How your smart TVs are spying on you and your loved ones



Once, not that long ago, televisions were beloved devices that brought families together for regular rituals of laughter, drama, and storytelling. But today, as we settle in for a night of streaming on our sleek smart TVs, that warmth feels increasingly distant. These modern monstrosities offer endless options and voice-activated convenience, but this comes at a steep price. While we put our feet up and enjoy our favorite shows, we’re also inviting a level of surveillance into our homes that would have been unthinkable a few decades ago.

According to a new report by the Center for Digital Democracy, smart TVs have become yet another cog in a massive, data-driven machine. Specifically, this machine is an ecosystem that harvests viewer data with military-like precision, prioritizing profits over privacy, individual autonomy, and, arguably, our collective well-being.

Big Brother isn't just in your living room — he knows what you’re watching, what you’re thinking, what you’re buying, and even where you’re going.

A Trojan horse in disguise

As the report details, these devices function as sophisticated surveillance tools, tracking viewers' every move across platforms. From Tubi to Netflix to Disney+, streaming services rely heavily on various data collection mechanisms to fuel a relentless advertising engine. These companies boast about their ability to collect "billions of rows of data" on their viewers, using machine learning algorithms to personalize the entire experience — from what shows are recommended to the ads viewers are served.

Tools like Automatic Content Recognition — built into TVs by companies such as LG, Samsung, and Roku — track and analyze everything you watch. ACR collects data frame by frame, creating detailed viewer profiles that are then used for targeted advertising. These profiles can include information about the devices in your home and the content you purchase, all feeding into a continuous feedback loop for advertisers. The more you watch, the more the system learns about you — and the greater its ability to shape your choices. The “non-skippable” ads, personalized to reflect intimate knowledge about viewers' behaviors and vulnerabilities, are particularly disturbing. They are engineered to be as compelling and intrusive as possible.

Smart TVs are living up to their names. They know everything about you. And I mean absolutely everything.

Data-driven manipulation

The streaming industry has rapidly grown into one of the most lucrative advertising sectors, with streaming platforms like Disney+, Netflix, and Amazon Prime attracting billions in ad revenue. As the report warns, these platforms now use advanced generative AI and machine learning to produce thousands of hyper-targeted ads in seconds — ads for Mom, ads for Dad, and ads for the little ones. By employing tools like identity graphs, which compile data from across an individual’s digital footprint, streaming services can track and target viewers on their televisions and throughout their entire digital lives. That's right. Smart TVs seamlessly interact with other smart devices, basically "talking" to each other and sharing valuable gossip.

This data collection goes far beyond tracking viewing habits. The report reveals that companies like Experian and TransUnion have developed identifiers that encompass deeply personal details, such as health information, financial status, and political views. Who will you vote for in November? You already know — and so does your TV.

Crooked capitalism

At its core, capitalism has been a driving force of innovation, progress, and prosperity. Its brilliance lies in its ability to harness human creativity and ambition, rewarding those who bring value to the market. In its purest form, capitalism is entirely meritocratic. Capitalism has lifted millions out of poverty through competition and the pursuit of profit. Capitalism helped make America the greatest nation known to man.

However, we see today a gross distortion of capitalism’s core principles. Surveillance capitalism has taken the place of pure capitalism. Instead of fostering innovation, this monstrous model feeds off personal data, often without our knowledge or consent. It preys particularly on vulnerable groups like children, exploiting their behaviors and emotions to turn a profit. The same system that once championed freedom now thrives on violating privacy, reducing human experiences to commodities.

Smart TVs and surveillance capitalism go hand in hand.

This raises an urgent question: What can we do about it? While it’s tempting to grab a sledgehammer and smash your nosy device into a million pieces, more practical solutions exist.

Start by diving into your TV's settings and disabling data tracking features such as ACR. You can also refuse to sign up for accounts or services that require extensive data sharing. For those willing to pay a bit more, opting for ad-free services can limit the data collected on your viewing habits, though it’s not a foolproof solution.

