in western Iowa for having “kind of a ‘gee whiz, I’m a nice pastor’ vibe,” but said he “tells his congregation not about the gospel of Jesus Christ, but that they need to repent for their white privilege while eating beef” — a reference to a frequent attack line on Hamilton about his past calls to decrease carbon emissions. Marshall recently criticized the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement, saying recent ICE operations in western Kansas should have coordinated with local law enforcement.

A handful of recent public polls have shown a close race in recent weeks. Hamilton’s internal polling and a recent poll for the Democratic Attorneys General Association shared with Blue Light News found him tied or up a few points against Marshall. Republicans’ numbers are no better: One Republican involved in the race said a recent private GOP poll had Marshall down within the margin of error and said Trump’s approval rating has been underwater since summer in the state; another person said a different GOP poll of Kansas found a tied Senate race.

“I take it as a compliment that the Republicans are now going, ‘Oh my gosh, we didn’t think we were going to have to put money into Kansas, and now we’re going to pour millions of dollars in to try to save Roger Marshall,’” said Hamilton in an interview on The Conversation with Dasha Burns, published Friday. “And I don’t think they’re going to save him.”

SLF’s Kansas ad buy came as they pulled back in North Carolina — the latest sign of a deteriorating national political environment.

And the agriculture-heavy Midwest has been particularly impacted by Trump’s policies. Republicans are currently fighting to hold onto Senate, House and governor’s seats in red-leaning Iowa and Ohio, and even redder Nebraska and Kansas.

Retiring GOP Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) said the repeated economic blows to the Midwest were contributing to a series of tighter than comfortable races, including the Kansas Senate race.

“It’s the policies and the chaos,” Bacon said. “That’s why Trump’s numbers are low. Tariffs are not popular in the Midwest and they contribute to the cost of goods.”

National Republicans played down those concerns for weeks, arguing Marshall was still holding strong in polling and dispelling the belief that a Democrat could actually win the state.

But privately, top Senate GOP operatives and Republican senators have been deeply worried about worsening economic conditions across the Midwest, increasing the states where they need to play defense.

“He’s running scared,” one western Kansas Republican, granted anonymity to speak candidly about the race, said. “I don’t know if they took Hamilton for granted, but people are tired of Marshall not doing anything.”

Asked for comment for this story, a spokesperson for the Marshall campaign sent a link to a New York Post article that details a $1.2 million buy for an ad that alleges Hamilton failed to report a pedophile who volunteered at Hamilton’s church’s camp; Hamilton’s campaign has previously said the attacks are false.

“Adam Hamilton is a pedophile protector who would vote with Democrats like Chuck Schumer. He will never be the U.S. Senator from Kansas,” said National Republican Senatorial Committee spokesperson Samantha Cantrell.

The SLF ad launching Saturday accuses Hamilton of being “a two-faced extremist,” and accuses him of “founding a radical group promoting the idea that all white people are racist.”

The Democratic Senatorial Committee didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment for this story.

Hamilton spokesperson Tyson Brody referenced a New York Times report about Marshall, a former obstetrician, and his involvement in lawsuits against patients who didn’t pay past due bills as he dismissed the ad barrage on behalf of a “failing” incumbent.

“With this new ad, Marshall is turning to these desperate lies and false attacks because Kansans have learned Roger Marshall had pregnant mothers arrested and jailed over small medical debts, and voted to block the release of the Epstein files,” he said.

Democrats have also hammered Marshall over the amount of time his family spends in Florida, where they have a second home.

Hamilton is considering a late-stage fundraising swing later this month that includes an event in Boston, according to a person familiar with the planning and granted anonymity to discuss it. Democrats are bullish about the state, but are facing a cash crunch across the map that could hinder their ability to spread money so far that it reaches Kansas. Senate Majority PAC was already “actively thinking” about whether to wade into the state, its president told Blue Light News last week.

Democrats are growing bullish about other Kansas races as well. Recent polling has also shown a relatively close race in the fight to replace term-limited Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly as well as for attorney general. And the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee added Kansas’ 2nd District, which Trump carried by nearly 20 points in 2024, to its extended offensive targets list Friday.

“It’s momentum, and that’s what we’re seeing across the state,” said Chris Mann, the Democratic nominee for attorney general.

A spokesperson for Ty Masterson, the Republican gubernatorial candidate, pointed Blue Light News to a mid-September Emerson College poll which showed their candidate leading Holscher 51% to 44%. The same poll found Hamilton leading Marshall 45% to 43%.

