Title: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on June 13, 2011, 07:51:32 am Shadow Government
(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_30TpBo-V_Ds/TRDY1mh98FI/AAAAAAAAASM/swJ8YRvxE8w/s1600/Shadow_Government%2BGrant%2BJeffrey.jpg) THE HIGH-TECH SURVEILLANCE TRAP HAS BEEN SET Security cameras, surveillance of your financial transactions, radio frequency spy chips hidden in consumer products, tracking of your internet searches, and eavesdropping on your e-mail and phone calls. Without your knowledge or consent, every aspect of your life is observed and recorded. But who is watching the watchers? An ultra-secret global elite, functioning as a very real shadow government controls technology, finance, international law, world trade, political power, and vast military capabilities. Those who hold power are invisible to all but a few insiders. Those unrivaled leaders answer to no earthly authority, and they won't stop until they control the world. In Shadow Government, Grant Jeffrey removes the screen that up to now, has hidden the work of these diabolical agents. Jeffrey reveals the biblical description of Satan's global conquest and identifies the tools of technology that the Antichrist will use to rule the world. Your eyes will be opened to the real power that is working behind the scenes to destroy America and merge it into the coming global government. Armed with this knowledge, you will be equipped to face spiritual darkness with the light of prophetic truth. http://vimeo.com/19390456 Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Christian40 on June 15, 2011, 03:25:56 am I hope to watch this one, it looks informative and educational. :o
Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Believer on June 15, 2011, 09:55:39 am Me too!
Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on December 09, 2011, 11:17:29 am My daughter's Social Studies Assignment this week -
She HAD to take a picture of what food we had in the Pantry, Freezer and Fridge along with a picture of her family! http://sherriequestioningall.blogspot.com/2011/12/my-daughers-social-studies-assignment.html (http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lll_HLrMiIk/TuIj_gAR91I/AAAAAAAAB2A/iYKFNMRAKrs/s640/Fullscreen+capture+1292011+100431+AM.jpg) Proof the Assignment page of Social Studies on her school's website (you can see my name on the side) My daughter is in middle school. 2 days ago she had a Social Studies assignment that she HAD TO DO! She had no choice as she would get an F if she did not do the required assignment! What was that assignment? She had to take a picture of our food pantry and the food in it and she had to take a picture of our Freezer and Fridge with what amount of food we had, how much was spent on food per week and she had to bring in a picture of her family! It really bothered me and I did not want her to do it, but she got upset and said she had to do it and that is was just for comparing to food people eat in other countries! I allowed her to take the pictures and take a picture of her and I for the project. Now, I have been thinking about it this morning with the information about the Federal Government going to the Mormon Food Pantry demanding a list of who has purchased bulk food. AND the White House Unveiling plans of using schools, teachers and Community leaders (Churches) to find out about people and who may be terrorist, due to not agreeing with the government. So now that I am thinking about this - is this part of the government using the schools to find out how much food people have and to get pictures of the family? Is this going to be the way they operate......the teachers give kids classroom assignments and threaten F's if they don't do them? I now, don't believe it was an innocent school assignment, it most probably was a Federal Government controlled assignment for the kids. I would like to know, has anyone else in the country have had their kids have the same assignment? I am in East Tennessee (Knoxville), I am revealing this due to people wondering where, but I will not give the school name that is giving too personal information. Here is a post from last year and CPS investigating me/ interviewing my kid about how much food we had, our going camping and about me being a blogger. http://sherriequestioningall.blogspot.com/2010/12/is-govt-trying-to-find-out-who-has-what.html Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Psalm 51:17 on December 09, 2011, 08:08:38 pm This is a SOCIAL STUDIES ASSIGNMENT ???
When I was in elem/jr high, Social Studies was only about HISTORY. No, I'm no way endorsing the draconian public school system, but pt being that it has REALLY, REALLY changed since the 1980's(when I was there), and I thought that period was bad enough! What's next? Students have to break into their neighbor's homes to take pictures? Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Kilika on December 10, 2011, 03:32:44 am The public system has been using the little tikes for spying on adults for decades. What better way for government to get access to your home than being invited in by little Johnny that doesn't know they are being used to circumvent the law. No warrant needed!
And these people are teaching children? More like brainwashing them. ::) Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on June 19, 2012, 07:19:40 am Surveillance Society Surging
By Terry James Rapture Ready America is about to experience what citizenry in Britain have been going through for some time. The assault on U.S. privacy has been undergoing a metamorphosis for decades, but until very recently, the barriers have seemed to at least hold back unbridled Big Brotherism in this nation. One journalist reported from England in a chapter for one of my books: If you want to be a film star, come to Britain. We’re all on camera. All you have to do is walk through any town or drive down any road and you are watched, filmed, and monitored. When my wife, Pat, and I tour America , we feel neglected because the roadside cameras are no longer ever-present—not yet. As the world moves towards a “Big Brother” society beyond the nightmares of author George Orwell, who predicted a world in which the state watched everyone in his 1948 classic novel, 1984, it is like we are inmates of a high-tech prison. Big Brother really is watching us in Europe. The rest of the world is not far behind. (Alan Franklin, "Big Brother is Watching," The Departure). It seems that now Alan and Pat won’t be sensing that they are neglected when they come to America. Strides are being made—in the name of commerce—to make sure that we are all on Candid Camera. Drone Invasion We have been listening to the debate for some time now about the drones that have spied on, then, in some cases, hunted down and taken out high-priority terrorist targets in some places in the Middle East. Now, the drones are being seen and reported more and more in the homeland. The most recent flap has been brought to our attention by U.S. Senator Rand Paul, who says such surveillance is becoming akin to violating the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. That’s the one that, in part, prohibits illegal searches and seizures of private citizens and their properties. This past week, a story surfaced outlining the technology’s invasive nature. Planes able to photograph sunbathers in their back gardens are being deployed by Google and Apple. The U.S. technology giants are racing to produce aerial maps so detailed they can show up objects just four inches wide. But campaigners say the technology is a sinister development that brings the surveillance society a step closer. Google admits it has already sent planes over cities while Apple has acquired a firm using spy-in-the-sky technology that has been tested on at least 20 locations, including London. Apple’s military-grade cameras are understood to be so powerful they could potentially see into homes through skylights and windows. The technology is similar to that used by intelligence agencies in identifying terrorist targets in Afghanistan. (Vanessa Allen, "Software Giants Will Use Military-Grade Cameras to Take Powerful Satellite Images," Rapture Ready News, 07:04) People have embraced their satellite-to-vehicle capabilities in searching out locations while traveling. Browsers on the Internet love sometimes taking the virtual tours down the streets of cities throughout the nation. The convenience and entertainment presented by technology continues their desensitizing effects on the American public to the dangers inherent in such surveillance advances. Global Control Homeland security agencies—which have proliferated since 9/11 and the radical Islamist attacks—seem oblivious to complaints that they are becoming increasingly invasive. It is troubling, although thoroughly fascinating, to witness how global control, long ago prophesied by the only source who knows the end from the beginning, is coming to fulfillment in our time. It is no longer difficult to imagine how Antichrist and his regime of absolute control will have the technological facilities to keep tabs on every victim during the Tribulation. Developments in the global monetary world are moving along the necessity of bringing about that end-times system of control. The powers that be must find a way to make all conform to a singular methodology in transacting business. There must be a completely changed economic order in order to establish even a modicum of stability to a world gone mad in terms of economic insanity. Satan moves malevolently on the minds of mankind, as the apostle Paul told us: “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Ephesians 6:12). All people of planet earth must be made to cooperate with the regulations the powers dictate. This means everyone must be observed at all times, which is where this is all leading. In my view, this is the major reason for the surging surveillance society we are considering here. http://www.bibleprophecyblog.com/2012/06/surveillance-society-surging.html# Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on June 20, 2012, 02:20:34 pm Acxiom Corp: The 'faceless organization that knows everything about you'
An Arkansas company you've probably never heard of knows more about you than some of your friends, Google, and even the FBI — and it's selling your data When you think of the surveillance state, you usually think of snoopy alphabet-soup government agencies like the FBI, IRS, DEA, NSA, or TSA, or cyber-snoops at Facebook or Google, says Natasha Singer in The New York Times. But there's a company you've probably never heard of that "peers deeper into American life," and probably knows more about you than any of those groups: Little Rock–based Acxiom Corp. Jeffrey Chester at the Center for Digital Democracy has dubbed Acxiom "Big Brother in Arkansas," while Gizmodo's Jamie Condliffe calls it the "faceless organization that knows everything about you." Here's what you should know about the company: What is Acxiom Corp., and what does it do? The company fits into a category called database marketing. It started in 1969 as an outfit called Demographics Inc., using phone books and other notably low-tech tools, as well as one computer, to amass information on voters and consumers for direct marketing. Almost 40 years later, Acxiom has detailed entries for more than 190 million people and 126 million households in the U.S., and about 500 million active consumers worldwide. More than 23,000 servers in Conway, just north of Little Rock, collect and analyze more than 50 trillion data 'transactions' a year. "In essence, it's as if the ore of our data-driven lives were being mined, refined, and sold to the highest bidder, usually without our knowledge," says The Times' Singer. What kind of data does it have? "If you are an American adult," says Singer, "the odds are that it knows things like your age, race, sex, weight, height, marital status, education level, politics, buying habits, household health worries, vacation dreams — and on and on." It does more than collect that information, though. It uses it to pigeonhole people into one of 70 very specific socioeconomic clusters in an attempt to predict how they'll act, what they'll buy, and how companies can persuade them to buy their products. It gathers its data trove from public records, surveys you've filled out, your online behavior, and other disparate sources of information, then sells it to banks, retailers, and other buyers. Do other companies do this, too? Yes, it's a very competitive and lucrative business — Acxiom reported a $77.26 million profit last fiscal year, and it's the No. 2 company in the business, after Epsilon. But analysts say that Acxiom has the world's largest database on consumers. "There are a lot of players in the digital space trying the same thing," Piper Jaffray analyst Mark Zgutowicz tells The New York Times. "But Acxiom's advantage is they have a database of offline information that they have been collecting for 40 years and can leverage that expertise in the digital world." Is this legal? Yes, but the Federal Trade Commission is asking Congress to step in to make the data-marketing industry more transparent. Unlike consumer reporting agencies that compile and sell your credit score, date-miners like Acxiom don't have to tell individuals what they know about them. Privacy and consumer advocates say that's troubling, since the companies are selling sensitive, potentially embarrassing, and possibly false information about you, and you can't correct errors. As FTC chairman Jon Leibowitz says, Acxiom and its peers are "the unseen cyberazzi who collect information on all of us," and we should have the right to know what they've found. How sketchy is this? If you're worried about Google or Facebook tracking you online, or holes in your iPhone security, this is much worse, says Gizmodo's Condliffe. We sort of knew that commercial data-miners existed, but "Acxiom operates on a terrifying scale," and it's very likely that the company has an ever-growing dossier of 1,500 data points on you. The Times' "alarmist piece" about Acxiom conspiring to serve you "extremely accurate ads" would be more frightening, says Kashmir Hill at Forbes, if, on the same day, on the same page, the paper hadn't run "an alarmist piece about how it's impossible to know a person's age online, and thus impossible to keep creepy old pedophiles from lurking on kids' sites." Well, which is it? The media is sending mixed message on the state of online privacy, and this is just one extreme example. Read the entire article at The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/17/technology/acxiom-the-quiet-giant-of-consumer-database-marketing.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all http://theweek.com/article/index/229508/acxiom-corp-the-faceless-organization-that-knows-everything-about-you Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: tennis shoe on June 20, 2012, 03:45:29 pm Here’s another mega-multinational corporation that controls…like…everything.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szNLMtgI7hU The Guardian has called Serco "probably the biggest company you've never heard of".[5] Serco operates in various sectors: · Home Affairs: Serco operates the National Border Targeting Centre for the UK Border Agency and provides the Carrier Gateway - the interface between carriers and the Agency.[6] · Transport: Serco operates London's Docklands Light Railway,[7] Woolwich Free Ferry[8] and the Barclays Cycle Hire scheme[9] (all for Transport for London), and Great Southern Railways in Australia.[10][11] Serco also has a joint venture with Abellio, the UK arm of Dutch national rail operator Nederlandse Spoorwegen, to operate passenger trains in the UK: Serco-Abellio has a 25 year concession for Merseyrail in Liverpool and operates Northern Rail services in the north of England.[12] Serco also operates the Dubai Metro.[13] Serco formerly operated the Copenhagen Metro with Ansaldo STS, until selling its share with effect from 1 January 2008.[14] In addition, Serco Rail Operations operates infrastructure monitoring trains in the UK.[15] Serco's Home Affairs division, run by Tom Riall, also operates speed camera systems throughout the UK and designs, writes and tests the software that controls the matrix message signs, signals, emergency roadside telephones (SOS) and traffic monitoring on England's motorway network including the National Traffic Control Centre.[16] · Science: Serco manages the UK's National Physical Laboratory.[17][18] and also provides IT Services, Industrial Support and Cryogenic Operations Support and Maintenance at CERN.[19] Serco also controls the National Nuclear Laboratory.[20] · Detention: Serco supplies electronic tagging devices for offenders and asylum seekers.[21] In Britain, Serco runs four prisons, a Young Offenders Institution and a Secure Training Centre.[22] It also operates two Immigration Removal Centres.[23][24] Serco is also responsible for the contracted-out court escort services in the south-east area (formerly a role undertaken by HM Prison Service).[25] In addition, Serco runs partly privatised Hünfeld Prison in Hesse, Germany.[26] In Australia Serco runs Acacia Prison in Western Australia[27] and Borallon Correctional Facility in Queensland[28] as well as the national contract for immigration detention centres, including Christmas Island and the Villawood detention centre in Sydney.[29] [30] In Auckland, New Zealand Serco runs the Mt Eden remand prison [31] and in March 2012 was awarded the contract to build an operate a 960 bed prison at Wiri.[32] · Defence: Serco holds defence contracts worldwide including the UK Government’s first modern outsourced contract for the maintenance of the UK Ballistic Missile Early Warning System at RAF Fylingdales;[33] contracts are also held for the operation and maintenance of RAF Brize Norton,[34] RAF Halton[35] and RAF Northolt[35] in the UK and RAF Ascension Island in the mid-Atlantic.[35] Serco also provides support services to garrisons in Australia.[36] Serco also manages many aspects of operations at the Defence College of Management and Technology in Shrivenham.[37] Serco is one of three partners in the consortium which manages the Atomic Weapons Establishment.[38] Serco also has a 15 year contract worth £400 million to provide facilities management services to Dstl.[39] · Royal Navy marine services: Serco Denholm, a joint venture with the Denholm Group, is responsible for fleet support at the three main UK naval bases, HMNB Portsmouth, HMNB Devonport and HMNB Clyde.[40] · Aviation: Serco provides air traffic control services at international airports in the United Arab Emirates[41] and at some smaller airports in the USA and Canada.[42][43] Since 2004 Serco have also had £5m a year from the US government to manage airports in Iraq.[44] Serco also operate Scatsta Airport on Shetland.[45] In June 2010 Serco signed a £4million contract to operate all air traffic control services for Coventry Airport.[46] · Health: Serco provide facilities management services at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital,[47] Leicester Royal Infirmary,[48] Wishaw General Hospital[49] and at Plymouth's Derriford Hospital.[50] Serco provides pathology services to Guy's and St. Thomas' and King's College NHS trusts through GSTS Pathology.[51] · Education: Serco holds a 10 year contract with Bradford City Council to manage and operate the local education authority,[52] providing education support services to the City's schools, and similarly manages and operates Walsall[53] and Stoke-on-Trent local education authorities.[54] Serco is one of Ofsted's three Regional Inspection Service Providers, responsible for school inspections in the English Midlands.[55] Serco is also the provider of a Student information system, Facility, used in schools and colleges in several countries.[56] · Drivers' licensing: Serco, through a purpose-made division Serco DES, holds a 10 year, $114 million contract with the Province of Ontario to operate the province's DriveTest driver examination centres. These tests include vision, road, and knowledge tests for all persons seeking to become a licensed automobile driver in the province.[42] · Leisure: Serco operates a number of leisure centres across the UK including the Manchester Aquatics Centre, the aquatic venue for the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester.[57] · Serco also administers a number of publicly funded websites in the UK, including the Business Link website.[58] · Serco presently runs the IT Infrastructure for the London Borough of Southwark winning the 5 year tender in 2007.[59] · Serco has a contract with the City of Chicago, Illinois to enforce parking meter regulations.[60] · Serco publishes a magazine, Ethos Journal, to stimulate thought and provoke reaction to the big issues shaping the world of public services. Ethos is aimed at public sector leaders, politicians, academics and policy specialists debating the future of public services today.[61] Serco operates in Continental Europe, the Middle East, the Asia Pacific region and North America, but the majority of its turnover still comes from the UK. --wiki Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on June 22, 2012, 10:00:12 am Data Mining: Big Corporations Are Gathering Every Shred Of Information About You That They Can And Selling It For Profit
When most people think of "Big Brother", they think of the FBI, the CIA, the NSA, the Department of Homeland Security and other shadowy government agencies. Yes, they are definitely watching you, but so are many big corporations. In fact, there are some companies that are making tens of millions of dollars by gathering every shred of information about all of us that they can and selling it for profit to anyone willing to pay the price. It is called "data mining", and these data miners want to keep track of literally everything that you do. Most people know that basically everything that we do on the Internet is tracked, but data mining goes far beyond that. When you use a customer rewards card at the supermarket, the data miners know about it. When you pay for a purchase with a credit card or a debit card, the data miners know about it. Every time you buy a prescription drug, that information is sold to someone. Every time you apply for a loan, a whole host of organizations is notified. Information has become an extremely valuable commodity, and thanks to computers and the Internet it is easier to gather information than ever before. But that also means that our personal information is no longer "private", and this trend is only going to get worse in the years ahead. You have probably never even heard of many of these companies that are making millions of dollars selling your personal information. Acxiom and Epsilon are two of the biggest names in the industry, and most of the time they are selling your information to companies that want to sell you stuff. Almost every single day, very personal information about you is being bought and sold without your permission and it is all perfectly legal. A recent article in The Week says the following about Acxiom.... An Arkansas company you've probably never heard of knows more about you than some of your friends, Google, and even the FBI — and it's selling your data The scale of the information gathering that Acxiom does is absolutely mind blowing. If you can believe it, Acxiom actually keeps track of more than 190 million people inside the United States.... The company fits into a category called database marketing. It started in 1969 as an outfit called Demographics Inc., using phone books and other notably low-tech tools, as well as one computer, to amass information on voters and consumers for direct marketing. Almost 40 years later, Acxiom has detailed entries for more than 190 million people and 126 million households in the U.S., and about 500 million active consumers worldwide. More than 23,000 servers in Conway, just north of Little Rock, collect and analyze more than 50 trillion data 'transactions' a year. So what does Acxiom want to know about you? Everything. The following is from a recent New York Times article about Acxiom.... IT knows who you are. It knows where you live. It knows what you do. It peers deeper into American life than the F.B.I. or the I.R.S., or those prying digital eyes at Facebook and Google. If you are an American adult, the odds are that it knows things like your age, race, sex, weight, height, marital status, education level, politics, buying habits, household health worries, vacation dreams — and on and on. Companies such as Acxiom literally want every shred of information about you that they can possibly get. Once they gather all that data, Acxiom analyzes it, packages it and sells it to large corporations such as Wells Fargo, HSBC, Toyota, Ford and Macy's. And being in the "Big Brother business" is very, very profitable. Acxiom made more than 77 million dollars in profits during their latest fiscal year. Some members of Congress are very alarmed by all of this. According to U.S. Senator John Kerry, this industry is virtually unregulated.... "There's no code of conduct. There's no standard. There's nothing that safeguards privacy and establishes rules of the road." So what do big corporations do with all of this data after they purchase it from companies like Acxiom? Well, for one thing, they use it to try to predict how you will behave. A Daily Beast article gave some examples of how this works.... Predicting people’s behavior is becoming big business—and increasingly feasible in an era defined by accessible information. Data crunching by Canadian Tire, for instance, recently enabled the retailer's credit card business to create psychological profiles of its cardholders that were built upon alarmingly precise correlations. Their findings: Cardholders who purchased carbon-monoxide detectors, premium birdseed, and felt pads for the bottoms of their chair legs rarely missed a payment. On the other hand, those who bought cheap motor oil and visited a Montreal pool bar called "Sharx" were a higher risk. "If you show us what you buy, we can tell you who you are, maybe even better than you know yourself," a former Canadian Tire exec said. I don't know about you, but I find that a bit creepy. Later on in that same article, how some U.S. companies are using this kind of information was explained.... Other industries have bolstered their bottom lines by predicting how consumers will behave, according to Super Crunchers. UPS predicts when customers are at risk of fleeing to one of its competitors, and then tries to prevent the loss with a telephone call from a salesperson. And with its “Total Rewards” card, Harrah’s casinos track everything that players win and lose, in real time, and then analyze their demographic information to calculate their “pain point”—the maximum amount of money they’re likely to be willing to lose and still come back to the casino in the future. Players who get too close to their pain point are likely to be offered a free dinner that gets them off the casino floor. So is all of this data gathering harmless? Does it simply make our economy more efficient? Or is there a greater danger here? At some point could all of our personal information be used for more insidious purposes? One thing is for sure - this is a trend that is not going away any time soon. As our society becomes even more integrated through the Internet, data gathering is going to become even more comprehensive. Eventually these complicated computer algorithms will be able to make very detailed predictions about your future behavior with a very, very high degree of accuracy. When you add government snooping into the equation, it becomes easy to see why privacy advocates are going crazy these days. Our society is literally being transformed into a technological monitoring grid. Virtually everything we do is monitored, tracked and recorded in some way. If we are not very careful, eventually we could end up living in a society that is much more oppressive than anything George Orwell ever dreamed of. So what do you think of all of this snooping, spying and data mining? Do you believe that it is harmless or do you believe that it represents a significant threat? Feel free to post a comment with your thoughts below.... http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/data-mining-big-corporations-are-gathering-every-shred-of-information-about-you-that-they-can-and-selling-it-for-profit Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on July 19, 2012, 04:15:59 am Obama's FBI sends agents to pro-lifer's home
Texas activist draws hour-long visit from feds with warning not to be violent You’re a Christian immigrant to the U.S. with a wife and newborn, but you feel strongly about the pro-life issue and periodically appear at a local abortion business to protest the killing and offer counseling should someone want that advice. Then one day there’s a knock on your door, and two FBI agents identify themselves and start asking questions: Do you know pro-life protesters who are violent? Do you know pro-life activists who may be violent? To what church or church groups do you belong? What makes you believe in your cause? Why do you protest abortion? Are your friends aggressive or abrasive? The interview stretches on. Intimidated? Then they note that you have a new family. “You wouldn’t want to be apart from your wife and newborn,” they tell you. What about your mother-in-law, a nationally known pro-life activist? “Did you get your activist and pro-life ideas from her? Did she train or teach you?” Are you intimidated now? Then they warn that you shouldn’t trespass (even though you didn’t). Asked about the warning and why it was delivered, it gets repeated. And you’re told you cannot threaten violence, such as saying “If you get an abortion, I’ll see something bad happens to you.” How about now? That’s the experience of Andy Moore, an activist who has just launched AbortionWiki.org, which aims eventually to be a complete dossier on the abortion industry worldwide. He’s the son-in-law of pro-life activist Jill Stanek, a speaker, blogger and writer who was a registered nurse at Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn, Ill., when she discovered babies were being aborted alive there and left to die on closet shelves without medical care. She later exposed that Barack Obama opposed legislation that would have required doctors to provide assistance to babies that survive abortion attempts, a position that critics described essentially as infanticide. The intimidation concerns the Life Legal Defense Foundation, which has advised Moore to have someone video his protest activities. The group promises to defend him if the need arises. Allison Aranda, senior staff counsel, charges the Obama administration “is essentially engaging in a witch hunt.” “From the moment the new administration took office, the DOJ has been targeting peaceful pro-life sidewalk counselors,” she said. “They have come out guns blazing on several occasions, often bringing allegations that could later not be substantiated or in some cases clearly proven to be false.” Stanek, who wrote about the episode on her website, noted that Aranda has seen the federal government use the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act to attack pro-life counselors. The federal law keeps pro-life counselors away from abortion business front doors. “The DOJ is using tactics that amount to legal extortion,” Stanek said. “They have filed these frivolous claims against innocent people who don’t have the finances to hire big shot attorneys. The DOJ then kindly offers to settle the case if the counselor simply agrees to stay so many yards away and pay a couple thousand dollar fine.” Dana Cody, the executive director for Life Legal, told WND that the foundation for such aggressive tactics against innocent pro-life activists comes directly from the top. It was the FBI that set up a training program held several years ago for police who are called to respond to conflicts between abortion businesses and pro-life protesters. The training manual for that event, she said, was written by Planned Parenthood, the abortion industry’s biggest player in the U.S., and the National Abortion Federation. When asked why no pro-life perspectives were included, federal officials stonewalled, she said. These actions are “very chilling,” she told WND, “on private citizens, law-abiding citizens who are engaging in policy making speech in the public forum. “To make matters worse, why are they asking questions about [Stanek]? Reports show that pro-life people are considered domestic terrorists. Is she on that list? How did they make the connection? That’s the chilling factor.” Moore told WND that the FBI warned him specifically against obstructing vehicle access to abortion businesses, something he did not do. “They also warned of threats of violence,” he said. “The example they gave is I could not just walk up to a car and say, ‘If you go ahead and get an abortion, I will make sure something bad happens to you.’” Moore said the FBI told him there were three red flags in his file. He once used a bullhorn at a protest and was told by police it violated a noise ordinance. He hasn’t used it since. He also was accused by an unidentified person of trespassing, which he denies, and a clinic complained he was too aggressive. “I’m out there telling the truth,” he told WND. “That might not be desirable to some people.” Moore said he repeatedly was asked to name names of those who might be “violent or engaging in questionable activities.” But the agents assured him it would “not be snitching.” Aranda said that when the government “determined that the evidence wasn’t quite what they thought it would be to proceed on a FACE claim against Andy, they turned their intimidating interrogation into a fishing expedition about the personal life of Jill Stanek.” “Targeted bullying by our government because of an individual’s viewpoint and willingness to share that message in the public square is intolerable,” she said. ” … We will not back down, and we will not be threatened.” Stanek said it stands to reason “that the Obama administration would be interested in me.” “This has probably been a long time coming,” she said. “But to reiterate Allison’s point, we will not back down, and we will not be threatened.” It was only weeks earlier that WND reported Barack Obama’s hand-picked attorney general, Eric Holder, called it quits in a standoff with a pro-life sidewalk counselor in Denver. The agreement to drop a case included having the government paying $120,000 for bringing a claim that the district court judge determined lacked evidence. And in a Florida case involving Mary Susan Pine, U.S. District Judge Kenneth L. Ryskamp openly speculated that there was a cozy relationship between an abortion clinic and federal prosecutors that could warp justice. As Ryskamp recently dismissed the abortion clinic access complaint against the woman for lack of evidence, he charged that there appeared to be collusion and that if there had been a little more evidence, he might have taken action. “It is rather curious that the Department of Justice was able to meet with the [Presidential Women's Center in West Palm Beach, Fla.] staff and police officers the very next day after the alleged violations occurred. It is also curious that the government failed to make any efforts to obtain the identities of the passengers who are the alleged victims in this case – the court finds it hard to believe that the government was completely unaware of the existence of the sign-in sheets and video surveillance system,” he wrote. The judge said the court “can only wonder whether this action was the product of a concerted effort between the government and the PWC, which began well before the date of the incident at issue, to quell Ms. Pine’s activities rather than to vindicate the rights of those allegedly aggrieved by Ms. Pine’s conduct.” “If this is the case, the court would be inclined to sanction the government with, at a minimum, an adverse inference. Given the absence of further evidence substantiating the court’s suspicions, the court is not authorized to do so,” the judge wrote. The judge’s 21-page ruling granting Pine a summary judgment and clearing her of the charges said the entire episode raised questions. “The court is at a loss as to why the government chose to prosecute this particular case in the first place,” Ryskamp wrote. “The record [is] almost entirely devoid of evidence that Ms. Pine acted with the prohibited motive and intent or that Ms. Pine engaged in any unlawful conduct. The government has failed to create a genuine issue for trial on all three elements of its FACE (Federal Access to Clinic Entrances) claim, and Ms. Pine is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Federal officials sued her under the FACE act, a civil action, after they alleged she talked to occupants in a car while they were going into a parking lot – and may or may not have been going to an abortion business. The Denver case involved Ken Scott, a pro-life advocate who was targeted by five federal prosecutors for passing out information outside of a Planned Parenthood clinic in Denver. But U.S. District Court Judge Philip Brimmer dismissed 10 motions made by federal prosecutors in the case. The federal government decided shortly later to abandon its campaign against Scott. http://www.wnd.com/2012/07/obamas-fbi-sends-agents-to-pro-lifers-home/ Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on September 25, 2012, 04:14:43 am 19 Signs That America Is Being Systematically Transformed Into A Giant Surveillance Grid
You are being watched. The control freaks that hold power in the United States have become absolutely obsessed with surveillance. They are constantly attempting to convince the American people that we are all "safer" when virtually everything that we do is watched, monitored, tracked and recorded. Our country is being systematically transformed into a giant surveillance grid far more comprehensive than anything George Orwell ever dreamed of. If you still believe that there is such a thing as "privacy" in this day and age, you are being delusional. Every single piece of electronic communication is monitored and stored. In fact, they know that you are reading this article right now. But even if you got rid of all of your electronic devices, you would still be constantly monitored. As you will read about below, a rapidly growing nationwide network of facial recognition cameras, "pre-crime" surveillance devices, voice recorders, mobile backscatter vans, aerial drones and automated license plate readers are constantly feeding data about us back to the government. In addition, private companies involved in "data mining" are gathering literally trillions upon trillions of data points about individual Americans each year. So there is no escape from this surveillance grid. In fact, it has become just about impossible to keep it from growing. The surveillance grid is expanding in thousands of different ways, so even if you stopped one form of surveillance you would hardly make a dent in the astounding growth of this system. What we desperately need is a fundamental cultural awakening to the importance of liberty, freedom and privacy. Without such an awakening, the United States (along with the rest of the planet) is going to head into a world that will make "1984" by George Orwell look like a cheery story about a Sunday picnic. The following are 19 signs that America is being systematically transformed into a giant surveillance grid.... #1 New Software That Will Store And Analyze Millions Of Our Voices Did you know that there is software that can positively identify you using your voice in just a matter of seconds? Law enforcement authorities all over the U.S. are very eager to begin using new Russian software that will enable them to store and analyze millions of voices.... ‘Voice Grid Nation’ is a system that uses advanced algorithms to match identities to voices. Brought to the US by Russia’s Speech Technology Center, it claims to be capable of allowing police, federal agencies and other law enforcement personnel to build up a huge database containing up to several million voices. When authorities intercept a call they’ve deemed ‘hinky’, the recording is entered into the VoiceGrid program, which (probably) buzzes and whirrs and spits out a match. In five seconds, the program can scan through 10,000 voices, and it only needs 3 seconds for speech analysis. All that, combined with 100 simultaneous searches and the storage capacity of 2 million samples, gives SpeechPro, as the company is known in the US, the right to claim a 90% success rate. #2 Unmanned Aerial Drones Will Be Used Inside The U.S. To Spy On You Unmanned aerial drones have been used with great success by the U.S. military overseas, and now the U.S. government is promoting their use to local law enforcement authorities all over America. The following is from a recent GAO report.... "Domestically, state and local law enforcement entities represent the greatest potential users of small UAS [unmanned aircraft systems] in the near term because they can offer a simple and cost effective solution for airborne law enforcement activities" That report also discussed how there are 146 different models of these drones made by 69 different companies throughout the United States.... "According to an industry trade group, local law enforcement can potentially choose from about 146 different types of small UAS being manufactured by about 69 different companies in the U.S." Since our overseas wars are slowing down, somebody has got to keep these drone companies in business. So the goal is to eventually have thousands of these drones spying on all of us. In the years ahead, our skies will likely be filled with these things. Many of them are incredibly quiet and can gather information about you from far above. In fact, one could be directly over your home right now and you may never even know it. In fact, the U.S. government is already using some of these unmanned drones to quietly spy on farmers in Nebraska and Iowa according to a recent article by Kurt Nimmo.... Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency is using aerial drones to spy on farmers in Nebraska and Iowa. The surveillance came under scrutiny last week when Nebraska’s congressional delegation sent a joint letter to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson. On Friday, EPA officialdom in “Region 7” responded to the letter. “Courts, including the Supreme Court, have found similar types of flights to be legal (for example to take aerial photographs of a chemical manufacturing facility) and EPA would use such flights in appropriate instances to protect people and the environment from violations of the Clean Water Act,” the agency said in response to the letter. #3 High Tech Government Scanners That Can Secretly Scan You From 164 Feet Away A new scanner that has just been developed can scan your body, your clothes and your luggage from 164 feet away. According to Gizmodo, these very creepy scanners will soon be used at airports and border crossings all over America.... Within the next year or two, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security will instantly know everything about your body, clothes, and luggage with a new laser-based molecular scanner fired from 164 feet (50 meters) away. From traces of drugs or gun powder on your clothes to what you had for breakfast to the adrenaline level in your body—agents will be able to get any information they want without even touching you. And without you knowing it. The technology is so incredibly effective that, in November 2011, its inventors were subcontracted by In-Q-Tel to work with the US Department of Homeland Security. In-Q-Tel is a company founded "in February 1999 by a group of private citizens at the request of the Director of the CIA and with the support of the U.S. Congress." According to In-Q-Tel, they are the bridge between the Agency and new technology companies. Their plan is to install this molecular-level scanning in airports and border crossings all across the United States. #4 The DNA Of Newborn Babies Born All Over The United States Is Systematically Collected These days, the invasion of our privacy begins just after birth. Did you know that the DNA of almost every newborn baby in the United States is systematically collected and stored in databases? Unfortunately, most new parents don't even realize what medical personnel are doing when this takes place.... The DNA of virtually every newborn in the United States is collected and tested soon after birth. There are some good reasons for this testing, but it also raises serious privacy concerns that parents should know about. States require hospitals to screen newborns for certain genetic and other disorders. Many states view the testing as so important they do not require medical personnel to get parents’ express permission before carrying it out. To collect the DNA sample, medical personnel prick the newborn’s heel and place a few drops of blood on a card. There is one question that new parents rarely ask: What happens to the blood spots after the testing is done? This is where newborn screening becomes problematic. #5 Twitter Is Being Used To Monitor You Hopefully you understand by now that nothing you do on the Internet will ever be private again. According to a recent article by Susanne Posel, Twitter is being used as a law enforcement tool more than it ever has been before.... Twitter has released a report confirming that the US government leads the world in requesting information on their citizens. The Transparency Report shows the US government has made requests that are infringing on American privacy rights. Twitter states that "we’ve received more government requests in the first half of 2012, as outlined in this initial dataset, than in the entirety of 2011." #6 Your Cell Phone Is Spying On You If you want to have no privacy whatsoever, own a cell phone and carry it around with you constantly. Your cell phone is constantly tracking everywhere that you go and it is constantly making a record of everything that you do with it. For example, did you know that authorities are using cell phones to record the identities of people that attend street protests? The following is what one private investigator recently told a stunned audience.... One of the biggest changes is the ability to track your physical location. I'm sorry I came in at the end of the previous talk. I heard them talk about surveying cell phones with a drone, in a wide area -- this is something that is done routinely now. I can tell you that everybody that attended an Occupy Wall Street protest, and didn't turn their cell phone off, or put it -- and sometimes even if they did -- the identity of that cell phone has been logged, and everybody who was at that demonstration, whether they were arrested, not arrested, whether their photos were ID'd, whether an informant pointed them out, it's known they were there anyway. This is routine. At this point, law enforcement authorities are requesting information from cell phone companies about individual Americans over a million times a year as a recent Wired article detailed.... Mobile carriers responded to a staggering 1.3 million law enforcement requests last year for subscriber information, including text messages and phone location data, according to data provided to Congress. #7 Students Are Increasingly Being Tracked By RFID Microchips RFID microchips are increasingly becoming a part of our every day lives. In fact, some school districts are now using them to track school attendance. Just check out what is happening in one school district down in Texas.... Northside Independent School District plans to track students next year on two of its campuses using technology implanted in their student identification cards in a trial that could eventually include all 112 of its schools and all of its nearly 100,000 students. District officials said the Radio Frequency Identification System (RFID) tags would improve safety by allowing them to locate students — and count them more accurately at the beginning of the school day to help offset cuts in state funding, which is partly based on attendance. #8 Spy Cams In Hospitals To Monitor Handwashing Would you want a surveillance camera watching you in the restroom? Don't laugh - this is actually happening in some places. The following is from a recent Natural News article.... Here goes the last great American sanctuary from intrusion- bathrooms with spy cams. Going to the bathroom has now been monitored in a hospital in NY where sensors were placed on the doors to identify workers entering and exiting and cameras placed to view sinks to insure proper hand hygiene. #9 Spyware That Monitors The Behavior Of Government Workers According to the Washington Post, the federal government is now actually using advanced spyware to closely monitor the behavior of some government employees while they are at work.... When the Food and Drug Administration started spying on a group of agency scientists, it installed monitoring software on their laptop computers to capture their communications. The software, sold by SpectorSoft of Vero Beach, Fla., could do more than vacuum up the scientists’ e-mails as they complained to lawmakers and others about medical devices they thought were dangerous. It could be programmed to intercept a tweet or Facebook post. It could snap screen shots of their computers. It could even track an employee’s keystrokes, retrieve files from hard drives or search for keywords. #10 The NSA Warrantless Surveillance Programs Virtually every single electronic communication in the world (including all phone calls, all faxes, and all emails) is intercepted and recorded by an international surveillance network run by the NSA and several other large international intelligence agencies. For a long time this was an "open secret" that everyone kind of knew about but that nobody ever did anything about. Fortunately, the Electronic Frontier Foundation is now fighting back, and they have three former NSA employees on their side.... Three whistleblowers – all former employees of the National Security Agency (NSA) – have come forward to give evidence in the Electronic Frontier Foundation's (EFF's) lawsuit against the government's illegal mass surveillance program, Jewel v. NSA. In a motion filed today, the three former intelligence analysts confirm that the NSA has, or is in the process of obtaining, the capability to seize and store most electronic communications passing through its U.S. intercept centers, such as the "secret room" at the AT&T facility in San Francisco first disclosed by retired AT&T technician Mark Klein in early 2006. "For years, government lawyers have been arguing that our case is too secret for the courts to consider, despite the mounting confirmation of widespread mass illegal surveillance of ordinary people," said EFF Legal Director Cindy Cohn. "Now we have three former NSA officials confirming the basic facts. Neither the Constitution nor federal law allow the government to collect massive amounts of communications and data of innocent Americans and fish around in it in case it might find something interesting. This kind of power is too easily abused. We're extremely pleased that more whistleblowers have come forward to help end this massive spying program." According to one of the whistleblowers, the NSA "has the capability to do individualized searches, similar to Google, for particular electronic communications in real time through such criteria as target addresses, locations, countries and phone numbers, as well as watch-listed names, keywords, and phrases in email." #11 Pre-Crime Surveillance Technology Did you think that "pre-crime" was just something for science fiction movies? Unfortunately, that is no longer the case. A company known as BRS Labs has developed "pre-crime surveillance cameras" that they claim can identify potential terrorists and criminals even before they strike. Yes, this sounds like a bunch of nonsense, but some law enforcement authorities are taking this quite seriously. In fact, dozens of these "pre-crime surveillance cameras" are being put up at major transportation hubs all over San Francisco.... In its latest project BRS Labs is to install its devices on the transport system in San Francisco, which includes buses, trams and subways. The company says will put them in 12 stations with up to 22 cameras in each, bringing the total number to 288. The cameras will be able to track up to 150 people at a time in real time and will gradually build up a ‘memory’ of suspicious behaviour to work out what is suspicious. #12 Mobile Backscatter Vans Do you think that you can get away from the TSA scanners by simply refusing to fly and by avoiding all U.S. airports? Don't be so sure. In fact, law enforcement authorities all over the country will soon be driving around in unmarked vans looking inside your cars and even under your clothes using the same backscatter technology currently being used by the TSA at U.S. airports.... American cops are set to join the US military in deploying American Science & Engineering's Z Backscatter Vans, or mobile backscatter radiation x-rays. These are what TSA officials call "the amazing radioactive genital viewer," now seen in airports around America, ionizing the private parts of children, the elderly, and you (yes you). These pornoscannerwagons will look like regular anonymous vans, and will cruise America's streets, indiscriminately peering through the cars (and clothes) of anyone in range of its mighty isotope-cannon. But don't worry, it's not a violation of privacy. As AS&E's vice president of marketing Joe Reiss sez, "From a privacy standpoint, I’m hard-pressed to see what the concern or objection could be." #13 Automated License Plate Readers In a previous article, I discussed a Washington Post article that detailed how automated license plate readers are now being used to track the movements of a vehicle from the time that it enters Washington D.C. to the time that it leaves.... More than 250 cameras in the District and its suburbs scan license plates in real time, helping police pinpoint stolen cars and fleeing killers. But the program quietly has expanded beyond what anyone had imagined even a few years ago. With virtually no public debate, police agencies have begun storing the information from the cameras, building databases that document the travels of millions of vehicles. Nowhere is that more prevalent than in the District, which has more than one plate-reader per square mile, the highest concentration in the nation. Police in the Washington suburbs have dozens of them as well, and local agencies plan to add many more in coming months, creating a comprehensive dragnet that will include all the approaches into the District. #14 Data Mining Private companies are almost more eager to invade your privacy than the government is. In fact, there are a whole bunch of very large corporations that are making a fortune by gathering every shred of information about you that they possibly can and selling that information for profit. It is called "data mining", and it is an industry that has absolutely exploded in recent years. One of the largest data mining companies is known as Acxiom. That firm has actually compiled information