Additionally, advocating for stronger regulations on data privacy and transparency in advertising technologies is crucial. As consumers, we need to push policymakers to implement stricter laws that hold companies accountable for the data they collect and how they use it. Organizations like the Center for Digital Democracy, which authored this important report, are already fighting for these changes. This is a matter of critical importance. Close to 80% of homes in the U.S. have a smart TV.

Big Brother isn't just in your living room — he knows what you’re watching, what you’re thinking, what you’re buying, and even where you’re going. Not for the sledgehammer, I hope.

Nothing changes: House GOP greenlights $1.5 trillion inflation bomb



After handing Joe Biden and Kamala Harris everything they wanted on budget bills for the past two years, the duplicitous Republican-controlled House isn’t finished with its inflationary spending spree. Now, more than half of the House Republican Conference has sent a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and other House Republican leaders urging them to pass the statist farm bill during the upcoming lame-duck session.

Even after pushing through the Biden-Harris continuing resolution and railing against inflation on the campaign trail, Republicans can’t seem to control their appetite for the very policies fueling inflation, especially in the food industry.

As we hope for a victory less than three weeks from now, we better start planning for how this time will be different.

The $1.5 trillion farm and food stamp reauthorization bill is a prime example of the WWE-style fake political battles between the two parties. Every chance they get to reform, cut, or devolve programs to the states, Republicans not only fail to make a dent in the staggering level of inflationary spending, but they also add to the deficit above the existing baseline whenever they control Congress. They bicker over the rate of increase and some minor aspects of the program, only to give Democrats 95% of what they want, all while pretending to fight over 1% of the issue.

This reauthorization consists mostly of food stamps and other food assistance programs, amounting to about $1.2 trillion over five years. As for the remaining agricultural portions, both parties seem to agree on continuing nanny-state farm programs that bankrupt the country, distort agriculture and land-use markets, create monopolies for wealthy interests, and nationalize our food production.

In the House Agriculture Committee hearing earlier this year, both parties fought fiercely over the rate of food stamp increases, yet they ultimately agreed to lock in a baseline that is double what it was in 2008. Neither side proposed reforms, such as transitioning the program to the states, where anti-dependency initiatives like “Hope Florida” helped 27,500 individuals leave the program.

As a result, H.R. 8467, the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2024, passed the committee on May 23 with a 31-21 vote. Four Democrats joined every Republican in supporting the bill.

The 954-page monstrosity, which combines urban food stamp interests with large-scale farming interests, was designed to increase the overall price tag and extend federal control over state programs. The bill formalizes Biden’s illegal expansion of the Thrifty Food Plan and locks in a three-year annual cost-of-living increase. Ironically, this was viewed as a conservative win, as Democrats had pushed for even greater program growth during the amendment process.

Republicans secured "savings" by preventing further growth in food stamps, only to redirect $40 billion into farm subsidies. These subsidies fuel venture socialism at its worst, distorting agricultural decisions, enriching the wealthiest landowners — often foreign — and inflating land prices. Federal crop insurance has had the same effect on farming that Obamacare had on health care: driving up costs, accelerating mergers, and squeezing out independent farmers, much like it did to independent doctors. Just 10% of farmers receive 56% of subsidies.

A 2017 Congressional Research Service report noted that 94% of farm subsidies under Title I go to just six commodities, with 46% going to corn. Corn already benefits from the ethanol mandate, requiring fuel producers to blend ethanol into the national gasoline supply. Despite these six commodities receiving 94% of the subsidies, they only account for 27% of total farm output. The report suggests this disparity "merits further inspection of how the programs function across program crops."

Additionally, 54% of all cropland is rented, not owned, according to the USDA, with the highest concentration of rental land in crops receiving the most subsidies. Thus, this is more of a landowner subsidy bill than a farmer subsidy bill.

Government intervention in farming, much like health care, picks winners and losers. Under these farm bills, you're a winner if you grow large-acre crops like corn, cotton, and soybeans, or if Southern Republicans fight for low-acreage crops like peanuts and rice. If the government stayed out of it, the private sector would manage crop insurance, just as it does with car and homeowners' insurance. Instead, crop insurance has become a market-distorted mess, much like medical insurance.

