Resurfaced comments in which new House Speaker Mike Johnson talked about how he and his son monitor each other’s online activity using “accountability software” have raised questions about national security.
Johnson, a Republican who was first elected to Congress in 2016, spoke in 2022 about how he installed software called Covenant Eyes on his devices during a panel called “War on Technology” at Cypress Baptist Church in Benton, Louisiana, Rolling Stone reported.
According to a clip first posted on X, formerly Twitter, by a user called Receipt Maven, Johnson spoke about how the subscription-based service helps people abstain from internet porn and “objectionable” websites.
I thought this was overblown at first glance but reading into it…
From Wikipedia:
Accountability software typically functions by continuously making screenshots of the user’s mobile phone or computer screen and monitoring their internet traffic. It checks both for keywords (such as “gay” or “porn”) and images associated with the behavior the software is intended to detect.
So like even if the Speaker is on a VPN securely viewing classified material, if it’s on his phone or laptop, Covenant Eyes now has screenshots of it. That is very much a breech of national security if that is happening.
Holy balls, it costs almost as much as Netflix ($204/year) and all it does is spy on you?! I’m not an evil man but these idiots ask for this service. I wish I’d thought of it.
it costs almost as much as Netflix ($204/year)
LMAO what?! My god, it could not be more obvious that every single anti-porn crusader out there has serious issues with self-control and project it onto the rest of society. And let’s not even get into the fact that they have a ridiculously unhealthy understanding of human sexuality.
Casually browses fetish porn knowing that I’m not the only one while knowing I’m not in the majority.
ridiculously unhealthy
I would argue that they don’t understand human sexuality. Point blank.
This, they have been indoctrinated into “original sin” where everything is bad (especially most all sexuality outside of a male and female in a government-issued wedlock) and must be controlled, even if purely natural given by their “God”.
I’m in the wrong business.
Sorry, $204/yr is not enough for me to keep tabs on someone else’s festishes. Especially not those of a Republican congressman.
Don’t forget all the wonderful hush payments for not leaking certain screen shots and user information.
Sure, but MDM software is easy enough to make into a product that does this service on autopilot. And it sounds like the people moderating the content are the users themselves. Genius!
Go to a church and ask for volunteers to help–no, to fulfill their duty!–with this holy war against digital sin.
If it’s high enough classification, he would not have access on his personal phone though.
The risk does not stop at the line of classification. Comms for example, anyone he texts or is texted to those screens are taken and stored off.
It is a risk to national security, period. It’s a fuckin social engineering jackpot for fucks sake.
If he is following proper protocols and procedures: Yes
If he were following proper protocol, he wouldn’t willingly install spyware in the first place.
And unless he is VERY strictly separating his work and his personal devices, there is inevitable leakage. Even something as simple as getting too close to the line on “So I need to fly out to Nevada to check out these weather balloon things and make sure everything is fine” and so forth.
But also? All of this is publicly available information. At a high level, there are two kinds of classified material. Stuff that is classified by specific rules and are generally based on science and technology. And the other is “national security” and is more or less anything a bureaucrat thinks is important.
So the POTUS liking two shots of soy milk in his coffee is not classified because soy milk and coffee are not classified. But if it is decided that “terrorists” might attack the soy milk supply chain? Suddenly there is an argument that that information is sensitive.
And there are a LOT of arguments to be made regarding the Speaker of the House’s personal ties and vulnerabilities becoming “sensitive”.
And then you have people like trump who just give zero shits and are likely to take a picture of a document so they can show it to other people later.
Right, even if he had access to classified information in an unsecured space, the classified system would have its own encryption device and its own systems separate from the unclassified network.
That’s only part of it though. Another component is that anyone having access to his personal devices --let alone his porn habits-- potentially has compromising information on him. Once he’s compromised, he’s a national security threat, full stop.
What if he’s having an affair and there’s evidence of it on his phone? What if he’s doing other shady shit that involves not having a bank account? You better believe the Russians and/or the CCP would love to have compromat on the Speaker.
Sure, but there’s probably already plenty of ways to compromise these idiots.
I grew up in the far right evangelical Christian church and watching people’s horror when they hear little tidbits about how fucked up it is always entertaining to me. I know a bunch of people who use the same software on their computers.
Triggering the apocalypse? Yes please!