on more than 190 million people in the United States alone.... The company fits into a category called database marketing. It started in 1969 as an outfit called Demographics Inc., using phone books and other notably low-tech tools, as well as one computer, to amass information on voters and consumers for direct marketing. Almost 40 years later, Acxiom has detailed entries for more than 190 million people and 126 million households in the U.S., and about 500 million active consumers worldwide. More than 23,000 servers in Conway, just north of Little Rock, collect and analyze more than 50 trillion data 'transactions' a year. #15 The Growing Use Of Facial Recognition Technology Most Americans do not realize this, but the use of facial recognition technology has absolutely exploded in recent years. For example, did you know that there are now 32 states that use some type of facial recognition technology for DMV photos? That is why they give you such strict instructions when you get your DMV photo taken. They want your photo to be able to work with the database. But the government is not the only one using creepy facial recognition technology. The following is from a recent article by Naomi Wolf.... A software engineer in my Facebook community wrote recently about his outrage that when he visited Disneyland, and went on a ride, the theme park offered him the photo of himself and his girlfriend to buy – with his credit card information already linked to it. He noted that he had never entered his name or information into anything at the theme park, or indicated that he wanted a photo, or alerted the humans at the ride to who he and his girlfriend were – so, he said, based on his professional experience, the system had to be using facial recognition technology. He had never signed an agreement allowing them to do so, and he declared that this use was illegal. He also claimed that Disney had recently shared data from facial-recognition technology with the United States military. Yes, I know: it sounds like a paranoid rant. Except that it turned out to be true. News21, supported by the Carnegie and Knight foundations, reports that Disney sites are indeed controlled by face-recognition technology, that the military is interested in the technology, and that the face-recognition contractor, Identix, has contracts with the US government – for technology that identifies individuals in a crowd. #16 Rapid DNA Testing But what law enforcement authorities like even better than facial recognition technology is DNA testing. The following is from a recent article by Ellen Messmer.... It's been the FBI's dream for years -- to do near-instant DNA analysis using mobile equipment in the field -- and now "Rapid DNA" gear is finally here. The idea is that you simply drop into the system a cotton swab with a person's saliva, for example, and the "Rapid DNA" machine spits out the type of DNA data that's needed to pin down identity. Now that such equipment exists, the FBI is pushing to get it into the hands of law enforcement agencies as soon as possible. #17 The FBI's Next Generation Identification System It was recently announced that the FBI is spending a billion dollars to develop a "Next Generation Identification System" that will combine the most advanced biometric identification technologies to create a database superior to anything that law enforcement in the United States has ever had before.... The US Federal Bureau of Investigation has begun rolling out its new $1 billion biometric Next Generation Identification (NGI) system. In essence, NGI is a nationwide database of mugshots, iris scans, DNA records, voice samples, and other biometrics, that will help the FBI identify and catch criminals — but it is how this biometric data is captured, through a nationwide network of cameras and photo databases, that is raising the eyebrows of privacy advocates. Until now, the FBI relied on IAFIS, a national fingerprint database that has long been due an overhaul. Over the last few months, the FBI has been pilot testing a facial recognition system — and soon, detectives will also be able to search the system for other biometrics such as DNA records and iris scans. #18 The NYPD's Domain Awareness System Local law enforcement agencies around the country are also spending big bucks to upgrade their surveillance capabilities. The new "Domain Awareness System" that the NYPD just put in was described in a recent article by Neal Ungerleider.... The New York Police Department is embracing online surveillance in a wide-eyed way. Representatives from Microsoft and the NYPD announced the launch of their new Domain Awareness System (DAS) at a lower Manhattan press conference today. Using DAS, police are able to monitor thousands of CCTV cameras around the five boroughs, scan license plates, find out the kind of radiation cars are emitting, and extrapolate info on criminal and terrorism suspects from dozens of criminal databases ... all in near-real time. But don't think that you are getting off the hook if you don't live in New York City. The truth is that Microsoft has big plans for putting in these kinds of systems nationwide. #19 Trapwire Did you know that a huge network of incredibly advanced spy cameras is currently being installed nationwide? Yes, I know that it sounds like something off of a television show, but this is actually true. It is called "Trapwire", and I described this emerging system in one of my recent articles.... "You are being watched. The government has a secret system - a machine - that spies on you every hour of every day." That is how each episode of "Person of Interest" on CBS begins. Most Americans that have watched the show just assume that such a surveillance network is completely fictional and that the government would never watch us like that. Sadly, most Americans are wrong. Shocking new details have emerged this week which prove that a creepy nationwide network of spy cameras is being rolled out across the United States. Reportedly, these new spy cameras are "more accurate than modern facial recognition technology", and every few seconds they send back data from cities and major landmarks all over the United States to a centralized processing center where it is analyzed. The authorities believe that the world has become such a dangerous place that the only way to keep us all safe is to watch what everyone does all the time. But the truth is that instead of "saving America", all of these repressive surveillance technologies are slowly killing our liberties and our freedoms. America is being transformed into an Orwellian prison camp right in front of our eyes, and very few people are even objecting to it. An RT article was one of the first news sources to reveal some of the shocking details about this new program.... Former senior intelligence officials have created a detailed surveillance system more accurate than modern facial recognition technology — and have installed it across the US under the radar of most Americans, according to emails hacked by Anonymous. Every few seconds, data picked up at surveillance points in major cities and landmarks across the United States are recorded digitally on the spot, then encrypted and instantaneously delivered to a fortified central database center at an undisclosed location to be aggregated with other intelligence. It’s part of a program called TrapWire and it's the brainchild of the Abraxas, a Northern Virginia company staffed with elite from America’s intelligence community. The employee roster at Arbaxas reads like a who’s who of agents once with the Pentagon, CIA and other government entities according to their public LinkedIn profiles, and the corporation's ties are assumed to go deeper than even documented. So after reading all of the information above, is there anyone out there that still doubts that America is being transformed into a giant surveillance grid? The frightening thing is that there is a large percentage of the American people that are aware of many of these things, but they are convinced that these technologies are actually making society "better" and "safer". We desperately need to wake up America while there is still time. Please share this article with your family, your friends and your social media contacts on the Internet. If we can get enough people to wake up, perhaps there is still enough time to turn this country in a different direction. Will the final chapters of our history be a complete and total nightmare or will the final chapters of our history be the greatest chapters of all? The choice, America, is up to you. http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/19-signs-that-america-is-being-systematically-transformed-into-a-giant-surveillance-grid Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on November 09, 2012, 12:25:26 pm A Trip to the Grocery in the Near Future
by Natty Bumppo November 8, 2012 05:30 ET With all the new technologies in place and those being tested on the American public to keep us safe, I thought we should take a look into the future of grocery shopping. It is the 7th of the month and according to the Dept. of Homeland Security’s new “Travel Now” program. This is the 1st of 2 days your family is permitted to visit the grocery store for the week. The day is sunny and beautiful this is Sunday and your children are at home and want to go shopping with you. So you load them up into their proper restraints and off you go. Then while you are driving through town the bio-metric scanner determines what you have in your vehicle, guns, knives, drugs, liquor and what trouble you would be in if you have a copy of the Scriptures, the car did not shut down so you continue on. And that is not all, because as soon as you arrive at your destination, the local Pigly Wigly grocery. You then must walk through a body scanner with a retina scan to determine you really are what your National I.D. card says since you are one of the last holds outs to ‘get chipped’ and also to make sure that those are your children. For your sakes I really hope the scanner does not have some technical glitch that day because you will never see your children again. After you gather your groceries into your cart and you are approved by Michele Obama’s calorie counting police, you get to the checkout lane and discover that the RFID in your cell phone used for purchases mistakenly doubled the gas purchase you made earlier which will take a month to refund if you can prove you only received the 5 gallons at 50 credits to begin with that now you don’t have enough credits remaining to make the purchase of the entire contents of your cart. No problem you say, just remove a couple items and it’s a go, but then a red light begins to flash while your items were scanning. Unfortunately you took out the wrong items. You should have kept the carrots and not the bag of cookies. Because the calorie count fail safe installed 2 days earlier by the Michele Obama’s calorie counting police at the isle’s scanner told that you have an unhealthy cart and you are again required to go through the store and re-examine all potential purchases as you go through the process again. Finally you are cleared to return to your car from the local Pigly Wigly. You are so thankful that that was your first demerit at the grocery, 2 more and you would be required to take a special class on ‘healthy hearts and healthy homes’. After the class and if you receive 2 more demerits then your children would be removed from your unhealthy home and placed with a government approved ‘healthy hearts and healthy homes’ facility until they become of age after reeducation to remind you about proper dieting and report back to their superiors on your behavior. Your scared because your oldest is 7 and your youngest is 4 and they never come back to the families until the age of 10. Now that you are back at your car (after going through the body scanner again verifying that you did not have an extra item in your purse which you did not pay for) with such relief that you made it out of the grocery in one piece with your 2 children. You load up your purchases and get the kiddos in their proper restraints and you settle in for the trip back home. Then half way home you see flashing lights in the rear view mirror and you pull over knowing that you were not speeding wondering what this was for. The officer approaches and asks for your copy of receipt of purchases from the local Pigly Wigly and you quickly comply because you know if you don’t have the required paperwork in a timely manner you are charged 15 credits per minute of the officers time after the initial 2 minute grace period. The officer tells you that according to the Bio-Metric scan at the intersection that you were missing 1 bottle of shampoo and 1 bag of cookies. You quickly explain that the shampoo is there and that you stopped at a friends home and your children and theirs ate the cookies and you discarded the package at their home. The officer then takes down the name of your friend to verify your story and to check if too many calories were brought into that residence. However you cannot find the shampoo. But to your relief the officer notified you that someone seen you drop it as you were loading your vehicle and reported it to the proper authorities. This is not good as you soon find out, because of recent terrorist activities this could easily be seen as a potential threat of an exploding device concealed as a bottle of shampoo. However because of the timely reporting of the eyewitness and the quick response of the city’s finest. You will not be held for an indefinite period of time for the case to be resolved, but will be under house arrest for the next 2 weeks to determine the contents of the shampoo bottle. Finally arriving at home, with your 2 children and remaining groceries, you consider yourself fortunate. http://johngaltfla.com/wordpress/2012/11/08/a-trip-to-the-grocery-in-the-near-future/ Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on November 15, 2012, 05:37:49 am DARPA Sponsors Surveillance Technology For Department Of Pre-Crime To Predict Future Behavior
The dizzying speed of the growth of the surveillance state and the increasing sophistication of the tools used to build it are paid for in large measure by funds doled out by the Army’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). At The New American we have chronicled the various projects sponsored by the über-secret research and development arm of the military. One of the newest technologies being pursued by DARPA will not only widen the field of vision of government’s never-blinking eye, but it purports to predict the behavior of those being watched. Forbes reports that DARPA has contracted with scientists at Carnegie Mellon University to develop “an artificial intelligence system that can watch and predict what a person will ‘likely’ do in the future using specially programmed software designed to analyze various real-time video surveillance feeds. The system can... rest: http://www.thenewamerican.com/tech/item/13613-darpa-sponsors-surveillance-technology-to-predict-future-behavior Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on November 24, 2012, 06:30:50 am Government Surveillance On Citizens Rising
As the inferno of the David Petraeus scandal continues to burn, the latest Google Transparency Report shows government surveillance is starting to heat up. "This is the sixth time we’ve released this data, and one trend has become clear: Government surveillance is on the rise," Dorothy Chou, Senior Policy Analyst, explains on Google's blog. Between January and June of this year governments from around the world filed 20,939 requests with Google to access data on 34,614 accounts. According to company data, during that same time frame last year, governments made 15,744 requests on 25,342 accounts. The majority of government requests filed in the first six months of 2012 were made by the United States, followed by India, Brazil and France. http://news.discovery.com/tech/google-transparency-report-government-surveillance-121115.html#mkcpgn=rssnws1 Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on November 24, 2012, 06:35:58 am California Gets Face Scanners To Spy On Everyone All At Once
In a single second, law enforcement agents can match a suspect against millions upon millions of profiles in vast detailed databases stored on the cloud. It’s all done using facial recognition, and in Southern California it’s already occurring. Imagine the police taking a picture: any picture of a person, anywhere, and matching it on the spot in less than a second to a personalized profile, scanning millions upon millions of entries from within vast, intricate databases stored on the cloud. It’s done with state of the art facial recognition technology, and in Southern California it’s already happening. Though that pool of potential matches could include millions, the company says that by using the “best available facial recognition algorithms” they can scour that data set in a fraction of a second in order to send authorities all known intelligence about anyone who enters a camera’s field of vision. “Live high definition video enables FaceFirst to track and isolate the face of every person on every camera simultaneously,” the company claims on their website. http://rt.com/usa/news/california-facefirst-surveillance-recognition-908/ Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on December 05, 2012, 06:21:19 am 'Everyone in US under virtual surveillance' - NSA whistleblower
video at site: http://rt.com/usa/news/surveillance-spying-e-mail-citizens-178/ The FBI records the emails of nearly all US citizens, including members of congress, according to NSA whistleblower William Binney. In an interview with RT, he warned that the government can use this information against anyone. Binney, one of the best mathematicians and code breakers in the history of the National Security Agency, resigned in 2001. He claimed he no longer wanted to be associated with alleged violations of the Constitution, such as how the FBI engages in widespread and pervasive surveillance through powerful devices called 'Naris.' This year, Binney received the Callaway award, an annual prize that recognizes those who champion constitutional rights and American values at great risk to their personal or professional lives. RT: In light of the Petraeus/Allen scandal while the public is so focused on the details of their family drama, one may argue that the real scandal in this whole story is the power, the reach of the surveillance state. I mean if we take General Allen – thousands of his personal e-mails have been sifted through private correspondence. It’s not like any of those men was planning an attack on America. Does the scandal prove the notion that there is no such thing as privacy in a surveillance state? William Binney: Yes, that’s what I’ve been basically saying for quite some time, is that the FBI has access to the data collected, which is basically the emails of virtually everybody in the country. And the FBI has access to it. All the congressional members are on the surveillance too, no one is excluded. They are all included. So, yes, this can happen to anyone. If they become a target for whatever reason – they are targeted by the government, the government can go in, or the FBI, or other agencies of the government, they can go into their database, pull all that data collected on them over the years, and we analyze it all. So, we have to actively analyze everything they’ve done for the last 10 years at least. RT: And it’s not just about those, who could be planning, who could be a threat to national security, but also those, who could be just… WB: It’s everybody. The Naris device, if it takes in the entire line, so it takes in all the data. In fact they advertised they can process the lines at session rates, which means 10-gigabit lines. I forgot the name of the device (it’s not the Naris) – the other one does it at 10 gigabits. That’s why they're building Bluffdale [database facility], because they have to have more storage, because they can’t figure out what’s important, so they are just storing everything there. So, emails are going to be stored there in the future, but right now stored in different places around the country. But it is being collected – and the FBI has access to it. RT: You mean it’s being collected in bulk without even requesting providers? WB: Yes. RT: Then what about Google, you know, releasing this biannual transparency report and saying that the government’s demands for personal data is at an all-time high and for all of those requesting the US, Google says they complied with the government’s demands 90 percent of the time. But they are still saying that they are making the request, it’s not like it’s all being funneled into that storage. What do you say to that? WB: I would assume that it’s just simply another source for the same data they are already collecting. My line is in declarations in a court about the 18-T facility in San Francisco, that documented the NSA room inside that AST&T facility, where they had Naris devices to collect data off the fiber optic lines inside the United States. So, that’s kind of a powerful device, that would collect everything it was being sent. It could collect on the order over of 100 billion 1,000-character emails a day. One device. RT: You say they sift through billions of e-mails. I wonder how do they prioritize? How do they filter it? WB: I don’t think they are filtering it. They are just storing it. I think it’s just a matter of selecting when they want it. So, if they want to target you, they would take your attributes, go into that database and pull out all your data. RT: Were you on the target list? WB: Oh, sure! I believe I’ve been on it for quite a few years. So I keep telling them everything I think of them in my email. So that when they want to read it they’ll understand what I think of them. RT: Do you think we all should leave messages for the NSA mail box? WB: Sure! RT: You blew the whistle on the agency when George W. Bush was the president. With President Obama in office, in your opinion, has anything changed at the agency, in the surveillance program? In what direction is this administration moving? WB: The change is it’s getting worse. They are doing more. He is supporting the building of the Bluffdale facility, which is over two billion dollars they are spending on storage room for data. That means that they are collecting a lot more now and need more storage for it. That facility by my calculations that I submitted to the court for the Electronic Frontiers Foundation against NSA would hold on the order of 5 zettabytes of data. Just that current storage capacity is being advertised on the web that you can buy. And that’s not talking about what they have in the near future. RT: What are they going to do with all of that? Ok, they are storing something. Why should anybody be concerned? WB: If you ever get on the enemies list, like Petraeus did or… for whatever reason, than you can be drained into that surveillance. RT: Do you think they would… General Petraeus, who was idolized by the same administration? Or General Allen? WB: There are certainly some questions, that have to be asked, like why would they target it to begin with? What law were they breaking? RT: In case of General Petraeus one would argue that there could have been security breaches. Something like that. But with General Allen – I don’t quite understand, because when they were looking into his private emails to this woman. WB: That’s the whole point. I am not sure what the internal politics is… That’s part of the program. This government doesn’t want things in the public. It’s not a transparent government. Whatever the reason or the motivation was, I don’t really know, but I certainly think that there was something going on in the background that made them target those fellows. Otherwise why would they be doing it? There is no crime there. RT: It seems that the public is divided between those, who think that the government surveillance program violates their civil liberties, and those who say, 'I’ve nothing to hide. So, why should I care?' What do you say to those who think that it shouldnt concern them. WB: The problem is if they think they are not doing anything that’s wrong, they don’t get to define that. The central government does, the central government defines what is right and wrong and whether or not they target you. So, it’s not up to the individuals. Even if they think they aren't doing something wrong, if their position on something is against what the administration has, then they could easily become a target. RT: Tell me about the most outrageous thing that you came across during your work at the NSA. WB: The violations of the constitution and any number of laws that existed at the time. That was the part that I could not be associated with. That’s why I left. They were building social networks on who is communicating and with whom inside this country. So that the entire social network of everybody, of every US citizen was being compiled overtime. So, they are taking from one company alone roughly 320 million records a day. That’s probably accumulated probably close to 20 trillion over the years. The original program that we put together to handle this to be able to identify terrorists anywhere in the world and alert anyone that they were in jeopardy. We would have been able to do that by encrypting everybody’s communications except those who were targets. So, in essence you would protect their identities and the information about them until you could develop probable cause, and once you showed your probable cause, then you could do a decrypt and target them. And we could do that and isolate those people all alone. It wasn’t a problem at all. There was no difficulty in that. RT: It sounds very difficult and very complicated. Easier to take everything in and… WB: No. It’s easier to use the graphing techniques, if you will, for the relationships for the world to filter out data, so that you don’t have to handle all that data. And it doesn’t burden you with a lot more information to look at, than you really need to solve the problem. RT: Do you think that the agency doesn’t have the filters now? WB: No. RT: You have received the Callaway award for civic courage. Congratulations! On the website and in the press release it says: “It is awarded to those, who stand out for constitutional rights and American values at great risk to their personal or professional lives.” Under the code of spy ethics – I don’t know if there is such a thing – your former colleagues, they probably look upon you as a traitor. How do you look back at them? WB: That’s pretty easy. They are violating the foundation of this entire country. Why this entire government was formed? It’s founded with the Constitution and the rights were given to the people in the country under that Constitution. They are in violation of that. And under executive order 13526, section 1.7 – you can not classify information to just cover up a crime, which this is, and that was signed by President Obama. Also President Bush signed it earlier as an executive order, a very similar one. If any of this comes into Supreme Court and they rule it unconstitutional, then the entire house of cards of the government falls. RT: What are the chances of that? What are the odds? WB: The government is doing the best they can to try to keep it out of court. And, of course, we are trying to do the best we can to get into court. So, we decided it deserves a ruling from the Supreme Court. Ultimately the court is supposed to protect the Constitution. All these people in the government take an oath to defend the Constitution. And they are not living up to the oath of office. video at site: http://rt.com/usa/news/surveillance-spying-e-mail-citizens-178/ Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on December 11, 2012, 09:32:35 am BIG BROTHER’S LISTENING
Government officials installing audio surveillance systems on public buses The era of private conversations on city buses — and even on San Francisco’s iconic streetcars — may be coming to an end. Government officials are quietly installing sophisticated audio surveillance systems on public buses across the country to eavesdrop on passengers, according to documents obtained by The Daily. Plans to implement the technology are under way in cities from San Francisco to Hartford, Conn., and Eugene, Ore., to Columbus, Ohio. Linked to video cameras already in wide use, the microphones will offer a formidable new tool for security and law enforcement. With the new systems, experts say, transit officials can effectively send an invisible police officer to transcribe the individual conversations of every passenger riding on a public bus. But the deployment of the technology on buses raises urgent questions about the boundaries of legally protected privacy in public spaces, experts say, as transit officials — and perhaps law enforcement agencies given access to the systems — seem positioned to monitor audio communications without search warrants or court supervision. “This is very shocking,” said Anita Allen, a privacy law expert at the University of Pennsylvania. “It’s a little beyond what we’re accustomed to. The adding of the audio seems more sensitive.” In San Francisco, for example, transit officials recently approved a $5.9 million contract to install a new audio-enabled surveillance system on 357 buses and trolley cars over four years, with an option for 613 more vehicles. The contract, signed in July, specifies both modern buses and historic trolley cars. A spokesman for the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, Paul Rose, declined to comment on the surveillance program. But procurement documents explain the agency’s rationale. “The purpose of this project is to replace the existing video surveillance systems in SFMTA’s fleet of revenue vehicles with a reliable and technologically advanced system to increase passenger safety and improve reliability and maintainability of the system,” officials wrote in contract documents. In San Francisco, the Department of Homeland Security is funding the entire cost with a grant. Elsewhere, the federal government is also providing some financial support. Officials in Concord, N.C., for example, used part of a $1.2 million economic stimulus grant to install a combined audio and video surveillance system on public transit vehicles, records show. The Lane Transit District in Eugene, Ore.; the Bay Area Transportation Authority in Traverse City, Mich.; the Central Ohio Transit Authority in Columbus; CT Transit in Hartford; and Athens Transit in Athens, Ga., have also been pursuing similar systems, documents show. The Maryland Transit Administration, which serves Baltimore, announced a bus recording system last month. The agency started recording audio on 10 public buses, with plans to expand the system to 340 more. Each bus uses six cameras. A recorder stores 30 days of data, the Baltimore Sun reported. rest big article: http://www.thedaily.com/article/2012/12/10/121012-news-bus-audio-surveillance/ (http://downloads.thedaily.com/ui-images/2012/12/10/121012-news-audio-survelliance-bus-map-4-ss-mbedit.jpg) Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on December 13, 2012, 06:32:19 am Privacy Losses Alarm As Biometric Identification Explodes Worldwide
Quote The government's new privacy legislation has removed the ban on biometric data being handed to crime-fighting agencies. Officials say the move could be of immense benefit in fighting crime, although privacy lobbysists liken it to a "Big Brother" development. The Attorney-General's Department revealed that police will be able to ask private companies - including shops, pubs and clubs - to hand over their patrons' facial scans. "These changes will allow, for example, a pub to pass on to police a face scan of someone involved in a glassing attack," a spokeswoman told News Ltd. "Or, police could ask a government agency to help them identify an alleged murderer through matching an image obtained via CCTV (closed circuit television) with client photos. "The spokeswoman said the Privacy Act would "not compel" any company or government agency to hand over biometric data to law enforcement bodies. BIOMETRIC facial scans taken for passports, drivers' licences or nightclub entry can now be stored in police and spy agency databases, under changes to Australia's privacy laws. The Gillard government's new privacy legislation has removed the ban on biometric data being handed to crime-fighting agencies. Officials say the move could be of immense benefit in fighting crime, although privacy lobbysists liken it to a "Big Brother" development. The Attorney-General's Department revealed that police will be able to ask private companies - including shops, pubs and clubs - to hand over their patrons' facial scans. "These changes will allow, for example, a pub to pass on to police a face scan of someone involved in a glassing attack," a spokeswoman told News Ltd. "Or, police could ask a government agency to help them identify an alleged murderer through matching an image obtained via CCTV (closed circuit television) with client photos. "The spokeswoman said the Privacy Act would "not compel" any company or government agency to hand over biometric data to law enforcement bodies. Biometric data has now been reclassifed as "sensitive data", meaning government agencies must apply stronger privacy safeguards. "Information can only be shared with law enforcement agencies in strictly limited circumstances with increased privacy protections," the spokeswoman said. The power for police to store biometric data that was originally provided for a passport or driver's licence is buried within 290 pages of explanatory memorandum for the legislative amendments, passed during parliament's final sitting week this year. The document explains that the federal Information Commissioner will draw up guidelines for the transfer of biometric data to crime-fighting agencies. It cites a "practical example" of the change as "the automatic provision of biometric information and templates by a non-enforcement agency into a database operated by an enforcement body." "This is currently a gap in the enforcement-related activity exception in the Privacy Act that prevents this increasing activity from occurring," it says. "The privacy safeguard for this new proposal is that the activity in question would be subject to ongoing oversight by the Information Commissioner through guidelines." Australian Council for Civil Liberties president Terry O'Gorman blasted the changes as a "Big Brother" invasion of privacy. He said law enforcement agencies must not be handed biometric data automatically, but should have to obtain a warrant. "This is increasing law enforcement agencies' access to data without judicial supervision," he said."(This type of scan) is something you never thought - let alone consented - would end up in a police database. Databases can be misused, and not just in totalitarian countries.' Mr O'Gorman said "wishy washy" guidelines drawn up by the Information Commissioner "will make you feel good, but they're just useless". "We need privacy cops out there investigating breaches," he said. The new legislation will take force in 15 months' time, to give government agencies and private companies time to comply. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Immigration Department already use biometric facial scans - a digital scan that shows a person's facial contours - stored on a microchip in passports. NSW, Victoria and Queensland are using biometric facial recognition technology in new licences. And some banks are considering introducing biometric voice recognition data on ATMs. Biometric scans are also growing popular with pubs and clubs to identify and screen patrons. http://www.heraldsun.com.au/ipad/cops-bid-for-biometrics/story-fnbzs1v0-1226533078328 Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on December 19, 2012, 08:09:51 am Surveillance State: Ecuador Implements “World’s First” Countrywide Facial And Voice-Recognition System
The United States is often considered a world leader when it comes to deploying the latest biometric security and surveillance technologies. But it could have an unlikely new competitor: Ecuador. According to Russian company the Speech Technology Center, the small Latin American country has successfully completed installation of “the world’s first biometric identification platform, at a nation-wide level, that combines voice and face identification capabilities.” As I reported back in September, Speech Technology Center operates under the name SpeechPro in the United States. The company’s controversial technology enables authorities to build a massive database containing several million “voiceprints” of known criminals, suspects, or persons of interest. more: http://stratrisks.com/geostrat/9919 Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Kilika on December 19, 2012, 11:25:47 am And knowing how good they are getting with 3d animation, the goal of the media industry to have literal digital actors to replace real humans doing the actual acting work is getting real close. Tying in digitally-created voices with a high-quality 3d character, overlay it in a video sequence of say a street shooting at night, and bingo, somebody just committed a crime without being there. Even completely re-creating a real location, say the street that a shooting took place, has become so good you can't tell it's 3d when they do quick cut shots where you see it for maybe 2-3 seconds at most. Toss in some low lighting and you can visually hide that fact it isn't real.
You want to keep a check on where 3d artists talents are, just look here... (formerly called "HighEnd3d", my old stomping grounds) http://www.creativecrash.com/ (http://www.creativecrash.com/) Is it real? Nope, all fake and 3d. http://www.creativecrash.com/marketplace/3d-models/architecture/scenes/public-work/c/conference-room-038 (http://www.creativecrash.com/marketplace/3d-models/architecture/scenes/public-work/c/conference-room-038) (http://www.creativecrash.com/system/photos/000/238/488/238488/big/Conference_038_1.jpg?1345283759) Imagine the above scene done in a video, a quick shot of some event in that room, a room that doesn't even exist. Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on December 29, 2012, 09:49:49 am Senate renews government surveillance measure
Civil rights campaigners voiced dismay on Friday over the US Senate's re-authorization of the government's warrantless surveillance program, and the defeat of two amendments that would have provided for basic oversight of the eavesdropping. The Senate voted 73-23 to extend the law, called the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Amendments Act, for five years. The House of Representatives has already passed the measure, which President Obama has said he will sign. But while the program was extended as expected, campaigners saw a silver lining in that the vote was closer than when the legislation was first introduced in 2008. "We're incredibly disappointed, not just that it passed, but that they rejected some very moderate amendments that wouldn't have interfered with the collection of intelligence," said Michelle Richardson, an ACLU expert on surveillance issues. An amendment by senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon would have required the secret court that oversees surveillance requests to disclose "important rulings of law." It failed 37-54. An amendment by Merkley's fellow Oregon Democrat Ron Wyden would have required the government to estimate the number of US citizens it had spied on. It fell by a narrower margin, 43-52. "We're actually pleased that so many [Senate] members today want more transparency," Richardson said, pointing to the 43 votes for Wyden. "There were more members voting for transparency and accountability than there were in 2008. The amendments did better this time." The amended FISA Act was passed in 2008 to retroactively cover Bush-era domestic surveillance. The law permits the National Security Agency to track communication between foreign targets and people inside the United States without obtaining a warrant. Critics say it violates fourth amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures. NSA whistleblower Bill Binney has estimated that the agency, under protection of the law, has "assembled" 20 trillion transactions between US citizens. Intelligence Committee chairwoman Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat from California, said in debate on the Senate floor that the surveillance program provides useful intelligence and does not target US citizens. She opposed both oversight amendments but agreed in principle to release unclassified summaries of actions taken by the secret court. The Obama administration has already begun reviewing FISA court decisions to see what can be released, Richardson said. "I think we have a long and slow fight on this, but we'll eventually get there," Richardson said. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/dec/28/senate-approves-government-surveillance-measure Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on January 19, 2013, 05:40:04 am Americans endorse spycams, getting used to drones
A new poll has uncovered a “shocking willingness” on the part of Americans to give up their privacy and freedoms for the sake of “safety,” just at a time when the Obama administration is launching an assault on the self-defense rights guarded by the Second Amendment. “As leaders in Washington prepare an assault on the Second Amendment, a majority of Americans – 61 percent – said they believe that domestic use of drones by government and law enforcement agencies represents a violation of people’s right to privacy,” said Fritz Wenzel, president of Wenzel Strategies. It was his public-opinion research and media consulting company, Wenzel Strategies, that released the results of a telephone poll conducted for WND. It was taken Jan. 9-12 and carries a margin of error of plus or minus 3.22 percentage points. Wenzel said the federal government “has announced plans to use drones domestically in certain circumstances, and the survey finding that 20 percent are just fine with that is shocking.” Another 18 percent said they aren’t sure about whether the spy drones would violate the privacy of citizens. “But the survey also shows a shocking willingness of Americans to forfeit their freedoms to the government under the guise of safety, as a plurality of 46 percent said they believe local governments should use cameras to monitor traffic on public roadways,” he said. The survey recalls Benjamin Franklin’s admonition, “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” Some 20 percent of respondents said local and state law enforcement agencies should have and use drones with live-broadcast cameras. Of those who considered themselves “very liberal,” 28 percent supported the idea, while only 16 percent of the “very conservative” favored it. The right end of the political spectrum was more confident of its position, with 72 percent expressing the belief that drones violate privacy laws and only 12 percent were unsure. On the liberal end of the scale, only 46 percent said drones violate privacy and 26 percent were uncertain. But the poll also indicated Americans have grown accustomed to intrusions by the government. While 61 percent of Americans still say drones, a relatively new development, violate privacy, only 40 percent say the same thing about red-light cameras, which have been around years longer. Added Wenzel: “Another 40 percent said they should not be used because they violate the privacy of citizens. At the same time, however, a plurality of 46 percent said they believe those cameras are first and foremost a government grab for cash from citizens and secondly a tool to improve safety. Another 42 percent said they think the cameras mainly promote safe motoring.” Still, the question about the use of red-light cameras drew a huge split between the left and right ends of the political scale. Some 52 percent of the “very liberal” said government should use cameras, and only 26 percent said they violate privacy. On the other end of the scale, the “very conservative” by a large majority, 59 percent, said they violate privacy. Only 31 percent said government should use the camera. While red-light and speeding cameras are routine across the country, it also has been confirmed that drones already are spying on Americans. Records recently released to the Electronic Frontier Foundation revealed the federal government has approved dozens of licenses for unmanned aerial surveillance drones across the United States. The organization reported there are licenses held by state and local law enforcement agencies, universities along with the Air Force, Marine Corps and DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. Some of the records show drones used for purposes as sensible as helping the U.S. Forest Service fight forest fires. But other purposes, such as performing aerial observation of houses when serving warrants or covert surveillance of drug sales, have prompted EFF to question privacy issues. “Perhaps the scariest is the technology carried by a Reaper drone the Air Force is flying near Lincoln, Nev., and in areas of California and Utah,” EFF reports. “This drone uses ‘Gorgon Stare’ technology, which Wikipedia defines as ‘a spherical array of nine cameras attached to an aerial drone … capable of capturing motion imagery of an entire city.’ … This technology takes surveillance to a whole new level.” The use of military drones further raised flags in a New York Times report last year, when reporter Mark Mazzetti joined a group of observers watching drone use at Holloman Air Force Base in remote New Mexico and discovered the military was practicing for foreign missions by spying on American vehicles. “A white SUV traveling along a highway adjacent to the base came into the cross hairs [of the drone's view] and was tracked as it headed south along the desert road,” Mazzetti wrote. “When the S.U.V. drove out of the picture, the drone began following another car. “‘Wait, you guys practice tracking enemies by using civilian cars?’ a reporter asked,” according to Mazzetti. “One Air Force officer responded that this was only a training mission, and then the group was quickly hustled out of the room.” EFF clarified that while the U.S. military doesn’t need an FAA license to fly drones over its own military bases, which is “restricted airspace”, it does need a license to fly in the national airspace, which is almost everywhere else in the U.S. “And, as we’ve learned from these records,” EFF reports, “the Air Force and Marine Corps regularly fly both large and small drones in the national airspace all around the country.” The response so far has included a plan from Massachusetts Rep. Ed Markey to create guidelines and limitations on how the Federal Aviation Administration licenses drones. In related research, Wenzel also found that one in seven Americans sees a dictator in the nation’s future, and another one in five says it eventually will break up into several sovereign regions. The survey revealed that more than one in four believe the United States likely will collapse not just in their lifetime, but in the next decade. Also, Wenzel earlier revealed that the seeds of tyranny already are present in America, with a heavily armed law enforcement presence and a population holding a disbelief that their government could do anything that would make them want to revolt. Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2013/01/americans-endorse-spycams-getting-used-to-drones/#sw4kF6O1bXqV4g5k.99 Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Psalm 51:17 on January 19, 2013, 11:23:40 am Americans endorse spycams, getting used to drones Americans it seems are also getting used to gay marriage, abortion, evolution, and slowly but surely more gun control restrictions. 2Th_2:15 Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle. Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on February 02, 2013, 05:45:29 am Big brother to log your drinking habits and waist size as GPs are forced to hand over confidential recordsData includes weight, cholesterol, BMI, family health history and pulse rate
Doctors will be forced to reveal alcohol consumption and smoking status Privacy campaigners described it as 'biggest data grab in NHS history' Part of new Health Service programme called Everyone Counts Officials insisted data will be anonymous and deleted after analysis GPs are to be forced to hand over confidential records on all their patients’ drinking habits, waist sizes and illnesses. The files will be stored in a giant information bank that privacy campaigners say represents the ‘biggest data grab in NHS history’. They warned the move would end patient confidentiality and hand personal information to third parties. The data includes weight, cholesterol levels, body mass index, pulse rate, family health history, alcohol consumption and smoking status. Diagnosis of everything from cancer to heart disease to mental illness would be covered. Family doctors will have to pass on dates of birth, postcodes and NHS numbers. Officials insisted the personal information would be made anonymous and deleted after analysis. But Ross Anderson, professor of security engineering at Cambridge University, said: ‘Under these proposals, medical confidentiality is, in effect, dead and there is currently nobody standing in the way.’ Nick Pickles, of the privacy group Big Brother Watch, said NHS managers would now be in charge of our most confidential information. He added: ‘It is unbelievable how little the public is being told about what is going on, while GPs are being strong-armed into handing over details about their patients and to not make a fuss. ‘Not only have the public not been told what is going on, none of us has been asked to give our permission for this to happen.’ The data grab is part of Everyone Counts, a programme to extend the availability of patient data across the Health Service. GPs will be required to send monthly updates on their patients to a central database run by the NHS’s Health and Social Care Information Centre. Health chiefs will be able to demand information on every patient, such as why they have been referred to a consultant. Another arm of the NHS will supply data on patient prescriptions. In a briefing for GPs, health chiefs admit that ‘patient identifiable components’ will be demanded, including post code and date of birth. NHS officials insist the information centre will be a ‘safe haven’ for personal data, which will be deleted soon after it is received. The information will be used to analyse demand for services and improve treatment. But a document outlining the scheme even raises the prospect of clinical data being passed on or sold to third parties. It states: ‘The patient identifiable components will not be released outside the safe haven except as permitted by the Data Protection Act. ‘HSCIC ... will store the data and link it only where approved and necessary, ensuring that patient confidentiality is protected.’ Patients will not be able to opt out of the system. Before the election the Tories condemned the creation of huge databases – including the controversial NHS IT project – and insisted it would roll back ‘Labour’s database state’. But last month, in the first sign of a dramatic shift away from this position, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said he wanted millions of private medical records to be stored and shared between hospitals, GPs, care homes and even local councils. He sold the programme as part of plans for a ‘paperless NHS’ by 2018 and claimed ‘thousands of lives’ would be saved. But details of the changes have raised serious concerns among civil liberties and privacy campaigners, as well as health professionals Last night GPs’ leaders said the latest proposals were too broad. ‘Patients must be given the option to opt out of any scheme that seeks to transfer identifiable information about them from their records to another source,’ said a BMA spokesman. ‘This opt-out should be widely advertised and explained in order that patients are reassured and understand the process being carried out.’ Phil Booth of the campaign group NO2ID said an unprecedented volume of data would be ‘sucked up’. ‘People have to trust in the notion of medical confidentiality. They expect to be able to talk in confidence to their GP,’ he said. ‘They don’t expect their private conversations to be uploaded on to a national database where they will be made available for any number of purposes for the benefit of persons unknown.’ A spokesman for the NHS said last night: ‘The NHS constitution makes clear what information can be used for by the NHS and this proposal complies exactly with that.’ Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2272166/Big-brother-log-drinking-habits-waist-size.html#ixzz2Jk1Us7tI Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Kilika on February 03, 2013, 01:55:30 am Quote ‘Patients must be given the option to opt out of any scheme that seeks to transfer identifiable information about them from their records to another source,’ said a BMA spokesman. Well, people want a lot of things, but this stuff won't go away, and it won't be optional. Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Christian40 on February 03, 2013, 02:03:51 am ‘People have to trust in the notion of medical confidentiality. They expect to be able to talk in confidence to their GP,’ he said. ‘They don’t expect their private conversations to be uploaded on to a national database where they will be made available for any number of purposes for the benefit of persons unknown.’ There are already audios on buses now to record conversation and they can do it through smartphones yeah you have to be wise as a serpent when it comes to speaking about private issues. Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on April 08, 2013, 10:25:59 am IRS collecting tax payer information from Facebook and Twitter
You have until April 15th to file a return - and the IRS will be collecting a lot more than just taxes this year. According to several reports, the agency will also be collecting personal information from sites like Facebook and Twitter. It says the effort is to catch people trying to beat the system, but some say it goes too far. Attorney Kristen Mathews warns to be careful with what you say on social media platforms. She has concerns the government is pushing the limits of what has historically been considered private. "There are laws that regulate the government's ability to get a hold of things like credit card transaction history. But those laws have become more permissive in the last several years, particularly after 9-11, and so some might say those laws are no longer in line with the average expectation of privacy," says Mathews. The government has said it would only check a Facebook page or twitter account if there is already red flag in a tax form. Read more: http://www.myfoxdc.com/story/21905788/irs-collecting-tax-payer-information-from-facebook-and-twitter#ixzz2PszOPyqM Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Kilika on April 08, 2013, 02:40:43 pm 24 And when they were come to Capernaum, they that received tribute [money] came to Peter, and said, Doth not your master pay tribute?