Food, like COVID, has become the new frontier for government overreach. The government wants to take over farming and push you toward unhealthy, expensive food, just as it did with medical care. These federal farm programs further skew the playing field away from local farmers and toward corporate farming lobbyists. Biden plans to mandate electronic IDs for all cattle, and nothing in this bill blocks that terrible rule.

Under the guise of “conservation,” the government spends $14 billion paying farmers to leave land dormant. In 2018, Donald Trump vowed to cut these programs, which allow rich companies to buy land and keep it idle. Yet, the last farm bill, passed under a GOP trifecta, fully funded and expanded these programs. As a result, wealthy landowners profit, and land costs continue to skyrocket, just like any subsidized asset bubble. While the House GOP version omits some of the garbage climate-change rhetoric, it fully preserves the absurd conservation programs, which undermine the goal of food independence.

Here we stand 16 months after Kevin McCarthy’s debt-ceiling increase (which Mike Johnson supported), and our debt has grown $4.3 trillion — almost as fast as during the lockdown year itself. How exactly will we cure inflation, especially with food, if we continue to push these massive farm bills without any meaningful, systemic reforms or at least without devolving these programs to the states where they cannot print their way out of debt?

As we hope for a victory less than three weeks from now, we better start planning for how this time will be different.

Major Corporations Sponsor LGBT Community Center That Assists In Kids Getting Sex Changes

'Aligning your brand with the values that make the Center special'

Do The ‘Alien’ Franchise’s Anti-Corporate Themes Still Work 45 Years Later?

[rebelmouse-proxy-image https://thefederalist.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Screenshot-2024-08-29-at-2.41.41 PM-1200x675.png crop_info="%7B%22image%22%3A%20%22https%3A//thefederalist.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Screenshot-2024-08-29-at-2.41.41%5Cu202fPM-1200x675.png%22%7D" expand=1]'Alien: Romulus' transports the same concepts and ideas from a 45-year-old horror film into a modern context without much unpacking.

Glenn Beck: Here's why Tractor Supply said goodbye to woke DEI



Tractor Supply Co. is a farming supplies retailer headquartered in Tennessee, and it's just gone where no large modern company has gone before.

The company is dropping the diversity, equity, and inclusion goals that it had previously set for itself. In addition, DEI roles will be eliminated, carbon emissions goals will be withdrawn, and the company will stop sending data to the Human Rights Campaign.

Tractor Supply made the move after information began circulating that the company was deeply involved in DEI and ESG initiatives, and its stock price took a nosedive.

“We work hard living up to our mission and our values every day, and represent the values of the communities and customers we serve,” the company wrote in a statement. “We’ve heard from our customers that we have disappointed them. We have taken this feedback to heart.”

The backlash began when conservative Robby Starbuck highlighted the company's actions on X, which included DEI hiring practices, in-office Pride Month decorations, climate change activism, and “funding sex changes.”

“He decimated them,” Glenn Beck says. “Just took them apart with everything that they have.”

Stu Burguiere is impressed by the company's response.

“It’s very rare,” Burguiere tells Glenn. “Even Bud Light, who seemingly overtly changed directions, right? Like you could tell by their actions. They never came out and said, ‘And just so you know, we’re totally off the bandwagon.’ They just kind of did it and hoped you noticed.”

Glenn, however, remains skeptical.

“I’d like to see if this is just, you know, another customer service kind of thing and a campaign ad,” he says.


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Blaze News investigates: These 25 firms sponsored employee MBAs from Columbia — where Jews are harassed. Where do they stand?



New York City's Columbia University arguably has been ground zero for pro-Palestinian protests in the United States in recent weeks, as demonstrators captured headlines for their outrage and resistance against authority figures while influencing students on other campuses to follow suit.

Claiming the state of Israel has been committing "genocide" against Gaza in the months since terror group Hamas — which controls Gaza — carried out the deadly Oct. 7 surprise attack against Israel, pro-Palestinian protesters want Columbia University to divest from Israel, among other demands.

“The encampment has been the center of round-the-clock harassment of Jewish students, who have been punched, shoved, spat upon, blocked from attending classes and moving freely about campus."

To make their point, Columbia students broke out their tents and erected illegal encampments on the Manhattan campus and even took over Hamilton Hall — just like anti-Vietnam War protesters did in 1968.