Triggering an orgasm? Satan’s work.
Is it usually at the wives’ insistance?
For married men that usually seems to be the case. For anyone else its usually at the insistence of their men’s group.
Creeps all around, yikes. I get the idea but damn is there no way to make this any less a ticking time bomb in every instance
Edit: or, like, condos?
This is totes a cult’s way to get incriminating info on dudes
Does he so desperately want to look at porn that he needs this? How about will power?
Who the fuck are these people.
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Penn Jillette said it best. Paraphrasing: “I rape and kill and murder everyone I want to, and that number is zero. Why the fuck isn’t your number zero???”
Basic training circa '96, and I get outed as an atheist. Heard exactly this from more than one person.
It is really scary thinking how many people are held in check by the thin veil of mythology.
I cannot imagine being so pathetic that I need a subscription to help me not watch porn. But even if I were, how hard is it to just set up parental security password, and ask someone else to set it for you so you don’t know what the password is. What a moron.
I suspect it’s more about virtue signaling. It’s not that he needs people to keep him from watching porn. He needs people to know that he’s not watching porn.
Id bet hes got a financial stake in it, or at least is scratching someones back who does.
A grifting Republican?! Inconceivable!
Imagine thinking “porn addiction” is a real thing and not something Jordan Peterson made up to sell transphobia to incels
I’m sure it is a real thing, literally everything can become an addiction if you consistently feed the wrong patterns to your brain.
It’s not an addiction, it’s min-maxing value! Times are tough!
Actual psychopaths.
sounds like a publicity stunt gone wrong
All the fucking cybersecurity bullshit I gotta go to as a network admin for a federal contractor and the baddies can just have some tech illiterate federal representative install whatever back doors they want on their personal computers under the guise of morality or whatever.
Hello fellow admin.
Feel the same way. The most secure network is only as secure as its dumbest user.
Sadly we’re still a couple hundred years off of that being less of a concern :/.
The worst sites for security tend to be church/religious websites. I bet its the same for apps.
Wait, this dude is such a deviant he needs to install software on his own devices to keep him away from porn?
Let me guess, his wife once found gay porn on his computer, and he said he didn’t know anything about it and did the typical conservative “doth protest too much” thing and decided that paying for a porn filter would give him cover to keep looking at porn?
Do these people really think they are fooling anyone?
That’s a possibility or he’s using it in an attempt to control his son.
this shit is so fucking creepy and insane. if literal receipts about the porn i look at came up in a family conversation for any reason whatsoever my brain would melt and explode. how are these freaks so outwardly successful but behind closed doors they’re spying on their son’s porn viewing??
he doesn’t even have any particular juice or charisma! he’s just white and clean shaven and wears a button down! give him the fucking keys to congress! jesus fucking christ
Don’t forget, he shares his porn with his son too!
I wonder if he also shares his porn viewing with his black “adopted” “son”
I wonder if he was particular in that the adopted child had to be black?
You better believe it, need the poc x-factor
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*Habits. He shares his porn habits with his son as an accountability measure. Still only slightly less weird though…
I mean, the point of it is to deter you from looking at porn in the first place.
Former fundie here. Y’all are probably misinterpreting what is going on.
Mike Johnson is a True Believer™ from what I’ve seen. Doesn’t mean he’s not a terrible person, but his motives and actions aren’t necessarily as simple as repressed urges to view gay porn.
The most likely explanation is that Mike Johnson’s son was watching porn and got caught, probably more than once. He probably admitted his guilt early on, but he attempted to hide the activity. So, not only do you have the kid for sexual immorality but you’ve got him for dishonesty. After hours of lectures at the boy - involving his mother, father, possibly clergy or youth leadership - the poor kid is probably swearing on a stack of bibles that he sees the light and will never do it again. That’s not good enough. He can’t be trusted as this isn’t the first time.
This passage was probably pounded in bone deep:
Matthew 5:
27Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: 28But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. 29And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. 30And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
So, the boy should rip out his own eyes and cut off the hand he jacks off with. Maybe he should castrate himself. If the behavior continues, he’s willfully hellbound. Doesn’t he understand?
So, Mike Johnson, wonderful paragon of fatherly leadership, says they will both install this software. That way he can prove what a good person he is and bear the cross of his son’s sin. See how great he is? He’s helping the boy with his problem. Barf.
