Digital Identity Proposals By French Politicians Raise Concerns For Privacy Advocates. Fearing A China Style Social Credit System.

Just days after President Emmanuel Macron’s victory, the French government announced the establishment of a new digital identification app that would allow users to access both public and private services. According to a translated announcement posted on the French government’s website, Prime Minister Jean Castex and Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin signed a decree establishing the “Digital Identity Guarantee Service.” It will provide French residents access to a digital ID card, which is also in line with the European Union’s Digital Identity package. According to French news site BFMTV, customers would be able to scan their actual identity card to gain access to services. The digital identification software will not save fingerprints, but it will store information such as a photo, email and physical addresses, birth dates, and names. According to the French government order, the app “allows the user, in…

Read More

United Nations Urged to Report on Uyghurs Before Beijing Winter Olympics.

The Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), a bipartisan group of US senators, is urging the UN’s human rights office to provide its evaluation of the persecuted Uyghur ethnic group in China’s Xinjiang area before the 2022 Winter Olympics. In a letter to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, chair and co-chair of the CECC, Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) wrote, “Doing so would provide a global public service as the international community’s attention turns to China while it hosts this international spectacle.” “It would also reaffirm the fact that no country is beyond scrutiny or above international law.” The Chinese regime is conducting genocide against Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in Xinjiang, according to several Western nations, notably the United States, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. More than a million Uyghurs are being…

Read More

LA is Above Doing Business With the Unvaccinated.

The City of Los Angeles has started enforcement of its COVID-19 vaccine mandate for indoor businesses. The mandate, also named SafePassLA, requires all people eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine, including kids 12 and above, to show photo ID and proof of full vaccination against COVID-19 when entering indoor restaurants, gyms, entertainment facilities, personal care establishments, and some city buildings. From Monday, inspectors from the Department of Building and Safety, and authorized agents, started enforcing the ordinance. Business owners who violate the mandate will receive a warning for the first violation, a $1,000 fine for a second violation, and a $2,000 fine for a third violation. Fines are capped at $5,000 for four or more violations. The city said the measure would help stop the spread of the CCP virus. The mandate comes from an ordinance (pdf) which was adopted by the city in October. The ordinance…

Read More