But along the way, a big problem has arisen at Columbia: reports of anti-Semitism. Jewish students getting harassed and intimidated — and worse.

Columbia University student recounts anti-Semitism on campus before hearing in DC youtu.be

While Columbia University President Minouche Shafik has disputed claims that she's allowed anti-Semitism to grow on campus, the Associated Press reported that some Jewish students insist anti-Semitism goes unchecked there, noting one was beaten while putting up posters of Israeli hostages — not to mention the continuous chants of "there is only one solution" and "from the river to the sea," which call for the destruction of Israel.

'Punched, shoved, spat upon, blocked from attending classes'

NewsNation said an anonymous student is suing Columbia, saying some pro-Palestinian protesters are “continuing to commit acts of violence, they are intimidating and harassing Jewish students and faculty members, they are inciting demonstrators to engage in hate speech and also commit acts of violence, which has been taking place, and they have even called for terrorist attacks against the United States and the State of Israel.”

NewsNation's Leland Vittert read more of what's in the lawsuit: “The encampment has been the center of round-the-clock harassment of Jewish students, who have been punched, shoved, spat upon, blocked from attending classes and moving freely about campus."

Blaze News spoke to first-year Columbia student Parker De Dekér, who said just days before Passover week he was on his way to a gathering at the Chabad house when someone hollered at him, "You f***ing Jew!"

"The only way they could identify me as Jewish was my yarmulke," De Dekér recounted to Blaze News, noting that a friend soon advised him to cease wearing it as doing so was "not safe."

De Dekér told Blaze News, "I took off my yarmulke and put it in my pocket." When he arrived at the gathering, he said he put it back on — but then removed it again when he left the Chabad house.

The experience of feeling "powerless" was "emotionally upsetting," De Dekér recalled — and he said he shed tears that night.

25 companies

Blaze News has taken a look at the executive masters of business administration program at Columbia Business School for working professionals.

One of the program's requirements is that the companies who employ the eMBA candidates must "sponsor" them. Not necessarily financially — although Columbia Business School notes that the "total cost of the Executive MBA Program for May 2023 and August 2023 entry is $239,880."

Certainly not a dollar amount most individuals can easily shell out on their own.

Columbia Business School says "more than 800 organizations — across industries, in countries around the world — have sponsored one or more students" for the eMBA program.

Blaze News went through the list and picked out 25 readily recognizable companies and reached out to them with a question: Do they want to continue sponsoring employees through this program when Jewish students have been harassed, intimidated, and victimized by anti-Semitism on Columbia's campus?

The companies we questioned are:

  1. Accenture
  2. Aetna Inc.
  3. American Express Company
  4. Amtrak
  5. AT&T
  6. Bank of America, N.A.
  7. Citigroup Inc.
  8. Deutsche Bank Securities, New York
  9. Google Inc.
  10. Honeywell International
  11. IBM Corp.
  12. Johnson & Johnson
  13. Lockheed Martin
  14. Marriott International
  15. Mastercard International
  16. MetLife Inc.
  17. Microsoft Corporation
  18. Morgan Stanley
  19. Nickelodeon
  20. PepsiCo International
  21. Philip Morris USA
  22. Pfizer Inc.
  23. Samsung Electronics America Inc.
  24. Verizon Wireless
  25. Xerox Corporation

How did the companies respond?

CitiGroup Inc. told Blaze News it "will decline comment at this time." Philip Morris USA referred Blaze News' question to Altria, its parent company — and Altria did not immediately respond to Blaze News' request for comment.

None of the remaining companies immediately responded to Blaze News' request for comment, either.

What does Columbia have to say?

Columbia University didn't immediately respond to Blaze News' request for comment.

'Straight-out calls for the genocide of Jews'

Jay Edelson, one of the attorneys representing the student in the aforementioned lawsuit against Columbia University, noted that "there are straight-out calls for the genocide of Jews. This has happened because of complacency and appeasement by our academic institutions. This isn't the 1930s. We're not in Germany. We're going to stand up, and we're gonna fight back."

Columbia facing lawsuit from student over protests youtu.be

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