So, now the kid’s ‘sin’ is making national news and impacting his father who is a Great Man™.
Christian guilt in a nutshell.
I really feel for the poor bastard. Hopefully he makes it out from under the shadow of his father’s insanity. It’s truly evil shit.
Yeah thats all fine, scratch that. That’s probably cirrext but dies nothing to stop the national security risk.
No doubt, the national security risk from something like this is pretty significant. IIRC, Covenant Eyes is basically a rootkit that you voluntarily install and you can get around it by booting from USB.
Many fundamentalists take a lot of pride in being Luddites. Knowing too much about computers and the internet can be ‘Worldly’. Church networks are often wide open and church computers are frequently infected. Leadership roles in fundy churches - as low as Sunday School teacher - can come with an email address and instead of using webmail, members will install add-ridden software given by the webhosting company of their website. There are companies that specialize in providing webhost and associated services to fundie churches.
There’s an entire cottage industry of ‘Christian’ software and computer services. You know they’re good people because they have a fish symbol on their homepage and some bible crap in their about section.
The exploits write themselves.
Yeah I was in a catholic school, so all this sounds really on brand.
This dude is super creepy and I hate he’s in congress, much less the speaker, but does anyone feel like the other headline “monitors each others porn activities” purposely makes it seem like they’re each reviewing the porn they each do look at and making sure isn’t toooo skeevy? Like it’s weird enough, do you have to push it?
Made me picture them high fiving each other the next day, “yeah buddy! I saw that one, too. Nice.”
I think the headline’s intent is more “what did he get caught doing which prompted the need for him to buy a porn blocker for his own machine?”
Like, nobody in the world does that unless someone caught them looking at porn.
“Does he have weird third-party monitoring software on his government phone?” is what the headline is referencing, that’s a massive problem. Confidential info could end up who-knows-where if it was sniffed.
makes it seem like they’re each reviewing the porn they each do look at and making sure isn’t toooo skeevy?
Yes. But probably because I look at porn, I would take it to mean I’m telling my friends what porn I’m looking at. Whereas they are doing it to show each other that they’re not looking at any porn at all.
It’s one thing if you want to subject your personal/private online life to a sort of virtual panopticon, but if you want to also look at classified material while also letting your morality cops peep over your shoulder, that should be disqualifying. Under no circumstance should a device with spyware on it have access to anything like classified material
Agreed. What also bothers me is that he admitted to having his 17 year old son be his accountability partner. He really couldn’t find anyone else? It had to be his underage son? That’s weird, yo
Given christian track records? Him being underage might have been the point.
If Mike Johnson puts that spyware on his work computer… .
If you need to buy a 200usd/year service to make sure you don’t look at gay porn you are definitely not gay
Sounds like you’re just sitting there with all that gay porn that could be freely browsed at anytime. You sure you’re not the gay one? With all that hot, sweaty gay porn that is only a click away. The temptation waking you in the middle of the night. Stopping the blood from rushing to your penis every time you think about it.
God you’re gay.
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don’t believe government devices will let him install that crap. may be wrong but I’ve read they lock them down pretty tight. his own stuff is his problem
His own stuff is potential blackmail material on a prominent politician, which is a national security concern.
his own stuff is his problem
Hillary Clinton has entered the chat.
Morty: That just sounds like incest circle jerking with extra steps.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Resurfaced comments in which new House Speaker Mike Johnson talked about how he and his son monitor each other’s online activity using “accountability software” have raised questions about national security.
According to a clip first posted on X, formerly Twitter, by a user called Receipt Maven, Johnson spoke about how the subscription-based service helps people abstain from internet porn and “objectionable” websites.
Social media users raised concerns about whether Covenant Eyes having access to Johnson’s data could “compromise” him.
Marty Taylor, the executive director of progressive PAC New Blue USA, wrote that Johnson "allows an outside Christian based surveillance company ‘Covenant Eyes’ to access his electronic devises and prepare a weekly report to make sure he is not viewing any ‘objectionable’ material.
Others echoed the sentiment, with one user writing that “with any public office holder, but particularly someone who’s second in line to the Presidency, this is a profound national security risk.”
Johnson, an evangelical Christian, has come under scrutiny since being elected to the speakership in October following weeks of infighting among House Republicans.
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