Politics

Top GOP groups scale back North Carolina spending

Published

3 hours ago

October 2, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Leading Republicans are pulling back from the North Carolina Senate race, sending a clear message: What was a top-tier battleground at the start of the cycle is no longer worth the money.

The foremost Senate GOP super PAC, Senate Leadership Fund, is pausing its future spending in North Carolina and instead launching a seven-figure ad buy in deep-red Kansas, according to one person familiar with the move. The news was first reported by Semafor.

The dramatic change in strategy — less than four weeks before the midterms — comes after SLF previously spent more than $30 million to boost GOP nominee Michael Whatley. It also comes as public polling has continued to show Whatley unable to close the gap against popular former Gov. Roy Cooper, the Democratic candidate.

Republicans are now deprioritizing a state that President Donald Trump carried in all three presidential runs, and that Democrats haven’t won in the Senate since 2008.

“We are all clear-eyed about where North Carolina stands,” said one national GOP operative working on Senate races, who like others in this article was granted anonymity to speak candidly.

SLF isn’t the only major GOP group shifting away from North Carolina as Republicans focus on other must-win seats and deep-red states, amid the Iran war, high fuel prices and other economic fallout of the war in Iran.

Earlier Friday, the Koch-aligned Americans for Prosperity Action left North Carolina off its $22 million list of future spending across key Senate contests, as POLITICO reported. Another major Republican group focused specifically on boosting Whatley — Old North Action — removed $6.5 million in ad reservations from North Carolina’s Senate race last month.

“Michael Whatley is a good man who took one for the team — but with states like Alaska, Kansas, and Texas requiring continued resource commitments, there is only so much,” said another national GOP operative working on midterm races. “Especially against a very popular former Governor in Roy Cooper.”

The National Republican Senatorial Committee is currently running coordinated ad reservations with six of its battleground candidates. Whatley in North Carolina is not one of them, according to data from advertising tracking service AdImpact.

NRSC regional press secretary Nick Puglia said in a statement that “Whatley will put North Carolina families first by cutting taxes and keeping criminals locked up.”

Whatley for months has struggled to boost his name ID against the much better-known Cooper. Some recent public polls show Cooper leading Whatley by double-digit margins. Private polling has also hardly budged, despite the recent influx of spending, according to a person working on the race.

In a statement, Whatley spokesperson DJ Griffin said the team feels “confident we have the resources” to win in November.

“Roy Cooper recently said about federal elections in North Carolina, ‘Democrats are often ahead until they are not,’” Griffin said. “Undecided Voters who break late decide the election in North Carolina and the majority of those Late-Breakers typically go Republican.”

AFP Action and Old North Action did not immediately respond to a request for comment about North Carolina. SLF declined to comment.

SLF’s decision came as a shock to some, but not all, North Carolina Republicans — mostly because Senate Majority Leader John Thune has been scheduled to be in North Carolina for an event with Whatley on Thursday night. Thune ended up joining the event virtually, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter.

For weeks, top Republicans acknowledged North Carolina may be slipping away. One Republican who attended a donor meeting with Senate Majority Leader John Thune and SLF during the Dallas convention told POLITICO that holding the state would be “tough.”

“The map has shifted a little bit, and to be fair, we knew that was going to be a tough one from the beginning,” said one GOP operative working on Senate races, granted anonymity to speak candidly about the landscape.

Democrats are not letting up, recognizing that the contest in the purple state could still be close.

“A Democrat has not won statewide federal office here in nearly two decades, and North Carolina is a 50-50 state,” Cooper campaign manager Jeff Allen said in a statement.

“We’re building a campaign to earn every vote and make sure North Carolinians know that Roy Cooper will fight for them, while Michael Whatley will continue to enrich himself at their expense,” Allen said.

One North Carolina GOP strategist said that while Whatley has been a “fine” candidate, the current political climate coupled with Cooper’s long record in the state may be too much to overcome. And while Republicans have repeatedly hammered Cooper on crime, he still has strong favorability ratings from his time as governor.

“He’s really kind of hard to paint as a radical, ’cause, you know, he’s like Aunt Martha. She’s just been there forever. And so it’s just very difficult to get any traction on that, because, you know, people say, ‘well, Roy’s okay,’” they said.

When told that SLF was moving money from North Carolina to Kansas, the strategist responded: “$6.50 diesel fuel will kick your ass.”