25 He saith, Yes. And when he was come into the house, Jesus prevented him, saying, What thinkest thou, Simon? of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or tribute? of their own children, or of strangers? 26 Peter saith unto him, Of strangers. Jesus saith unto him, Then are the children free. 27 Notwithstanding, lest we should offend them, go thou to the sea, and cast an hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up; and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money: that take, and give unto them for me and thee. Matthew 17:24-27 (KJB) Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on May 01, 2013, 08:43:49 am Bloomberg: You Will Never Know Where Our New Spy Cameras Are
New York City police officials intend to expand the already extensive use of surveillance cameras throughout town. The plan, unveiled Thursday, comes as part of a drive for increased security around the US following the Boston Marathon attack. New York City Police Department Commissioner Ray Kelly announced the plan during a press conference with Mayor Michael Bloomberg, in which the two announced that the suspected Boston Marathon bombers were planning to attack New York next. The pair said they hope to discourage criminals by using so-called “smart cameras” that will aggregate data from 911 alerts, arrest records, mapped crime patterns, surveillance cameras and radiation detectors, among other tools, according to The Verge. “You’re never going to know where all of our cameras are,” Bloomberg told reporters gathered outside City Hall.“And that’s one of the ways you deter people; they just don’t know whether the person sitting next to you is somebody sitting there or a detective watching.” http://rt.com/usa/bloomberg-never-know-where-cameras-477/ Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Kilika on May 01, 2013, 05:00:37 pm http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/bloomberg-new-york-eventually-surveillance-city-article-1.1296103 (http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/bloomberg-new-york-eventually-surveillance-city-article-1.1296103)
Quote 'We're going to have more visibility and less privacy': Mayor Bloomberg admits soon NYPD surveillance cameras will be on nearly every corner and in the air 'You wait, in five years, the technology is getting better, they’ll be cameras everyplace . . . whether you like it or not,' Bloomberg said Friday. 'The argument against using automation is just this craziness that 'Oh, it’s Big Brother.' Get used to it!' Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Christian40 on May 02, 2013, 04:53:22 am Quote 'We're going to have more visibility and less privacy': Mayor Bloomberg admits soon NYPD surveillance cameras will be on nearly every corner and in the air 'You wait, in five years, the technology is getting better, they’ll be cameras everyplace . . . whether you like it or not,' Bloomberg said Friday. 'The argument against using automation is just this craziness that 'Oh, it’s Big Brother.' Get used to it!' it sounds like he is mocking the people of NYPD. haha haha we have cameras everywhere and the Antichrist and his followers will be able to watch you. Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Kilika on May 02, 2013, 05:08:46 am I don't see him mocking the NYPD. On the contrary, it seems he's actually boasting about the NYPD having cameras everywhere, and getting more.
No, I see it as he's mocking the public when he says "...is just this craziness that 'Oh, it's Big Brother'. Then he tells the public, "Get used to it". This is the mayor of a US city speaking to the people who allegedly voted for him. He's a mayor. Not even a governor, and he's acting like a monarch. ::) I bet he gets a chuckle out of reading, "Let them eat cake". What a globalist maroon! I realize New York City is big with lots of people, but Bloomberg is still just a lowly mayor. Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on May 06, 2013, 04:02:37 am Are all telephone calls recorded and accessible to the US government?
A former FBI counterterrorism agent claims on CNN that this is the case The real capabilities and behavior of the US surveillance state are almost entirely unknown to the American public because, like most things of significance done by the US government, it operates behind an impenetrable wall of secrecy. But a seemingly spontaneous admission this week by a former FBI counterterrorism agent provides a rather startling acknowledgment of just how vast and invasive these surveillance activities are. Over the past couple days, cable news tabloid shows such as CNN's Out Front with Erin Burnett have been excitingly focused on the possible involvement in the Boston Marathon attack of Katherine Russell, the 24-year-old American widow of the deceased suspect, Tamerlan Tsarnaev. As part of their relentless stream of leaks uncritically disseminated by our Adversarial Press Corps, anonymous government officials are claiming that they are now focused on telephone calls between Russell and Tsarnaev that took place both before and after the attack to determine if she had prior knowledge of the plot or participated in any way. On Wednesday night, Burnett interviewed Tim Clemente, a former FBI counterterrorism agent, about whether the FBI would be able to discover the contents of past telephone conversations between the two. He quite clearly insisted that they could: BURNETT: Tim, is there any way, obviously, there is a voice mail they can try to get the phone companies to give that up at this point. It's not a voice mail. It's just a conversation. There's no way they actually can find out what happened, right, unless she tells them? CLEMENTE: "No, there is a way. We certainly have ways in national security investigations to find out exactly what was said in that conversation. It's not necessarily something that the FBI is going to want to present in court, but it may help lead the investigation and/or lead to questioning of her. We certainly can find that out. BURNETT: "So they can actually get that? People are saying, look, that is incredible. CLEMENTE: "No, welcome to America. All of that stuff is being captured as we speak whether we know it or like it or not." "All of that stuff" - meaning every telephone conversation Americans have with one another on US soil, with or without a search warrant - "is being captured as we speak". On Thursday night, Clemente again appeared on CNN, this time with host Carol Costello, and she asked him about those remarks. He reiterated what he said the night before but added expressly that "all digital communications in the past" are recorded and stored: rest+video: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/may/04/telephone-calls-recorded-fbi-boston Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Kilika on May 06, 2013, 04:26:03 am Quote CLEMENTE: "No, there is a way. We certainly have ways in national security investigations to find out exactly what was said in that conversation. It's not necessarily something that the FBI is going to want to present in court, but it may help lead the investigation and/or lead to questioning of her. We certainly can find that out. Now why is that? Could it have to do with something like oh, illegally recording phone calls without warrant? ::) Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on May 07, 2013, 04:11:21 am The U.S. Government Is Monitoring All Phone Calls, All Emails And All Internet Activity
Big Brother is watching everything that you do on the Internet and listening to everything that you say on your phone. Every single day in America, the U.S. government intercepts and stores nearly 2 billion emails, phone calls and other forms of electronic communication. Former NSA employees have come forward and have described exactly what is taking place, and this surveillance activity has been reported on by prominent news organizations such as the Washington Post, Fox News and CNN, but nobody really seems to get too upset about it. Either most Americans are not aware of what is really going on or they have just accepted it as part of modern life. But where will this end? Do we really want to live in a dystopian “Big Brother society” where the government literally reads every single thing that we write and listens to every single thing that we say? Is that what the future of America is going to look like? If so, what do you think our founding fathers would have said about that? Many Americans may not realize this, but nothing that you do on your cell phone or on the Internet will ever be private again. According to the Washington Post, the NSA intercepts and stores an astounding amount of information every single day… Every day, collection systems at the National Security Agency intercept and store 1.7 billion e-mails, phone calls and other types of communications. The NSA sorts a fraction of those into 70 separate databases. But even the Washington Post may not have been aware of the full scope of the surveillance. In fact, National Security Agency whistleblower William Binney claims that the NSA has collected “20 trillion transactions” involving U.S. citizens… In fact, I would suggest that they’ve assembled on the order of 20 trillion transactions about U.S. citizens with other U.S. citizens. And NSA whistleblowers have also told us that the agency “has the capability to do individualized searches, similar to Google, for particular electronic communications in real time through such criteria as target addresses, locations, countries and phone numbers, as well as watch-listed names, keywords, and phrases in email.” So the NSA must have tremendous data storage needs. That must be why they are building such a mammoth data storage center out in Utah. According to Fox News, it will have the capability of storing 5 zettabytes of data… The NSA says the Utah Data Center is a facility for the intelligence community that will have a major focus on cyber security. The agency will neither confirm nor deny specifics. Some published reports suggest it could hold 5 zettabytes of data. (Just one zettabyte is the equivalent of about 62 billion stacked iPhones 5′s– that stretches past the moon. Are you outraged by all of this? You should be. The U.S. government is spying on the American people and yet they continue to publicly deny that they are actually doing it. Last week, this government spying program was once again confirmed by another insider. What former FBI counterterrorism agent Tim Clemente told Erin Burnett of CNN is absolutely astounding… BURNETT: Tim, is there any way, obviously, there is a voice mail they can try to get the phone companies to give that up at this point. It’s not a voice mail. It’s just a conversation. There’s no way they actually can find out what happened, right, unless she tells them? CLEMENTE: “No, there is a way. We certainly have ways in national security investigations to find out exactly what was said in that conversation. It’s not necessarily something that the FBI is going to want to present in court, but it may help lead the investigation and/or lead to questioning of her. We certainly can find that out. BURNETT: “So they can actually get that? People are saying, look, that is incredible. CLEMENTE: “No, welcome to America. All of that stuff is being captured as we speak whether we know it or like it or not.” Yes, “all of that stuff” is most definitely being “captured” and it is time for the Obama administration to be honest with the American people about what is actually going on. Meanwhile, the recent bombing in Boston has many of our politicians calling for even tighter surveillance. For example, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg recently said that our interpretation of the U.S. Constitution will “have to change” to deal with the new threats that we are facing. More “smart cameras” are going up in New York, and Bloomberg says that we are “never going to know where all of our cameras are”. The following is from a recent RT article… New York City police officials intend to expand the already extensive use of surveillance cameras throughout town. The plan, unveiled Thursday, comes as part of a drive for increased security around the US following the Boston Marathon attack. New York City Police Department Commissioner Ray Kelly announced the plan during a press conference with Mayor Michael Bloomberg, in which the two announced that the suspected Boston Marathon bombers were planning to attack New York next. The pair said they hope to discourage criminals by using so-called “smart cameras” that will aggregate data from 911 alerts, arrest records, mapped crime patterns, surveillance cameras and radiation detectors, among other tools, according to The Verge. “You’re never going to know where all of our cameras are,” Bloomberg told reporters gathered outside City Hall. “And that’s one of the ways you deter people; they just don’t know whether the person sitting next to you is somebody sitting there or a detective watching.” Will you feel safer if the government is watching you 100% of the time? Do you want them to see what you are doing 100% of the time? You might want to think about that, because that is where all of this is headed. In fact, the truth is that spy cameras are not just going up all over New York City. Most Americans may not realize this, but a network of spy cameras is now going up all over the nation. The following is an excerpt from one of my previous articles… “You are being watched. The government has a secret system – a machine – that spies on you every hour of every day.” That is how each episode of “Person of Interest” on CBS begins. Most Americans that have watched the show just assume that such a surveillance network is completely fictional and that the government would never watch us like that. Sadly, most Americans are wrong. Shocking new details have emerged this week which prove that a creepy nationwide network of spy cameras is being rolled out across the United States. Reportedly, these new spy cameras are “more accurate than modern facial recognition technology”, and every few seconds they send back data from cities and major landmarks all over the United States to a centralized processing center where it is analyzed. The authorities believe that the world has become such a dangerous place that the only way to keep us all safe is to watch what everyone does all the time. But the truth is that instead of “saving America”, all of these repressive surveillance technologies are slowly killing our liberties and our freedoms. America is being transformed into an Orwellian prison camp right in front of our eyes, and very few people are even objecting to it. For many more examples of how the emerging Big Brother surveillance grid is tightening all around us, please see my previous article entitled “19 Signs That America Is Being Systematically Transformed Into A Giant Surveillance Grid“. Meanwhile, Barack Obama is telling us to reject those that are warning us about government tyranny. The following is what he told the graduating class of The Ohio State University on May 5th, 2013… Unfortunately, you’ve grown up hearing voices that incessantly warn of government as nothing more than some separate, sinister entity that’s at the root of all our problems. Some of these same voices also do their best to gum up the works. They’ll warn that tyranny always lurking just around the corner. You should reject these voices. So what do you think? Should we just ignore all of the violations of our privacy that are happening? Should we just ignore what the U.S. Constitution says about privacy and let the government monitor us however it wants to? Please feel free to share what you think by posting a comment below… http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/the-u-s-government-is-monitoring-all-phone-calls-all-emails-and-all-internet-activity Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Kilika on May 07, 2013, 04:33:00 am Doesn't matter. The government no longer does what the public wants. Government tells the public how it will be.
Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on June 03, 2013, 08:58:34 am El Dorado County fugitive caught, thanks to local technology company
A fugitive on the run from authorities in El Dorado County for two years has been caught with the help of new technology from an El Dorado Hills company. In 2008, Brandi Morgan Thomas was driving under the influence of alcohol on El Dorado Hills Boulevard when she swerved into the bicycle lane and hit two cyclists, causing life-changing major injuries to the victims. In March 2009, Thomas was convicted and sentenced to seven years in state prison. Her sentence was suspended and she was granted five years of formal probation, which included an "obey all laws" clause. In August 2011, Thomas was arrested for several felonies, including burglary, forgery and conspiracy to commit a crime. Thomas then fled El Dorado County and has been a fugitive ever since. She eluded law enforcement for two years. District attorney investigators used software called "Masterqueue", created by Intellaegis, to track Thomas down to Florida, Tennessee and eventually to Michigan. Intellaegis tracked Thomas down in five minutes. Company president John Lewis would not provide specifics about how they were able to track Thomas. He explained "Masterqueue" is an investigative database that gathers and streamlines information about people. "If you have a tremendous amount of information about a specific person, we'll put algorithms on every piece of that data to tell you which pieces are more relevant than others," Lewis explained. "We have some resources, but this, by far, has helped us the most," El Dorado County District Attorney Investigator Dave Stevenson said. "It's something that really changes how we do our job." "Masterqueue" has also helped El Dorado County authorities nab two other fugitives. Thomas was extradited from Michigan a week ago and is currently in the El Dorado County Jail awaiting her court hearing. Thomas's bail has been set at $425,000. http://www.news10.net/news/article/244618/2/Fugitive-caught-thanks-to-El-Dorado-Hills-tech-company Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on June 07, 2013, 06:43:22 am Government Surveillance Of American Citizens Goes Far Beyond What You Are Being Told
Every single day, the U.S. government gathers and stores more than a billion phone calls, emails, text messages, photographs and Internet searches. Just about every form of electronic communication that you can possibly imagine is being harvested. In fact, it has been reported that NSA personnel gather 2.1 million gigabytes of data every hour. This is being done even though it is a blatant violation of the U.S. Constitution. Sadly, most Americans do not even know what the Fourth Amendment actually says. For those that do not know, the Fourth Amendment says the following: “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.” Unfortunately, our leaders have totally abandoned the Constitution. They seem to believe that they have the right to look through our electronic communications any time they want and that we should not complain about it. As you will see below, workers at the NSA have even eavesdropped on very intimate conversations between soldiers serving in Iraq and their female loved ones back home. What kind of sick person would do such a thing? Sadly, the truth is that we have allowed ourselves to become a “Big Brother society”, and we are an utter disgrace to the millions of brave men and women who have died to defend our freedoms. There was an explosion of outrage on Thursday when the Guardian reported on a leaked document that shows that the Obama administration is collecting the phone records of millions of Verizon customers every single day… The National Security Agency is currently collecting the telephone records of millions of US customers of Verizon, one of America’s largest telecoms providers, under a top secret court order issued in April. The order, a copy of which has been obtained by the Guardian, requires Verizon on an “ongoing, daily basis” to give the NSA information on all telephone calls in its systems, both within the US and between the US and other countries. The document shows for the first time that under the Obama administration the communication records of millions of US citizens are being collected indiscriminately and in bulk – regardless of whether they are suspected of any wrongdoing. The White House responded by calling this program “a critical tool in protecting the nation from terrorist threats”, and White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters the following… “The intelligence community is conducting court-authorized intelligence activities pursuant to public statute with the knowledge and oversight of Congress” So obviously the Obama administration sees nothing wrong with this at all. Will some of our other “leaders” step forward and condemn this blatant violation of the U.S. Constitution? Sadly, so far most of our politicians are rigorously defending the program. Just check out how some prominent members of Congress responded to this story… Senator Dianne Feinstein: “There is nothing new in this program. The fact of the matter is, that this was a routine three-month approval under seal that was leaked” Senator Lindsey Graham: “If we didn’t do it, we’d be crazy” Senator Saxby Chambliss: “This is nothing particularly new. This has been going on for seven years under the auspices of the (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) authority and every member of the United States Senate has been advised of this” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid: “Everyone should just calm down and understand this isn’t anything that is brand new. It’s been going on for some seven years. And we’ve tried often to try to make it better, and we’ll continue to do that” But the collection of phone call metadata is just the tip of the iceberg. The truth is that government surveillance of Americans citizens goes far beyond what you are being told. In fact, the Washington Post has just come out with an article about a highly classified program known as PRISM that involves the federal government “tapping directly into the central servers” of nine top Internet companies… The National Security Agency and the FBI are tapping directly into the central servers of nine leading U.S. Internet companies, extracting audio, video, photographs, e-mails, documents and connection logs that enable analysts to track a person’s movements and contacts over time. The highly classified program, code-named PRISM, has not been disclosed publicly before. Its establishment in 2007 and six years of exponential growth took place beneath the surface of a roiling debate over the boundaries of surveillance and privacy. Even late last year, when critics of the foreign intelligence statute argued for changes, the only members of Congress who knew about PRISM were bound by oaths of office to hold their tongues. So what Internet companies are involved? Most of the names will be extremely familiar to you… The technology companies, which participate knowingly in PRISM operations, include most of the dominant global players of Silicon Valley. They are listed on a roster that bears their logos in order of entry into the program: “Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, PalTalk, AOL, Skype, YouTube, Apple.” PalTalk, although much smaller, has hosted significant traffic during the Arab Spring and in the ongoing Syrian civil war. Dropbox , the cloud storage and synchronization service, is described as “coming soon.” The capabilities of this system are apparently awesome. Fortunately, one “career intelligence officer” was so disgusted with how our privacy rights were being violated that he decided to leak information about PRISM to the Washington Post… Firsthand experience with these systems, and horror at their capabilities, is what drove a career intelligence officer to provide PowerPoint slides about PRISM and supporting materials to The Washington Post in order to expose what he believes to be a gross intrusion on privacy. “They quite literally can watch your ideas form as you type,” the officer said. Another whistleblower, former NSA code breaker William Binney, has come forward with some astounding details about what is actually happening over at the NSA. The following is from a recent Business Insider article… Binney — one of the best mathematicians and code breakers in NSA history — worked for the Defense Department’s foreign signals intelligence agency for 32 years before resigning in late 2001 because he “could not stay after the NSA began purposefully violating the Constitution.” He’s detailed how, ever since 9/11, the NSA has run a top-secret surveillance program that amasses electronic data — phone calls, GPS information, emails, social media, banking and travel records, entire government databases — and analyzes the information “to be able to monitor what people are doing” and who they are doing it with. So exactly how much information are we talking about? Overall, Binney claims that the NSA has gathered approximately “20 trillion transactions” involving U.S. citizens. And other NSA whistleblowers claim that the agency “has the capability to do individualized searches, similar to Google, for particular electronic communications in real time through such criteria as target addresses, locations, countries and phone numbers, as well as watch-listed names, keywords, and phrases in email.” But this is not supposed to be happening. The NSA is not supposed to be spying on U.S. citizens and it is a clear violation of the U.S. Constitution. But they are doing it. In fact, they are gathering so much information on all of us that they needed to build a brand new data storage center out in Utah. According to Fox News, it will have the capability of storing 5 zettabytes of data… The NSA says the Utah Data Center is a facility for the intelligence community that will have a major focus on cyber security. The agency will neither confirm nor deny specifics. Some published reports suggest it could hold 5 zettabytes of data. (Just one zettabyte is the equivalent of about 62 billion stacked iPhones 5′s– that stretches past the moon. Why do they need so much storage space? Well, after you start putting the pieces together, it becomes very clear. They are illegally spying on all of us, and the American people need to be told the truth. But of course there are always numbskulls out there that say things like this… “I don’t have anything to hide so I don’t care if they watch everything that I do.” Really? If you think that way, perhaps you will change your mind after you read what some NSA employees have been doing. The following is from an article posted on theatlanticwire.com… And the NSA would never abuse its awesome surveillance power, right? Wrong. In 2008, NSA workers told ABC News that they routinely eavesdropped on phone sex between troops serving overseas and their loved ones in America. They listened in on both satellite phone calls and calls from the phone banks in Iraq’s Green Zone where soldiers call home. Former Navy Arab linguist, David Murfee Faulk described how a coworker would say, “Hey, check this out… there’s good phone sex or there’s some pillow talk, pull up this call, it’s really funny, go check it out.” Faulk explained they would gossip about the best calls during breaks. “It would be some colonel making pillow talk and we would say, ‘Wow, this was crazy.’” We live during a time when government agencies are massively abusing their powers. We have seen this recently with the IRS, the Justice Department and now with the NSA. But so far, most Americans don’t seem too upset by all of this abuse of power. Most Americans are so apathetic that they seem content to let the government get away with almost anything. In the end, America will get the government that it deserves. If Americans do not stand up now and speak out, it will be a signal to the government that this kind of behavior is okay and we will see even more of it. So what do you think about all of the government corruption that has been exposed lately? Please feel free to post a comment with your thoughts below… http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/government-surveillance-of-american-citizens-goes-far-beyond-what-you-are-being-told Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on June 08, 2013, 05:14:03 am Top-secret PRISM program...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/06/us-tech-giants-nsa-data Limbaugh: 'We are in the midst of a coup'... http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2013/06/07/america_in_the_midst_of_a_coup_d_etat NSA, FBI secretly mining data from Internet firms... http://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/us-intelligence-mining-data-from-nine-us-internet-companies-in-broad-secret-program/2013/06/06/3a0c0da8-cebf-11e2-8845-d970ccb04497_print.html 'THEY QUITE LITERALLY CAN WATCH YOUR IDEAS AS YOU TYPE'... http://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/us-intelligence-mining-data-from-nine-us-internet-companies-in-broad-secret-program/2013/06/06/3a0c0da8-cebf-11e2-8845-d970ccb04497_print.html MICROSOFTYAHOOGOOGLEYOUTUBEFACEBOOKSKYPEAPPLE... http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/06/us-tech-giants-nsa-data Vast Data Trove... http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324299104578529112289298922.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_LEFTTopStories Billions of Phone Calls... http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-07/billions-of-phone-calls-mined-by-u-s-seeking-terrorists.html Justice Dept Fights Release of Court Opinion Finding Unconstitutional Surveillance... http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/06/justice-department-electronic-frontier-foundation-fisa-court-opinion USA spends $80 billion year on secret information gathering... http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a1dd626c-cf80-11e2-be7b-00144feab7de.html Postal service photographs front and back of EVERY piece of mail it processes... http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/woman-arrested-for-obama-bloomberg-ricin-letters-687435 OBAMA ORDERED PLANS FOR CYBERATTACKS http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/07/obama-china-targets-cyber-overseas Officials: NSA mistakenly intercepted emails, phone calls of innocent Americans... http://openchannel.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/06/07/18831985-officials-nsa-mistakenly-intercepted-emails-phone-calls-of-innocent-americans Holder 'destroyed data'... http://openchannel.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/06/07/18831985-officials-nsa-mistakenly-intercepted-emails-phone-calls-of-innocent-americans UK gathering secret intelligence via covert operation... http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2013/jun/07/uk-gathering-secret-intelligence-nsa-prism?guni=Network%20front:network-front%20full-width-1%20bento-box:Bento%20box:Position3 Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on June 08, 2013, 05:33:22 am The U.S. Government Has Been STEALING User Data From Major Internet Companies Without Their Permission
The U.S. government has been hacking in to the servers of Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, PalTalk, AOL, Skype, YouTube and Apple and has been taking their user data without their knowledge or consent. According to the Washington Post, the information being stolen includes "audio and video chats, photographs, e-mails, documents, and connection logs". This program is known as PRISM, and it was first revealed by the Washington Post on Thursday. Since the story broke, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper has admitted that PRISM exists and so has Barack Obama. The Washington Post initially claimed that all of the Internet companies were willingly handing over their user data to the government. Now we are learning that is NOT true. In fact, all of the Internet companies named in the Washington Post story have denied knowing about PRISM or ever giving the federal government permission to directly access their servers. So this means that the U.S. government has been stealing massive amounts of user data from the largest Internet companies in the world without their permission. Of course this is highly illegal and it directly violates the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, but you can bet that the Obama administration is going to do everything that it can to get the courts to "make it legal". Hopefully the revelation of this program will be enough to get the American people to realize that we are rapidly being transformed into a Big Brother police state that is descending into tyranny. Barack Obama has described the systematic gathering of cell phone records and the Internet spying that the federal government has been doing as "modest encroachments" that we should all just accept as part of the price of living in a modern world, but if we allow the government to get away with this, where will it end? Even if we had a total "Big Brother" society where the government watched everything that we did 24 hours a day, bad people would still do bad things. There would still be terror attacks and great tragedies. No matter how much the government intrudes into our lives, it can never guarantee us 100% safety. Those that founded the United States understood this. They did not want this country to be turned into a police state. That is why they guaranteed us some very important protections in the Bill of Rights. If the government wants to do a search, there are some very important procedures that must be followed first. Unfortunately, the Obama administration appears to believe that the Constitution does not apply to user data on the Internet. The NSA is apparently hacking into Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, PalTalk, AOL, Skype, YouTube and Apple and taking whatever they want without ever getting permission from those companies. You can bet that there are some very, very angry executives at those companies right now that are trying to figure out how to respond to these revelations. All of these companies have vehemently denied that they were involved. At this point, there is no reason to doubt their very strong denials. For example, the following is what Larry Page, the CEO of Google and David Drummond, the Chief Legal Officer of Google wrote in a message to Google users on Friday... Dear Google users— You may be aware of press reports alleging that Internet companies have joined a secret U.S. government program called PRISM to give the National Security Agency direct access to our servers. As Google’s CEO and Chief Legal Officer, we wanted you to have the facts. First, we have not joined any program that would give the U.S. government—or any other government—direct access to our servers. Indeed, the U.S. government does not have direct access or a “back door” to the information stored in our data centers. We had not heard of a program called PRISM until yesterday. Second, we provide user data to governments only in accordance with the law. Our legal team reviews each and every request, and frequently pushes back when requests are overly broad or don’t follow the correct process. Press reports that suggest that Google is providing open-ended access to our users’ data are false, period. Until this week’s reports, we had never heard of the broad type of order that Verizon received—an order that appears to have required them to hand over millions of users’ call records. We were very surprised to learn that such broad orders exist. Any suggestion that Google is disclosing information about our users’ Internet activity on such a scale is completely false. Finally, this episode confirms what we have long believed—there needs to be a more transparent approach. Google has worked hard, within the confines of the current laws, to be open about the data requests we receive. We post this information on our Transparency Report whenever possible. We were the first company to do this. And, of course, we understand that the U.S. and other governments need to take action to protect their citizens’ safety—including sometimes by using surveillance. But the level of secrecy around the current legal procedures undermines the freedoms we all cherish. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has issued a similar denial. He insists that Facebook never even heard of PRISM until Thursday... I want to respond personally to the outrageous press reports about PRISM: Facebook is not and has never been part of any program to give the US or any other government direct access to our servers. We have never received a blanket request or court order from any government agency asking for information or metadata in bulk, like the one Verizon reportedly received. And if we did, we would fight it aggressively. We hadn't even heard of PRISM before yesterday. When governments ask Facebook for data, we review each request carefully to make sure they always follow the correct processes and all applicable laws, and then only provide the information if is required by law. We will continue fighting aggressively to keep your information safe and secure. We strongly encourage all governments to be much more transparent about all programs aimed at keeping the public safe. It's the only way to protect everyone's civil liberties and create the safe and free society we all want over the long term. So how has the U.S. government been getting this user data if they do not have the cooperation of these large Internet companies? They have been stealing it. Is this the kind of society that we want to have? Do we really want the government to be free to hack into the servers of Internet companies and take user data any time that it wants? And guess what? According to the Wall Street Journal, the NSA has also been gathering massive amounts of credit card data as well... The National Security Agency's monitoring of Americans includes customer records from the three major phone networks as well as emails and Web searches, and the agency also has cataloged credit-card transactions, said people familiar with the agency's activities. So if you ever bought something embarrassing with a credit card, there is a very good chance that the NSA knows about it. If you don't like where all of this is headed, then now is the time to stand up and say something about it. Sadly, the truth is that most of our politicians see absolutely nothing wrong with our current system. The following is what Barack Obama said in response to the recent revelations about the NSA... "You can't have 100 percent security and also then have 100 percent privacy and zero inconvenience. We're going to have to make some choices as a society," he said. "I think that on balance, we have established a policy and a procedure that the American people should feel comfortable with." Do you feel comfortable with the fact that the NSA is hacking into major Internet companies and stealing their user data? I know that I definitely am not. I think that the journalist that originally broke the story about how the government is systematically gathering our phone records summed up what many of us are feeling right now pretty well... “There is a massive apparatus within the United States government that with complete secrecy has been building this enormous structure that has only one goal, and that is to destroy privacy and anonymity, not just in the United States but around the world,” charged Glenn Greenwald, a reporter for the British newspaper “The Guardian,” speaking on CNN. “That is not hyperbole. That is their objective.” What do you think? Is all of this government spying good for America or bad for America? Please feel free to share your opinion by posting a comment below... http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/the-u-s-government-has-been-stealing-user-data-from-major-internet-companies-without-their-permission Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on June 08, 2013, 05:47:08 am They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.
February 17, 1775 Benjamin Franklin Obama defends broad phone, Internet spy programs President Barack Obama is urging Americans to "make some choices" in balancing privacy and security as he defends once-secret surveillance programs that sweep up an estimated 3 billion phone calls a day and amass Internet data from U.S. providers in an attempt to thwart terror attacks. Obama says it will be harder to detect threats against the U.S. now that the two top-secret tools to target terrorists have been so thoroughly publicized. At turns defensive and defiant while speaking to reporters on Friday, Obama stood by the spy programs revealed this week. The National Security Agency has been collecting the phone records of hundreds of millions of Americans each day, creating a database through which it can learn whether terror suspects have been in contact with people in the U.S. It also was disclosed this week that the NSA has been gathering all Internet usage — audio, video, photographs, emails and searches — from nine major U.S. Internet providers, including Microsoft and Google, in hopes of detecting suspicious behavior that begins overseas. "Nobody is listening to your telephone calls," Obama assured the nation after two days of reports that many found unsettling. What the government is doing, he said, is digesting phone numbers and the durations of calls, seeking links that might "identify potential leads with respect to folks who might engage in terrorism." If there's a hit, he said, "if the intelligence community then actually wants to listen to a phone call, they've got to go back to a federal judge, just like they would in a criminal investigation." While Obama said the aim of the programs is to make America safe, he offered no specifics about how the surveillance programs have done that. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., on Thursday said the phone records sweeps had thwarted a domestic terror attack, but he also didn't offer specifics. Obama asserted his administration had tightened the phone records collection program since it started in the George W. Bush administration and is auditing the programs to ensure that measures to protect Americans' privacy are heeded — part of what he called efforts to resist a mindset of "you know, 'Trust me, we're doing the right thing. We know who the bad guys are.'" But again, he provided no details on how the program was tightened or what the audit was examining. The revelations have divided Congress and led civil liberties advocates and some constitutional scholars to accuse Obama of crossing a line in the name of rooting out terror threats. Obama, himself a constitutional lawyer, strove to calm Americans' fears but also to remind them that Congress and the courts had signed off on the surveillance. "I think the American people understand that there are some trade-offs involved," Obama said when questioned by reporters at a health care event in San Jose, Calif. "It's important to recognize that you can't have 100 percent security and also then have 100 percent privacy and zero inconvenience," he said. "We're going to have to make some choices as a society. And what I can say is that in evaluating these programs, they make a difference in our capacity to anticipate and prevent possible terrorist activity." Obama said U.S. intelligence officials are looking at phone numbers and lengths of calls — not at people's names — and not listening in. The two classified surveillance programs were revealed in newspaper reports that showed, for the first time, how deeply the NSA dives into telephone and Internet data to look for security threats. The new details were first reported by The Guardian newspaper of Britain and The Washington Post, and prompted Director of National Intelligence James Clapper to take the unusual and reluctant step of acknowledging the programs' existence. Obama echoed intelligence experts — both inside and outside the government — who predicted that potential attackers will find other, secretive ways to communicate now that they know that their phone and Internet records may be targeted. "The bad folks' antennas go back up and they become more cautious for a period of time," said former Rep. Pete Hoekstra, a Republican member of the House Intelligence Committee for a decade. He said he approved the phone surveillance program but did not know about the online spying. "But we'll just keep coming up with more sophisticated ways to dig into these data. It becomes a techies game, and we will try to come up with new tools to cut through the clutter," he said. In the immediate years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the government began collecting data from U.S. telephone companies, looking at whether overseas terror suspects were calling phone numbers in the U.S. The program does not allow the government to listen in on calls, but it can track where a call was placed and how long it lasted. If intelligence officials single out phone numbers that they want to target for eavesdropping, they must return to court to get approval. In 2006, after the telephone surveillance was first revealed and amid a public outcry, a secret court was tasked with approving all of the government requests for the records. But until this week, it was not widely known how many phone records were noted, or how often. The NSA seizure of website and Internet provider records was even more secretive, and began only in the past few years. Clapper said those records, too, are released only with secret court orders and monitors look only for documents that appear to have come from overseas. The data are not to be used to target U.S. citizens, and the government must try to minimize any information that was mistakenly taken from Americans. http://news.yahoo.com/obama-defends-broad-phone-internet-spy-programs-081008875.html Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on June 08, 2013, 06:38:05 am Glad AJ is keeping up... ::)
David Petraeus At Bilderberg to Craft “Big Data” Spy Grid Former CIA director helping to bolster same surveillance system that brought him down Former CIA Director David Petraeus is in attendance at the 2013 Bilderberg Group conference to help construct the “big data” spy grid, which is set to become the new frontier of clandestine statecraft as Internet connectivity becomes ubiquitous. Bilderberg’s official agenda for 2013 lists one of the areas of discussion as, “How big data is changing almost everything,” a reference to how the “Internet of things” along with the ubiquitous growth of social media is transforming the world of surveillance and the ability to foresee and manipulate future events. At almost the exact same time, a Homeland Security subcommittee in the United States will also be discussing “big data” and its implications in the context of social media. Bilderberg’s effort to push the “big data” agenda ties in with the secretive organization’s close relationship with Google, which as we documentedis now merging with and taking over from Bilderberg in many aspects. The discussion about “big data” is also likely to cover how social media can be used to launch more faux revolutions and social movements as it was in Egypt, which was aided in no small part by Google. As we have documented, the Internet of things is the process of manufacturing every new product with a system that broadcasts wirelessly via the world wide web, allowing industry and the government to spy ubiquitously on every aspect of your existence. rest: http://www.infowars.com/david-petraeus-at-bilderberg-to-craft-big-data-spy-grid/ Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Kilika on June 09, 2013, 02:49:37 am Quote If there's a hit, he said, "if the intelligence community then actually wants to listen to a phone call, they've got to go back to a federal judge, just like they would in a criminal investigation." That is such a complete lie! The NSA doesn't go to anybody for permission. Quote Obama said U.S. intelligence officials are looking at phone numbers and lengths of calls — not at people's names — and not listening in. Liar. History proves it. Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Kilika on June 09, 2013, 03:52:01 am Here's proof Obama just outright lied...
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/06/09/intelligence-chief-defends-internet-spying-program/ (http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/06/09/intelligence-chief-defends-internet-spying-program/) Quote All the companies have issued statements asserting that they aren't voluntarily handing over user data. They also are emphatically rejecting newspaper reports indicating that PRISM has opened a door for the NSA to tap directly on the companies' data centers whenever the government pleases. In his statement, Clapper appeared to support that claim by stressing that the government did not act unilaterally, but with court authority. The Guardian reported Saturday that it had obtained top-secret documents detailing an NSA tool, called Boundless Informant, that maps the information it collects from computer and telephone networks by country. The paper said the documents show NSA collected almost 3 billion pieces of intelligence from U.S. computer networks over a 30-day period ending in March, which the paper says calls into question NSA statements that it cannot determine how many Americans may be accidentally included in its computer surveillance. NSA spokesperson Judith Emmel said Saturday that "current technology simply does not permit us to positively identify all of the persons or locations associated with a given communication." She said it may be possible to determine that a communication "traversed a particular path within the Internet," but added that "it is harder to know the ultimate source or destination, or more particularly the identity of the person represented by the TO:, FROM: or CC: field of an e-mail address or the abstraction of an IP address." Emmel said communications are filtered both by automated processes and NSA staff to make sure Americans' privacy is respected. (cont.) Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/06/09/intelligence-chief-defends-internet-spying-program/#ixzz2VhsJ7n1F Yeah, filtered so as to not let the public know what is really going on! But here's a real zinger... Quote NSA spokesperson Judith Emmel said Saturday that "current technology simply does not permit us to positively identify all of the persons or locations associated with a given communication. Unfortunately, evidence shows that the general public really is basically technologically ignorant, so they don't know when the government is telling the truth or not, because they don't have a clue what is technologically possible, even when proof surfaces... Folks, this story is REAL ugly! It exposes just how wicked and deceptive these people are. http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/how-was-israel-involved-in-collecting-u-s-communications-intel-for-nsa-1.528529 (http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/how-was-israel-involved-in-collecting-u-s-communications-intel-for-nsa-1.528529) Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on June 09, 2013, 05:48:25 am Director of National Intelligence speaks out to 'dispel myths' of government snooping and slams leaks as 'reckless' as new details of NSA surveillance are disclosed
Surveillance programs have 'proven vital to keeping the nation and our allies safe' said Director of National Intelligence James R Clapper Clapper's response comes as Guardian reveals new info on intelligence gathering system 'Boundless Informant' Clapper declassified information on how intelligence is gathered, noting Congress 'authorized' surveillance activities NSA filed criminal report with Justice Dept. in relation to leaks to The Guardian and The Washington Post Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2338256/NECESSARY-Director-National-Intelligence-goes-defensive-dispel-myths.html#ixzz2ViNzhxtY Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on June 09, 2013, 05:51:28 am Verizon & the NSA Are Constructing the “Red List”
The Washington Post broke a story this week which should wake up even the most dyed-in-the-wool sheep.This news and the implications arising out of this news is so heinous, so horrific, so tyranny laden, that even the sheep should be picking up pitchforks and begin to hunt down the banksters. The Washington Post revealed what most of us, who have intelligence community sources, have known for a very long time. Namely, all American citizens are persons of interest for this bankster controlled criminal government.This violates every precept of our justice system, yet, will anyone go to jail for these criminal acts being perpetrated against the American people? Absolutely not! It will be just like the child sex-trafficking rings run by Dyncorp and Goldman Sachs and the MF Global theft ring led by John Corzine and Gary Gensler (both ex-Goldman Sachs boys). NOBODY will do anytime for these acts, and this article will detail why not and how this is a major threat to all activists and freedom loving people living in the country. For the past 90 days, Verizon has handed over information on all telephone calls within its network to the banker controlled federal government and their NSA. This news, which was revealed thanks to a leaked court document, is the most disturbing development towards the enslavement of the American people. Building a Bridge to the New World Order Former high-powered World Bank attorney, Karen Hudes, appeared on my talk show for two hours on June 2nd. Hudes was the ultimate insider and I received some criticism for having her on my show because of her association with the World Bank. However, we need allies who are indeed powerful defectors and also, the benefit far outweighed the cost. Karen Hudes is an insider’s insider. Her contacts reach into the pinnacles of power on this planet and in our interview, she praised the alternative media in lieu of the MSM who “lies and ignores the truth.” She also condemned the international banksters and said very dark days are ahead if we are not successful. These are the words of an insider. Are you listening? Hudes still has the ability to communicate directly with heads of state, ambassadors and US Congressmen and Senators. Hudes also has a conscience as she was ultimately fired for refusing to turn a blind eye to the massive World Bank corruption which serves to endanger every currency on the planet, as well set the possible stage for WWIII. In the course of the interview, Hudes made the following stunning revelations. ■· The World Bank is criminally reckless and “is being run as a mafia organization” by out of control criminal bankers. ■· The World Bank is illegally confiscating material assets from various foreign countries in only what can be considered as an act of war. For example, the World Bank is refusing to allow Germany to inspect the gold that the World Bank is holding for them. ■· Germany has subsequently demanded the return of their gold and the World Bank has said “no” and Hudes referred to this as an act of war. ■· Because of the massive corruption at the World Bank, the US has lost its ability to appoint the President of the bank. ■· Hudes’ actions led to a congressional investigation in which the world bank refused to comply. ■· Hudes proclaimed that with all the interlocking boards of directorates the media is controlled by one entity with one mind set. She also encouraged my listeners to get their news exclusively from the alternative media. ■· Hudes also stated that a very small minority of banks virtually controls the world’s economy and that it would only take the reckless actions of a few to bring down this house of cards. There is also independent justification for Hudes beliefs as she loosely referred to the Swiss Federal Institute (SFI) in Zurich which released an investigation which looked into who really has the power on this planet and how much do they have? The report is entitled “The Network of Global Corporate Control” the report documents that a small group of corporations that number only 147, which in turn forms one supra corporate entity, controls 40% of the entire wealth on the planet. Not surprising at the heart of the power are the banks. The major players include household names such Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, Vanguard Group and Barclays. Lesser known entities include Deutsche Bank, Societe Generale and UBS, who I just learned profited from the Gulf oil explosion, presumably through insider information which allowed them to preposition assets in anticipation of the event. The SFI report goes on to say that these controlling groups are so intertwined that they are almost indistinguishable from each other. This is the same strategy that Karen Hudes made reference to in terms of on entity which is controlling the media. The danger with this kind of consolidated power is that they can bring down the entire global system, while these banksters have their assets neatly tucked away, say in gold, while the rest of the world burns. Does it make sense now why, back in April, Goldman Sachs ordered their brokers to get their clients to sell short on their gold? Meanwhile, the banksters went on a gold buying spree at greatly reduced prices as they get ready to profit from the chaos that they have created. And they get to sit out the whole civil war/WWIII debacle deep underground. The banksters will undoubtedly surface with their gold when it is finally surface. With the planet destroyed, they will be free to make civilization in their own image. This is their ultimate scheme to rule over the planet. By the way, did you know that on June 17 that Denver International Airport is shutting down to have an asteroid defense drill? HMMM, another false flag in the making? My Intelligence Sources, I have, both named and unnamed sources, have consistently told me what so many in the alternative media have been told. And what they have been told is that the government, on behalf of the bankster rulers, are constructing a red list compromised of various dissident lists each with an assigned threat matrix score. The late AC Griffith said this multiple times on my show. Former NSA agent, Vance Davis and his CIA counterpart, Bill Pawelec (the late husband of my news director Annie DeRiso) have said that same thing. More recently, the former FEMA and DHS officials who have retired have retreated into safety enclaves in remote areas told me before they departed. I was advised by one of my two FEMA contacts to leave the country and assume a different identity. Here is why. Connecting the Dots Everyone of the aforementioned ex-intel, have told me about how the data set is constructed in order to assign a threat matrix number to every American. If you are in the alternative media, you are at the top of the list. When the DHS goon squads arrive our homes at 3AM, we in the alternative media will not be going to a FEMA Camp. We are on the “red list” and will be summarily executed along with our families. In order to get the goon squads to go along with this holocaust, all law enforcement and military will be required to send their families “for protection” to a centralized area. In actuality, if these “safe areas” are hostage centers to enforce compliance on all law enforcements. Sorry, no Oathkeepers allowed. In a classic tyranny, the educators are among the first to be exterminated. America will be no different. Educators transmit culture to the young and the globalists are intending on rewriting history. Any non-compliant clergy will be next and for the same reasons. The rest of the population will be assigned a threat matrix score by the NSA. The Verizon data dump to the feds is just the tip of the iceberg. For example, because of cell phone tracking, if you have ever met with a person of concern (e.g. an alternative media figure), your score goes up because your two cell phones came into close proximity. And the longer you meet with this person, the more points are awarded to your threat matrix score. Keep in mind the Threat Matrix Score is like golf. The goal is to have a low score, that is if you want to live. The person’s score will also rise if they visit the wrong websites, belong to the Libertarian party, own a gun, vote for third party candidates and are a veteran. Demographic maps have already been created in which red dots appear on a data screen by address. The red dots represent people who have received a high score and DHS swat teams will sweep pre-designated areas. The DHS swat teams along with their 2.2 billion rounds of ammunition and 2700 armored personnel carriers will be the vanguard force behind this terrible tyranny.. All others will continue to be placed under extreme surveillance with the threat of removal to a re-education camp or worse. There is a reason why DHS has spent billions on Intellistreet light poles and spy cams at every major intersection. And if you think you can ride this out, read Executive Order 13603. You will be assigned to work wherever they want. Families will be broken apart by this calamity. All of sudden, the CPS tactics and the anti-family courts make a little more sense don’t they? If you are taken to a re-education camp, please consider that your family will be split apart. Men to one camp, women to another and children to a third and you don’t even want to know what my sources speculate about the third camp Conclusion Before global governance can be instituted, false flags must occur to provide the pretext for martial law (Denver Asteroid Drill on June 17?). The currency must be collapsed. There will be utter tyranny, a holocaust, civil war and possibly WWIII. Interesting as one of my sources was preparing to disappear in early January, they told me to watch the television show, Revolution, as it was a partial portend to for what is to come. What can be done to stop the coming tyranny? Nothing. What can an individual do to soften the landing of what is coming? Actually, a person can do quite a bit, but there is a caveat, luck will play a big role in who survives. And this will be the topic of a future article. http://www.thecommonsenseshow.com/2013/06/07/verizon-the-nsa-are-constructing-the-red-list/ Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on June 09, 2013, 08:19:42 am NSA Prism program taps in to user data of Apple, Google and others
• Top-secret Prism program claims direct access to servers of firms including Google, Apple and Facebook • Companies deny any knowledge of program in operation since 2007 The National Security Agency has obtained direct access to the systems of Google, Facebook, Apple and other US internet giants, according to a top secret document obtained by the Guardian. The NSA access is part of a previously undisclosed program called Prism, which allows officials to collect material including search history, the content of emails, file transfers and live chats, the document says. The Guardian has verified the authenticity of the document, a 41-slide PowerPoint presentation – classified as top secret with no distribution to foreign allies – which was apparently used to train intelligence operatives on the capabilities of the program. The document claims "collection directly from the servers" of major US service providers. Although the presentation claims the program is run with the assistance of the companies, all those who responded to a Guardian request for comment on Thursday denied knowledge of any such program. In a statement, Google said: "Google cares deeply about the security of our users' data. We disclose user data to government in accordance with the law, and we review all such requests carefully. From time to time, people allege that we have created a government 'back door' into our systems, but Google does not have a back door for the government to access private user data." Several senior tech executives insisted that they had no knowledge of Prism or of any similar scheme. They said they would never have been involved in such a program. "If they are doing this, they are doing it without our knowledge," one said. An Apple spokesman said it had "never heard" of Prism. The NSA access was enabled by changes to US surveillance law introduced under President Bush and renewed under Obama in December 2012. The program facilitates extensive, in-depth surveillance on live communications and stored information. The law allows for the targeting of any customers of participating firms who live outside the US, or those Americans whose communications include people outside the US. It also opens the possibility of communications made entirely within the US being collected without warrants. Disclosure of the Prism program follows a leak to the Guardian on Wednesday of a top-secret court order compelling telecoms provider Verizon to turn over the telephone records of millions of US customers. The participation of the internet companies in Prism will add to the debate, ignited by the Verizon revelation, about the scale of surveillance by the intelligence services. Unlike the collection of those call records, this surveillance can include the content of communications and not just the metadata. Some of the world's largest internet brands are claimed to be part of the information-sharing program since its introduction in 2007. Microsoft – which is currently running an advertising campaign with the slogan "Your privacy is our priority" – was the first, with collection beginning in December 2007. It was followed by Yahoo in 2008; Google, Facebook and PalTalk in 2009; YouTube in 2010; Skype and AOL in 2011; and finally Apple, which joined the program in 2012. The program is continuing to expand, with other providers due to come online. Collectively, the companies cover the vast majority of online email, search, video and communications networks. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/06/us-tech-giants-nsa-data Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: McChristian on June 09, 2013, 10:45:37 pm None of this spying stuff surprises me.
Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Psalm 51:17 on June 09, 2013, 10:58:26 pm None of this spying stuff surprises me. Me too - the works of this world are evil, so this shouldn't come as a surprise. Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on June 11, 2013, 06:48:24 am How Has The U.S. Government Been Getting User Data From Major Internet Companies?
****IMPORTANT UPDATE**** Apparently the big Internet companies are not as "innocent" in all of this as they originally led us to believe. So this additional information changes some of the conclusions that I reached in my original article. It appears that some of the biggest Internet companies have been cooperating with the government in this data collection effort at least to a certain extent. The following is from an article in the New York Times that describes how the U.S. government has been getting user data from major Internet companies... The companies that negotiated with the government include Google, which owns YouTube; Microsoft, which owns Hotmail and Skype; Yahoo; Facebook; AOL; Apple; and Paltalk, according to one of the people briefed on the discussions. The companies were legally required to share the data under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. People briefed on the discussions spoke on the condition of anonymity because they are prohibited by law from discussing the content of FISA requests or even acknowledging their existence. In at least two cases, at Google and Facebook, one of the plans discussed was to build separate, secure portals, like a digital version of the secure physical rooms that have long existed for classified information, in some instances on company servers. Through these online rooms, the government would request data, companies would deposit it and the government would retrieve it, people briefed on the discussions said. ****END OF UPDATE**** The U.S. government has been hacking in to the servers of Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, PalTalk, AOL, Skype, YouTube and Apple and has been taking their user data without their knowledge or consent. According to the Washington Post, the information being stolen includes "audio and video chats, photographs, e-mails, documents, and connection logs". This program is known as PRISM, and it was first revealed by the Washington Post on Thursday. Since the story broke, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper has admitted that PRISM exists and so has Barack Obama. The Washington Post initially claimed that all of the Internet companies were willingly handing over their user data to the government. Now we are learning that is NOT true. In fact, all of the Internet companies named in the Washington Post story have denied knowing about PRISM or ever giving the federal government permission to directly access their servers. So this means that the U.S. government has been stealing massive amounts of user data from the largest Internet companies in the world without their permission. Of course this is highly illegal and it directly violates the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, but you can bet that the Obama administration is going to do everything that it can to get the courts to "make it legal". Hopefully the revelation of this program will be enough to get the American people to realize that we are rapidly being transformed into a Big Brother police state that is descending into tyranny. Barack Obama has described the systematic gathering of cell phone records and the Internet spying that the federal government has been doing as "modest encroachments" that we should all just accept as part of the price of living in a modern world, but if we allow the government to get away with this, where will it end? Even if we had a total "Big Brother" society where the government watched everything that we did 24 hours a day, bad people would still do bad things. There would still be terror attacks and great tragedies. No matter how much the government intrudes into our lives, it can never guarantee us 100% safety. Those that founded the United States understood this. They did not want this country to be turned into a police state. That is why they guaranteed us some very important protections in the Bill of Rights. If the government wants to do a search, there are some very important procedures that must be followed first. Unfortunately, the Obama administration appears to believe that the Constitution does not apply to user data on the Internet. The NSA is apparently hacking into Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, PalTalk, AOL, Skype, YouTube and Apple and taking whatever they want without ever getting permission from those companies. You can bet that there are some very, very angry executives at those companies right now that are trying to figure out how to respond to these revelations. All of these companies have vehemently denied that they were involved. At this point, there is no reason to doubt their very strong denials. For example, the following is what Larry Page, the CEO of Google and David Drummond, the Chief Legal Officer of Google wrote in a message to Google users on Friday... Dear Google users— You may be aware of press reports alleging that Internet companies have joined a secret U.S. government program called PRISM to give the National Security Agency direct access to our servers. As Google’s CEO and Chief Legal Officer, we wanted you to have the facts. First, we have not joined any program that would give the U.S. government—or any other government—direct access to our servers. Indeed, the U.S. government does not have direct access or a “back door” to the information stored in our data centers. We had not heard of a program called PRISM until yesterday. Second, we provide user data to governments only in accordance with the law. Our legal team reviews each and every request, and frequently pushes back when requests are overly broad or don’t follow the correct process. Press reports that suggest that Google is providing open-ended access to our users’ data are false, period. Until this week’s reports, we had never heard of the broad type of order that Verizon received—an order that appears to have required them to hand over millions of users’ call records. We were very surprised to learn that such broad orders exist. Any suggestion that Google is disclosing information about our users’ Internet activity on such a scale is completely false. Finally, this episode confirms what we have long believed—there needs to be a more transparent approach. Google has worked hard, within the confines of the current laws, to be open about the data requests we receive. We post this information on our Transparency Report whenever possible. We were the first company to do this. And, of course, we understand that the U.S. and other governments need to take action to protect their citizens’ safety—including sometimes by using surveillance. But the level of secrecy around the current legal procedures undermines the freedoms we all cherish. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has issued a similar denial. He insists that Facebook never even heard of PRISM until Thursday... I want to respond personally to the outrageous press reports about PRISM: Facebook is not and has never been part of any program to give the US or any other government direct access to our servers. We have never received a blanket request or court order from any government agency asking for information or metadata in bulk, like the one Verizon reportedly received. And if we did, we would fight it aggressively. We hadn't even heard of PRISM before yesterday. When governments ask Facebook for data, we review each request carefully to make sure they always follow the correct processes and all applicable laws, and then only provide the information if is required by law. We will continue fighting aggressively to keep your information safe and secure. We strongly encourage all governments to be much more transparent about all programs aimed at keeping the public safe. It's the only way to protect everyone's civil liberties and create the safe and free society we all want over the long term. So how has the U.S. government been getting this user data if they do not have the cooperation of these large Internet companies? They have been stealing it. Is this the kind of society that we want to have? Do we really want the government to be free to hack into the servers of Internet companies and take user data any time that it wants? And guess what? According to the Wall Street Journal, the NSA has also been gathering massive amounts of credit card data as well... The National Security Agency's monitoring of Americans includes customer records from the three major phone networks as well as emails and Web searches, and the agency also has cataloged credit-card transactions, said people familiar with the agency's activities. So if you ever bought something embarrassing with a credit card, there is a very good chance that the NSA knows about it. If you don't like where all of this is headed, then now is the time to stand up and say something about it. Sadly, the truth is that most of our politicians see absolutely nothing wrong with our current system. The following is what Barack Obama said in response to the recent revelations about the NSA... "You can't have 100 percent security and also then have 100 percent privacy and zero inconvenience. We're going to have to make some choices as a society," he said. "I think that on balance, we have established a policy and a procedure that the American people should feel comfortable with." Do you feel comfortable with the fact that the NSA is hacking into major Internet companies and stealing their user data? I know that I definitely am not. I think that the journalist that originally broke the story about how the government is systematically gathering our phone records summed up what many of us are feeling right now pretty well... “There is a massive apparatus within the United States government that with complete secrecy has been building this enormous structure that has only one goal, and that is to destroy privacy and anonymity, not just in the United States but around the world,” charged Glenn Greenwald, a reporter for the British newspaper “The Guardian,” speaking on CNN. “That is not hyperbole. That is their objective.” What do you think? Is all of this government spying good for America or bad for America? Please feel free to share your opinion by posting a comment below... http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/the-u-s-government-has-been-stealing-user-data-from-major-internet-companies-without-their-permission Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on June 11, 2013, 06:49:31 am 27 Edward Snowden Quotes About U.S. Government Spying That Should Send A Chill Up Your Spine
Would you be willing to give up what Edward Snowden has given up? He has given up his high paying job, his home, his girlfriend, his family, his future and his freedom just to expose the monolithic spy machinery that the U.S. government has been secretly building to the world. He says that he does not want to live in a world where there isn't any privacy. He says that he does not want to live in a world where everything that he says and does is recorded. Thanks to Snowden, we now know that the U.S. government has been spying on us to a degree that most people would have never even dared to imagine. Up until now, the general public has known very little about the U.S. government spy grid that knows almost everything about us. But making this information public is going to cost Edward Snowden everything. Essentially, his previous life is now totally over. And if the U.S. government gets their hands on him, he will be very fortunate if he only has to spend the next several decades rotting in some horrible prison somewhere. There is a reason why government whistleblowers are so rare. And most Americans are so apathetic that they wouldn't even give up watching their favorite television show for a single evening to do something good for society. Most Americans never even try to make a difference because they do not believe that it will benefit them personally. Meanwhile, our society continues to fall apart all around us. Hopefully the great sacrifice that Edward Snowden has made will not be in vain. Hopefully people will carefully consider what he has tried to share with the world. The following are 27 quotes from Edward Snowden about U.S. government spying that should send a chill up your spine... #1 "The majority of people in developed countries spend at least some time interacting with the Internet, and Governments are abusing that necessity in secret to extend their powers beyond what is necessary and appropriate." #2 "...I believe that at this point in history, the greatest danger to our freedom and way of life comes from the reasonable fear of omniscient State powers kept in check by nothing more than policy documents." #3 "The government has granted itself power it is not entitled to. There is no public oversight. The result is people like myself have the latitude to go further than they are allowed to." #4 "...I can't in good conscience allow the US government to destroy privacy, internet freedom and basic liberties for people around the world with this massive surveillance machine they're secretly building." #5 "The NSA has built an infrastructure that allows it to intercept almost everything." #6 "With this capability, the vast majority of human communications are automatically ingested without targeting. If I wanted to see your e-mails or your wife's phone, all I have to do is use intercepts. I can get your e-mails, passwords, phone records, credit cards." #7 "Any analyst at any time can target anyone. Any selector, anywhere... I, sitting at my desk, certainly had the authorities to wiretap anyone, from you or your accountant, to a federal judge, to even the President..." #8 "To do that, the NSA specifically targets the communications of everyone. It ingests them by default. It collects them in its system and it filters them and it analyzes them and it measures them and it stores them for periods of time simply because that's the easiest, most efficient and most valuable way to achieve these ends. So while they may be intending to target someone associated with a foreign government, or someone that they suspect of terrorism, they are collecting YOUR communications to do so." #9 "I believe that when [senator Ron] Wyden and [senator Mark] Udall asked about the scale of this, they [the NSA] said it did not have the tools to provide an answer. We do have the tools and I have maps showing where people have been scrutinized most. We collect more digital communications from America than we do from the Russians." #10 "...they are intent on making every conversation and every form of behavior in the world known to them." #11 "Even if you're not doing anything wrong, you're being watched and recorded. ...it's getting to the point where you don't have to have done anything wrong, you simply have to eventually fall under suspicion from somebody, even by a wrong call, and then they can use this system to go back in time and scrutinize every decision you've ever made, every friend you've ever discussed something with, and attack you on that basis, to sort of derive suspicion from an innocent life." #12 "Allowing the U.S. government to intimidate its people with threats of retaliation for revealing wrongdoing is contrary to the public interest." #13 "Everyone everywhere now understands how bad things have gotten — and they’re talking about it. They have the power to decide for themselves whether they are willing to sacrifice their privacy to the surveillance state." #14 "I do not want to live in a world where everything I do and say is recorded. That is not something I am willing to support or live under." #15 "I don't want to live in a world where there's no privacy, and therefore no room for intellectual exploration and creativity." #16 "I have no intention of hiding who I am because I know I have done nothing wrong." #17 "I had been looking for leaders, but I realized that leadership is about being the first to act." #18 "There are more important things than money. If I were motivated by money, I could have sold these documents to any number of countries and gotten very rich." #19 "The great fear that I have regarding the outcome for America of these disclosures is that nothing will change. [People] won't be willing to take the risks necessary to stand up and fight to change things... And in the months ahead, the years ahead, it's only going to get worse. [The NSA will] say that... because of the crisis, the dangers that we face in the world, some new and unpredicted threat, we need more authority, we need more power, and there will be nothing the people can do at that point to oppose it. And it will be turnkey tyranny." #20 "I will be satisfied if the federation of secret law, unequal pardon and irresistible executive powers that rule the world that I love are revealed even for an instant." #21 "You can't come up against the world's most powerful intelligence agencies and not accept the risk." #22 "I know the media likes to personalize political debates, and I know the government will demonize me." #23 "We have got a CIA station just up the road – the consulate here in Hong Kong – and I am sure they are going to be busy for the next week. And that is a concern I will live with for the rest of my life, however long that happens to be." #24 "I understand that I will be made to suffer for my actions, and that the return of this information to the public marks my end." #25 "There’s no saving me." #26 "The only thing I fear is the harmful effects on my family, who I won't be able to help any more. That's what keeps me up at night." #27 "I do not expect to see home again." Would you make the same choice that Edward Snowden made? Most Americans would not. One CNN reporter says that he really admires Snowden because he has tried to get insiders to come forward with details about government spying for years, but none of them were ever willing to... As a digital technology writer, I have had more than one former student and colleague tell me about digital switchers they have serviced through which calls and data are diverted to government servers or the big data algorithms they've written to be used on our e-mails by intelligence agencies. I always begged them to write about it or to let me do so while protecting their identities. They refused to come forward and believed my efforts to shield them would be futile. "I don't want to lose my security clearance. Or my freedom," one told me. And if the U.S. government has anything to say about it, Snowden is most definitely going to pay for what he has done. In fact, according to the Daily Beast, a directorate known as "the Q Group" is already hunting Snowden down... The people who began chasing Snowden work for the Associate Directorate for Security and Counterintelligence, according to former U.S. intelligence officers who spoke on condition of anonymity. The directorate, sometimes known as “the Q Group,” is continuing to track Snowden now that he’s outed himself as The Guardian’s source, according to the intelligence officers. If Snowden is not already under the protection of some foreign government (such as China), it will just be a matter of time before U.S. government agents get him. And how will they treat him once they find him? Well, one reporter overheard a group of U.S. intelligence officials talking about how Edward Snowden should be "disappeared". The following is from a Daily Mail article that was posted on Monday... A group of intelligence officials were overheard yesterday discussing how the National Security Agency worker who leaked sensitive documents to a reporter last week should be 'disappeared.' Foreign policy analyst and editor at large of The Atlantic, Steve Clemons, tweeted about the 'disturbing' conversation after listening in to four men who were sitting near him as he waited for a flight at Washington's Dulles airport. 'In Dulles UAL lounge listening to 4 US intel officials saying loudly leaker & reporter on #NSA stuff should be disappeared recorded a bit,' he tweeted at 8:42 a.m. on Saturday. According to Clemons, the men had been attending an event hosted by the Intelligence and National Security Alliance. As an American, I am deeply disturbed that the U.S. government is embarrassing itself in front of the rest of the world like this. The fact that we are collecting trillions of pieces of information on people all over the planet is a massive embarrassment and the fact that our politicians are defending this practice now that it has been exposed is a massive embarrassment. If the U.S. government continues to act like a Big Brother police state, then the rest of the world will eventually conclude that is exactly what we are. At that point we become the "bad guy" and we lose all credibility with the rest of the planet. http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/27-edward-snowden-quotes-about-u-s-government-spying-that-should-send-a-chill-up-your-spine Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on June 11, 2013, 06:55:40 am Americans Now Realize Their Paranoid Fantasies About Government Surveillance Are True
For more than a decade now, Americans have made peace with the uneasy knowledge that someone — government, business or both — might be watching. Now, though, paranoid fantasies have come face to face with modern reality: The government IS collecting our phone records. The technological marvels of our age have opened the door to the National Security Agency’s sweeping surveillance of Americans’ calls. http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/06/08/americans-starting-to-realize-their-paranoid-fantasies-about-government-surveillance-have-come-true/?utm US: No plans to end broad surveillance program... http://apnews.myway.com/article/20130611/DA6RDBKO2.html Internet's big names in battle to salvage reputations after NSA revelations... http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2013/jun/10/apple-google-giants-nsa-revelations Sales of '1984' rocket up 69% on AMAZON... http://washingtonexaminer.com/sales-of-orwells-1984-up-69-percent-on-amazon-list/article/2531503 ::) :D lets see about that last one now...Remember this? Amazon Erases Orwell Books From Kindle http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/18/technology/companies/18amazon.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss Amazon CEO apologizes for deleting Orwell books http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.e5c73c285871b4ae01c48f87ff89af64.3a1&show_article=1 Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Psalm 51:17 on June 11, 2013, 12:37:31 pm I don't think they're getting "exposed", per se, but IMHO this is slowly but surely setting the stage for potentially riots, Civil War, and Martial Law in this country.
With that being said, the writing's been on the wall for many years. Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Kilika on June 11, 2013, 01:55:39 pm Quote The people who began chasing Snowden work for the Associate Directorate for Security and Counterintelligence, according to former U.S. intelligence officers who spoke on condition of anonymity. The directorate, sometimes known as “the Q Group,” It amazes me how articles tend to reveal various agencies that no one has ever heard of. "directorate"? Really? That's a communist term isn't it? Who are those people and who do they report to? Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on June 12, 2013, 05:47:43 am NSA director faces Senate today... DEVELOPING...
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57588830/nsa-director-to-get-a-public-grilling-in-the-senate/ Obama, 9 PRISM Partners Targeted by Class-Action Lawsuit... Developing... http://www.usnews.com/news/newsgram/articles/2013/06/11/nine-companies-tied-to-prism-obama-will-be-smacked-with-class-action-lawsuit-wednesday Hentoff: This is America? http://www.wnd.com/2013/06/obamas-snooping-this-is-america/ Ron Paul: I'm worried government might kill Edward Snowden with drone... http://washingtonexaminer.com/article/2531662 Ex NSA Head: Snowden May Have Leaked 'Thousands' Of Documents... http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2013/06/former-nsa-boss-likely-scope-snowden-leak.php?ref=fpb Boehner: Snowden the 'Traitor'... http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/06/house-speaker-john-boehner-nsa-leaker-a-traitor/ RUSSIA OPENS DOOR TO NSA LEAKER... http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/11/edward-snowden-russia-asylum-request PUTIN LECTURES OBAMA ON PRIVACY... http://rt.com/news/putin-rt-visit-broadcasting-center-530/ Operation 'Troll NSA' plans to send same 'terrorist' message... http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2339432/Operation-troll-NSA-starts-online-plan-jam-spy-scanners-sending-terrorist-message-over-again.html Tech Expert Calls for Americans to Quit GOOGLE, FACEBOOK... http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2013-06/10/tim-wu-google-boycott Democrats Love Gov't Surveillance -- As Long As It's Obama, Not Bush... http://www.people-press.org/2013/06/10/majority-views-nsa-phone-tracking-as-acceptable-anti-terror-tactic/ HOYER: No comparison between Obama, Bush surveillance programs... http://thehill.com/homenews/house/304753-hoyer-draws-distinction-between-bush-and-obama-surveillance-programs- FRANKEN THEN: 'Roveian' Scare Tactic... http://www.nationaljournal.com/congress/the-nsa-has-at-least-1-liberal-friend-left-sen-al-franken-20130611 FRANKEN NOW: NSA Saves Lives... http://www.nationaljournal.com/congress/the-nsa-has-at-least-1-liberal-friend-left-sen-al-franken-20130611 ACLU Files Suit... http://washington.cbslocal.com/2013/06/11/aclu-files-suit-against-nsa-patriot-act-phone-surveillance President schmoozes reporters in secret meetings... http://www.buzzfeed.com/evanmcsan/obama-schmoozes-reporters-at-secret-meeting Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Psalm 51:17 on June 12, 2013, 10:28:55 am Quote Democrats Love Gov't Surveillance -- As Long As It's Obama, Not Bush... http://www.people-press.org/2013/06/10/majority-views-nsa-phone-tracking-as-acceptable-anti-terror-tactic/ Heh - when Bush Jr was in office, Repubs loved it and Dems hated it. Now that Obama's in office, Dems love it and Repubs hate it. When Clinton was in office, well, the whole Monica stuff was on everyone's mind. Now here's the kicker - when Reagan was in office, it seems like BOTH Repubs AND Dems loved it! Anyhow, all but design - part of the Hegelian Dialectic process, to say the least! Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on June 13, 2013, 08:23:22 am 22 Nauseating Quotes From Hypocritical Establishment Politicians About The NSA Spying Scandal
Establishment politicians from both major political parties are rushing to defend the NSA and condemn whistleblower Edward Snowden. They are attempting to portray Edward Snowden as a "traitor" and the spooks over at the NSA that are snooping on all of us as "heroes". In fact, many of the exact same politicians that once railed against government spying during the Bush years are now staunchly defending it now that Obama is in the White House. But it isn't just Democrats that are acting shamefully. Large numbers of Republican politicians that love to give speeches about "freedom" and "liberty" are attempting to eviscerate the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The government is not supposed to invade our privacy and investigate us unless there is probable cause to do so. Apparently many of our politicians misunderstood when they read the novel 1984 by George Orwell. It wasn't supposed to be an instruction manual. We should be thanking Edward Snowden for exposing the deep corruption that is eating away at our own government like cancer. Now the American people need to pick up the ball and start demanding answers, because without a doubt we are going to see establishment politicians from both major political parties try to shut this scandal down. Establishment Democrats and establishment Republicans both love the Big Brother surveillance grid that the U.S. government has constructed, and they are both making it abundantly clear that they will defend the NSA to the very end. The following are 22 nauseating quotes from hypocritical establishment politicians that show exactly how they feel about the NSA spying scandal... #1 Barack Obama: "I think it’s important to understand that you can’t have 100 percent security and then have 100 percent privacy and zero inconvenience. We’re going to have to make some choices as a society." #2 Barack Obama in 2007: "This Administration also puts forward a false choice between the liberties we cherish and the security we demand… That means no more illegal wire-tapping of American citizens. No more national security letters to spy on citizens who are not suspected of a crime. No more tracking citizens who do nothing more than protest a misguided war. No more ignoring the law when it is inconvenient. That is not who we are. And it is not what is necessary to defeat the terrorists… We will again set an example for the world that the law is not subject to the whims of stubborn rulers, and that justice is not arbitrary." #3 Speaker Of The House John Boehner on what he thinks about NSA leaker Edward Snowden: "He’s a traitor." #4 U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham: "I hope we follow Mr. Snowden to the ends of the Earth to bring him to justice." #5 U.S. Senator Al Franken: "I can assure you, this is not about spying on the American people." #6 Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid: "For senators to complain that they didn’t know this was happening, we had many, many meetings that have been both classified and unclassified that members have been invited to" #7 U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell: "Given the scope of these programs, it’s understandable that many would be concerned about issues related to privacy. But what’s difficult to understand is the motivation of somebody who intentionally would seek to warn the nation’s enemies of lawful programs created to protect the American people. And I hope that he is prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law." #8 U.S. Representative Peter King on why he believes that reporters should be prosecuted for revealing NSA secrets: "There is an obligation both moral, but also legal, I believe, against a reporter disclosing something which would so severely compromise national security." #9 Director of National Intelligence James Clapper making a joke during an awards ceremony last Friday night: "Some of you expressed surprise that I showed up—so many emails to read!" #10 Director Of National Intelligence James Clapper about why he lied about NSA spying in front of Congress: "I responded in what I thought was the most truthful, or least untruthful manner" #11 National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden: "The president has full faith in director Clapper and his leadership of the intelligence community" #12 White House press secretary Jay Carney: "...Clapper has been straight and direct in the answers that he's given, and has actively engaged in an effort to provide more information about the programs that have been revealed through the leak of classified information" #13 Dianne Feinstein, the chairwoman of the Senate intelligence committee: "There is no more direct or honest person than Jim Clapper." #14 Gus Hunt, the chief technology officer at the CIA: "We fundamentally try to collect everything and hang onto it forever." #15 Barack Obama: "Nobody is listening to your telephone calls." #16 Keith Alexander, director of the National Security Agency: "We do not see a tradeoff between security and liberty." #17 An exchange between NSA director Keith Alexander and U.S. Representative Hank Johnson in March 2012... JOHNSON: Does the NSA routinely intercept American citizens’ emails? ALEXANDER: No. JOHNSON: Does the NSA intercept Americans’ cell phone conversations? ALEXANDER: No. JOHNSON: Google searches? ALEXANDER: No. JOHNSON: Text messages? ALEXANDER: No. JOHNSON: Amazon.com orders? ALEXANDER: No. JOHNSON: Bank records? ALEXANDER: No. #18 Deputy White House press secretary Dana Perino: "The intelligence activities undertaken by the United States government are lawful, necessary and required to protect Americans from terrorist attacks" #19 U.S. Senator Saxby Chambliss: "This is nothing new. It has proved meritorious because we have gathered significant information on bad guys and only on bad guys over the years." #20 Former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton on NSA leaker Edward Snowden: "Let me ask, who died and made him king? Who gave him the authority to endanger 300 million Americans? That's not the way it works, and if he thinks he can get away with that, he's got another think coming." #21 Senior spokesman for the NSA Don Weber: "Given the nature of the work we do, it would be irresponsible to comment on actual or alleged operational issues; therefore, we have no information to provide" #22 The White House website: "My administration is committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in government. We will work together to ensure the public trust and establish a system of transparency, public participation, and collaboration." Right now, the NSA is building a data collection center out in Utah that is so massive that it is hard to describe with words. It is going to cost 40 million dollars a year just to provide the energy needed to run it. According to a 2012 Wired article entitled "The NSA Is Building the Country’s Biggest Spy Center (Watch What You Say)", this data center will contain "the complete contents of private emails, cell phone calls, and Google searches" in addition to "parking receipts, travel itineraries, bookstore purchases" and anything else that the NSA decides to collect... Under construction by contractors with top-secret clearances, the blandly named Utah Data Center is being built for the National Security Agency. A project of immense secrecy, it is the final piece in a complex puzzle assembled over the past decade. Its purpose: to intercept, decipher, analyze, and store vast swaths of the world’s communications as they zap down from satellites and zip through the underground and undersea cables of international, foreign, and domestic networks. The heavily fortified $2 billion center should be up and running in September 2013. Flowing through its servers and routers and stored in near-bottomless databases will be all forms of communication, including the complete contents of private emails, cell phone calls, and Google searches, as well as all sorts of personal data trails—parking receipts, travel itineraries, bookstore purchases, and other digital “pocket litter.” It is, in some measure, the realization of the “total information awareness” program created during the first term of the Bush administration—an effort that was killed by Congress in 2003 after it caused an outcry over its potential for invading Americans’ privacy. The goal is to know as much about everyone on the planet as possible. And the NSA does not keep this information to itself. As an article in USA Today recently reported, the NSA shares the data that it collects with other government agencies "as a matter of practice"... As a matter of practice, the NSA regularly shares its information — known as "product" in intelligence circles — with other intelligence groups. So when the NSA collects information about you, there is a very good chance that the FBI, the CIA, the Department of Homeland Security and the IRS will have access to it as well. But the U.S. government is not the only one collecting data on American citizens. Guess who else has been collecting massive amounts of data on the American people? Barack Obama. According to those that have seen it, the "Obama database" is unlike anything that any politician has ever put together before. According to CNSNews.com, U.S. Representative Maxine Waters says that this database "will have information about everything on every individual"... "The president has put in place an organization that contains a kind of database that no one has ever seen before in life," she added. "That’s going to be very, very powerful." Martin asked if Waters if she was referring to "Organizing for America." "That’s right, that’s right," Waters said. "And that database will have information about everything on every individual in ways that it’s never been done before." Waters said the database would also serve future Democratic candidates seeking the presidency. Perhaps this helps to explain why so many big donors got slapped with IRS audits immediately after they wrote big checks to the Romney campaign. We are being told to "trust" Barack Obama and the massive government surveillance grid that is being constructed all around us, but there has been example after example of government power being grossly abused in recent years. A lot of Americans say that they do not care if the government is watching them because they do not have anything to hide, but is there anyone out there that would really not mind the government watching them and listening to them 24 hours a day? For example, it has been documented that NSA workers eavesdropped on conversations between U.S. soldiers serving in Iraq and their loved ones back home. Some of these conversations involved very intimate talk between husbands and wives. The following is from a 2008 ABC News story... Faulk says he and others in his section of the NSA facility at Fort Gordon routinely shared salacious or tantalizing phone calls that had been intercepted, alerting office mates to certain time codes of "cuts" that were available on each operator's computer. "Hey, check this out," Faulk says he would be told, "there's good phone sex or there's some pillow talk, pull up this call, it's really funny, go check it out. It would be some colonel making pillow talk and we would say, 'Wow, this was crazy'," Faulk told ABC News. Faulk said he joined in to listen, and talk about it during breaks in Back Hall's "smoke pit," but ended up feeling badly about his actions. Is this really what we want the future of America to look like? Do we really want the government to watch us and listen to us during our most intimate moments? Feel free to express what you think about this NSA spying scandal by posting a comment below... http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/22-nauseating-quotes-from-hypocritical-establishment-politicians-about-the-nsa-spying-scandal Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on June 22, 2013, 05:48:41 am Indefinite Surveillance: Say Hello to the National Defense Authorization Act of 2014
Passed in 1978, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) set the groundwork for surveillance, collection, and analysis of intelligence gathered from foreign powers and agents of foreign powers, up to and including any individual residing within the U.S., who were suspected of involvement in potential terrorist activity. On October 26, 2001, a little over a month after 9/11, President George W. Bush signed the USA Patriot Act into law. Two provisions, Sec. 206, permitting government to obtain secret court orders allowing roving wiretaps without requiring identification of the person, organization, or facility to be surveyed, and Sec. 215 authorizing government to access and obtain “any tangible thing” relevant to a terrorist investigation, transformed foreign intelligence into domestic intelligence. NDAA 2014 builds on the powers granted by both the Patriot Act and FISA by allowing unrestricted analysis and research of captured records pertaining to any organization or individual “now or once hostile to the United States”. Under the Patriot Act, the ability to obtain “any tangible thing” eliminated any expectation of privacy. Under NDAA 2014 Sec. 1061(g)(1), an overly vague definition of captured records enhances government power and guarantees indefinite surveillance. On May 22, 2013 the Subcommittee on Intelligence, Emerging Threats and Capabilities, one of several Armed Services Committees, met to discuss the National Defense Authorization Act(NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2014. The main subject of the hearing was Sec. 1061, otherwise known as Enhancement of Capacity of the United States Government to Analyze Captured Records. This enhancement provision of NDAA 2014 would effectively create a new intelligence agency, one with the authority to analyze information gained under the Patriot Act, FISA, and known spying programs such as PRISM. Sec. 1061(a) authorizes the Secretary of Defense to “establish a center to be known as the ‘Conflict Records Research Center’” (Center). The main purpose of the center, according to the bill text, is to create a “digital research database,” one with the capability to “translate” and facilitate research on “records captured from countries, organizations and individuals, now or once hostile to the United States.” The authorization also says the Center will conduct research and analysis to “increase the understanding of factors related to international relations, counterterrorism and conventional and unconventional warfare, and ultimately, enhance national security.” In order to make the Center run, and to accomplish such an incredibly broad scope of “research and analysis,” the Secretary of Defense needs the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) to cooperate in coordinating “information exchanges important to the leadership of the United States Government”. That coordination would require participation of all 16 member agencies and departments of the U.S. Intelligence Community. This would leave James Clapper, the man accused of lying to Congress about the National Security Agency’s domestic spying program known as PRISM, in de facto direction of another federal surveillance and data analysis agency. And while the Center would be officially directed and overseen by the Secretary of Defense, without unfettered access to secret and top secret information, the Center would be completely ineffective. These information exchanges would most likely include data and records generated by the mass surveillance of everyday people under PRISM, as well as surveillance of those identified as “potential terrorists” or “high value targets” by any one of those 16 intelligence agencies now in operation. The proposed Center’s information exchanges rely on captured government records. Under the NDAA 2014, Sec. 1061(g)(1), a captured record is defined as “a document, audio file, video file, or other material captured during combat operations from countries, organizations, or individuals, now or once hostile to the United States.” But considering that the 2001 Authorization to Use Military Force (AUMF) allows the “War on Terror” to exist in a perpetual and permanent state of combat operations, and that the American public is already existing under an expansive surveillance state, any record may qualify as a “captured record.” Thus, any captured document, audio file, video file, or other material could potentially be submitted to this new intelligence agency for research and analysis, all in the name of national security and counterterrorism, as deemed appropriate by a swelling government surveillance class. The NDAA 2014 enhancement provision extends and consolidates the government’s authority to further gather and analyze records and data captured during any national security or terrorist related investigation, not just combat operations. But it does so without creating any explicit restriction from violating an individual’s right to privacy, from being subjected to unwarranted searches and seizures, or due process of individuals guaranteed by the Constitution. That’s eerily similar to the NDAA 2013 Sec. 1021 that codified the indefinite military detention of American citizens without requiring they be charged with a specific crime, or given a trial. Under NDAA 2013, Sec. 1021 allowed the military detention of civilians without a writ of habeas corpus, when a person “was a part of or substantially supported al-Qaeda, the Taliban, or associated forces that are engaged in hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners, including any person who has committed a belligerent act or has directly supported such hostilities in aid of such enemy forces.” Under NDAA 2014, anyone is now subject to surveillance, not based on support of al-Qaeda or its associated forces, but based merely upon whether or not an individual is, or once was hostile to the U.S. The question of what constitutes “hostility”, is left completely unanswered. The new enhancement provision, as well as the previous NDAA’s indefinite detention mandate, goes to show how far the legislation has strayed from its stated purpose. According to House Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon (R-CA), the NDAA “authorizes funding for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military construction, for defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe military personnel strengths, and for other purposes.” Instead, the NDAA has become the vehicle for the Executive Branch and Department of Defense to bypass Congress, and legislate away any perceived right, liberty, or privilege that conflicts with our current state of permanent war and indefinite surveillance. In 2012, in an attempt to stop that “indefinite detention” provision, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) introduced an amendment that would have prohibited the government from detaining citizens indefinitely using military force. That proposed law, otherwise known as the “Feinstein Amendment” easily passed the Senate floor, but was later removed by Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-MI). After removal of the only specific language that would guarantee the US Government would be prohibited from interpreting the act illegally; President Obama, also a Democrat, signed NDAA 2013 into law. If passed in its current state, NDAA 2014 would authorize approximately $552 billion in total defense spending, with $86 billion going directly to war spending. This amount exceeds what is allowed under the automatic austerity measures that went into effect as of March 1, 2013. According to a report released in April 2013 by the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, “f personnel, operation and maintenance costs keep rising, they may consume the “entire defense budget” by 2024, leaving no funding for weapons procurement, military construction or family housing.” Any program created by the Enhancement Provision of NDAA 2014 would necessarily burden an already overwhelmed working class, who are most affected by austerity. While the National Security Agency swears that no citizen was spied on under PRISM, the very fact that cell phone metadata and online activity was gathered from millions of individuals guarantees that information was taken illegally from innocent people . We’re told that the government is attempting to minimize the amount of information captured from Americans, and that all of that information is being kept in specialized and restricted servers in order to protect our constitutional rights. But that’s difficult to believe when the Department of Justice is currently fighting the release of a secret FISA Court opinion that details unconstitutional government surveillance. If indefinite detention became the primary reason for opposing NDAA 2013, then the enhance provision authorizing unlimited indefinite surveillance, may become the same issue for NDAA 2014. If passed in its current state, NDAA 2014 will further guarantee that people exist not only under indefinite detention and permanent war, but also under indefinite surveillance by its government. http://www.globalresearch.ca/indefinite-surveillance-say-hello-to-the-national-defense-authorization-act-of-2014/5339863 Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on June 23, 2013, 09:15:48 am NSA Whistleblower: NSA Spying On – And Blackmailing – Top Government Officials And Military Officers
Tice: Okay. They went after–and I know this because I had my hands literally on the paperwork for these sort of things–they went after high-ranking military officers; they went after members of Congress, both Senate and the House, especially on the intelligence committees and on the armed services committees and some of the–and judicial. But they went after other ones, too. They went after lawyers and law firms. All kinds of–heaps of lawyers and law firms. They went after judges. One of the judges is now sitting on the Supreme Court that I had his wiretap information in my hand. Two are former FISA court judges. They went after State Department officials. They went after people in the executive service that were part of the White House–their own people. They went after... http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2013/06/nsa-whistleblower-nsa-spying-on-and-blackmailing-high-level-government-officials-and-military-officers.html Obama Views "Leaks" As Aiding Enemies Of U.S. President Barack Obama’s unprecedented initiative, known as the Insider Threat Program, is sweeping in its reach. It has received scant public attention even though it extends beyond the U.S. national security bureaucracies to most federal departments and agencies nationwide, including the Peace Corps, the Social Security Administration and the Education and Agriculture departments. It emphasizes leaks of classified material, but catchall definitions of “insider threat” give agencies latitude to pursue and penalize a range of other conduct. Government documents reviewed by McClatchy illustrate how some agencies are using that latitude to pursue unauthorized disclosures of any information, not just classified material. http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/06/20/194513/obamas-crackdown-views-leaks-as.html#.UcPHAOvxbFl Mysterious Privacy Board Touted By Obama Has Deep Government Ties The body charged by President Obama with protecting the civil liberties and privacy of the American people exists in shadows almost as dark as the intelligence agencies it is designed to oversee. The Privacy & Civil Liberties Board (PCLOB) was due to meet Obama at the White House on Friday afternoon at 3pm in the situation room to discuss growing concerns over US surveillance of phone and internet records – or, at least, that's what unnamed "senior administration officials" said would happen. The meeting did not appear on the president's official diary issued to journalists, nor has the PCLOB issued much public confirmation beyond saying "further questions were warranted". http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/21/privacy-civil-liberties-obama-secretive PRISM And The Rise Of A New Fascism In his book Propaganda, published in 1928, Edward Bernays wrote: “The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organised habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. “Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country.” The American nephew of Sigmund Freud, Bernays invented the term “public relations” as a euphemism for state propaganda. He warned that an enduring threat to the invisible government was the truth-teller and an enlightened public. In 1971, the whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg leaked US government files known as the Pentagon Papers, which showed that the invasion of Vietnam was based on systematic lying. Four years later, Frank Church conducted sensational hearings in the Senate: one of the last flickers of American democracy. These laid bare the extent of... http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/06/21/prism-and-the-rise-of-a-new-fascism/ Government Using Metadata To Map Your Every Move If you tweet a picture from your living room using your smartphone, you’re sharing far more than your new hairdo or the color of the wallpaper. You’re potentially revealing the exact coordinates of your house to anyone on the Internet. The GPS location information embedded in a digital photo is an example of so-called metadata, a once-obscure technical term that’s become one of Washington’s hottest new buzzwords. The word first sprang from the lips of pundits and politicians earlier this month, after reports disclosed that the government has been secretly accessing the telephone metadata of Verizon customers, as well as online videos, emails, photos and other data collected by nine Internet companies. President Barack Obama hastened to reassure Americans that “nobody is listening to your phone calls,” while other government officials likened the collection of metadata to reading information on the outside of an envelope, which doesn’t require a warrant. http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/06/20/194505/government-could-use-metadata.html#.UcQ1rZxfxJ0 Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on June 30, 2013, 05:44:51 am PAPER: NSA has secret data collection agreement with European countries...
