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What with the House in chaos, there hasn't been much action on the "Biden crime family" front these days. But today the House Oversight Committee released BOMBSHELL evidence that Joe Biden received $200,000 from his brother James in 2018. This came ON THE SAME DAY that James Biden received $200,000 from a hospital company he ...continue reading "Biden crime family clown show still screening in a tweet near you"

Dozens of Palestinian Americans called on the St. Louis Board of Aldermen to send a resolution to Congress and President Biden to urge a ceasefire in Gaza.

Strong encryption is key to protecting newsgathering. "x-email-encrypted" by Electronic Frontier Foundation is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

Saturday is Global Encryption Day, a worldwide effort to protect end-to-end encryption and defeat proposals that try to undermine it, such as bills in the U.S. that are ostensibly aimed at protecting children online, but could end up making the internet massively less safe for everyone by discouraging end-to-end encryption.

End-to-end encryption is critically important to journalists’ ability to protect confidential sources and newsgathering materials. That’s why Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) is so concerned about proposed legislation that would discourage platforms from offering it. Earlier this month, FPF, the ACLU, and Americans for Prosperity organized a panel of experts from the worlds of business, domestic violence prevention, and journalism to talk to congressional staff about why encryption matters to so many different people.

One of those experts was Susan McGregor, associate research scholar at Columbia University’s Data Science Institute and co-chair of its Center for Data, Media & Society. In recognition of Global Encryption Day, we asked McGregor to answer a few questions via email about how and why encryption matters to journalists.

What are some examples of reporting that encryption helped with or made possible?

The truth is that encryption supports all kinds of reporting. While national security reporting like the Panama Papers is something that I've studied in depth and often gets a lot of attention, the reality is that encryption is at least as important for essential accountability reporting at the local and regional levels as well. Whether it’s reporters covering local and state elections, agricultural and labor practices, or smaller newsrooms setting up tiplines, encryption — and the technologies that employ it effectively — are critical to securing journalists' communications with sources and each other.

So then it’s not just reporters on the national security beat using encryption?

No, not at all. In addition to being important for protecting the information that journalists are provided by all types of sources, encryption is key to making sure that information and communications within news organizations are kept safe as well. Unfortunately, there are a growing number of examples of aggressive tactics being used against news organizations doing important local investigations, and encryption is crucial for allowing them to protect their work.

Some argue we should have a “backdoor” that lets law enforcement access end-to-end encrypted messages in emergencies or for criminal investigations that meet a certain threshold.

What is sometimes described as a "backdoor" for law enforcement is really just another word for “key.” In important ways, encryption “locks” information; “keys” are used to “unlock” that information. The problem with having multiple keys is that it’s possible for any one of them to fall into the wrong hands more easily. Though it would be great if we could trust that these extra keys would only be accessible to the “right” people at the “right” time, the reality is that even very valuable keys of this type have been stolen in the past. And of course, if the people you're investigating have access to that key, it’s going to be an even bigger problem.

If encryption is weakened or eliminated, are there other ways for journalists and confidential sources to protect themselves from surveillance?

While there are ways to protect journalist-source communications without encryption, the result would be even less effective reporting at the local and regional levels, because the effort and cost of reporting safely would go up dramatically, and many important stories simply wouldn’t be possible. The truth is that you can’t really use any digital technologies securely without encryption, so losing strong encryption would basically eliminate effective reporting on technology products and companies, for one. But even where one could theoretically replace digital tools with analog alternatives, the scope of what newsrooms could cover safely would still be reduced dramatically.

What alternatives should lawmakers consider for protecting children and others online without weakening or outlawing encryption?

Let's be clear: Encryption is necessary for protecting everyone who has or will have an online life, including — if not especially — children. Without encryption, it would be impossible for anyone to have truly private digital communications of any kind. Given the current rapid advances in AI, essentially any image or video, no matter how innocuous, can be manipulated into something harmful or exploitative — and without encryption, bad actors will have unfettered access to basically any digital image or video in existence. For anyone concerned about protecting children's safety and development, that is a terrifying prospect. Lawmakers truly concerned about protecting children need to focus their efforts on supporting methods for identifying harms to and providing support for children before they are harmed in the first place, not on approaches that wait for evidence of that harm to make it to the internet or anywhere else.

When Illinois lawmakers return to the Capitol next week for their annual fall veto session, they have a full agenda, including a handful of vetoes from Gov. J.B. Pritzker to consider overriding, in addition to deciding whether to revive a private school scholarship program. But additional state spending is unlikely to be on their agenda, according to recent comments from both the governor and House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch. The prospect of a supplemental spending plan had been floated…

The New York Times printed excerpts from a focus group of Trump leaners today—though I have to say that the participants mostly struck me as more than just leaning. Maybe they weren't all MAGAnauts, but they were pretty devoted to Trump. In any case, the whole thing is worth reading for the smh value, but ...continue reading "Trump voters and what they believe"

This time of year, Brookdale Farms gives us the heebie-jeebies. Plagued by evil, the Field of Nightmares admits only the bravest souls. Here, spirits roam the land and haunt the […]

The post Field of Nightmares appeared first on Explore St. Louis.

Two suspects are facing charges after stealing two French bulldogs from a north St. Louis County woman, along with her safe. It wasn't until police recently completed a STING operation that they uncovered the two were connected with a larger criminal enterprise.

On Friday afternoon, Kim Young received a new car, a 2017 Kia Sorento, from an anonymous donor.

Saint Louis University officials confirmed a recent data breach in which someone gained "unauthorized access" to personal information.

You know what I'd like? I'd like a qualified linguist with a good ear to listen to a Joe Biden speech and report back. A couple of weeks ago I spent some time doing this, and Biden's problem is that his speech really does sound a little slurred at times. My amateur conclusion was that ...continue reading "Calling all linguists"

The move came after significant debate in the community, with some saying the rules didn't go far enough and others citing concerns regulations could be too onerous.

We’ve been following the bizarre and frequently problematic case initially brought by Louisiana and Missouri against the Biden administration, claiming that the administration’s coordination with researchers and pressure on social media companies regarding how they moderate content violates the first amendment. As we’ve said for quite some time, there are legitimate and important questions about […]

Many lighting companies in the St. Louis region have been hard at work since mid-September. It's a race against the clock to get as much done before the weather turns cold and frosty. 

The data was accessed between December 2022 and July 2023, St. Louis University officials said.

Authorities say one group is linked to recent crimes in the cities of St. Ann, Charlack, and St. Charles, Missouri. The latest, an overnight smash-and-grab burglary in St. Ann, was caught on camera.

Here is the story of my grandfather (on my mother's side). Yes, it has a point: My grandfather was born in 1900. He was 14 when World War I broke out and 17 when America entered the fighting. He was 18 when the Spanish flu pandemic swept the world. He was 20 when the Palmer ...continue reading "The life and times of my grandfather"

Two French bulldogs — Zelda and Little Tory — are safe after being stolen from a Hanley Hills home earlier this week. Two men allegedly broke in through a window and entered the home of the dogs' owner on Saturday, nabbing the two dogs, who are four months and two years old. Police officers investigating the missing dogs discovered that two French bulldogs were being sold online for $5,000 each.

Tackling projects through its Naples, Florida-based Hoffmann Family of Companies, the Hoffmann family in 2021 announced its plans to transform Augusta, Missouri, into a national wine destination, later upping its investment to $150 million. “We’ve gotten all the aesthetics done,” David Hoffmann said of the current state of Augusta, in a recent interview. "But we need to get focused on the big thing now, and that’s the hotel.”