http://www.salon.com/2013/06/29/nsa_reportedly_has_secret_data_collection_agreement_with_several_european_countries/ Judges in secret court upset with their portrayal... truth hurts buddy http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/secret-court-judges-upset-at-portrayal-of-collaboration-with-government/2013/06/29/ed73fb68-e01b-11e2-b94a-452948b95ca8_print.html Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on July 03, 2013, 01:23:33 pm U.S. Postal Service Logging All Mail for Law Enforcement
Leslie James Pickering noticed something odd in his mail last September: A handwritten card, apparently delivered by mistake, with instructions for postal workers to pay special attention to the letters and packages sent to his home. “Show all mail to supv” — supervisor — “for copying prior to going out on the street,” read the card. It included Mr. Pickering’s name, address and the type of mail that needed to be monitored. The word “confidential” was highlighted in green. “It was a bit of a shock to see it,” said Mr. Pickering, who owns a small bookstore in Buffalo. More than a decade ago, he was a spokesman for the Earth Liberation Front, a radical environmental group labeled eco-terrorists by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Postal officials subsequently confirmed they were indeed tracking Mr. Pickering’s mail but told him nothing else. As the world focuses on the high-tech spying of the National Security Agency, the misplaced card offers a rare glimpse inside the seemingly low-tech but prevalent snooping of the United States Postal Service. Mr. Pickering was targeted by a longtime surveillance system called mail covers, but that is only a forerunner of a vastly more expansive effort, the Mail Isolation Control and Tracking program, in which Postal Service computers photograph the exterior of every piece of paper mail that is processed in the United States — about 160 billion pieces last year. It is not known how long the government saves the images. Together, the two programs show that snail mail is subject to the same kind of scrutiny that the National Security Agency has given to telephone calls and e-mail. The mail covers program, used to monitor Mr. Pickering, is more than a century old but is still considered a powerful tool. At the request of law enforcement officials, postal workers record information from the outside of letters and parcels before they are delivered. (Actually opening the mail requires a warrant.) The information is sent to whatever law enforcement agency asked for it. Tens of thousands of pieces of mail each year undergo this scrutiny. The Mail Isolation Control and Tracking program was created after the anthrax attacks in late 2001 that killed five people, including two postal workers. Highly secret, it seeped into public view last month when the F.B.I. cited it in its investigation of ricin-laced letters sent to President Obama and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. It enables the Postal Service to retroactively track mail correspondence at the request of law enforcement. No one disputes that it is sweeping. “In the past, mail covers were used when you had a reason to suspect someone of a crime,” said Mark D. Rasch, the former director of the Justice Department’s computer crime unit, who worked on several fraud cases using mail covers. “Now it seems to be ‘Let’s record everyone’s mail so in the future we might go back and see who you were communicating with.’ Essentially you’ve added mail covers on millions of Americans.” Bruce Schneier, a computer security expert and an author, said whether it was a postal worker taking down information or a computer taking images, the program was still an invasion of privacy. “Basically they are doing the same thing as the other programs, collecting the information on the outside of your mail, the metadata, if you will, of names, addresses, return addresses and postmark locations, which gives the government a pretty good map of your contacts, even if they aren’t reading the contents,” he said. But law enforcement officials said mail covers and the automatic mail tracking program are invaluable, even in an era of smartphones and e-mail. In a criminal complaint filed June 7 in Federal District Court in Eastern Texas, the F.B.I. said a postal investigator tracing the ricin letters was able to narrow the search to Shannon Guess Richardson, an actress in New Boston, Tex., by examining information from the front and back images of 60 pieces of mail scanned immediately before and after the tainted letters sent to Mr. Obama and Mr. Bloomberg showing return addresses near her home. Ms. Richardson had originally accused her husband of mailing the letters, but investigators determined that he was at work during the time they were mailed. In 2007, the F.B.I., the Internal Revenue Service and the local police in Charlotte, N.C., used information gleaned from the mail cover program to arrest Sallie Wamsley-Saxon and her husband, Donald, charging both with running a prostitution ring that took in $3 million over six years. Prosecutors said it was one of the largest and most successful such operations in the country. Investigators also used mail covers to help track banking activity and other businesses the couple operated under different names. Other agencies, including the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Department of Health and Human Services, have used mail covers to track drug smugglers and Medicare fraud. rest: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/04/us/monitoring-of-snail-mail.html?_r=1& Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Kilika on July 03, 2013, 04:31:35 pm Quote Bruce Schneier, a computer security expert and an author, said whether it was a postal worker taking down information or a computer taking images, the program was still an invasion of privacy. “Basically they are doing the same thing as the other programs, collecting the information on the outside of your mail, the metadata, if you will, of names, addresses, return addresses and postmark locations, which gives the government a pretty good map of your contacts, even if they aren’t reading the contents,” he said. Excellent observation. Only a geek would make a "metadata" reference! But it's a good one, because that is what the whole "metadata" thing is about in web page design. It's more of a general term referring to "data" that relates to a given bit of information, such as size location, etc., and all that metadata is then "crawled" by "spiders" that go out on the internet looking for specific types of metadata, such as stuff relating to log cabins, etc. The designer sets the parameters of the data desired to be located and later collated with other openly available "metadata". You simply gather whatever IS openly available, then process it, and out comes results, statistics, "the numbers". On the surface, it's all circumstantial information, just numbers publicly available, but when you start putting "2 and 2 together", you start getting details pop up that narrows down things. If you know a person, and you find a web search says that person lives on a given street, and you go to that street when you visit them, then the data saying he lives at that location is defined as fact setting it's default to "yes" or "1", till other information overrides it. It's an algorithm thing. They are looking based on probabilities and averages based on known data available. Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on July 10, 2013, 07:23:35 am The NSA Has Inserted Its Code Into Android OS, Or Three Quarters Of All Smartphones
Over a decade ago, it was discovered that the NSA embedded backdoor access into Windows 95, and likely into virtually all other subsequent internet connected, desktop-based operating systems. However, with the passage of time, more and more people went "mobile", and as a result the NSA had to adapt. And adapt they have: as Bloomberg reports, "The NSA is quietly writing code for Google’s Android OS." Is it ironic that the same "don't be evil" Google which went to such great lengths in the aftermath of the Snowden scandal to wash its hands of snooping on its customers and even filed a request with the secretive FISA court asking permission to disclose more information about the government’s data requests, is embedding NSA code into its mobile operating system, which according to IDC runs on three-quarters of all smartphones shipped in the first quarter? Yes, yes it is. Google spokeswoman Gina Scigliano confirms that the company has already inserted some of the NSA’s programming in Android OS. "All Android code and contributors are publicly available for review at source.android.com." Scigliano says, declining to comment further. From Bloomberg: Through its open-source Android project, Google has agreed to incorporate code, first developed by the agency in 2011, into future versions of its mobile operating system, which according to market researcher IDC runs on three-quarters of the smartphones shipped globally in the first quarter. NSA officials say their code, known as Security Enhancements for Android, isolates apps to prevent hackers and marketers from gaining access to personal or corporate data stored on a device. Eventually all new phones, tablets, televisions, cars, and other devices that rely on Android will include NSA code, agency spokeswoman Vanee’ Vines said in an e-mailed statement. NSA researcher Stephen Smalley, who works on the program, says, “Our goal is to raise the bar in the security of commodity mobile devices.” See, there's no need to worry: the reason the NSA is generously providing the source code for every Google-based smartphone is for your own security. Oh but it's open-sourced, so someone else will intercept any and all attempts at malice. We forgot. The story continues: In a 2011 presentation obtained by Bloomberg Businessweek, Smalley listed among the benefits of the program that it’s “normally invisible to users.” The program’s top goal, according to that presentation: “Improve our understanding of Android security.” Well one wouldn't want their bug to be visible to users now, would one... Vines wouldn’t say whether the agency’s work on Android and other software is part of or helps with Prism. “The source code is publicly available for anyone to use, and that includes the ability to review the code line by line,” she said in her statement. Most of the NSA’s suggested additions to the operating system can already be found buried in Google’s latest release—on newer devices including Sony’s Xperia Z, HTC’s One, and Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy S4. Although the features are not turned on by default, according to agency documentation, future versions will be. In May the Pentagon approved the use of smartphones and tablets that run Samsung’s mobile enterprise software, Knox, which also includes NSA programming, the company wrote in a June white paper. Sony, HTC, and Samsung declined to comment. Apple appears to be immune from this unprecedented breach of customer loyalty, if only for now, although open-sourced Linux may not be as lucky: “Apple (AAPL) does not accept source code from any government agencies for any of our operating systems or other products,” says Kristin Huguet, a spokeswoman for the company. It’s not known if any other proprietary operating systems are using NSA code. SE for Android is an offshoot of a long-running NSA project called Security-Enhanced Linux. That code was integrated a decade ago into the main version of the open-source operating system, the server platform of choice for Internet leaders including Google, Facebook (FB), and Yahoo! (YHOO). Jeff Zemlin, the executive director of the Linux Foundation, says the NSA didn’t add any obvious means of eavesdropping. “This code was peer-reviewed by a lot of people,” he says. But that's not all: The NSA developed a separate Android project because Google’s mobile OS required markedly different programming, according to Smalley’s 2011 presentation. Brian Honan, an information technology consultant in Dublin, says his clients in European governments and multinational corporations are worried about how vulnerable their data are when dealing with U.S. companies. The information security world had been preoccupied with Chinese hacking until recently, Honan says. “With Prism, the same accusations can be laid against the U.S. government.” In short: the (big brother supervised) fun never stops in Stasi 2.0 world. Just buy your 100 P/E stocks, eat your burgers, watch your Dancing With The Stars, pay your taxes, and engage in as much internet contact with other internet-addicted organisms as possible and all shall be well. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-07-09/nsa-has-inserted-its-code-android-os-bugging-three-quarters-all-smartphones Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on July 10, 2013, 12:19:33 pm The NSA slide you haven’t seen
Recent debate over U.S. government surveillance has focused on the information that American technology companies secretly provide to the National Security Agency. But that is only one of the ways the NSA eavesdrops on international communications. A classified NSA slide obtained by The Washington Post and published here for the first time lists “Two Types of Collection.” One is PRISM, the NSA program that collects information from technology companies, which was first revealed in reports by the Post and Britain’s Guardian newspaper last month. The slide also shows a separate category labeled “Upstream,” described as accessing “communications on fiber cables and infrastructure as data flows past.” The interaction between Upstream and PRISM — which could be considered “downstream” collection because the data is already processed by tech companies — is not entirely clear from the slide. In addition, its description of PRISM as “collection directly from the servers” of technology giants such as Google, Microsoft and Facebook has been disputed by many of the companies involved. (They say access to user data is legal and limited). However PRISM works, the NSA slide makes clear that the two collection methods operate in parallel, instructing analysts that “You Should Use Both.” Arrows point to both “Upstream” and “PRISM.” The overall heading of the slide is “FAA 702 Operations” – a reference to a 2008 law that enabled collection on U.S. soil of communications of foreigners thought to be overseas without an individual warrant from a court, including when the foreigners are communicating with someone in the United States. The law says the collection may be for a foreign intelligence purpose, which includes terrorism, nuclear weapons proliferation or cyber-security. The slide also shows a crude map of the undersea cable network that carries data from either side of North America and onto the rest of the world. As a story in Sunday’s Post made clear, these undersea cables are essential to worldwide data flows – and to the surveillance capabilities of the U.S. government and its allies. This slide bears many resemblances to one published by the Guardian on June 8, shortly after the initial disclosures about PRISM. But the Guardian’s slide shows an undersea cable map of most of the world. The one obtained by the Post shows mainly sections of North America. It is not clear why the slides vary in this way. Both slides have circles attached to arrows suggesting possible collection points, but they cover areas too broad to discern where NSA accesses fiber-optic cable networks. The slides also list code names under the Upstream program. The Post version lists Fairview, Stormbrew, Blarney and Oakstar but does not describe any of them. The Guardian slide lists Fairview and Blarney but has two others blacked out. The Post has previously reported that Blarney gathers up metadata – describing who is speaking to whom and through what networks and devices – as data flows through the Internet’s backbone. For Sunday’s story, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence issued a statement defending its collection methods as crucial to protecting national security. “As always,” the statement said, “the Intelligence and law enforcement communities will continue to work with all members of Congress to ensure the proper balance of privacy and protection for American citizens.” http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/the-nsa-slide-you-havent-seen/2013/07/10/32801426-e8e6-11e2-aa9f-c03a72e2d342_story.html Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Kilika on July 10, 2013, 02:59:05 pm Notice when Microsoft sold out to PRISM. That date comes up time and again. It's not coincidence, it's a pattern.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/politics/prism-collection-documents/ (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/politics/prism-collection-documents/) (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/politics/prism-collection-documents/images/prism-slide-5.jpg) Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on July 19, 2013, 02:14:36 pm USDA Grants $149,074 to Study Food Shopping Patterns with GPS
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has awarded a $149,074 grant to study food shopping patterns that may form the basis of future shopping "interventions.” The USDA award went to the University of Kentucky in April for the study titled, “Adolescent and Parent Food Activity Patterns as Drivers of Food Choice and Behaviors." According to the grant abstract, “There is limited research understanding how adolescents and their parents move within their daily lives which may influence their food choices and ultimately diet behavior." The project will examine the influences on food shopping patterns, or as the proposal put it: "The overall goal of the proposed project is to examine the drivers of food shopping patterns, behaviors and food purchasing choices within the food activity space among adolescents and their parents.” Some of the families involved in the study will be given GPS data recorders so researchers can conduct an "objective measure of the food environment." The study's primary director Prof. Alison Gustafson tells CNSNews.com, “A lot of the work is on proximal deterrents -- things that are close to you that would bring you to a store. For example, shopping venues that are in a person’s travel pattern – in their daily route, they may pass certain types of food establishments. “The GPS will help us map out a travel pattern, the geographic space and the number of food venues in this space. As well as the type -- grocery stores, gas stations or super centers,” Gustafson said. The study also will examine the shopping habits of adolescents traveling with and without a parent. Butcher Freddie Quina cuts meat at Super Cao Nguyen in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki) “Are shopping habits different for an adolescent when they are with a parent or with a friend? My hypothesis is that there will be a difference,” Gustafson said. http://cnsnews.com/news/article/usda-grants-149074-study-food-shopping-patterns-gps “Although neighborhood-level efforts are paramount for food system sustainability, at the micro-level, where residents procure food, interventions are also needed,” the grant says. “Such that examining behaviors and perceptions of the locations where families purchase food for consumption can aid in developing trainings and key materials that will most directly influence purchasing behavior. Lastly, the ultimate goal of the project is to develop and submit an integrated grant that will lead to improved diet quality among families.” Gustafson explains, “The intervention that we will likely write another grant for, is so you change their shopping habits. We will be working with food stores, adolescents and parents on how to change their choice to healthier snacks and foods.” “In an ideal world everyone would always have access to healthy food, but since that’s not possible, we may say to parents, ‘You can’t change where you live but you could change how you shop.’” For example, a change in one's daily travel routine could produce changes in shopping behavior: “Maybe if someone drove a half mile the other way, there is a grocery store with healthier options than the food venues they routinely pass by,” Gustafson says. Part of the study will focus on designing a food shopping curriculum: “We’ll be working with stores and families in a 10-week session," Gustafson said. - See more at: http://cnsnews.com/news/article/usda-grants-149074-study-food-shopping-patterns-gps#sthash.0gP1p1mu.dpuf Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on August 02, 2013, 06:13:12 am Type The Wrong Thing Into A Search Engine And The Secret Police Will Come Knocking On Your Door
The control freaks are out of control. Once upon a time America was “the land of the free”, but now it has become “the land of the bureaucrats”, and these bureaucrats are absolutely obsessed with watching, tracking, monitoring and controlling virtually everything that you do. Last month, I wrote about how the Obama administration forced a small-time magician out in Missouri to submit a 32 page disaster plan for the little rabbit that he uses in his magic shows for kids. A lot of people thought that story was quite humorous, but the examples in this article are not so funny. In recent days we have learned that the government is monitoring just about everything that we do on the Internet, and we have also learned that a couple of innocent Google searches can result in armed government agents pounding on your front door. If you do not believe this, read on… Thanks to Glenn Greenwald of the Guardian, we now know about XKeyscore, an NSA program that collects “nearly everything that a user does on the Internet“… A top secret National Security Agency program allows analysts to search with no prior authorization through vast databases containing emails, online chats and the browsing histories of millions of individuals, according to documents provided by whistleblower Edward Snowden. According to the documents that Greenwald has been given, NSA agents can use XKeyscore to continually intercept and analyze “an individual’s internet activity”… XKeyscore, the documents boast, is the NSA’s “widest reaching” system developing intelligence from computer networks – what the agency calls Digital Network Intelligence (DNI). One presentation claims the program covers “nearly everything a typical user does on the internet”, including the content of emails, websites visited and searches, as well as their metadata. Analysts can also use XKeyscore and other NSA systems to obtain ongoing “real-time” interception of an individual’s internet activity. So if you type “the wrong thing” into a search engine, the feds could literally show up on your doorstep. One married couple up in New York recently found this out the hard way… Michele Catalano was looking for information online about pressure cookers. Her husband, in the same time frame, was Googling backpacks. Wednesday morning, six men from a joint terrorism task force showed up at their house to see if they were terrorists. Which begs the question: How’d the government know what they were Googling? Yes, exactly how did the government know what they were putting into Google? Sadly, I think that we all know the answer to that question. And when the agents got to their home, they didn’t realize their mistake and leave. Instead, they peppered the couple with questions. The following is how Michele Catalano described the experience… [T]hey were peppering my husband with questions. Where is he from? Where are his parents from? They asked about me, where was I, where do I work, where do my parents live. Do you have any bombs, they asked. Do you own a pressure cooker? My husband said no, but we have a rice cooker. Can you make a bomb with that? My husband said no, my wife uses it to make quinoa. What the hell is quinoa, they asked. … Have you ever looked up how to make a pressure cooker bomb? My husband, ever the oppositional kind, asked them if they themselves weren’t curious as to how a pressure cooker bomb works, if they ever looked it up. Two of them admitted they did. Is this really what America is going to be like from now on? We type the wrong thing into Google and the secret police come knocking on our doors? Where will all of this end? In Saudi Arabia, one man that set up a website that the authorities did not like was recently sentenced to seven years in prison and 600 lashes… The editor of a Saudi Arabian social website has been sentenced to seven years in prison and 600 lashes for founding an Internet forum that violates Islamic values and propagates liberal thought, Saudi media reported on Tuesday. Raif Badawi, who started the ‘Free Saudi Liberals’ website to discuss the role of religion in Saudi Arabia, has been held since June 2012 on charges of cyber crime and disobeying his father – a crime in the conservative kingdom and top U.S. ally. That may sound extreme, but we are heading down a similar path. People are going to start becoming afraid to express themselves on the Internet out of fear that they will get a visit from armed goons just like the Catalanos did. This is not what America is supposed to be like. We are supposed to be a nation that respects privacy, liberty and freedom. Instead, our nation is rapidly being transformed into a heavily armed police state surveillance grid that is a paradise for control freaks. And it is not just the Internet that we all need to be worried about. An article by Lee Bellinger described some more ways that “the police state” is expanding… Grants to local governments for “FBI Mobile,” a portable biometric data collection system first deployed by the military to create IDs for urban-war-zone residents. Covert naked-body scanners for checking out the general public on U.S. streets, a product being developed by Rapiscan Systems. A fleet of roving backscatter scanning vans for expansion to all forms of ground travel. Military-developed, next-generation Taser systems capable of stunning and incapacitating large numbers of protesters. Active Denial System (ADS) “Pain Ray” for use here at home. Shockwave Area Denial System, which can taser citizens within 100-meter ranges. Laser Blinding Dazzler system, which causes temporary blindness in protestors. Mass-deployed sedatives to incapacitate crowds. Screaming Microwave system and ear-splitting noise machines for crowd control throughout the U.S. For even more on this, please see my previous article entitled “10 Ways That The Iron Grip Of The Big Brother Prison Grid Is Tightening On All Of Our Lives“. In this type of an environment, even a helpless baby deer becomes a national security threat… “It was like a SWAT team. Nine DNR agents and four deputy sheriffs, and they were all armed to the teeth,” animal shelter employee Ray Schulze told WISN-TV. Two weeks ago, Schulze was working in the barn at the Society of St. Francis in Kenosha, Wis., when a swarm of squad cars screeched up and officers scrambled onto the property with a search warrant. Were they hunting down an armed robber or escaped prisoner? Conducting a drug raid? Incredibly, they were gunning for a 2-week-old baby fawn. Can you guess what happened to the 2-week-old baby deer? They killed it – just like they are killing our liberties and our freedoms. What in the world is happening to America? http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/type-the-wrong-thing-into-a-search-engine-and-the-secret-police-will-come-knocking-on-your-door Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Kilika on August 02, 2013, 03:58:45 pm Quote We type the wrong thing into Google and the secret police come knocking on our doors? I think it wise people assume that is the case. Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on August 02, 2013, 04:07:09 pm I think it wise people assume that is the case. I dont know if i really buy that story as is, im thinking there is a little more to it. Just imagine what my search quires look like in a day. From multiple devices on multiple ip addresses. I type some crazy stuff, and no ones showed up yet. Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Kilika on August 02, 2013, 04:40:42 pm The operative word my friend is "yet".
Just think how law enforcement builds a case. They let the suspect go about their business till they have what they deem enough evidence to go after somebody. Also, the system needs time to get fully set up and running before they basically spring the trap. In the mean time, people are building a digital trail of evidence. We all are. But by faith we stand, knowing that nothing can separate us from God. The thing is, what we stand for, while it opposes Caesar and his carnal world, we aren't telling people to protest and actively fight the government for change, etc. We exhort people to come out from the world and to stop living like the world, knowing that only Jesus Christ can change the world. If they want to arrest me because I say that the US is doomed for the evil they have done and will answer to God, fine, so be it, but it's true, and I will stand by that by the grace of God. I care that people get saved from their sins they have committed against our Father, but really, I could care less what the world says about what I believe. God willing, I'm about pleasing God, not men. Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Psalm 51:17 on August 02, 2013, 04:55:57 pm The thing is, what we stand for, while it opposes Caesar and his carnal world, we aren't telling people to protest and actively fight the government for change, etc. We exhort people to come out from the world and to stop living like the world, knowing that only Jesus Christ can change the world. If they want to arrest me because I say that the US is doomed for the evil they have done and will answer to God, fine, so be it, but it's true, and I will stand by that by the grace of God. I care that people get saved from their sins they have committed against our Father, but really, I could care less what the world says about what I believe. God willing, I'm about pleasing God, not men. Yep, and that's been the whole agenda of Alex Jones and the "truth" movement - to be frank, they're doing nothing more than trying to stir everyone up into a frenzy. I don't know if Alex, David Icke, Jeff Rense, Mike Rivero, Lindsey Williams, Steve Quayle, etc are doing it on purpose or not(although I think they are), but nonetheless you can't deny these very men are living luxurious lifestyles, while they're trying to whip their flock into a frenzy. And yes, we have the word of God, the King James bible, right by our sides in in our hearts, so there's nothing to fear. Thank you Jesus! Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Kilika on August 02, 2013, 05:34:37 pm 47 The LORD liveth; and blessed [be] my rock; and exalted be the God of the rock of my salvation.
48 It [is] God that avengeth me, and that bringeth down the people under me, 49 And that bringeth me forth from mine enemies: thou also hast lifted me up on high above them that rose up against me: thou hast delivered me from the violent man. 50 Therefore I will give thanks unto thee, O LORD, among the heathen, and I will sing praises unto thy name. 2 Samuel 22:47-50 (KJB) Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on August 07, 2013, 08:44:32 am Court to feds: Explain Marine's Facebook-postings arrest
A federal judge in Richmond, Va., has refused to dismiss from a lawsuit several FBI and Secret Service agents as well as local police officers who arrested a military veteran based on an opinion from a counselor who had never met him that he might be a danger. The officers had confronted the veteran, Brandon Raub, after he expressed criticism of the U.S. government on a social networking page. They arrested Raub and kept him in custody for an evaluation based on the long-distance opinion from Michael Campbell, a psychotherapist hired by the local county. But when the case came before a judge, his ruling found the concerns raised by the officers were “so devoid of any factual allegations that it could not be reasonably expected to give rise to a case or controversy.” Raub then sued the officers for taking him into custody. The latest ruling rejected a request by the officers to end the case. “Brandon Raub’s case exposes the seedy underbelly of a governmental system that continues to target military veterans for expressing their discontent over America’s rapid transition to a police state,” said John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute. “While such targeting of veterans and dissidents is problematic enough, for any government official to suggest that they shouldn’t be held accountable for violating a citizen’s rights on the grounds that they were unaware of the Constitution’s prohibitions makes a mockery of our so-called system of representative government. Thankfully, Judge Hudson has recognized this imbalance and ensured that Brandon Raub will get his day in court,” he said. The decision came from U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson, who essentially said there is not enough information at this point in the case to dismiss the law enforcement defendants. He ordered limited discovery. The Rutherford Institute called the decision a victory for free speech and the right to be free from wrongful arrest. Raub, a decorated Marine, had been taken into custody by “a swarm” of FBI, Secret Service agents and local police and forcibly detained in a psychiatric ward for a week because of controversial song lyrics and political views posted on his Facebook page, Rutherford reported. Hudson said the Rutherford Institute, which is representing Raub, had alleged sufficient facts to indicate that the involuntary commitment violated his rights under the U.S. Constitution’s First and Fourth Amendments. Institute attorneys had filed the civil rights lawsuit in federal court on behalf of Raub, alleging that his seizure and detention were the result of a federal government program code-named “Operation Vigilant Eagle” that involves the systematic surveillance of military veterans who express views critical of the government. The complaint alleges that the attempt to label Raub as “mentally ill” and his subsequent involuntary commitment was a pretext designed to silence speech critical of the government. It was Aug. 16, 2012, when Chesterfield police, Secret Service and FBI agents arrived at Raub’s home, asking to speak with him about his Facebook posts. Like many Facebook users, Raub, a Marine who has served tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, uses his Facebook page to post song lyrics and air his political opinions. Without providing any explanation, levying any charges against Raub or reading him his rights, law enforcement officials handcuffed Raub and transported him to police headquarters, then to John Randolph Medical Center, where he was held against his will. The Institute reported in a hearing on Aug. 20, government officials pointed to Raub’s Facebook posts as the reason for his incarceration. While Raub stated that the Facebook posts were being read out of context, a special justice ordered Raub be held up to 30 more days for psychological evaluation and treatment. But Circuit Court Judge Allan Sharrett ordered Raub’s immediate release a short time later, and the lawsuit was initiated. Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2013/08/court-to-feds-explain-marines-facebook-postings-arrest/#Bl5Oi8ZKgYir76fF.99 Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Kilika on August 07, 2013, 02:08:05 pm What are the odds this will be discussed on the evening news? I'd say about zero.
Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on August 12, 2013, 07:36:02 am How you're tracked digitally all day (and what you can do about it)
Our daily habits — when we wake up, how we get to work, what we like to watch when we get home — are being tracked by dozens of interconnected systems, from cell carriers to traffic cameras. Together, they could form a picture of your day in disturbingly high fidelity. It's not just high-priority targets and would-be terrorists that leave a digital trail as they go about their business — millions of Americans each produce gigabytes of data associated with themselves just by walking down the street, browsing the Internet, and using their mobile phone. PRISM and XKeyscore may be in the news, but we've been tracked by other means for a long time. As a demonstration, TODAY followed NBC News producer Robin Oelkers during a normal weekday, noting the many times when his ordinary actions placed him on the grid. It began as soon as he woke up, checking emails and Facebook on his phone or laptop while getting ready for work — any number of servers took note that his account began a session between 7:30 and 8 a.m. By logging in with his home Internet connection, Robin's IP address and its location are also automatically recorded at any site he uses. Meanwhile, in order to have a signal, his phone must be in contact with at least one cell tower, but may be monitored by several in case as he begins to move. These towers can be used to calculate his position to within a city block or two. "Your mobile phone is basically a tracking device," said Nick Thompson, editor of NewYorker.com, in an interview that aired Thursday. "(It's) taking information about where you are, and sending it to lots and lots of companies." When it comes to tracking, you don't have to log in via a Web browser or set up your phone a certain way to tell the world to start following your trail. Recently, Apple was caught keeping records of every wireless network iPhones encountered. And several phone makers were found in 2012 to be including a secret back door on their phones capable of reporting every touch, every byte, and every conversation to anyone with the right software. Leaving the house, Robin enters the view of the public, and therefore the view of any number of traffic and security cameras. Many of these cameras will passively record his license plate, using special software to convert the image into numbers and letters. The make, model, and color of his car is also recorded in some situations. Other cameras capture his face and appearance, associating him with locations and routes. Such tools are invaluable to police tracking down a fugitive, but in the meantime Robin's face and license may be stored for days, years, or even indefinitely, depending on local laws or business practices. Of course, all this indirect surveillance is redundant when Robin's car has been tracking his position constantly with its GPS system. Depending on how new the car is, that route information might be backed up to the cloud for easy retrieval, or even collated (anonymously) with other cars' paths to help analyze traffic patterns. After parking (in view of several cameras), Robin may stop by Starbucks to grab a coffee. Swiping his rewards card, he adds this purchase to a long list of data points describing his preferences and shopping habits. Such data may be kept internal at Starbucks for inventory and promotional purposes. At work, he mixes his daily duties on the computer with a bit of personal browsing. Even though they may be inconsequential to his work, the traffic logs are saved, and a lawsuit or internal complaint could make them relevant in a heartbeat. "The company can not only see it, but they probably store that," said Thompson. "They probably store it for legal reasons for a long period of time." Back at home, Robin relaxes on the couch to watch a movie with the kids. Somewhere, whether he's using a cable box or a TiVo or an Apple TV, some server takes note that he has selected another episode of a certain show, while others sit in his queue unwatched. His personal profile is updated and recommended shows changed. And his viewing habits, while tracked separately, are added to those of others for the streaming service's reports and feedback. What can you do about all this tracking? For cellphone stuff, information must be sent if you want your phone and apps to work. But you can learn about your local laws regarding how long such data is kept and under what circumstances it can be requested. When using the Web, you can use your browser's Do Not Track option (also called "privacy" or "incognito" mode) and opt to use secure HTTPS versions of sites such as Facebook and Gmail. You can even install some basic privacy software like HTTPS Everywhere and Ghostery, to further minimize your trail's inevitable breadcrumbs. When you're on the move, make sure GPS and Wi-Fi are only on when you need them to be. (As an added bonus, this saves cellphone battery life.) And check the options screens of your most-used apps to see if there's anything fishy you should be opting out of. Out on the road, avoiding traffic cams is pretty much impossible (though it doesn't hurt to know what they look like and where they are.) When shopping, using cash and avoiding rewards cards and other incentive programs will keep you off of the marketer's grids (but often at a cost of a few bucks per shopping trip). As for enjoying the online on-demand movies and music that have become so convenient, you will have to submit to some form of tracking, though be reasonable and avoid, say, the Facebook sharing options on your Spotify or Netflix streams. Also, using a service like MaskMe would let you hide your real name, email and credit card from prying eyes, but not without some mild inconvenience. The best thing to do is to be vigilant, and recognize all the ways increasingly shadowy marketers and government agencies are keeping their eye on you — you know, just in case. More information, such as congress members to contact or resources to tap can be found at, among other places, the Electronic Frontier Foundation or ACLU's DotRights. http://www.today.com/tech/how-youre-tracked-digitally-all-day-what-you-can-do-6C10810402 Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on September 09, 2013, 06:55:40 am Uh-Oh. The Gov Wants To Sequence The DNA Of ALL Infants Born In The US
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has begun an initiative to discover the viability of sequencing American infant’s DNA through the “heel stick” blood drawn screening conducted on newborns in hospitals to determine the propensity toward life-threatening diseases. This scheme will cost $25 million over 5 years to understand each individual genetic code in lieu of having DNA routinely mapped and stored in a medical record. Whether this study would have value has not been established. Experts warn that there are ethical questions surrounding such an endeavor. Using genetic information to direct infant healthcare is a major concern. The National Institute of Child health and Human Development (NICHHD) and the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) are collaborating to fund this initiative. This program will analyze DNA from newborns to be sequenced by... rest: http://www.occupycorporatism.com/gov-wants-to-sequence-dna-of-all-infants-born-in-us/ This is very dangerous. With this information, they can now accuse any one of any crime. Of course you did it, we have your DNA. Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Kilika on September 09, 2013, 03:46:03 pm Dangerous, and just pure wickedness.
Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on September 13, 2013, 02:23:43 pm CFPB's data-mining on consumer credit cards challenged in heated House hearing
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau officials are seeking to monitor four out of every five U.S. consumer credit card transactions this year — up to 42 billion transactions – through a controversial data-mining program, according to documents obtained by the Washington Examiner. A CFPB strategic planning document for fiscal years 2013-17 describes the “markets monitoring” program through which officials aim to monitor 80 percent of all credit card transactions in 2013. The U.S. Census Bureau reports that 1.16 billion consumer credit cards were in use in 2012 for an estimated 52.6 billion transactions. If CFPB officials reach their stated "performance goal," they would collect data on 42 billion transactions made with 933 million credit cards used by American consumers. In addition, CFPB officials hope to monitor up to 95 percent of all mortgage transactions, according to the planning document. “This is one step closer to a Big Brother form of government where they know everything about us,” said Rep. Sean Duffy, R-Wis. At a Wednesday hearing before the House Financial Services Committee chaired by Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, CFPB Director Richard Cordray defended the data-mining practice and said his agency is monitoring credit card usage at 110 banks, including Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Capital One, Discover and American Express. In a related development, Rep. Spencer Bachus, Hensarling’s predecessor on the House Financial Services Committee, told the Examiner he believes CFPB violated at least two federal laws by using the impartial U.S. Trustee Program to gather bankruptcy data as part of the data-mining campaign. The Examiner reported Monday that bankruptcy experts are concerned that CFPB is undermining the trustee program's independence and impartiality. The trustee program is the federal government’s main administrative agency for handling bankruptcy cases. Bachus also told the Examiner after Wednesday’s hearing that a key House subcommittee is planning hearings on possible CFPB abuse of the bankruptcy trustee. “The bankruptcy and anti-trust subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee is investigating this as we speak, and we anticipate a notice of a hearing on this in the near future,” Bachus said. The Dodd-Frank Act, which established CFPB, bars the bureau from collecting personally identifiable financial information on consumers and prohibits it from regulating practicing attorneys. Bachus said Cordray “exceeded his authority” and violated both provisions if he tried to use the trustee program to obtain files from a company that maintains a document archive for thousands of bankruptcy case attorneys. “He [Cordray] basically said to me, ‘We needed to do this. This was something we thought we ought to do.’ He never said, ‘OK, it probably violates two provisions of the law,’ a very clear 'Do not do this,' ” Bachus said. Bachus said CFPB may also have violated the Fourth Amendment, which entitles Americans to be free from government interference or intrusion in dealing with their legal representation. “They are challenging through their actions, one of the most basic freedoms guaranteed by our forefathers and that is the right to counsel,” he said. “It’s just nuts.” At Wednesday’s hearing, Cordray refused to answer questions from committee members about CFPB’s relationship with the trustee program. “We don’t typically comment on the details of enforcement matters,” he said, though he acknowledged that the bureau is "working with a number of different agencies, including the Justice Department, to carry out our responsibilities and we will try to do that.” The trustee program is part of the Department of Justice. The disclosures capped a day of often heated exchanges between Cordray and Republican members of the financial services committee. Nearly all of the panel’s Republicans attended the hearing, but only a handful of Democrats. Democrats praised Cordray, whose appointment by President Obama was ruled improper by a federal court earlier this year because it was done while the Senate was in recess. He was finally confirmed in July after Obama agreed to resubmit the nomination following the court ruling. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., for example, commended Cordray for “how well" he had "worked with a lot of stakeholders and [his] careful leadership of this young agency.” But the hearing was dominated by charges of an agency operating beyond its legal authority, rife with conflicts of interest, and mismanagement. Hensarling opened the hearing by noting that CFPB “is designed to operate outside the usual system of checks and balances that applies to every other government agency.” Rep. Patrick McHenry, a North Carolina Republican, questioned a $5 million contract that CFPB had awarded to a company co-founded by the head of the bureau's Office of Research. He called it a serious case of “conflicts of interest.” But it was Duffy's confrontation with Cordray over the bureau's credit card data-mining case that caused the most fireworks. “Why don’t you just level with us?” Duffy told Cordray after the CFPB leader repeatedly refused to say how many credit cards are being reviewed by his agency. “We’ve been asking these questions over and over and over again. You come in and stonewall, you try to explain, but never do we get answer. Never does America get answers,” Duffy told Cordray. When Duffy compared CFPB data-mining to the National Security Agency’s surveillance program, Cordray angrily replied that “there is no comparison between the NSA and the CFPB.” “Oh, there is,” Duffy retorted. Duffy was able to extract from Cordray the names of five major banks of 110 that issue credit cards. Duffy said CFPB was trying to gain access to nearly 1 billion credit card users in 2013. “The agency has never given us a number of how many Americans have been surveilled. However, we’ve seen in their disclosures they are collecting 80 percent of credit cards in America, 1.16 billion credit cards, which means that they are collecting information on just under a billion credit cards in America. That’s a scary number,” Duffy said. The CFPB strategic plan shows that in 2012, the bureau was able to gain access to 77 percent of all credit cards and hoped to increase that to 80 percent in 2013. By 2014, the agency also hopes to monitor up to 95 percent of all mortgage transactions. http://washingtonexaminer.com/cfpbs-data-mining-on-consumer-credit-cards-challenged-in-heated-house-hearing/article/2535726 Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on September 28, 2013, 11:50:36 am N.S.A. Examines Social Networks of U.S. Citizens
Since 2010, the National Security Agency has been exploiting its huge collections of data to create sophisticated graphs of some Americans’ social connections that can identify their associates, their locations at certain times, their traveling companions and other personal information, according to newly disclosed documents and interviews with officials. The spy agency began allowing the analysis of phone call and e-mail logs in November 2010 to examine Americans’ networks of associations for foreign intelligence purposes after N.S.A. officials lifted restrictions on the practice, according to documents provided by Edward J. Snowden, the former N.S.A. contractor. The policy shift was intended to help the agency “discover and track” connections between intelligence targets overseas and people in the United States, according to an N.S.A. memorandum from January 2011. The agency was authorized to conduct “large-scale graph analysis on very large sets of communications metadata without having to check foreignness” of every e-mail address, phone number or other identifier, the document said. Because of concerns about infringing on the privacy of American citizens, the computer analysis of such data had previously been permitted only for foreigners. The agency can augment the communications data with material from public, commercial and other sources, including bank codes, insurance information, Facebook profiles, passenger manifests, voter registration rolls and GPS location information, as well as property records and unspecified tax data, according to the documents. They do not indicate any restrictions on the use of such “enrichment” data, and several former senior Obama administration officials said the agency drew on it for both Americans and foreigners. N.S.A. officials declined to say how many Americans have been caught up in the effort, including people involved in no wrongdoing. The documents do not describe what has resulted from the scrutiny, which links phone numbers and e-mails in a “contact chain” tied directly or indirectly to a person or organization overseas that is of foreign intelligence interest. The new disclosures add to the growing body of knowledge in recent months about the N.S.A.’s access to and use of private information concerning Americans, prompting lawmakers in Washington to call for reining in the agency and President Obama to order an examination of its surveillance policies. Almost everything about the agency’s operations is hidden, and the decision to revise the limits concerning Americans was made in secret, without review by the nation’s intelligence court or any public debate. As far back as 2006, a Justice Department memo warned of the potential for the “misuse” of such information without adequate safeguards. An agency spokeswoman, asked about the analyses of Americans’ data, said, “All data queries must include a foreign intelligence justification, period.” “All of N.S.A.’s work has a foreign intelligence purpose,” the spokeswoman added. “Our activities are centered on counterterrorism, counterproliferation and cybersecurity.” The legal underpinning of the policy change, she said, was a 1979 Supreme Court ruling that Americans could have no expectation of privacy about what numbers they had called. Based on that ruling, the Justice Department and the Pentagon decided that it was permissible to create contact chains using Americans’ “metadata,” which includes the timing, location and other details of calls and e-mails, but not their content. The agency is not required to seek warrants for the analyses from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. N.S.A. officials declined to identify which phone and e-mail databases are used to create the social network diagrams, and the documents provided by Mr. Snowden do not specify them. The agency did say that the large database of Americans’ domestic phone call records, which was revealed by Mr. Snowden in June and caused bipartisan alarm in Washington, was excluded. (N.S.A. officials have previously acknowledged that the agency has done limited analysis in that database, collected under provisions of the Patriot Act, exclusively for people who might be linked to terrorism suspects.) But the agency has multiple collection programs and databases, the former officials said, adding that the social networking analyses relied on both domestic and international metadata. They spoke only on the condition of anonymity because the information was classified. rest 3 pages: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/29/us/nsa-examines-social-networks-of-us-citizens.html?ref=us&_r=1& Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on November 10, 2013, 05:07:36 am Las Vegas Installs “Intellistreets” Light Fixtures Capable Of Recording Conversations
The Las Vegas Public Works Department has begun testing a newly installed street light system around City Hall with wide-ranging capabilities including audio and video recording. According to the Michigan based “Illuminating Concepts,” the system’s main benefits include “energy management, security and entertainment.” The Las Vegas setup includes such features as emergency notification flashers, playable music and a sound announcement system, all controlled from an Ipad. “Actually, there’s a server that’s housed by the company that’s providing this product and we’re communicating with just a wireless, wi-fi connection,” Neil Rohleder of the Public Works Department told My News 3. The company’s lights, which also offer a “Homeland Security” feature, received major backlash in 2011 following reports of the system’s federally-funded roll out across the country. The feature allows for emergency government announcements which will likely include such slogans as “See Something, Say Something” as well as other irrationally fear-based messages already seen in Wal Mart’s DHS-run “telescreens.” Local privacy advocate Daphne Lee has begun speaking out against the system, pointing to the ever-increasing surveillance dragnet cast over everyday innocent Americans. “This technology, you know is taking us to a place where, you know, you’ll essentially be monitored from the moment you leave your home till the moment you get home,” said Lee. The Public Works Department claims they have no plans to use the system’s surveillance cameras… for now, leading many to believe the plan is already well underway as city-wide implementation is discussed. “Right now our intention is not to have any cameras or recording devices…it’s just to provide output out there, not to get any feed or video feed coming back,” said Public Works Director, Jorge Servantes. In light of the TrapWire system, a sophisticated program that uses advanced facial recognition software through regular CCTV surveillance cameras across the country, the likelihood of the city’s cameras being covertly used by the federal government, or with permission, remains a likely outcome. Talking street lights have already been implemented in parts of Europe for a number of years. Apartment residents in North London were shocked to discover cameras ordering them to stay away from their communal garden, warning them that their photograph was being taken for entering a “restricted area.” “At what point do we say this is the land of the free? People have a right to a reasonable amount of privacy,” Lee added. As new NSA revelations widen the general public’s understanding of just how pervasive the surveillance state has become, the real question lies in whether or not the public will demand accountability as well as their privacy rights. Originally appeared at Story Leak. http://www.infowars.com/las-vegas-installs-intellistreets-light-fixtures-capable-of-recording-conversations/ Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Kilika on November 10, 2013, 05:29:03 am Quote includes such features as emergency notification flashers, playable music and a sound announcement system, all controlled from an Ipad. Other features, being they can connect video cameras and microphones for recording. I really don't think the issue even gets that far. Seems the issue is in why is that city spending money on such a thing, or taking federal dollars for it? Unfortunately, the answer I think is it's government's attitude of late to "partner" with "private industry" on "projects" for the "community", so city councils look for things to spend money on, then award "contracts" to private contractors for various work projects, all in the name of "supporting the economy" through paying American small business for government needs. The way the government handles it's budgets, it's not designed for saving. It's designed for spending. If there is still funds in the budget before the budget year is over, you spend it till there is nothing left before the year is out, that way next year's budget won't get cut by the amount you didn't spend the previous year. The result of that mentality can be seen at the many government surplus auctions held all over the country year round. Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on November 12, 2013, 12:27:51 pm DHS Funds Installation of White Boxes That Can Track Population of Entire City
Federal agency, police refuse to explain mesh network planned for “citywide deployment” in Seattle Strange new off-white boxes popping up in downtown Seattle use wi-fi networks that can record the last 1,000 locations of a person using their cellphone’s MAC address, but the Department of Homeland Security – which funded the network to the tune of $2.7 million dollars – has refused to address the nightmare privacy implications of a system that could lead to the permanent tracking of an entire city’s population. A report by The Stranger, a weekly Seattle newspaper, exposes how the boxes, which are attached to utility poles and include vertical antennae, can track cellphones even if they are not connected to the system’s wi-fi network. Aruba – the company that provided the boxes to the Seattle Police Department – brags in its technical literature about how the boxes can keep track of “rogue” or “unassociated” devices, in other words your cellphone even if you have refused to let the system access your device’s wi-fi component. The user’s guide for one of Aruba’s recent software products states: “The wireless network has a wealth of information about unassociated and associated devices.” That software includes “a location engine that calculates associated and unassociated device location every 30 seconds by default… The last 1,000 historical locations are stored for each MAC address.” When reporters Matt Fikse-Verkerk and Brendan Kiley asked the Seattle Police Department and the Department of Homeland Security to explain what the boxes were for, the DHS refused to comment and Seattle Police detective Monty Moss would only state that the department “is not comfortable answering policy questions when we do not yet have a policy.” Detective Moss also added that the mesh network would not be used for “surveillance purposes… without City Council’s approval and the appropriate court authorization.” Note that he didn’t say the mesh network couldn’t be used for the surveillance functions we asked about, only that it wouldn’t—at least until certain people in power say it can. That’s the equivalent of a “trust us” and a handshake. The justification for the mesh network is that it will allow police, firefighters and other first responders to communicate as well as stream surveillance video on a private uncluttered network during an emergency. However, the system is, “adept at seeing all the devices that move through their coverage area and visually mapping the locations of those devices in real time for the system administrators’ convenience.” The SPD has also indicated that it plans “citywide deployment” of the network, opening the door for mass unfettered surveillance of Seattle’s 634,000 residents. Seattle council member Bruce Harrell justified the mesh network being used for surveillance purposes by making reference to the Boston bombings. “While I understand that a lot of people have concerns about the government having access to this information, when we have large public gatherings like the situation like in Boston and something bad happens, the first thing we want to know is how are we using technology to capture that information,” Harrell told KIRO-TV. “We are being told that such measures will help police “solve more crime”. We are being told that such measures will “keep people safe”. But what about our privacy? Doesn’t that count for something? What about the Fourth Amendment? Are our most cherished liberties and freedoms going to be thrown into the trash just because we live “in a more dangerous world”?” asks Michael Snyder. As we have highlighted, this is just one of several examples of Big Brother spying apparatus being installed on the streets with barely a whimper of protest in comparison to the outrage that was prompted by the revelations of NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. Hi-tech street lights called Intellistreets that are linked via a ubiquitous wi-fi network and can record conversations are now popping up in major cities across the United States. According to the company behind them, Intellistreets lighting systems can analyze voices, act as surveillance cameras and make loudspeaker security announcements. They also have the capability to track people who wear RFID tags. The fact that the lights are all linked back to a central data hub via a wi-fi network also mean they have the same capability to track people via their cellphone’s MAC address. A separate network of sensors installed in at least 70 major U.S. cities called ShotSpotter, ostensibly designed to alert authorities to gunshot locations, also have the ability to record street conversations using microphones, according to a 2012 New York Times article. This led the ACLU to warn that the technology could represent a clear violation of the Fourth Amendment if misused. As we detailed in a lengthy report yesterday, when these technologies are combined with the fact that virtually every new consumer item can be linked to the internet (and therefore tracked and wiretapped), this represents a surveillance grid that makes NSA wiretapping of phone calls and emails look antiquated in comparison. video: http://www.infowars.com/dhs-funds-installation-of-white-boxes-that-can-track-population-of-entire-city/ Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Kilika on November 12, 2013, 01:31:26 pm Quote Aruba – the company that provided the boxes to the Seattle Police Department – brags in its technical literature about how the boxes can keep track of “rogue” or “unassociated” devices, in other words your cellphone even if you have refused to let the system access your device’s wi-fi component. Not sure what they mean by "rogue" or "unassociated" devices, but I suspect they mean devices that are not linked to a specific owner, hacked/"throwaway" phones maybe. Anyway, all cell phones must connect to a "tower" to work. The phones has to send out, or receive a signal from those towers, but they use a different network than WIFI, which is really a computer feature. WIFI is a localized means of devices communicating over shorter distances. You don't need a network for WIFI to work as it's just two devices interacting directly, a "smart" phone and a WIFI "hub", that is connected to a network router, or directly to an internet connection, but the phone is making a connection to a hub before it gets online. When they say they even if refuse WIFI connections, it still works, so that tells me that the only way that it possible is by them intercepting your phones WIFI signal between the phone and a hub. I suspect the phone user can only block internet connections, but not "turn off"(a type of "firewall") your phones WIFI signal transmission, which I suspect transmits continuously. If that's the case, I can see how they do it. The only solution is to either not have a smart phone, with WIFI or GPS, or carry the phones in a shielded case. You'll still be tracked each time you use it though, but they won't be able to track the phone when not in use like now. While we have liberty to use this world, there is a limit to what is edifying or expedient. Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on November 22, 2013, 06:57:15 am Monday, November 25, 2013
THE 666 SURVEILLANCE SYSTEM, Part 1 http://srcwm.webcastcenter.com/src/src_112513.wma Host: Noah Hutchings Guest: John McTernan The startling revelations of NSA spying on innocent Americans through their phones and computers in the name of "security" have shocked many in our country. But the NSA didn't stop with spying on Americans. This government agency has also been caught spying on the citizens and leaders of our friendly allies like Spain and Germany. Many wonder where it will all end. John McTernan believes 21st century technology will be used to expand the current government spy agencies to impose the surveillance system used by the Antichrist during the Tribulation period. Bible in the News: TBA Tuesday, November 26, 2013 THE 666 SURVEILLANCE SYSTEM, Part 2 http://srcwm.webcastcenter.com/src/src_112613.wma Host: Noah Hutchings Guest: John McTernan The startling revelations of NSA spying on innocent Americans through their phones and computers in the name of "security" have shocked many in our country. But the NSA didn't stop with spying on Americans. This government agency has also been caught spying on the citizens and leaders of our friendly allies like Spain and Germany. Many wonder where it will all end. John McTernan believes 21st century technology will be used to expand the current government spy agencies to impose the surveillance system used by the Antichrist during the Tribulation period. Bible in the News: TBA Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Kilika on November 22, 2013, 12:04:28 pm If people were to simply stop using anything with an internet connection, their digital system would collapse.
A dial-up land line doesn't seem so bad now, does it? ;) Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on November 27, 2013, 08:07:43 am NSA Monitored P0rn Habits To Discredit ‘Radicalizers’
Latest revelations from Snowden leaks The National Security Agency has been spying on online sexual activity – including visits to ****ography websites – as part of a proposed plan to discredit a handful of people the agency believes are “radicalizing” others, according to a new report. The Huffington Post reports on the latest revelations from leaker and former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, which indicates the NSA has spied on six targets, all Muslims, whom the agency believes are radicalizing others through incendiary speeches. According to the latest leaked document, the NSA listed vulnerabilities that could be exploited to discredit the individuals, including “viewing sexually explicit material online” and “using sexually explicit persuasive language when communicating with inexperienced young girls.” None of the six individuals identified in the document is accused of being involved in terrorist plots, and the agency believes that all reside outside of the U.S. The NSA document cited in the report was dated Oct. 3, 2012. It is the latest in a series of leaked classified documents obtained by Snowden, a former NSA contractor, who has since fled the United States and is living under temporary asylum in Russia. Read more: http://tinyurl.com/o9webga Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Psalm 51:17 on November 29, 2013, 11:48:44 am http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/11/marco-rubio-on-edward-snowden-a-traitor-who-sparked-conspiracy-theories/281755/
Marco Rubio on Edward Snowden: A 'Traitor' Who Sparked 'Conspiracy Theories' The Florida Republican's dubious commentary on America's most famous whistleblower 11/22/13 This week in Washington, Senator Marco Rubio accused a fellow American of treason. Edward Snowden drew the Republican's ire by informing hundreds of millions of innocent people that the NSA is spying on them. "We must respond to the valid concerns of Americans, who are alarmed by reports regarding their civil liberties," Rubio said in a speech at AEI. "But we must also distinguish these reasonable concerns from conspiracy theories sparked by Edward Snowden. This man is a traitor who has sought assistance and refuge from some of the world's most notorious violators of liberty and human rights." Anyone familiar with the Snowden story will understand why Rubio's comments are misleading. Americans are concerned about their civil liberties because of the accurate information the former Booz Allen Hamilton contractor leaked. He isn't responsible for any conspiracy theories, except in the sense that a conspiracy is "an agreement to perform together an illegal, wrongful, or subversive act," and he exposed NSA and GCHQ cooperation on such acts. Finally, Snowden didn't exactly choose Vladimir Putin's Russia. His plan was to pass through en route to a different country, but while he was there, the Obama Administration yanked his passport. As a result of that brilliant strategy, they stranded a man with lots of secrets in Russia rather than, say, Ecuador. Here is the next thing Rubio said: Quote Our intelligence programs need to be carefully monitored and controlled. But we do need them, because terrorists don't use carrier pigeons to communicate. They use cell phones and the Internet, adapting the latest technologies to aid their malign intent. We need to be prepared to intercept the messages of those who mean us harm while not interfering in the affairs of ordinary citizens. In what sense does collecting information on virtually all phone calls, hacking Google, mapping social networks, and tapping the Internet backbone not interfere with ordinary citizens? "Those of us tasked with providing oversight to these programs, starting with the president, need to be honest with the American people about the daily threats that we face," Rubio said. "We must explain why these programs, in a limited and carefully managed form, are necessary to protect the security of all Americans." But Senators Ron Wyden and Mark Udall, who are much, much better informed about NSA surveillance, insist that "we have yet to see any evidence that the bulk phone records collection program has provided any otherwise unobtainable intelligence," and believe much of what the NSA does is not necessary to protect our security. One can agree or disagree with Snowden's actions. But it is mighty strange to label as a traitor someone who acted to inform his countrymen and protect their liberties. Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Kilika on November 29, 2013, 12:29:37 pm Aside from details, I'd say Russian already knew most of what Snowden has leaked, especially about the US spying on other countries, etc. All the countries do it in some way. So I don't think the US was/is spying on people is any great leak of state secrets. There are other stories to these leaks that has people in Washington mad at Snowden, and no question what he hasn't released yet is more of a concern.
Traitor? Not by any definition. Whistleblower? Most definitely. And the author is correct, as has been presented. Snowden didn't appear to choose Russia. He basically had no choice, because the US did pull his passport, legally stranding him wherever he was at that time, which happened to be Russia. Did the US pull his passport at that time because he was in Russia, to make him look like he chose Russia? Maybe. It does seem like the US had choice as to when they made his passport invalid. Edward Snowden is not a traitor to the United States. He's a victim like the rest of the public. Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on December 02, 2013, 05:54:32 am 32 Privacy Destroying Technologies That Are Systematically Transforming America Into A Giant Prison
If you live in the United States, you live in a high tech surveillance grid that is becoming more oppressive with each passing day. In America today, the control freaks that run things are completely obsessed with watching, tracking, monitoring and recording virtually everything that we do. If we continue on the path that we are currently on, we will be heading into a future where there will be absolutely no privacy of any kind. In fact, many would argue that we are essentially there already. Many people speak of this as being the “Information Age“, but most Americans don’t really stop and think about what that really means. Most of the information that is considered to be so “valuable” is actually about all of us. Businesses want to know as much about all of us as possible so that they can sell us stuff. Government officials want to know as much about all of us as possible so that they can make sure that we are not doing anything that they don’t like. There is a constant hunger for even more information, and so the surveillance technologies just continue to become even more advanced and the Big Brother control grid being constructed all around us just continues to become even more pervasive. Even though you may not be consciously aware of it, the truth is that it is surrounding you right now even as you read this. We live in a society where liberty and freedom are literally being strangled to death, but most Americans don’t seem to care. Do you know who else gets watched, tracked and monitored 24 hours a day? Prisoners do. Surveillance is a form of control, and at this point we are little more than inmates inside a gigantic Big Brother surveillance grid. Posted below is a list of 32 privacy destroying technologies that are systematically transforming America into a giant prison. Following each item, there is a short excerpt from a news report about that particular technology. If you want to read the entire article where the excerpt came from, just click the link to find the source. Individually, each of these technologies is deeply troubling. But when you step back and take a look at them all collectively, it is absolutely horrifying… #1 Spying On Us Through Our Televisions: Put simply, our TVs have started spying on us. Last week, there was a high-profile case in point. An IT consultant called Jason Huntley, who lives in a village near Hull, uncovered evidence that a flat-screen television, which had been sitting in his living room since the summer, was secretly invading his family’s privacy. He began investigating the £400 LG device after noticing that its home screen appeared to be showing him ‘targeted’ adverts — for cars, and Knorr stock cubes — based on programmes he’d just been watching. Huntley decided to monitor information that the so-called smart TV — which connects to the internet — was sending and receiving. He did this by using his laptop effectively as a bridge between his television and the internet receiver, so the laptop was able to show all the data being sucked out of his set. He soon discovered that details of not just every show he watched but every button he pressed on his remote control were being sent back to LG’s corporate headquarters in South Korea. #2 Next Generation Facial Recognition Technology: In a single second, law enforcement agents can match a suspect against millions upon millions of profiles in vast detailed databases stored on the cloud. It’s all done using facial recognition, and in Southern California it’s already occurring. Imagine the police taking a picture: any picture of a person, anywhere, and matching it on the spot in less than a second to a personalized profile, scanning millions upon millions of entries from within vast, intricate databases stored on the cloud. #3 Your Next Password Might Be Your Eye: You can use your phone to figure out your heart rate, track how much you walk, and even measure your sex life. But the powerful sensors inside smartphones can do more than keep you updated on your health: They can also turn your body into a password. EyeVerify is a small Kansas City–based security company. Its core product is biometric eyescan software for smartphones. Every person has a unique pattern of blood vessels in their eyes. These blood vessels contrast with the whites of the eyes so clearly that they can always be read, even when there’s a lack of light. The best part? Those blood-vessel patterns can be photographed by phones and turned into unique data signatures which can be used to replace or supplement traditional passwords. “We turn a picture of your eye into a key that protects your digital identity,” says EyeVerify CEO Toby Rush. #4 “Pre-Crime” Surveillance Cameras: Hundreds of pre-crime surveillance cameras are to be installed in San Francisco’s subway system that will analyze “suspicious behavior” and alert guards to potential criminal or terrorist activity – before any crime has been committed. “Manufacturers BRS Labs said it has installed the cameras at tourist attractions, government buildings and military bases in the U.S. In its latest project BRS Labs is to install its devices on the transport system in San Francisco, which includes buses, trams and subways,” reports the Daily Mail. The cameras are programmed with a list of behaviors considered “normal”. Anything that deviates from usual activity is classified as suspicious and guards are immediately alerted via text message or a phone call. Equipped with the ability to track up to 150 suspects at a time, the cameras build up a “memory” of suspicious behavior to determine what constitutes potential criminal activity. A total of 288 cameras will be installed across 12 transport hubs. #5 New Software That Will Store And Analyze Millions Of Our Voices: ‘Voice Grid Nation’ is a system that uses advanced algorithms to match identities to voices. Brought to the US by Russia’s Speech Technology Center, it claims to be capable of allowing police, federal agencies and other law enforcement personnel to build up a huge database containing up to several million voices. When authorities intercept a call they’ve deemed ‘hinky’, the recording is entered into the VoiceGrid program, which (probably) buzzes and whirrs and spits out a match. In five seconds, the program can scan through 10,000 voices, and it only needs 3 seconds for speech analysis. All that, combined with 100 simultaneous searches and the storage capacity of 2 million samples, gives SpeechPro, as the company is known in the US, the right to claim a 90% success rate. #6 A Device That Captures Your Fingerprints From 20 Feet Away: Gaining access to your gym or office building could soon be as simple as waving a hand at the front door. A Hunsville, Ala.-based company called IDair is developing a system that can scan and identify a fingerprint from nearly 20 feet away. Coupled with other biometrics, it could soon allow security systems to grant or deny access from a distance, without requiring users to stop and scan a fingerprint, swipe an ID card, or otherwise lose a moment dealing with technology. Currently IDair’s primary customer is the military, but the startup wants to open up commercially to any business or enterprise that wants to put a layer of security between its facilities and the larger world. A gym chain is already beta testing the system (no more using your roommate’s gym ID to get in a free workout), and IDair’s founder says that at some point his technology could enable purchases to be made biometrically, using fingerprints and irises as unique identifiers rather than credit card numbers and data embedded in magnetic strips or RFID chips. #7 Molecular Scanners That Can Secretly Scan You From 164 Feet Away: Within the next year or two, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security will instantly know everything about your body, clothes, and luggage with a new laser-based molecular scanner fired from 164 feet (50 meters) away. From traces of drugs or gun powder on your clothes to what you had for breakfast to the adrenaline level in your body—agents will be able to get any information they want without even touching you. And without you knowing it. The technology is so incredibly effective that, in November 2011, its inventors were subcontracted by In-Q-Tel to work with the US Department of Homeland Security. In-Q-Tel is a company founded “in February 1999 by a group of private citizens at the request of the Director of the CIA and with the support of the U.S. Congress.” According to In-Q-Tel, they are the bridge between the Agency and new technology companies. Their plan is to install this molecular-level scanning in airports and border crossings all across the United States. #8 Mobile Backscatter Vans: American cops are set to join the US military in deploying American Science & Engineering’s Z Backscatter Vans, or mobile backscatter radiation x-rays. These are what TSA officials call “the amazing radioactive genital viewer,” now seen in airports around America, ionizing the private parts of children, the elderly, and you (yes you). These pornoscannerwagons will look like regular anonymous vans, and will cruise America’s streets, indiscriminately peering through the cars (and clothes) of anyone in range of its mighty isotope-cannon. But don’t worry, it’s not a violation of privacy. As AS&E’s vice president of marketing Joe Reiss sez, “From a privacy standpoint, I’m hard-pressed to see what the concern or objection could be.” #9 RFID Microchips In Our Schools: Upon arriving in the morning, according to the Associated Press, each student at the CCC-George Miller preschool will don a jersey with a stitched in RFID chip. As the kids go about the business of learning, sensors in the school will record their movements, collecting attendance for both classes and meals. Officials from the school have claimed they’re only recording information they’re required to provide while receiving federal funds for their Headstart program. #10 Palm Scanning Devices In Our Schools: Puyallup School District says by the end of the year, every lunchroom will have palm scanning devices that will allow students to pay for their lunch with a wave of a hand. “Efficiency is another reason for implementing this. The accuracy of the scanner reduces human error, reduces fraud, the ability for students to share numbers allows parents to know the money that they’re spending is being spent on their child’s lunch,” said Brian Fox, spokesperson for Puyallup School District. The district says the devices will be in all 32 schools by the end of the school year. #11 Iris Scanning Devices In Our Schools: Kids lose their school IDs but they don’t often lose their eyeballs. That’s one of the reasons why a growing number of schools are replacing traditional identification cards with iris scanners. By the fall, several schools — ranging from elementary schools to colleges — will be rolling out various iris scanning security methods. #12 Implantable Medical Laboratory-On-A-Chip: French researchers are zeroing in on a tiny, chip-based medical laboratory test device designed to be implanted under the skin. This miniature blood laboratory may revolutionize healthcare by continuously monitoring high-risk, chronically ill patients. This ground-breaking work is being done by developers at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), or Swiss Institute of Technology, in Lausanne, Switzerland. The implantable lab-testing device is linked to the user’s cell phone and can send alerts to doctors before symptoms are evident. #13 Smart Phone Eye Scanners: A patent application filed by Samsung seems to indicate that next-generation Galaxy smartphones might feature biometric authentication as an alternative to PINs or passwords. Unlike arch-rival Apple’s Touch ID, however, the South Korean technology giant won’t be scanning users’ fingerprints. Instead, the patent – spotted by blog Patent Bolt – describes a novel iris scanning technique. According to Samsung, the non-contact nature of eye scanning means handset owners “do not feel uncomfortable” with the technology, while at the same time the iris offers more unique patterns than the fingerprint does. #14 Cell Phone Tower “Stingrays”: You make a call on your cellphone thinking the only thing standing between you and the recipient of your call is your carrier’s cellphone tower. In fact, that tower your phone is connecting to just might be a boobytrap set up by law enforcement to ensnare your phone signals and maybe even the content of your calls. So-called stingrays are one of the new high-tech tools that authorities are using to track and identify you. The devices, about the size of a suitcase, spoof a legitimate cellphone tower in order to trick nearby cellphones and other wireless communication devices into connecting to the tower, as they would to a real cellphone tower. The government maintains that the stingrays don’t violate Fourth Amendment rights, since Americans don’t have a legitimate expectation of privacy for data sent from their mobile phones and other wireless devices to a cell tower. #15 Using Your Cell Phone Microphone As A “Roving Bug”: The FBI appears to have begun using a novel form of electronic surveillance in criminal investigations: remotely activating a mobile phone’s microphone and using it to eavesdrop on nearby conversations. The technique is called a “roving bug,” and was approved by top U.S. Department of Justice officials for use against members of a New York organized crime family who were wary of conventional surveillance techniques such as tailing a suspect or wiretapping him. #16 The Government Is Using Our Cell Phones To Track Our Movements: One of the biggest changes is the ability to track your physical location. I’m sorry I came in at the end of the previous talk. I heard them talk about surveying cell phones with a drone, in a wide area — this is something that is done routinely now. I can tell you that everybody that attended an Occupy Wall Street protest, and didn’t turn their cell phone off, or put it — and sometimes even if they did — the identity of that cell phone has been logged, and everybody who was at that demonstration, whether they were arrested, not arrested, whether their photos were ID’d, whether an informant pointed them out, it’s known they were there anyway. This is routine. #17 Police Using “Extraction Devices” To Take Our Cell Phone Data: The Michigan State Police have a handful of portable machines called “extraction devices” that have the potential to download personal information from motorists they pull over, and the ACLU would like to know more about them. The devices, sold by a company called Cellebrite, can download text messages, photos, video, and even GPS data from most brands of cell phones. The handheld machines have various interfaces to work with different models and can even bypass security passwords and access some information. #18 Automated License Plate Readers: More than 250 cameras in the District and its suburbs scan license plates in real time, helping police pinpoint stolen cars and fleeing killers. But the program quietly has expanded beyond what anyone had imagined even a few years ago. With virtually no public debate, police agencies have begun storing the information from the cameras, building databases that document the travels of millions of vehicles. Nowhere is that more prevalent than in the District, which has more than one plate-reader per square mile, the highest concentration in the nation. Police in the Washington suburbs have dozens of them as well, and local agencies plan to add many more in coming months, creating a comprehensive dragnet that will include all the approaches into the District. #19 Street Lights That Can Record Private Conversations: Federally-funded high-tech street lights now being installed in American cities are not only set to aid the DHS in making “security announcements” and acting as talking surveillance cameras, they are also capable of “recording conversations,” bringing the potential privacy threat posed by ‘Intellistreets’ to a whole new level. #20 Spying On Us Through Our Video Game Systems: Users of the new Xbox One are complaining that Kinect is monitoring their Skype conversations for swearing and then punishing them with account bans. Microsoft has admitted it is punishing gamers for bad language but denied that it is snooping on private Skype chats. #21 Data Mining: The company fits into a category called database marketing. It started in 1969 as an outfit called Demographics Inc., using phone books and other notably low-tech tools, as well as one computer, to amass information on voters and consumers for direct marketing. Almost 40 years later, Acxiom has detailed entries for more than 190 million people and 126 million households in the U.S., and about 500 million active consumers worldwide. More than 23,000 servers in Conway, just north of Little Rock, collect and analyze more than 50 trillion data ‘transactions’ a year. #22 A New Technology Called “Coin” Is Being Called “The Future Of Money”: The future of money has arrived, and it’s called Coin. It looks like a credit card. It’s the size of a credit card. It swipes in credit card machines. But it holds the information of up to eight of your debit, credit, rewards, or gift cards. And you can switch between cards by simply pressing a button. The new product, launched recently, promises to change the way consumers spend money in a secure and efficient way. #23 A National Database Of All Financial Transactions: The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is looking to create a “Google Earth” of every financial transaction of every American, Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY) warned today in a Senate speech opposing confirmation of Richard Cordray as CFPB director. “This bill (creating the CFPB) was supposed to be about regulating Wall Street. Instead, it’s creating a Google Earth on every financial transaction. That’s right: the government will be able to see every detail of your finances. Your permission – not needed,” Sen. Enzi said. #24 The Coming National DNA Database: A national DNA database is coming. Barack Obama has already said that he wants one. A major Supreme Court decision last month paved the way for one. The DNA of those that commit “serious crimes” is already being routinely collected all over the nation. Some states (such as New Jersey) are now passing laws that will require DNA collection from those charged with committing “low level crimes”. And a law that was passed under George W. Bush allows the federal government to screen the DNA of all newborn babies in the United States. So how long will it be before we are all required to give DNA samples to the authorities? #25 The Systematic Recording Of Talk Radio Programs: Next time you call a talk radio station, beware: The FBI may be listening. According to WMAL.com, “The FBI has awarded a $524,927 contract to a Virginia company to record as much radio news and talk programming as it can find on the Internet. … The FBI says it is not playing Big Brother by policing the airwaves, but rather seeking access to what airs as potential evidence.” #26 The FBI’s Next Generation Identification System: The US Federal Bureau of Investigation has begun rolling out its new $1 billion biometric Next Generation Identification (NGI) system. In essence, NGI is a nationwide database of mugshots, iris scans, DNA records, voice samples, and other biometrics, that will help the FBI identify and catch criminals — but it is how this biometric data is captured, through a nationwide network of cameras and photo databases, that is raising the eyebrows of privacy advocates. Until now, the FBI relied on IAFIS, a national fingerprint database that has long been due an overhaul. Over the last few months, the FBI has been pilot testing a facial recognition system — and soon, detectives will also be able to search the system for other biometrics such as DNA records and iris scans. #27 Trapwire: “You are being watched. The government has a secret system – a machine – that spies on you every hour of every day.” That is how each episode of “Person of Interest” on CBS begins. Most Americans that have watched the show just assume that such a surveillance network is completely fictional and that the government would never watch us like that. Sadly, most Americans are wrong. Shocking new details have emerged this week which prove that a creepy nationwide network of spy cameras is being rolled out across the United States. Reportedly, these new spy cameras are “more accurate than modern facial recognition technology”, and every few seconds they send back data from cities and major landmarks all over the United States to a centralized processing center where it is analyzed. The authorities believe that the world has become such a dangerous place that the only way to keep us all safe is to watch what everyone does all the time. But the truth is that instead of “saving America”, all of these repressive surveillance technologies are slowly killing our liberties and our freedoms. America is being transformed into an Orwellian prison camp right in front of our eyes, and very few people are even objecting to it. #28 Spyware That Monitors The Behavior Of Government Workers: When the Food and Drug Administration started spying on a group of agency scientists, it installed monitoring software on their laptop computers to capture their communications. The software, sold by SpectorSoft of Vero Beach, Fla., could do more than vacuum up the scientists’ e-mails as they complained to lawmakers and others about medical devices they thought were dangerous. It could be programmed to intercept a tweet or Facebook post. It could snap screen shots of their computers. It could even track an employee’s keystrokes, retrieve files from hard drives or search for keywords. #29 Political Campaign Databases: If you voted this election season, President Obama almost certainly has a file on you. His vast campaign database includes information on voters’ magazine subscriptions, car registrations, housing values and hunting licenses, along with scores estimating how likely they were to cast ballots for his reelection. #30 Spying On Us Through Our Appliances: Spies will no longer have to plant bugs in your home – the rise of ‘connected’ gadgets controlled by apps will mean that people ‘bug’ their own homes, says CIA director David Petraeus. The CIA claims it will be able to ‘read’ these devices via the internet – and perhaps even via radio waves from outside the home. Everything from remote controls to clock radios can now be controlled via apps – and chip company ARM recently unveiled low-powered, cheaper chips which will be used in everything from fridges and ovens to doorbells. The resultant chorus of ‘connected’ gadgets will be able to be read like a book – and even remote-controlled, according to CIA CIA Director David Petraeus, according to a recent report by Wired’s ‘Danger Room’ blog. #31 Unmanned Aerial Drones: Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency is using aerial drones to spy on farmers in Nebraska and Iowa. The surveillance came under scrutiny last week when Nebraska’s congressional delegation sent a joint letter to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson. On Friday, EPA officialdom in “Region 7” responded to the letter. “Courts, including the Supreme Court, have found similar types of flights to be legal (for example to take aerial photographs of a chemical manufacturing facility) and EPA would use such flights in appropriate instances to protect people and the environment from violations of the Clean Water Act,” the agency said in response to the letter. #32 NSA Snooping: Speaking to a raucous audience via Skype on Friday, Greenwald said the NSA’s “brand-new technology” gives it the power to “redirect into its own repositories one billion cell phone calls every single day.” “But what we’re really talking about here is a globalized system that prevents any form of electronic communication from taking place without its being stored and monitored by the National Security Agency,” Greenwald said. “It doesn’t mean that they’re listening to every call; it means they’re storing every call and have the capability to listen to them at any time, and it does mean that they’re collecting millions upon millions upon millions of our phone and email records.” Greenwald added that the NSA technology is “designed to destroy all privacy. And what’s incredibly menacing about it is that it’s all taking place in the dark with no accountability and virtually no safeguards.” —– Every single day, the NSA intercepts and permanently stores close to 2 billion emails and phone calls in addition to a whole host of other data. So where does all of that data go? Well, the NSA recently completely construction of the largest data center in the history of the world out in Utah. It will reportedly have the capability of storing 5 zettabytes of data. That is an amount of data that is almost incomprehensible. This data center has approximately a million square feet of storage space, it cost nearly 2 billion dollars to build, and it is going to take about 40 million dollars a year just to pay for the energy needed to run it. Without a doubt, we have become a surveillance society. And if the American people don’t object now, this will just be the tip of the iceberg. If we continue down this same path, what is coming will be far more horrifying than anything that George Orwell ever dreamed of. http://thetruthwins.com/archives/32-privacy-destroying-technologies-that-are-systematically-transforming-america-into-a-giant-prison Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Psalm 51:17 on December 03, 2013, 12:34:29 am Decided to take a long walk down a local Farm Road here in my area - at the very end of it, went to a small park with a nice creek to read my bible. While I was entering into it, 2 dogs came out of their owner's big property home and followed me there, and stayed with me(they were very friendly). And then when I was walking back, they continued to follow me all the way down the long street where it lead to this park, and then continued when I turned into the other street.
Then out of the blue, their owner drove up behind me in his truck calling for them. I don't know this for sure, but it looked like maybe, just maybe the dogs' owners may have put an RFID tracking device in/on them(like said, he just came out of the blue in his truck - didn't see him driving down behind me on that long street). When I looked at their tags when I was on that creek - it listed the owner's telephone number, and the first 3 of the last 4 digits of that number were 666(No kidding!) - which was also another reason why I thought there were RFID tracking devices on them.(the guy had a big piece of property with a bit of security at the front, so obviously he's wealthy) Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on December 08, 2013, 06:40:53 am IRS Using GOOGLE Maps to Spy on Taxpayers...
http://dailycaller.com/2013/12/07/irs-using-google-maps-to-spy-on-taxpayers/#ixzz2mo5AfjFA FBI Can Secretly Activate Individual's Webcam... http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/12/07/the-fbi-can-secretly-activate-an-individuals-webcam-without-the-indicator-light-turning-on/?utm Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on December 16, 2013, 01:08:51 pm This picture should really scare America and wake every one up in this country.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Bbn4beGCAAAxFDa.jpg:large) Department of Homeland Security sits vehicle behind Annenberg Hall at Harvard University Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Psalm 51:17 on December 16, 2013, 01:12:54 pm "Scared" isn't the word, per se(at least with Christians like us here), but yes - as Christians we need to use some discernment when we see these things.
You walk into these modern-day church buildings, and they say how America is so blessed and everything is goody-goody(including this very DHS). It's as if they've bought into the mark of the beast already. Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on December 16, 2013, 02:52:16 pm Judge: NSA phone program likely unconstitutional
A federal judge ruled Monday that the National Security Agency program which collects information on nearly all telephone calls made to, from or within the United States is likely unconstitutional. U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon found that the program appears to violate the Fourth Amendment ban on unreasonable searches and seizures. He also said the Justice Department had failed to demonstrate that collecting the information had helped to head off terrorist attacks. Acting on a lawsuit brought by conservative legal activist Larry Klayman, Leon issued a preliminary injunction barring the NSA from collecting so-called metadata pertaining to the Verizon accounts of Klayman and one of his clients. However, the judge stayed the order to allow for an appeal. “I cannot imagine a more ‘indiscriminate’ and ‘arbitrary invasion’ than this systematic and high-tech collection and retention of personal data on virtually every single citizen for purposes of querying it and analyzing it without judicial approval,” wrote Leon, an appointee of President George W. Bush. Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/12/national-security-agency-phones-judge-101203.html#ixzz2nfo3wgvW this is all bluster with the Patriot Act still law Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Kilika on December 16, 2013, 03:15:00 pm Quote “I cannot imagine a more ‘indiscriminate’ and ‘arbitrary invasion’ than this systematic and high-tech collection and retention of personal data on virtually every single citizen for purposes of querying it and analyzing it without judicial approval,” wrote Leon, an appointee of President George W. Bush. But that is exactly what the Patriot Act and a couple other acts allow, by law, passed under the Bush administration. Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on December 18, 2013, 11:10:27 am Judge: NSA phone program likely unconstitutional A federal judge ruled Monday that the National Security Agency program which collects information on nearly all telephone calls made to, from or within the United States is likely unconstitutional. U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon found that the program appears to violate the Fourth Amendment ban on unreasonable searches and seizures. He also said the Justice Department had failed to demonstrate that collecting the information had helped to head off terrorist attacks. Acting on a lawsuit brought by conservative legal activist Larry Klayman, Leon issued a preliminary injunction barring the NSA from collecting so-called metadata pertaining to the Verizon accounts of Klayman and one of his clients. However, the judge stayed the order to allow for an appeal. “I cannot imagine a more ‘indiscriminate’ and ‘arbitrary invasion’ than this systematic and high-tech collection and retention of personal data on virtually every single citizen for purposes of querying it and analyzing it without judicial approval,” wrote Leon, an appointee of President George W. Bush. Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/12/national-security-agency-phones-judge-101203.html#ixzz2nfo3wgvW this is all bluster with the Patriot Act still law The Liberal Media Obamuppets comes out with character assassination guns o' blazin... Larry Klayman in huge CNN smackdown Conservative legal activist Larry Klayman got into an argument on CNN with host Don Lemon and legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin when he was brought on to discuss his victory this week in a lawsuit challenging NSA surveillance, resulting in Lemon cutting him off the screen and Klayman comparing Lemon to disgraced former MSNBC host Martin Bashir. Klayman’s appearance Tuesday night on CNN was preceded by a profile of him that included a quotation from a former George W. Bush staffer saying his lawsuits were about “fighting for himself and his own, in my opinion, delusions of grandeur.” When Klayman was brought into the conversation, he came out firing. “I think it is important to note that you’re a big supporter of Obama,” Klayman said to Lemon. “That you have favored him in every respect. You have to try to do a hit piece to diminish a very important decision.” Lemon interjected to clarify that Klayman was speaking about him personally, saying, “None of that is true, but go on.” “Well, it is true. I’ve watched you for many years. You’re an ultra-leftist and you’re a big supporter of Obama,” Klayman said. “Let’s talk about the NSA, let’s not talk about Larry Klayman. This victory is for the American people. It wasn’t for me. And you, as somebody from the left … should appreciate that you don’t have a police state in this country that’s going to be able to intimidate Americans to chill their free speech rights.” Lemon again protested the characterization, saying that only he knows his political affiliation, over interruptions from Klayman, prompting the host to threaten to cut Klayman’s mic. He then brought on Toobin, CNN’s legal analyst, who slammed Klayman as a “lunatic.” (PHOTOS: NSA spying: 15 great quotes) “This case is based on Larry Klayman’s tin-foil hat paranoia about the NSA being after him. He had some fantasy that the NSA was after him. This case is not about Larry Klayman, it’s about the metadata program that affects everybody, but the idea that Larry Klayman is the representative is simply outrageous,” Toobin said. “He is a professional litigant and lunatic who should not be a representative of the very important issues of this case.” Klayman responded that Toobin should read the opinion and what the judge wrote. (Also on POLITICO: NSA ruling fallout hits White House) “It’s not about me, Jeffrey, and the fact that you want to try to do a hit on me shows me that you’re not a serious person and, frankly, should not be doing legal commentary for CNN,” Klayman said. “I think you should read the complaint rather than shooting your mouth off. … This is a disgrace.” “Oh, my gosh. Are you OK?” Lemon asked Klayman. The pair began to argue, and Lemon asked his producers to remove Klayman from the screen. After allowing Toobin to speak about the case, Lemon brought Klayman in for the last word “to show you we’re going to be the bigger person.” “The last word is you’re not the bigger people. Don’t kid anybody,” Klayman said. “Let anybody watch this and see that CNN removes you from the screen when it doesn’t like what you think. You know what, you’re not CNN, Don, and Toobin, you’re not CNN. CNN is a reputable organization, but you have not acted in a respectful way, and it’s in fact disgraceful. You’re more like Martin Bashir.” Klayman was the plaintiff in a lawsuit decided Monday in which a judge ruled the NSA’s surveillance program is likely to be unconstitutional. The decision is arguably the biggest victory of a long career as a gadfly for Klayman, who has been a character in Washington since the 1990s. Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/12/larry-klayman-don-lemon-jeffrey-toobin-cnn-national-security-agency-101271.html#ixzz2nqbLjBCa Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Psalm 51:17 on December 18, 2013, 11:17:00 am Why do these "conservatives" even bother to come out to these liberal media networks to begin with? Funny how all these years these so-called conservatives/evangelicals like James Dobson, Jerry Falwell, Newt Gingrich, Bush White House official, whatever Heritage Foundation/conservative think tank spokesman out there have wined and complained how the MSM has too much liberal bias, but en yet they continue to make appearance after appearance on these networks?
As for the whole NSA stuff - the Police State has really been implemented since the days of Ronald Reagan, and under whose watch was the Patriot Act? Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on January 22, 2014, 12:34:43 pm Computer chips in food packaging could 'text people when food is going off'
Scientists have developed the gadget for packets of perishable foods, which can tell when the contents are nearing their use-by date Computer chips in futuristic food packaging could warn consumers when their food is about to go off, it has been reported. Scientists have developed the gadget that can be inserted into packets of perishable foods, which will be able to assess when the contents are nearing their use-by date, an EU committee of peers has heard. The Daily Mail said the chips could potentially alert the owner by sending them a text message telling them they need to eat the food. According to the newspaper, Baroness Scott of Needham Market, the committee chair told environment minister Dan Rogerson that one witness giving evidence to the committee in the Netherlands said: “We’re quite close to commercial production of a small chip which would go into packaging which would measure the actual deterioration of the rate of food.” She said the current convention of the best before date “assumes that everything’s equal. It just assumes that you all keep your food at the same temperature whereas this would actually respond to what the real conditions are”. Mr Rogerson said: “I should be intrigued to know the range and amount of resource that would have to go into producing it.” Lady Scott added: “I’m having enough trouble with my text messages without the fridge texting me. Realistic or not, it’s interesting to see where innovation can lead.” http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/10589386/Computer-chips-in-food-packaging-could-text-people-when-food-is-going-off.html Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on February 05, 2014, 07:41:55 am Wisconsin School Gets Kids to Snitch on Parents
The game is called “Cross the Line” and many outraged parents believe that it does just that. A middle school in Marinette, Wisconsin got a group of 5th-8th graders together and organized a really fun game that asked students to step forward to answer “yes” to a series of highly personal questions. Questions like… Do your parents drink? Do you cut yourself? Has anyone in your family been to jail? Have you ever wanted to commit suicide? Do you or your parents do drugs? Unbelievably, school administrators believed that this “game” would help the kids to be better and kinder friends. “The intent of this activity was to build stronger, more respectful relationships among students,” said Principal Shawn Limberg. The “game” was part of an anti-bullying program. Of course, Limberg also said the “game” was completely voluntary, an assertion that was disputed by one young girl who told her mother she’d have to go to in-school suspension if she didn’t participate. Several parents voiced their concerns and had them brushed off. Amanda Fifarek, mother of a 7th grade student, told FOX 11, “They basically told us that all the students were lying…all the students got together and planned it out and if they weren’t lying, it was all misperceptions. They didn’t specifically say do your parents do drugs.” Of course. We all know those silly children must have just misunderstood the whole thing. Here’s the report from the local Fox station: REST: http://www.activistpost.com/2014/02/wisconsin-school-gets-kids-to-snitch-on.html Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Kilika on February 05, 2014, 10:02:17 am Quote Unbelievably, school administrators Parents keep complaining about this kind of stuff that keeps happening all over the country, and yet they still send their children to those wicked institutions. If the ignorant parents were the only ones harmed, I'd say they deserve what tribulation they get, but they are putting their kids at risk, and for that they will pay dearly. Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on February 17, 2014, 07:03:49 pm New Technology Allows For TV Ads to Target Specific Individuals, Families
The days when political campaigns would try to make inroads with demographic groups such as soccer moms or white working-class voters are gone. Now, the operatives are targeting specific individuals. And, in some places, they can reach those individuals directly through their televisions. Welcome to Addressable TV, an emerging technology that allows advertisers — Senate hopefuls and insurance companies alike — to pay some broadcasters to pinpoint specific homes. Advertisers have long bought ads knowing that only a fraction of the audience was likely to respond to them. Allowing campaigns — political or not — to finely hone their TV pitches to individuals could let them more efficiently spend their advertising dollars. “With a traditional TV buy you can end up paying for a lot of eyeballs you don’t care about,” said Chauncey McLean, chief operating officer of the Analytics Media Group, an ad and data firm. “Addressable TV is a powerful tool for those that are equipped to use it. If you know who you want to talk to and what you want to say, you can be much more precise.” Data geeks look at everything from voting histories to demographics, magazine subscriptions to credit scores, all in the hopes of identifying their target audience. The advertiser then hands over a list of targets and, without the viewer necessarily realizing it, the ads pop on when viewers sit down to watch a program if their broadcaster has the technology. “This is the power of a 30-second television commercial with the precision of a piece of direct mail targeted to the individual household level,” said Paul Guyardo, chief revenue officer at DirecTV. “Never before have advertisers had that level of precision when it came to a 30-second commercial.” The level of precision on televisions has long been a dream for political campaigns, which are decided by relatively small groups of voters. President Barack Obama’s campaign in 2012 experimented with it on a small scale, but too few homes were in broadcasting systems equipped to handle house-by-house decisions. But earlier this year, DirecTV and Dish Network announced a partnership that would allow political clients to reach into about 20 million households by matching up customers’ identities with their satellite receiver, much like a telephone number rings at a specific handset. At the same time, NBC and parent company Comcast are opening the door for advertisers to target specific households using video-on-demand services in 20 million more households. The communications giant is not yet ready to implement the targeting during live broadcasts, though. And GroupM, which handles about one-third of the world’s ad buys, recently formed a division to handle such addressable advertising. "We can send different commercials to different households based on what we know about these people. Instead of one message per state, it could be 12 messages per state,” said Michael Bologna, GroupM’s director of emerging communications and president of the newly formed Modi Media. The broadcast companies are expected to be able to charge more per viewer than for other ad orders, but in exchange advertisers get a greater confidence that their message is finding its target. For instance, Allstate has used such an approach to weed out homeowners when it is pitching rental insurance on some broadcast systems. Such specific political outreach has been possible for years as strategists buy, build and scour detailed data on each home to determine whether it is worth the time to knock on a door, to register a voter or to phone them to remind them to cast a ballot. In recent years, Democrats have built an advantage on that data front. The Republican National Committee has made catching up a priority, saying it would focus on data this year and leave advertising to outside groups. The RNC has announced one effort, branded Para Bellum Labs, to help the party build its list of likely supporters for races up and down the ballot. The RNC has a lot of catching up to do. Obama’s two presidential campaigns had a better grasp of the data. Last year, Democrats built on those abilities in Virginia’s gubernatorial contest. Strategists there used technology that pointed to specific individuals for a knock on the door, a call on the phone or an ad on their social networks. It wasn’t immediately clear to those Virginia voters that they were getting more attention than their neighbors. But behind the scenes, Democratic candidate Terry McAuliffe’s advisers were going after just a few thousand voters. For instance, his strategists pinpointed 494,000 voters and flooded them with Facebook messages criticizing McAuliffe’s rival, Ken Cuccinelli. “It’s a shift from identifying groups to identifying people,” said Andrew Bleeker, president and CEO of Bully Pulpit Interactive, the main firm advising McAuliffe on digital strategy. But there are limits. Fewer than half of all households have a cable box or satellite receiver that allows the broadcasters to splice in ads on some televisions and not others. The providers are limited to selling about two minutes of addressable advertising per hour. An hourlong show on a broadcast network has about 14 minutes of commercials. Cable varies, but they generally have about 17 minutes of commercials in a 60-minute slot. Building the list of targeted voters is tough and sometimes costly. And there’s no way of telling that the targeted viewer is the one who sees the ad. All that can be known is that it made its way into the households; federal laws prohibit the provider from telling the campaigns any details about specific viewers or their individual habits. Yet this option, reaching maturity in time for November’s elections, could help campaigns and candidates more efficiently spend the hundreds of millions of dollars that are already being raised. http://washington.cbslocal.com/2014/02/17/new-technology-allows-for-tv-ads-targeting-specific-individuals-families/ Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Kilika on February 18, 2014, 03:47:36 am Quote “This is the power of a 30-second television commercial with the precision of a piece of direct mail targeted to the individual household level,” said Paul Guyardo, chief revenue officer at DirecTV. “Never before have advertisers had that level of precision when it came to a 30-second commercial.” The level of precision on televisions has long been a dream for political campaigns, which are decided by relatively small groups of voters. President Barack Obama’s campaign in 2012 experimented with it on a small scale, but too few homes were in broadcasting systems equipped to handle house-by-house decisions. But earlier this year, DirecTV and Dish Network announced a partnership that would allow political clients to reach into about 20 million households by matching up customers’ identities with their satellite receiver, much like a telephone number rings at a specific handset. At the same time, NBC and parent company Comcast are opening the door for advertisers to target specific households using video-on-demand services in 20 million more households. The communications giant is not yet ready to implement the targeting during live broadcasts, though. For the record, I have Direct TV, and I'm not happy with it at all. The reason I'm not happy with it is Direct TV acts as if the viewing customer is secondary to their mission. And their efforts seem to be geared towards making advertisers money, regardless of what the viewers want. The DTV thugs claim the "rising costs" are the fault of broadcasters, not DTV. Anybody with a half reasonable brain knows that is a stone cold lie. The truth is that DTV and the cable companies all do the same thing and make the same excuses for price increases. They've been doing it for years. But what they don't talk about in the same conversation is all those price increases have gone to make their bottom line better, not to offer better service to customers. In fact, I can make the case their service has gotten worse, with most channels now showing mostly reruns, and DTV moving channels to upper tier channel packages that cost more, while loading up the lower less expensive tiers with junk channels that nobody wants. On our channel package, we have at least a third of available channels blocked, not listed on our channel guide. We have zero interest in those channels, which are mostly religious babble and children's channels, along with several Spanish language channels. All junk, yet we have to pay for those channels regardless. And DTV has risen their rates every years since I've had their service, and in a nasty email I sent them they replied admitting to it, but claimed it is the channels that forces them to raise rates! About 5 years ago, my bill was around $45-50/month. We still have the same package, that DTV doesn't even offer any more, and the price has risen to nearly $80/month, with less channels, some of them having done HD only, while other channels have simply been moved and not replaced. And the HD thing really gets me fired up! DTV charges extra for HD service, and if you don't pay, no HD, at all, even if a channel like a sports event is broadcast in HD, you won't get HD if you don't have the HD package DTV charges an extra $10/month for. That would mean nearly $90/month for a channel package that is one level above basic, no extra movie or sports channels. THAT to me is outright theft. And now DTV is selling out their viewers to advertisers with targeted commercials based on viewer data? Did DTV ever ask it's customer base if they weren't interested in being targeted? NOPE. They don't care, and claim it's what customers want. No, it's what board members want. Cable and satellite services are out of control, and the public is the loser as a result. Same with your ISP. Those thugs are doing the same basic things to internet customers. It's a fact that the US has on average the slowest internet speeds on the planet, with the highest prices on the planet. It doesn't take an expert to see what they are doing, and being allowed to do, to the public. Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on March 16, 2014, 05:54:41 am Big Brother Surveillance – It Is Not Just For Governments Anymore
Traditionally, when we have thought of “Big Brother technology” we have thought of government oppression. But these days, it isn’t just governments that are using creepy new technologies to spy on all of us. As you will see below, “Big Brother surveillance” has become very big business. In the information age, knowledge is power, and big corporations seem to have an endless thirst for even more of it. So it isn’t just governments that are completely obsessed with watching, tracking, monitoring and recording virtually everything that we do. Corporations have discovered that they can use Orwellian technologies to make lots of money, and this is likely only going to get worse in the years ahead. Below, I have shared a few examples of this phenomenon… Private Companies Are Using Automated License Plate Readers To Spy On You Did you know that people that work for private companies are driving around scanning our license plates? I never knew this until I came across an article about it the other day. The following is an excerpt from that article… Few notice the “spotter car” from Manny Sousa’s repo company as it scours Massachusetts parking lots, looking for vehicles whose owners have defaulted on their loans. Sousa’s unmarked car is part of a technological revolution that goes well beyond the repossession business, transforming any industry that wants to check on the whereabouts of ordinary people. An automated reader attached to the spotter car takes a picture of every license plate it passes and sends it to a company in Texas that already has more than 1.8 billion plate scans from vehicles across the country. These scans mean big money for Sousa — typically $200 to $400 every time the spotter finds a vehicle that’s stolen or in default — so he runs his spotter around the clock, typically adding 8,000 plate scans to the database in Texas each day. Your Cell Phone Is Spying On You If you carry a cell phone around with you, then you are willingly offering up a whole host of information about yourself. This is something that I have written about previously, but I never realized that some private companies are now setting up sensors in businesses to purposely capture information from the cell phones of anyone that walks in. Yes, this is actually happening according to the Wall Street Journal… Fan Zhang, the owner of Happy Child, a trendy Asian restaurant in downtown Toronto, knows that 170 of his customers went clubbing in November. He knows that 250 went to the gym that month, and that 216 came in from Yorkville, an upscale neighborhood. And he gleans this information without his customers’ knowledge, or ever asking them a single question. Mr. Zhang is a client of Turnstyle Solutions Inc., a year-old local company that has placed sensors in about 200 businesses within a 0.7 mile radius in downtown Toronto to track shoppers as they move in the city. Entire “Big Brother Housing Developments” Are Now Being Designed Would you live in a housing development with a sophisticated “video surveillance program” and that uses automated license plate scanners to monitor everyone who comes and goes from the community? In a country that is becoming increasingly obsessed with “security”, these new kinds of housing developments are surely going to be quite popular. The following is an excerpt from an article about one of these communities that is being built in California… A new, scenic development surrounded by winding waterways is billed as a safe haven. Only four bridges lead in and out of the area with security checkpoints and a fiberoptic video surveillance program. Every license plate scanned on those roads will be cross-checked with a DMV database for stolen cars. The first homes are already going up at River Islands, and the people who move in can expect to be part of a new era in policing. Disney Implements The “MagicBand” Tracking Device Would you wear an RFID tracking device that allows you to buy stuff and that monitors you wherever you go? Well, Disney actually wants their customers to willingly use this technology. They are calling it the “MagicBand”, and perhaps you have already watched one of the new Disney commercials about it. You can see what Disney has to say about “MagicBand” right here. In the video posted below, activist Mark Dice discusses this troubling move by Disney… http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=jX9vvNqDaAk Our “Smart Televisions” Are Spying On Us How would you feel if I told you that your expensive new television is actually spying on you? You probably would not be too excited to hear that. Well, depending on the actual brand, this is really happening. In fact, one brand of television actually sends information about every button that press on your remote back to corporate headquarters… An IT consultant called Jason Huntley, who lives in a village near Hull, uncovered evidence that a flat-screen television, which had been sitting in his living room since the summer, was secretly invading his family’s privacy. He began investigating the £400 LG device after noticing that its home screen appeared to be showing him ‘targeted’ adverts — for cars, and Knorr stock cubes — based on programmes he’d just been watching. Huntley decided to monitor information that the so-called smart TV — which connects to the internet — was sending and receiving. He did this by using his laptop effectively as a bridge between his television and the internet receiver, so the laptop was able to show all the data being sucked out of his set. He soon discovered that details of not just every show he watched but every button he pressed on his remote control were being sent back to LG’s corporate headquarters in South Korea. Data Mining – Your Personal Information Is Big Business There are huge companies that most people have never even heard of that do nothing but buy and sell our personal information. The collection of this personal information is called “data mining”, and it is extremely profitable. In fact, there is one company called Acxiom that made a profit of more than 77 million dollars in one recent year by collecting and selling info about all of us. In case you were wondering, yes, Acxiom almost certainly has a profile on you too… The company fits into a category called database marketing. It started in 1969 as an outfit called Demographics Inc., using phone books and other notably low-tech tools, as well as one computer, to amass information on voters and consumers for direct marketing. Almost 40 years later, Acxiom has detailed entries for more than 190 million people and 126 million households in the U.S., and about 500 million active consumers worldwide. More than 23,000 servers in Conway, just north of Little Rock, collect and analyze more than 50 trillion data ‘transactions’ a year. As long as these technologies are legal and businesses can make money this way, they are going to keep doing it. So even if we stopped the rapid expansion of “Big Brother surveillance” by the governments of the world, the reality is that private corporations are going to keep pushing the envelope. We live in a world that is rapidly changing, and unless a miracle happens we soon will not have very much privacy left at all. http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/big-brother-surveillance-it-is-not-just-for-governments-anymore Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Psalm 51:17 on March 22, 2014, 04:06:53 pm Report: NSA targeted Chinese tech giant Huawei
http://news.yahoo.com/report-nsa-targeted-chinese-tech-giant-huawei-170950504--finance.html 3/22/14 BERLIN (AP) — U.S. intelligence agencies hacked into the email servers of Chinese tech giant Huawei five years ago, around the time concerns were growing in Washington that the telecommunications equipment manufacturer was a threat to U.S. national security, two newspapers reported Saturday. The National Security Agency began targeting Huawei in early 2009 and quickly succeeded in gaining access to the company's client lists and email archive, German weekly Der Spiegel reported, citing secret U.S. intelligence documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. The New York Times also published a report Saturday about the documents. Huawei objects to activities that threaten network security, said William B. Plummer, the company's vice president of external affairs. "Huawei has declared its willingness to work with governments, industry stakeholders and customers in an open and transparent manner, to jointly address the global challenges of network security and data integrity," Plummer said in an email. "The information presented in Der Spiegel and the New York Times article reaffirms the need for all companies to be vigilant at all times." Among the people whose emails the NSA was able to read were Huawei president Ren Zhengfei, Der Spiegel said. The operation, which Der Spiegel claims was coordinated with the CIA, FBI and White House officials, also netted source codes for Huawei products. One aim was to exploit the fact that Huawei equipment is widely used to route voice and data traffic around the world, according to the report. But the NSA was also concerned that the Chinese government itself might use Huawei's presence in foreign networks for espionage purposes, it said. In 2012, the House Intelligence Committee recommended that Huawei be barred from doing business in the U.S., citing the threat that its equipment could enable Chinese intelligence services to tamper with American communications networks. In January, the company rejected a previous Der Spiegel report claiming that its equipment was vulnerable to hacking. The magazine had reported that the NSA was able to install secret "back doors" in telecoms equipment made by Huawei and other companies. Der Spiegel's latest report claims the NSA also targeted top Chinese officials, such as former President Hu Jintao, as well as ministries and banks. Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Psalm 51:17 on March 23, 2014, 12:26:10 pm http://news.yahoo.com/police-keep-quiet-cell-tracking-technology-070618821--finance.html
3/22/14 Police keep quiet about cell-tracking technology WASHINGTON (AP) — Police across the country may be intercepting phone calls or text messages to find suspects using a technology tool known as Stingray. But they're refusing to turn over details about its use or heavily censoring files when they do. Police say Stingray, a suitcase-size device that pretends it's a cell tower, is useful for catching criminals, but that's about all they'll say. For example, they won't disclose details about contracts with the device's manufacturer, Harris Corp., insisting they are protecting both police tactics and commercial secrets. The secrecy — at times imposed by nondisclosure agreements signed by police — is pitting obligations under private contracts against government transparency laws. Even in states with strong open records laws, including Florida and Arizona, little is known about police use of Stingray and any rules governing it. A Stingray device tricks all cellphones in an area into electronically identifying themselves and transmitting data to police rather than the nearest phone company's tower. Because documents about Stingrays are regularly censored, it's not immediately clear what information the devices could capture, such as the contents of phone conversations and text messages, what they routinely do capture based on how they're configured or how often they might be used. In one of the rare court cases involving the device, the FBI acknowledged in 2011 that so-called cell site simulator technology affects innocent users in the area where it's operated, not just a suspect police are seeking. Earlier this month, journalist Beau Hodai and the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona sued the Tucson Police Department, alleging in court documents that police didn't comply with the state's public-records law because they did not fully disclose Stingray-related records and allowed Harris Corp. to dictate what information could be made public. Revelations about surveillance programs run by the federal National Security Agency have driven a sustained debate since last summer on the balance between privacy and government intrusion. Classified NSA documents, leaked to news organizations, showed the NSA was collecting telephone records, emails and video chats of millions of Americans who were not suspected of crimes. That debate has extended to state and local governments. News organizations in Palm Springs, Calif.; Tallahassee, Fla.; Sacramento, Calif., and Pittsburgh are among those that have been denied records about Stingrays or Stingray-like devices, including details of contracts that Harris has with government agencies. In a response to a records request from the Tallahassee Democrat newspaper about Florida's use of cell-tracking technology, the state's top police agency provided a four-page, heavily censored document signed by a police investigator. The newspaper reported that the document referred to guidelines concerning the purchase of items and sought the department's agreement to the "provisions/content of the Non-Disclosure Agreement." The Desert Sun of Palm Springs made a similar request to the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department, which said it had to maintain secrecy even though the newspaper found information online about cell site simulators. And in Sacramento, the local sheriff's office told a TV station it would "be inappropriate for us to comment about any agency that may be using the technology" in light of a Harris nondisclosure agreement. Many of the requests were part of an effort to investigate the devices by Gannett Co. Inc., which publishes USA Today and owns other newspapers and television stations around the country. "I don't see how public agencies can make up an agreement with a private company that breaks state law," said David Cuillier, the director of the University of Arizona's journalism school and a national expert on public-records laws. "We can't have the commercial sector running our governments for us. These public agencies need to be forthright and transparent." A representative for Melbourne, Fla.-based Harris Corp. declined to comment or elaborate on how the company's agreements comport with open records laws. Court documents in Hodai's case show Harris' agreement required the Tucson city government not to "discuss, publish, release or disclose any information" about its products without the company's written consent. The agreement also required the city to contact Harris when it receives public-records requests about a "protected product," like a Stingray, so that the company can "challenge any such request in court." The police department declined to comment on Hodai's lawsuit. He had sought Harris contracts and police emails about how the technology is used. Email records show a Harris contract manager advised a Tucson police sergeant on what records couldn't be released to the public; the manager relied on the U.S. Freedom of Information Act, which governs records of the executive branch of the federal government. Nathan Freed Wessler, a staff attorney with the ACLU, said there's often a distinction in public-records laws to protect bona fide trade secrets — such as circuit board diagrams — as opposed to broader information like agency policies governing a Stingray's use or purchase agreements. He said police in Florida have declined to tell judges about the use of Stingrays because of nondisclosure agreements. A December 2013 investigation by USA Today found roughly 1 in 4 law enforcement agencies it surveyed had performed tower dumps, and slightly fewer owned a Stingray. But the report also said 36 additional agencies refused to provide details on their use, with most denying the newspaper's public-records requests. Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Kilika on March 24, 2014, 02:39:44 am When government refuses to talk about how they are treating their own population, that's a problem!
What we have here is a two-fold problem. Not only are they refusing to talk about this technology, they are using this technology to most likely violate the public's right to privacy under the 4th Amendment, all without a warrant. This kind of technology is created for one reason, to get information in a way that sidesteps the law concerning warrants. Law enforcement thinks it can use this stuff without a warrant. I say bull hockey! NO way, no how can police "investigate" a person and not have to get a warrant to obtain information without the person being targeted knowing about it. Police aren't talking about it because they know it's basically breaking the law, and as you see in the article, the FBI is right there backing police departments and the use of these devices. Most likely we will find out it is the federal government that has been pushing the use of these type devices, by giving them to local police departments under some kind of "grants" or some "state and federal joint mission". In almost every case, it is the federal government that is arming the states against their citizens, and state officials have become nothing more than state level federal officers. http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424053111904194604576583112723197574 (http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424053111904194604576583112723197574) Quote 'Stingray' Phone Tracker Fuels Constitutional Clash By Jennifer Valentino-DeVries September 22,2011 For more than a year, federal authorities pursued a man they called simply "the Hacker." Only after using a little known cellphone-tracking device—a stingray—were they able to zero in on a California home and make the arrest. Stingrays are designed to locate a mobile phone even when it's not being used to make a call. The Federal Bureau of Investigation considers the devices to be so critical that it has a policy of deleting the data gathered in their use, mainly to keep suspects in the dark about their capabilities, an FBI official told The Wall Street Journal in response to inquiries. A stingray's role in nabbing the alleged "Hacker"— Daniel David Rigmaiden —is shaping up as a possible test of the legal standards for using these devices in investigations. The FBI says it obtains appropriate court approval to use the device. Stingrays are one of several new technologies used by law enforcement to track people's locations, often without a search warrant. These techniques are driving a constitutional debate about whether the Fourth Amendment, which prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures, but which was written before the digital age, is keeping pace with the times. On Nov. 8, the Supreme Court will hear arguments over whether or not police need a warrant before secretly installing a GPS device on a suspect's car and tracking him for an extended period. In both the Senate and House, new bills would require a warrant before tracking a cellphone's location. And on Thursday in U.S. District Court of Arizona, Judge David G. Campbell is set to hear a request by Mr. Rigmaiden, who is facing fraud charges, to have information about the government's secret techniques disclosed to him so he can use it in his defense. Mr. Rigmaiden maintains his innocence and says that using stingrays to locate devices in homes without a valid warrant "disregards the United States Constitution" and is illegal. His argument has caught the judge's attention. In a February hearing, according to a transcript, Judge Campbell asked the prosecutor, "Were there warrants obtained in connection with the use of this device?" The prosecutor, Frederick A. Battista, said the government obtained a "court order that satisfied [the] language" in the federal law on warrants. The judge then asked how an order or warrant could have been obtained without telling the judge what technology was being used. Mr. Battista said: "It was a standard practice, your honor." Judge Campbell responded that it "can be litigated whether those orders were appropriate." On Thursday the government will argue it should be able to withhold details about the tool used to locate Mr. Rigmaiden, according to documents filed by the prosecution. In a statement to the Journal, Sherry Sabol, Chief of the Science & Technology Office for the FBI's Office of General Counsel, says that information about stingrays and related technology is "considered Law Enforcement Sensitive, since its public release could harm law enforcement efforts by compromising future use of the equipment." The prosecutor, Mr. Battista, told the judge that the government worries that disclosure would make the gear "subject to being defeated or avoided or detected." A stingray works by mimicking a cellphone tower, getting a phone to connect to it and measuring signals from the phone. It lets the stingray operator "ping," or send a signal to, a phone and locate it as long as it is powered on, according to documents reviewed by the Journal. The device has various uses, including helping police locate suspects and aiding search-and-rescue teams in finding people lost in remote areas or buried in rubble after an accident. The government says "stingray" is a generic term. In Mr. Rigmaiden's case it remains unclear which device or devices were actually used. (http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/P1-BC606_Stingr_D_20110921180755.jpg) Generic term? So why does the device have it stamped right on the device? Looks like a device name to me! Bunch of liars. The best known stingray maker is Florida-based defense contractor Harris Corp. A spokesman for Harris declined to comment. Harris holds trademarks registered between 2002 and 2008 on several devices, including the StingRay, StingRay II, AmberJack, KingFish, TriggerFish and LoggerHead. Similar devices are available from other manufacturers. According to a Harris document, its devices are sold only to law-enforcement and government agencies. Some of the gadgets look surprisingly old-fashioned, with a smattering of switches and lights scattered across a panel roughly the size of a shoebox, according to photos of a Harris-made StingRay reviewed by the Journal. The devices can be carried by hand or mounted in cars, allowing investigators to move around quickly. A rare public reference to this type of technology appeared this summer in the television crime drama "The Closer." In the episode, law-enforcement officers use a gadget they called a "catfish" to track cellphones without a court order. The U.S. armed forces also use stingrays or similar devices, according to public contract notices. Local law enforcement in Minnesota, Arizona, Miami and Durham, N.C., also either possess the devices or have considered buying them, according to interviews and published requests for funding. The sheriff's department in Maricopa County, Ariz., uses the equipment "about on a monthly basis," says Sgt. Jesse Spurgin. "This is for location only. We can't listen in on conversations," he says. Sgt. Spurgin says officers often obtain court orders, but not necessarily search warrants, when using the device. To obtain a search warrant from a court, officers as a rule need to show "probable cause," which is generally defined as a reasonable belief, based on factual evidence, that a crime was committed. Lesser standards apply to other court orders. A spokeswoman with the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension in Minnesota says officers don't need to seek search warrants in that state to use a mobile tracking device because it "does not intercept communication, so no wiretap laws would apply." FBI and Department of Justice officials have also said that investigators don't need search warrants. Associate Deputy Attorney General James A. Baker and FBI General Counsel Valerie E. Caproni both said at a panel at the Brookings Institution in May that devices like these fall into a category of tools called "pen registers," which require a lesser order than a warrant. Pen registers gather signals from phones, such as phone numbers dialed, but don't receive the content of the communications. To get a pen-register order, investigators don't have to show probable cause. The Supreme Court has ruled that use of a pen register doesn't require a search warrant because it doesn't involve interception of conversations. But with cellphones, data sent includes location information, making the situation more complicated because some judges have found that location information is more intrusive than details about phone numbers dialed. Some courts have required a slightly higher standard for location information, but not a warrant, while others have held that a search warrant is necessary. The prosecution in the Rigmaiden case says in court documents that the "decisions are made on a case-by-case basis" by magistrate and district judges. Court records in other cases indicate that decisions are mixed, and cases are only now moving through appellate courts. The FBI advises agents to work with federal prosecutors locally to meet the requirements of their particular district or judge, the FBI's Ms. Sabol says. She also says it is FBI policy to obtain a search warrant if the FBI believes the technology "may provide information on an individual while that person is in a location where he or she would have a reasonable expectation of privacy." Experts say lawmakers and the courts haven't yet settled under what circumstances locating a person or device constitutes a search requiring a warrant. Tracking people when they are home is particularly sensitive because the Fourth Amendment specifies that people have a right to be secure against unreasonable searches in their "houses." "The law is uncertain," says Orin Kerr, a professor at George Washington University Law School and former computer-crime attorney at the Department of Justice. Mr. Kerr, who has argued that warrants should be required for some, but not all, types of location data, says that the legality "should depend on the technology." In the case of Mr. Rigmaiden, the government alleges that as early as 2005, he began filing fraudulent tax returns online. Overall, investigators say, Mr. Rigmaiden electronically filed more than 1,900 fraudulent tax returns as part of a $4 million plot. Federal investigators say they pursued Mr. Rigmaiden "through a virtual labyrinth of twists and turns." Eventually, they say they linked Mr. Rigmaiden to use of a mobile-broadband card, a device that lets a computer connect to the Internet through a cellphone network. Investigators obtained court orders to track the broadband card. Both orders remain sealed, but portions of them have been quoted by the defense and the prosecution. These two documents are central to the clash in the Arizona courtroom. One authorizes a "pen register" and clearly isn't a search warrant. The other document is more complex. The prosecution says it is a type of search warrant and that a finding of probable cause was made. But the defense argues that it can't be a proper search warrant, because among other things it allowed investigators to delete all the tracking data collected, rather than reporting back to the judge. Legal experts who spoke with the Journal say it is difficult to evaluate the order, since it remains sealed. In general, for purposes of the Fourth Amendment, the finding of probable cause is most important in determining whether a search is reasonable because that requirement is specified in the Constitution itself, rather than in legal statutes, says Mr. Kerr. But it is "odd" for a search warrant to allow deletion of evidence before a case goes to trial, says Paul Ohm, a professor at the University of Colorado Law School and a former computer-crime attorney at the Department of Justice. The law governing search warrants specifies how the warrants are to be executed and generally requires information to be returned to the judge. Exactly! THAT is intentional destruction of evidence in order to hide information about the case. How is that not a crime? I say it's a stone-cold, slam dunk crime. Even if the court finds the government's actions acceptable under the Fourth Amendment, deleting the data is "still something we might not want the FBI doing," Mr. Ohm says. The government says the data from the use of the stingray has been deleted and isn't available to the defendant. In a statement, the FBI told the Journal that "our policy since the 1990s has been to purge or 'expunge' all information obtained during a location operation" when using stingray-type gear. So the FBI openly admits they have been using these type devices since the 90's! And have been destroying evidence all along. THAT is your law enforcement America! As a general matter, Ms. Sabol says, court orders related to stingray technology "will include a directive to expunge information at the end of the location operation." Ms. Sabol says the FBI follows this policy because its intent isn't to use the data as evidence in court, but rather to simply find the "general location of their subject" in order to start collecting other information that can be used to justify a physical search of the premises. See that? Now why would they collect information during a criminal investigation and not keep that info as part of the case? Because they know full well the information was obtained most likely illegally, so they don't try to push it with the info they do get. Better to use it as needed, then toss it, so they don't have to answer any more questions about HOW they got info to the courts than they have to. In the Rigmaiden example, investigators used the stingray to narrow down the location of the broadband card. Then they went to the apartment complex's office and learned that one resident had used a false ID and a fake tax return on the renter's application, according to court documents. Based on that evidence, they obtained a search warrant for the apartment. They found the broadband card connected to a computer. Mr. Rigmaiden, who doesn't confirm or deny ownership of the broadband card, is arguing he should be given information about the device and about other aspects of the mission that located him. In the February hearing, Judge Campbell said he might need to weigh the government's claim of privilege against the defendant's Fourth Amendment rights, and asked the prosecution, "How can we litigate in this case whether this technology that was used in this case violates the Fourth Amendment without knowing precisely what it can do?" Write to Jennifer Valentino-DeVries at Jennifer.Valentino-DeVries@wsj.com Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on April 19, 2014, 06:25:35 am LA Sheriff's Dept. On New Surveillance Program: We Knew The Public Wouldn't Like It, So We Kept It A Secret
from the because-screw-those-whiners-and-their-'rights' dept As we've noted several times before, law enforcement and investigative agencies tend to roll out expanded surveillance systems without bothering to run it by the citizens they're planning to surveil. The systems and programs are deployed, FOIA battles are waged and, finally, at some point, the information makes its way to the public. It is only then that most agencies start considering the privacy implications of their surveillance systems, and these are usually addressed by begrudging, minimal protections being belatedly applied. Now, it's obvious why these agencies don't inform the public of their plans. They may uses terms like "security" and "officer safety" and theorize that making any details public would just allow criminals to find ways to avoid the persistent gaze of multiple surveillance options, but underneath it all, they know the public isn't going to just sit there and allow them to deploy intrusive surveillance programs. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department is using a new surveillance program utilizing the technology of a private contractor doing business under the not-scary-at-all name of "Persistent Surveillance Systems." This gives the LASD a literal eye in the sky that provides coverage it can't achieve with systems already in place. But it does more than just give the LASD yet another camera. It provides the agency with some impressive tools to manipulate the recordings. The system, known as wide-area surveillance, is something of a time machine – the entire city is filmed and recorded in real time. Imagine Google Earth with a rewind button and the ability to play back the movement of cars and people as they scurry about the city. “We literally watched all of Compton during the time that we were flying, so we could zoom in anywhere within the city of Compton and follow cars and see people,” [Ross] McNutt [owner of Persistent Surveillance Systems] said. “Our goal was to basically jump to where reported crimes occurred and see what information we could generate that would help investigators solve the crimes.” As with nearly everything making its way into law enforcement hands these days, this technology was developed and deployed first in battlefields. Persistent Surveillance Systems' first proving grounds were Afghanistan and Iraq, tracking down bombing suspects. All it takes is a cluster of high-powered cameras and a single civilian plane to watch over Compton with warzone-quality surveillance. According to McNutt, the camera system covers "10,000 times" the area a single police helicopter can. McNutt also believes the system can be expanded to cover an area as large as the entire city of San Francisco. While the cameras aren't quite powerful enough to allow the LASD to make use of another, increasingly popular technological tool -- facial recognition -- this still gives the LASD an unprecedented coverage area. Camera technology continues to improve, so there's no reason to believe a few of McNutt's planes won't someday (possibly very soon) have the power to assist the LASD with adding new mugshots to its databases. But, as pointed out earlier, where does the public fit into all of this? Were privacy concerns addressed before moving forward with Persistent Surveillance Systems? I'm not even going to try to set up this astounding response from an LASD officer. Just read it: “The system was kind of kept confidential from everybody in the public,” (LASD Sgt.) Iketani said. “A lot of people do have a problem with the eye in the sky, the Big Brother, so in order to mitigate any of those kinds of complaints, we basically kept it pretty hush-hush.” You know, it's one thing to think this. We know from experience that many law enforcement officials (as well as the rank-and-file) absolutely resent being publicly accountable and having to make the occasional token effort to respect civil liberties, so it's not surprising that the LASD knew the easiest way to avoid a negative public was to lock the public out. It is, however, quite another thing to come out on record and say this. This shows just how little the LASD actually cares about the public's concerns. The agency knew the public wouldn't be happy and an official comes right out and tells the public that his agency and others don't really care. What they don't know won't hurt them... until it's too late to do anything about it. This was followed up by another statement from an LAPD official, who noted that frogs generally come around to the idea of being boiled to death. The center’s commanding officer, Capt. John Romero, recognizes the concerns but equates them with public resistance to street lights in America’s earliest days. “People thought that this is the government trying to see what we’re doing at night, to spy on us,” Romero said. “And so over time, things shifted, and now if you try to take down street lights in Los Angeles or Boston or anywhere else, people will say no.” There's no honesty or accountability in these statements. There's only an admission that Los Angeles law enforcement feels the public is there to serve them and not the other way around. Hiding your plans from the public doesn't instill confidence that their rights will be respected. Neither does telling them they'll "get used to it." Instead, it creates an even more antagonistic environment, one where the public is viewed as a nuisance at best by people whose power is derived from the same citizens they so obviously have no respect for. https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140415/07371926919/la-sheriffs-dept-new-surveillance-program-we-knew-public-wouldnt-like-it-so-we-kept-it-secret.shtml Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on April 19, 2014, 06:29:00 am Surveillance States of America: Silicon Valley Creates Robocop that will Start Patrolling Streets this Year
:o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o t sounds like a bad sci-fi movie or an Orwellian Novel about a government gone mad with power; unfortunately, it could be our very near future: Robocops and drones keeping tabs on everyone. A Silicon Valley company called Knightscope is currently testing a prototype robot that they say will help patrol the streets of America – monitoring the public and using analytical data to “predict future crimes.” The Knightscope K5 is a five-foot-tall autonomous robot that looks closer to R2-D2 than it does Robocop, but this robot is no Hollywood creation, it’s the real deal. lots of vids must read http://offgridsurvival.com/surveillance-state-robots/ Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on April 30, 2014, 07:21:38 am Supreme Court green lights detention of Americans
A decision from the U.S. Supreme Court means the federal government now has an open door to “detain as a threat to national security anyone viewed as a troublemaker,” critics of the high court’s ruling said. The high court by its own order this week refused to review an appellate-level decision that says the president and U.S. military can arrest and indefinitely detain individuals. Officials with William J. Olson, P.C., a firm that filed an amicus brief asking the court to step in, noted that not a single justice dissented from the denial of certiorari. “The court ducked, having no appetite to confront both political parties in order to protect the citizens from military detention,” the legal team told WND. “The government has won, creating a tragic moment for the people – and what will someday be viewed as an embarrassment for the court.” WND reported earlier when the indefinite detention provisions of the National Defense Authorization Act were adopted, then later challenged in court. The controversial provision authorizes the military, under presidential authority, to arrest, kidnap, detain without trial and hold indefinitely American citizens thought to “represent an enduring security threat to the United States.” Journalist Chris Hedges was among the plaintiffs charging the law could be used to target journalists who report on terror-related issues. A friend-of-the-court brief submitted in the case stated: “The central question now before this court is whether the federal judiciary will stand idly by while Congress and the president establish the legal framework for the establishment of a police state and the subjugation of the American citizenry through the threat of indefinite military arrest and detention, without the right to counsel, the right to confront one’s accusers, or the right to trial.” The brief was submitted to the Supreme Court by attorneys with the U.S. Justice Foundation of Ramona, California; Friedman Harfenist Kraut & Perlstein of Lake Success, New York; and William J. Olson, P.C. of Vienna, Virginia. The attorneys are Michael Connelly, Steven J. Harfenist, William J. Olson, Herbert W. Titus, John S. Miles, Jeremiah L. Morgan and Robert J. Olson. They were adding their voices to the chorus asking the Supreme Court to overturn the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which said the plaintiffs didn’t have standing to challenge the law adopted by Congress. The brief was on behalf of U.S. Rep. Steve Stockman, Virginia Delegate Bob Marshall, Virginia Sen. Dick Black, the U.S. Justice Foundation, Gun Owners Foundation, Gun Owners of America, Center for Media & Democracy, Downsize DC Foundation, Downsize DC.org, Free Speech Defense & Education Fund, Free Speech Coalition, Western Journalism Center, The Lincoln Institute, Institute on the Constitution, Abraham Lincoln Foundation and Conservative Legal Defense & Education Fund. Journalist Chris Hedges, who is suing the government over a controversial provision in the National Defense Authorization Act, is seen here addressing a crowd in New York's Zuccotti Park. The 2014 NDAA was fast-tracked through the U.S. Senate, with no time for discussion or amendments, while most Americans were distracted by the scandal surrounding A&E’s troubles with “Duck Dynasty” star Phil Robertson. Eighty-five of 100 senators voted in favor of the new version of the NDAA, which had already been quietly passed by the House of Representatives. Hedges, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, and others filed a lawsuit in 2012 against the Obama administration to challenge the legality of an earlier version of the NDAA. It is Section 1021 of the 2012 NDAA, and its successors, that drew a lawsuit by Hedges, Daniel Ellsberg, Jennifer Bolen, Noam Chomsky, Alex O’Brien, Kai Warg All, Brigitta Jonsottir and the group U.S. Day of Rage. Many of the plaintiffs are authors or reporters who stated that the threat of indefinite detention by the U.S. military already had altered their activities. Video mania: The instruction manual on how to restore America to what it once was: “Taking America Back” on DVD. This package also includes the “Tea Party at Sea” DVD. “It’s clearly unconstitutional,” Hedges said of the bill. “It is a huge and egregious assault against our democracy. It overturns over 200 years of law, which has kept the military out of domestic policing.” Hedges is a former foreign correspondent for the New York Times and was part of a team of reporters awarded a Pulitzer Prize in 2002 for the paper’s coverage of global terrorism. The friend-of-the-court brief warned the precedent “leaves American citizens vulnerable to arrest and detention, without the protection of the Bill of Rights, under either the plaintiff’s or the government’s theory of the case. “The judiciary must not await subsequent litigation to resolve this issue, as the nature of military detention is that American citizens then would have no adequate legal remedy,” the brief explained. “Once again, the U.S. Supreme Court has shown itself to be an advocate for the government, no matter how illegal its action, rather than a champion of the Constitution and, by extension, the American people,” said John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute. “No matter what the Obama administration may say to the contrary, actions speak louder than words, and history shows that the U.S. government is not averse to locking up its own citizens for its own purposes. What the NDAA does is open the door for the government to detain as a threat to national security anyone viewed as a troublemaker. “According to government guidelines for identifying domestic extremists – a word used interchangeably with terrorists, that technically applies to anyone exercising their First Amendment rights in order to criticize the government,” he said. It’s not like rounding up innocent U.S. citizens and stuffing them into prison camps hasn’t already happened. In 1944, the government rounded up thousands of Japanese Americans and locked them up, under the approval of the high court in its Korematsu v. United States decision. The newest authorizes the president to use “all necessary and appropriate force” to jail those “suspected” of helping terrorists. The Obama administration had claimed in court that the NDAA does not apply to American citizens, but Rutherford attorneys said the language of the law “is so unconstitutionally broad and vague as to open the door to arrest and indefinite detentions for speech and political activity that might be critical of the government.” The law specifically allows for the arrests of those who “associate” or “substantially support” terror groups. “These terms, however, are not defined in the statute, and the government itself is unable to say who exactly is subject to indefinite detention based upon these terms, leaving them open to wide ranging interpretations which threaten those engaging in legitimate First Amendment activities,” Rutherford officials reported. At the trial court level, on Sept. 12, 2012, U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest of the Southern District Court of New York ruled in favor of the plaintiffs and placed a permanent injunction on the indefinite detention provision. Obama then appealed, and his judges on the 2nd Circuit authorized the government detention program. Since the fight started, multiple states have passed laws banning its enforcement inside those states. Herb Titus, a constitutional expert, previously told WND Forrest’s ruling underscored “the arrogance of the current regime, in that they will not answer questions that they ought to answer to a judge because they don’t think they have to.” The judge explained that the plaintiffs alleged paragraph 1021 is “constitutionally infirm, violating both their free speech and associational rights guaranteed by the 1st Amendment as well due process rights guaranteed by the 5th Amendment.” She noted the government “did not call any witnesses, submit any documentary evidence or file any declarations.” “It must be said that it would have been a rather simple matter for the government to have stated that as to these plaintiffs and the conduct as to which they would testify, that [paragraph] 1021 did not and would not apply, if indeed it did or would not,” she wrote. Instead, the administration only responded with, “I’m not authorized to make specific representations regarding specific people.” “The court’s attempt to avoid having to deal with the constitutional aspects of the challenge was by providing the government with prompt notice in the form of declarations and depositions of the … conduct in which plaintiffs are involved and which they claim places them in fear of military detention,” she wrote. “To put it bluntly, to eliminate these plaintiffs’ standing simply by representing that their conduct does not fall within the scope of 1021 would have been simple. The government chose not to do so – thereby ensuring standing and requiring this court to reach the merits of the instant motion. “Plaintiffs have stated a more than plausible claim that the statute inappropriately encroaches on their rights under the 1st Amendment,” she wrote. http://www.wnd.com/2014/04/supreme-court-green-lights-detention-of-americans/print/ Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on May 16, 2014, 07:10:26 am U.S. Agents to Legally Hack Computers Everywhere
It seems that the American thirst for citizens’ private information literally knows no bounds. The U.S. is promoting laws that will make it much easier for the FBI to legally hack into suspects’ computers. U.S. judges, under the new regulations, will have the authority to approve the investigation of computers that aren’t even located on American soil. rest: http://i-hls.com/2014/05/u-s-agents-legally-hack-computers-everywhere/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=u-s-agents-legally-hack-computers-everywhere Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Psalm 51:17 on June 02, 2014, 02:17:42 pm Make no mistake - Oliver Stone is controlled-oppostion - I saw his "JFK" over 20 years ago, and his message was just that...that the current Constitution is no good, and therefore it needs to be torn up and a New World Order needs to be brought in.
And to boot - while he correctly exposed the CIA, FBI(and these other corrupt Caesar agencies), he didn't say a word about these secret societies like the Jesuits, Freemasons, and Federal Reserve who were really behind JFK's assassination.(ie-JFK exposed these secret societies like a year before his death) http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/movies/oliver-stone-direct-edward-snowden-biopic-article-1.1814253 Oliver Stone signs on to direct Edward Snowden biopic: ‘It is one of the greatest stories of our time’ The Oscar-winning director will make a film about the NSA whistleblower based on the book, ‘The Snowden Files.’ 6/2/14 Oliver Stone doesn’t shy away from controversial topics and his latest movie project is no exception. The Oscar-winning director announced Monday that he will tackle a film based on NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, the Guardian reports. Stone’s film was based on an adaptation of Guardian journalist Luke Harding’s book, “The Snowden Files: The Inside Story of the World’s Most Wanted Man.” Harding and other Guardian journalists will serve as consultants to the film. “This is one of the greatest stories of our time," the 67-year-old director said in a statement. "A real challenge.” The film will chronicle Snowden’s saga as a National Security Agency whistleblower and what happened after he leaked classified documents to Guardian columnist Glenn Greenwald. The project is set to begin filming at the end of the year. Stone’s film about Snowden will just be the latest biopic in his filmography. Other movie biopics from the director include “Nixon” and “W,” about Presidents Richard Nixon and George W. Bush, respectively. Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on June 03, 2014, 06:21:52 pm U.S. reconstitutes group to fight homegrown extremists
The United States is reviving a law enforcement group to investigate those it designates as domestic terrorists, the Department of Justice announced Tuesday. Following hate-motivated shootings such as the one at a Jewish Community Center in Kansas City, Missouri in April, federal prosecutors have pressed the need to coordinate intelligence about such criminals on a national level, Justice Department officials said. The Department of Justice will reconstitute a task force that was originally formed after the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing but dissolved after the Sept. 11, 2001 hijacked plane attacks as law enforcement agencies focused on threats from militants abroad. On Tuesday, Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement that the United States remains concerned about threats from Islamic extremists, but the group will focus on other motives for attacks within U.S. borders. Events like the April 2013 bombing of the Boston Marathon, in which the attackers appeared to be influenced by extremists abroad, would not fall under the jurisdiction of the group, named the Domestic Terrorism Executive Committee. "We must also concern ourselves with the continued danger we face from individuals within our own borders who may be motivated by a variety of other causes from anti-government animus to racial prejudice," Holder said. The American Civil Liberties Union said it plans to engage with the Justice Department to ensure the effort does not lead to racial profiling or other bias targeting of individuals who may be wrongfully suspected of having violent intentions, said Naureen Shah, legislative counsel for the ACLU. "Attorney General Holder’s announcement that the new task force will focus on evidence of anti-government animus and racial intolerance raises concerns that it could be a sweeping mandate to monitor and collect controversial speech,” said Lee Rowland, a staff attorney at the ACLU. The committee's members will come from the FBI, the National Security Division of the Justice Department and the Attorney General's Advisory Committee, which includes representatives of federal prosecutors. http://news.yahoo.com/u-revives-group-fight-homegrown-extremists-officials-155621629.html Title: CIA outwits impersonators by embracing Twitter, Facebook Post by: Psalm 51:17 on June 06, 2014, 06:11:17 pm CIA outwits impersonators by embracing Twitter, Facebook
http://news.yahoo.com/cia-launches-twitter-and-facebook-accounts-210535915.html 6/6/14 Apparently the good folks at the Central Intelligence Agency have decided that YOLO. On Friday, the CIA announced it was launching Twitter and Facebook accounts. And the public seems eager to associate with the nation’s best-known intelligence-gathering entity — the CIA Twitter account had nearly 150,000 followers less than three hours after launching. The agency’s first tweet: CIA ✔ @CIA Follow We can neither confirm nor deny that this is our first tweet. 10:49 AM - 6 Jun 2014 So, why did the CIA decide it needed a presence on Twitter and Facebook? Well, apparently the impetus was an individual or organization that was attempting to impersonate the agency on social media. “Earlier this year we filed an impersonation complaint with Twitter,” Dean Boyd, of the agency’s office of public affairs, told Yahoo News. “Someone appeared to be using this handle to violate both CIA and Twitter rules by spreading false information.” And now that the CIA owns the @CIA handle, Boyd says the agency plans to be active in social media. “We’ll be able to more directly engage the public and provide information,” he said. “It’s important to share insights, historical artifacts and even unclassified information with the public.” Boyd said the agency plans to primarily use the accounts to share speeches from CIA Director John Brennan and press releases. But perhaps of most interest to people online is that Boyd said the agency will also share some of its wealth of declassified data from around the world, seeing the social media outlets as an “educational tool” for the public. “We want to make sure that unclassified information about the Agency is more accessible to the American public that we serve, consistent with our national security mission,” Brennan said in a statement. “There will be an incredible amount of artifacts made available that most people wouldn’t otherwise be able to access,” Boyd added. When asked if the agency expects to be spammed by people, even those with the best of intentions, who want to offer their own information to the CIA, Boyd paused for several seconds before responding. “It’s a valuable tool to provide information to the public and to hear what the public is thinking,” he said. Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on July 23, 2014, 07:06:31 am The Worst Trolls On The Internet Are The Government Trolls
We have all run into them. All over the Internet, there are horrible trolls that seem to delight in making life miserable for other people. But the worst trolls of all are the government trolls. And thanks to Edward Snowden, we now have some startling new evidence of what really goes on behind the scenes. According to newly revealed documents, British spy agency GCHQ is manipulating online discussions, infiltrating the computers of specific targets, purposely destroying reputations, altering the results of online polls, and using Twitter, Facebook and YouTube for propaganda and espionage purposes. If people don’t start getting outraged about this now, the governments of the western world are going to see it as a green light to do even more. Eventually, it might get so bad that we won’t be able to trust much of anything that we see on the Internet. There is a lot about the Internet that is really awful, but one great thing about it is the fact that it has allowed average individuals to communicate on a mass scale unlike ever before. As the general population has become aware of how powerful of a tool the Internet can be, the elite have become extremely alarmed. Unlike so many other things in our society, it has not been something that they have been able to easily control. But the elite have been starting to catch up to all of this new technology and are learning how to use it for their own purposes. Thanks to Snowden, we now have a list of specific tools that GCHQ has been using to manipulate the Internet. The following is a short excerpt from a recent ZDNet article about these new revelations… ***** A number of interesting tools and their short descriptions are below: ASTRAL PROJECTION: Remote GSM secure covert Internet proxy using TOR hidden service POISON ARROW: Safe malware download capability AIRWOLF: YouTube profile, comment and video collection BIRDSTRIKE: Twitter monitoring and profile collection GLASSBACK: Technique of getting a target’s IP address by pretending to be a spammer and ringing them. Target does not need to answer. MINIATURE HERO: Active skype capability. Provision of realtime call records (SkypeOut and SkypetoSkype) and bidirectional instant messaging. Also contact lists. PHOTON TORPEDO: A technique to actively grab the IP address of MSN messenger user SPRING-BISHOP: Finding private photos of targets on Facebook BOMB BAY: The capacity to increase website hits, rankings BURLESQUE: The capacity to send spoofed SMS messages GESTATOR: Amplification of a given message, normally video, on popular multimedia websites (YouTube) SCRAPHEAP CHALLENGE: Perfect spoofing of emails from Blackberry targets SUNBLOCK: Ability to deny functionality to send/receive email or view material online SWAMP DONKEY: A tool that will silently locate all predefined types of file and encrypt them on a targets machine UNDERPASS: Change outcome of online polls (previously known as NUBILO). WARPATH: Mass delivery of SMS messages to support an Information Operations campaign. HUSK: Secure one-on-one web based dead-drop messaging platform. The list, dated from 2012, says that most of the tools are “fully operational, tested and reliable,” and adds: “Don’t treat this like a catalogue. If you don’t see it here, it doesn’t mean we can’t build it.” ***** If we are going to have a free and open society, then we simply cannot have the governments of the western world running around systematically manipulating the Internet for their own purposes. And of course it is not just the British that are doing this kind of thing. Just recently, for example, the U.S. was caught manipulating discourse on Reddit and editing Wikipedia. The rest of the world is watching all of this and they are absolutely disgusted with us. The more that we act like Nazis, the more they are going to regard us as such. At this point, even our closest friends are loudly denouncing us. Germany just caught one U.S. spy, and a German newspaper claims that there are “dozens” of other CIA-recruited spies working in German ministries. And the Germans have become so paranoid about the NSA spying on them that the German government is actually considering going back to using typewriters… Germany may go old school to guard against spying. The German government will continue to use encrypted e-mails and phones, but it could also expand its use of typewriters, said Patrick Sensburg, the head of the German parliament’s investigation into U.S. spying, in an interview with German TV station ARD Monday, Reuters reports. The Germans are even considering using non-electronic typewriters, Sensburg said. Why we would spy on our closest friends is something that I will never understand. And if we keep this up, soon we will not have any friends left at all. Fortunately, an increasing number of Americans are becoming fed up with the growing tyranny all around us. I love how John W. Whitehead expressed his frustrations in his recent article about the emerging police state in America… I don’t like being subjected to scans, searches, pat downs and other indignities by the TSA. I don’t like VIPR raids on so-called “soft” targets like shopping malls and bus depots by black-clad, Darth Vader look-alikes. I don’t like fusion centers, which represent the combined surveillance efforts of federal, state and local law enforcement. I don’t like laws that criminalize Americans for otherwise lawful activities such as holding religious studies at home, growing vegetables in their yard, and collecting rainwater. I don’t like the NDAA, which allows the president and the military to arrest and detain American citizens indefinitely. I don’t like the Patriot Act, which opened the door to all manner of government abuses and intrusions on our privacy. I don’t like the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which has become America’s standing army. I don’t like military weapons such as armored vehicles, sound cannons and the like being used against the American citizens. I don’t like government agencies such as the DHS, Post Office, Social Security Administration and Wildlife stocking up on hollow-point bullets. And I definitely don’t like the implications of detention centers being built that could house American citizens. The people of the western world need to stand up and say enough is enough. Are we going to stay silent as the integrity of the Internet is destroyed? Are we going to stay silent while the Internet is transformed into a government propaganda tool? Are we going to stay silent while the liberties and freedoms that we have left are systematically shredded? If you do not like the direction that all of this is going, now is the time to let your voice be heard. http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/the-worst-trolls-on-the-internet-are-the-government-trolls Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Christian40 on August 18, 2014, 05:05:01 am (http://s14.postimg.org/of08xf2gh/10484537_910968772252212_1418722959195890051_n.jpg)
Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on August 18, 2014, 05:40:03 am (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/US_Department_of_Homeland_Security_Seal.svg/220px-US_Department_of_Homeland_Security_Seal.svg.png)
Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on September 18, 2014, 05:53:50 am Apple will no longer unlock most iPhones, iPads for police, even with search warrants
Apple said Wednesday night that it is making it impossible for the company to turn over data from most iPhones or iPads to police — even when they have a search warrant... Rather than comply with binding court orders, Apple has reworked its latest encryption in a way that prevents the company — or anyone but the device’s owner — from gaining access to the vast troves of user data typically stored on smartphones or tablet computers. http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/apple-will-no-longer-unlock-most-iphones-ipads-for-police-even-with-search-warrants/2014/09/17/2612af58-3ed2-11e4-b03f-de718edeb92f_story.html ::) RIGHT... :D Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Psalm 51:17 on October 02, 2014, 11:49:04 pm http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/australia-passes-security-law-raising-fears-for-press-freedom/ar-BB6IpCr
Australia passes security law, raising fears for press freedom 9/30/14 SYDNEY - The first of a series of security powers requested by Australia's government to combat Islamist militants passed through parliament on Wednesday, despite criticism that they could land journalists in jail for reporting on national security. Australia is increasingly concerned over the number of its citizens heading to Iraq and Syria to fight alongside radical Islamists, and police said they foiled a plot by the Islamic State group last month to behead a random Australian citizen. Conservative Prime Minister Tony Abbott has warned that the balance between freedom and security "may have to shift" in the wake of a series of raids targeting what authorities say are the group's members and supporters. Under the legislation, which passed the lower house with support from the main opposition Labor Party, anyone disclosing information about "special intelligence operations" could face a decade in prison. It also outlaws copying, transcribing, retaining, or recording intelligence materials, which critics say is a direct response to former damaging leaks by National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, and vastly expands the government's power to monitor computers. The reforms were needed to update legislation written in the 1970s, Attorney General George Brandis said, and were in the same spirit as emergency legislation passed in Britain forcing telecoms firms to retain customer data. Justice Minister Michael Keenan said the government made "no apologies" for trying to protect the secrecy of covert intelligence operations. "This is not, as has been wrongly suggested, about preventing the release of information that might simply embarrass the government of the day or expose it to criticism," he said. But the Committee to Protect Journalists said it was concerned that the legislation did not contain an exemption for journalists, which could mean they could be imprisoned for up to ten years simply for reporting on national security matters. "This national security bill and other draft legislation raise grave concerns about the direction in which Australia is heading," spokesman Bob Dietz said in a statement. "These bills would seriously hamper reporting in the public interest and we urge lawmakers to add the necessary safeguards to protect journalists and whistleblowers." The legislation is the first of a series of laws aimed at beefing up the government's security powers, including a controversial proposal to make it a crime for an Australian citizen to travel to any area overseas once the government has declared it off limits. Legislation requiring telecommunications providers to keep metadata and to make it available to police and security agencies will soon be introduced as well, granting the government broader access to its citizens' communications. Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on November 07, 2014, 07:47:25 am I’m terrified of my new TV: Why I’m scared to turn this thing on — and you’d be, too
From facial recognition to personal data collection, this thing is downright scary -- and so are the implications https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCfW6HFP5cI I just bought a new TV. The old one had a good run, but after the volume got stuck on 63, I decided it was time to replace it. I am now the owner of a new “smart” TV, which promises to deliver streaming multimedia content, games, apps, social media and Internet browsing. Oh, and TV too. The only problem is that I’m now afraid to use it. You would be too — if you read through the 46-page privacy policy. The amount of data this thing collects is staggering. It logs where, when, how and for how long you use the TV. It sets tracking cookies and beacons designed to detect “when you have viewed particular content or a particular email message.” It records “the apps you use, the websites you visit, and how you interact with content.” It ignores “do-not-track” requests as a considered matter of policy. It also has a built-in camera — with facial recognition. The purpose is to provide “gesture control” for the TV and enable you to log in to a personalized account using your face. On the upside, the images are saved on the TV instead of uploaded to a corporate server. On the downside, the Internet connection makes the whole TV vulnerable to hackers who have demonstrated the ability to take complete control of the machine. More troubling is the microphone. The TV boasts a “voice recognition” feature that allows viewers to control the screen with voice commands. But the service comes with a rather ominous warning: “Please be aware that if your spoken words include personal or other sensitive information, that information will be among the data captured and transmitted to a third party.” Got that? Don’t say personal or sensitive stuff in front of the TV. You may not be watching, but the telescreen is listening. I do not doubt that this data is important to providing customized content and convenience, but it is also incredibly personal, constitutionally protected information that should not be for sale to advertisers and should require a warrant for law enforcement to access. Unfortunately, current law affords little privacy protection to so-called “third party records,” including email, telephone records, and data stored in “the cloud.” Much of the data captured and transmitted by my new TV would likely fall into this category. Although one federal court of appeals has found this rule unconstitutional with respect to email, the principle remains a bedrock of modern electronic surveillance. http://www.salon.com/2014/10/30/im_terrified_of_my_new_tv_why_im_scared_to_turn_this_thing_on_and_youd_be_too/ Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on January 04, 2015, 07:21:40 am Your Apps Not Only Know Everything About You, Some Of Them Are Actually “Listening In” On Your Conversations Via The Microphones In Your Smart Phone & Tablets
As you’ll see from our chart, running down the left side, we’ve listed 25 of some of the most popular apps in the Google Play store, including Skype, Facebook and WhatsApp. There are actually about 60 permissions that these apps can ask for—everything from making your phone vibrate to accessing your camera. For practical reasons, we asked Hong to highlight four permissions that he thought were potentially the most alarming. Across the top, we list those four: contacts, text messages, call log and microphone. All of these are pretty straightforward, but the microphone permission is especially eerie. Imagine all the audio around you being recorded by some app, without your knowledge. According to the developers, they say they won't activate your microphone until you tell them to (e.g. you make a phone call on the Skype app), but in the future, that may change. Facebook freaked out users in May when it announced a new feature that would let the microphone listen in on your conversations. REST: http://www.vocativ.com/tech/internet/mobile-apps-privacy-settings/?page=all :o Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on January 20, 2015, 05:12:21 am New police radars can 'see' inside homes
At least 50 U.S. law enforcement agencies quietly deployed radars that let them effectively see inside homes, with little notice to the courts or the public. At least 50 U.S. law enforcement agencies have secretly equipped their officers with radar devices that allow them to effectively peer through the walls of houses to see whether anyone is inside, a practice raising new concerns about the extent of government surveillance. Those agencies, including the FBI and the U.S. Marshals Service, began deploying the radar systems more than two years ago with little notice to the courts and no public disclosure of when or how they would be used. The technology raises legal and privacy issues because the U.S. Supreme Court has said officers generally cannot use high-tech sensors to tell them about the inside of a person's house without first obtaining a search warrant. The radars work like finely tuned motion detectors, using radio waves to zero in on movements as slight as human breathing from a distance of more than 50 feet. They can detect whether anyone is inside of a house, where they are and whether they are moving. Current and former federal officials say the information is critical for keeping officers safe if they need to storm buildings or rescue hostages. But privacy advocates and judges have nonetheless expressed concern about the circumstances in which law enforcement agencies may be using the radars — and the fact that they have so far done so without public scrutiny. "The idea that the government can send signals through the wall of your house to figure out what's inside is problematic," said Christopher Soghoian, the American Civil Liberties Union's principal technologist. "Technologies that allow the police to look inside of a home are among the intrusive tools that police have." Agents' use of the radars was largely unknown until December, when a federal appeals court in Denver said officers had used one before they entered a house to arrest a man wanted for violating his parole. The judges expressed alarm that agents had used the new technology without a search warrant, warning that "the government's warrantless use of such a powerful tool to search inside homes poses grave Fourth Amendment questions." By then, however, the technology was hardly new. Federal contract records show the Marshals Service began buying the radars in 2012, and has so far spent at least $180,000 on them. Justice Department spokesman Patrick Rodenbush said officials are reviewing the court's decision. He said the Marshals Service "routinely pursues and arrests violent offenders based on pre-established probable cause in arrest warrants" for serious crimes. The device the Marshals Service and others are using, known as the Range-R, looks like a sophisticated stud-finder. Its display shows whether it has detected movement on the other side of a wall and, if so, how far away it is — but it does not show a picture of what's happening inside. The Range-R's maker, L-3 Communications, estimates it has sold about 200 devices to 50 law enforcement agencies at a cost of about $6,000 each. (http://imgur.com/JX425CX.png) Other radar devices have far more advanced capabilities, including three-dimensional displays of where people are located inside a building, according to marketing materials from their manufacturers. One is capable of being mounted on a drone. And the Justice Department has funded research to develop systems that can map the interiors of buildings and locate the people within them. The radars were first designed for use in Iraq and Afghanistan. They represent the latest example of battlefield technology finding its way home to civilian policing and bringing complex legal questions with it. Those concerns are especially thorny when it comes to technology that lets the police determine what's happening inside someone's home. The Supreme Court ruled in 2001 that the Constitution generally bars police from scanning the outside of a house with a thermal camera unless they have a warrant, and specifically noted that the rule would apply to radar-based systems that were then being developed. In 2013, the court limited police's ability to have a drug dog sniff the outside of homes. The core of the Fourth Amendment, Justice Antonin Scalia wrote, is "the right of a man to retreat into his own home and there be free from unreasonable governmental intrusion." Still, the radars appear to have drawn little scrutiny from state or federal courts. The federal appeals court's decision published last month was apparently the first by an appellate court to reference the technology or its implications. That case began when a fugitive-hunting task force headed by the U.S. Marshals Service tracked a man named Steven Denson, wanted for violating his parole, to a house in Wichita. Before they forced the door open, Deputy U.S. Marshal Josh Moff testified, he used a Range-R to detect that someone was inside. Moff's report made no mention of the radar; it said only that officers "developed reasonable suspicion that Denson was in the residence." Agents arrested Denson for the parole violation and charged him with illegally possessing two firearms they found inside. The agents had a warrant for Denson's arrest but did not have a search warrant. Denson's lawyer sought to have the guns charge thrown out, in part because the search began with the warrantless use of the radar device. Three judges on the federal 10th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the search, and Denson's conviction, on other grounds. Still, the judges wrote, they had "little doubt that the radar device deployed here will soon generate many questions for this court." But privacy advocates said they see more immediate questions, including how judges could be surprised by technology that has been in agents' hands for at least two years. "The problem isn't that the police have this. The issue isn't the technology; the issue is always about how you use it and what the safeguards are," said Hanni Fakhoury, a lawyer for the Electronic Frontier Foundation. The Marshals Service has faced criticism for concealing other surveillance tools. Last year, the ACLU obtained an e-mail from a Sarasota, Fla., police sergeant asking officers from another department not to reveal that they had received information from a cellphone-monitoring tool known as a stingray. "In the past, and at the request of the U.S. Marshals, the investigative means utilized to locate the suspect have not been revealed," he wrote, suggesting that officers instead say they had received help from "a confidential source." William Sorukas, a former supervisor of the Marshals Service's domestic investigations arm, said deputies are not instructed to conceal the agency's high-tech tools, but they also know not to advertise them. "If you disclose a technology or a method or a source, you're telling the bad guys along with everyone else," he said. http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/01/19/police-radar-see-through-walls/22007615/ Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on March 09, 2015, 05:41:12 am :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o
Put CCTV in EVERY home: Householders should help us trap burglars, says Scotland Yard chief Bernard Hogan Howe said people installed their CCTV cameras too high This meant only the tops of the criminals' heads were caught on film Families should install their own cameras to help catch burglars, he said The Met chief said Britain needed more cameras to help fight crime Homeowners should consider fitting CCTV to trap burglars, the country's most senior police officer declared yesterday. Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe said police forces needed more crime scene footage to match against their 12million images of suspects and offenders. And he called on families and businesses to install cameras at eye level – to exploit advances in facial recognition technology. But privacy campaigners condemned the Metropolitan Police Commissioner's suggestion. 'The proposals on increasing the amount of privately owned CCTV cameras are quite frankly Orwellian and risk turning members of the public into an extension of the police,' said Renate Samson of Big Brother Watch. 'Private CCTV is completely unregulated. Recommending greater use of CCTV to gather more images of people's faces – often innocent people's faces – undermines the security of each and every one of us.' She pointed out that a House of Commons committee had on Saturday released a report on the problems with facial recognition. Labour MP Andrew Miller said: 'We were alarmed to discover that the police have begun uploading custody photographs of people to the police national database and using facial recognition software without any regulatory oversight. Some of the people had not even been charged.' Sir Bernard said most cameras were mounted high to keep them out of harm's way and to give an overview of a crime area. He was speaking after Beverley Turner, wife of Olympic rower James Cracknell, challenged him on LBC Radio on whether CCTV could be used to catch burglars. Her house was burgled while she and her children were sleeping and footage from a neighbour's CCTV camera was too grainy to identify the thieves. When Miss Turner asked if more cameras were needed in homes and businesses, Sir Bernard replied: 'Yes. We've got a strategy to encourage people to move their cameras down to eye level. 'Facial recognition software has got better, and we can now apply it to images of burglaries, and then compare them with images we take when we arrest people. 'What we need to be able to do is to be able to compare that photograph with the images we have of people committing a crime. 'Taking the tops of their heads is not that helpful for facial recognition which relies on the eyes and the configuration of the area around the nose and the mouth. So we're trying to get people to, ideally, add a camera at face level. 'If anyone listening has a business, think about installing a new one – they're relatively cheap. If you can't buy one, could you think about moving it?' Covert cameras disguised as clocks, clothes hooks, mirrors and even thermometers can be bought for as little as £40. They have been responsible for an avalanche of 'peeping Tom' prosecutions involving footage taken in changing rooms, offices and toilets. Many bookmakers use them to identify robbers or fraudsters.The Green peer Baroness Jones said it was wrong to encourage householders to follow suit. 'It threatens to undermine people's confidence and inject fear in the place where they should feel most secure,' she said. 'I'm not sure it will make anyone feel any safer and the use of facial recognition technology remains largely untested and unproven.' Research from the College of Policing last week revealed CCTV only modestly cuts crimes such as vandalism and car theft and is useless in stopping violence. Experts said better street lighting and neighbourhood watch schemes were more valuable. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2985202/Scotland-Yard-chief-Hogan-Howe-calls-DIY-surveillance-help-police.html#ixzz3TsrcC75p Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on March 26, 2015, 10:10:45 am NSA Doesn’t Need to Spy on Your Calls to Learn Your Secrets
Governments and corporations gather, store, and analyze the tremendous amount of data we chuff out as we move through our digitized lives. Often this is without our knowledge, and typically without our consent. Based on this data, they draw conclusions about us that we might disagree with or object to, and that can impact our lives in profound ways. We may not like to admit it, but we are under mass surveillance. Much of what we know about the NSA’s surveillance comes from Edward Snowden, although people both before and after him also leaked agency secrets. As an NSA contractor, Snowden collected tens of thousands of documents describing many of the NSA’s surveillance activities. Then in 2013 he fled to Hong Kong and gave them to select reporters. REST: http://www.wired.com/2015/03/data-and-goliath-nsa-metadata-spying-your-secrets/ Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on March 28, 2015, 05:29:37 am Feds Financing System to ‘Automatically Detect’ Cyberbullying
$117,102 National Science Foundation project The National Science Foundation (NSF) is financing the creation of a system for the “automatic detection” of cyberbullying. The project was awarded this month to Rutgers University, which has received $117,102 so far. The real-time, automatic detection of hurtful online speech is necessary, according to the NSF grant, because cyberbullying is a “critical social problem.” The grant said 40 percent of American teenagers have reported being cyberbullied. “This project aims to define new approaches for automatic detection of cyberbullying by integrating the relevant research in social sciences and computer science,” the grant said. The project will involve searching for keywords and studying the relationships between teenagers who send and receive mean online messages. “Specifically, this research will advance the state of the art in cyberbullying detection beyond textual analysis by also giving due attention to the social relationships in which these bullying messages are exchanged,” the grant said. “A higher accuracy at detection would allow for better mitigation of the cyberbullying phenomenon and may help improve the lives of thousands of victims who are cyberbullied each year,” it said. The project hopes to employ “social intervention mechanisms” to prevent cyberbullying. Data on cyberbullying will also “be made available to the larger research community.” The project begins in July and is set to last through June 2017. The goal of the project is to create “better cyberbullying detectors.” “By analyzing the social relationship graph between users and deriving features such as number of friends, network embeddedness, and relationship centrality, the project will validate (and potentially refine) multiple theories in social science literature and assimilate those findings to create better cyberbullying detectors,” the grant said. “The project will yield new, comprehensive models and algorithms that can be used for cyberbullying detection in automated settings.” The grant added that “text mining” of cyber conversations is not enough, as the project also seeks to conduct data analysis on a “much bigger scale.” Vivek K. Singh, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the School of Communication and Information at Rutgers University, is leading the project. “I have worked on multiple projects including designing a novel media sharing application, detecting patterns in large scale Twitter feeds, and analyzing community behavior in social media to design mechanisms to ‘nudge’ people into suitable behaviors,” he writes on his website. Singh previously studied Twitter hashtags, arguing that people, “make a conscious decision to hash-tag their post, because they want to relate it to an event which is relevant to others in the same spatio-temporal volume.” Singh did not respond to a request for comment. The Obama administration has placed a priority on preventing cyberbullying. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) runs a website to stop cyberbullying that encourages Americans to report mean online behavior to law enforcement and schools. President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama hosted the first ever White House conference on the subject in 2011. “If there is one goal of this conference, it is to dispel the myth that bullying is just a harmless rite of passage or an inevitable part of growing up,” President Obama said. Other measures to counter cyberbullying have raised concerns about privacy and government overreach. A new law in Illinois to combat cyberbullying allows school administrators to demand the passwords of student’s social media accounts. Schools only need a “reasonable cause to believe that a student’s account on a social network contains evidence that a student has violated a school’s disciplinary rule of policy,” FOX 2 in St. Louis reported. Australia is seeking to establish an “Office of the Children’s e-Safety Commissioner,” who can fine social media networks AU$17,000 a day for not taking down a post that the government has deemed cyberbullying. A bill working its way through the Australian senate defines cyberbullying as “seriously threatening, seriously intimidating, seriously harassing, or seriously humiliating.” Liberal Australian senator Cory Bernardi warned that the legislation might go too far. “Ultimately, children need to be taught a bit of resilience in some ways,” he said. “There is not always going to be someone there to pick up the hurt feelings.” http://freebeacon.com/issues/feds-financing-system-to-automatically-detect-cyberbullying/ Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on April 08, 2015, 05:46:29 am Court mulls revealing secret government plan to cut cell phone service
Feds: SOP 303 mobile-phone kill-switch policy would endanger public if disclosed. A federal appeals court is asking the Obama administration to explain why the government should be allowed to keep secret its plan to shutter mobile phone service during "critical emergencies." The Department of Homeland Security came up with the plan—known as Standing Operating Procedure 303—after cellular phones were used to detonate explosives targeting a London public transportation system. SOP 303 is a powerful tool in the digital age, and it spells out a "unified voluntary process for the orderly shut-down and restoration of wireless services during critical emergencies such as the threat of radio-activated improvised explosive devices." The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in February sided (PDF) with the government and ruled that the policy did not need to be disclosed under a Freedom of Information Act request from the Electronic Privacy Information Center. The court agreed with the government's citation of a FOIA exemption that precludes disclosure if doing so "could reasonably be expected to endanger the life or physical safety of any individual." EPIC asked the court to revisit its ruling, arguing that the decision, "if left in place, would create an untethered 'national security' exemption'" in FOIA law. On Friday, the court ordered (PDF) the government to respond—a move that suggests the appellate court might rehear the case. EPIC originally asked for the document in 2011 in the wake of the shut down of mobile phone service in the San Francisco Bay Area subway system during a protest. The government withheld the information, EPIC sued and won, but the government then appealed and prevailed. In its petition for rehearing, EPIC argued that the appellate court's decision "created a catch-all provision that would allow federal agencies to routinely withhold records subject to disclosure where the agency merely asserts a speculative security risk." Under the direction of the so-called National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee, SOP 303 allows for the shutting down of wireless networks "within a localized area, such as a tunnel or bridge, and within an entire metropolitan area." There have been no publicly disclosed instances when SOP 303 has been invoked, but the telecoms have agreed to shutter service when SOP 303 is invoked. Local governments, however, have the power to shutter wireless service regardless of SOP 303. The last known time mobile phone service was cut by a government agency was the San Francisco example from 2011. That's when the Bay Area Rapid Transit System took heat for disabling service to quell a protest in four downtown San Francisco stations. The three-hour outage was done after BART cut service without the assistance of the telcos. In the aftermath, BART produced a new policy that said service could only be cut off when "there is strong evidence of imminent unlawful activity that threatens the safety of district passengers, employees, and other members of the public." http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/04/court-mulls-revealing-secret-government-plan-to-cut-cell-phone-service/ Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on January 13, 2016, 08:51:01 pm Government Software Calculates Your ‘Threat Score’ And Categorizes Citizens As Red, Yellow Or Green
Do you know what your “threat score” is? Today, more than 90 percent of all local police departments and nearly all government agencies employ some sort of technological surveillance. One of the most common applications is called “Beware”, and it scans billions of “arrest reports, property records, commercial databases, deep Web searches” and social media postings to give authorities an idea of who they are dealing with. So the next time that police pull up in front of your home, it is likely that what you have posted on Facebook will be searched. If you have said things that could be construed as “anti-government” or “anti-police”, there is a very good chance that you will have a very high “threat score” and you will be on “the red list”. I understand that this sounds like something that comes directly out of a science fiction movie, but I assure you that it is very real. In fact, the Washington Post reported on this just the other day… While officers raced to a recent 911 call about a man threatening his ex-girlfriend, a police operator in headquarters consulted software that scored the suspect’s potential for violence the way a bank might run a credit report. The program scoured billions of data points, including arrest reports, property records, commercial databases, deep Web searches and the man’s social media postings. It calculated his threat level as the highest of three color-coded scores: a bright red warning. “Beware” was created by a corporation known as “Intrado”, and police departments around the nation began using it back in 2012. When police officers using this software roll up to your home, they will instantly know which residents are on the “green list”, which are on the “yellow list”, and which are on the “red list”. Here is more from the Washington Post… As officers respond to calls, Beware automatically runs the address. The searches return the names of residents and scans them against a range of publicly available data to generate a color-coded threat level for each person or address: green, yellow or red. Exactly how Beware calculates threat scores is something that its maker, Intrado, considers a trade secret, so it is unclear how much weight is given to a misdemeanor, felony or threatening comment on Facebook. However, the program flags issues and provides a report to the user. In promotional materials, Intrado writes that Beware could reveal that the resident of a particular address was a war veteran suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, had criminal convictions for assault and had posted worrisome messages about his battle experiences on social media. Everything that you have ever done on the Internet could potentially be used to calculate your “threat score”. So if you made some ill-advised comments on Facebook or in an Internet forum five years ago, there is still probably a record of that somewhere, and “Beware” will probably find it. The next time you get pulled over or a police officer comes to your home, things that you may have completely forgotten that you ever said may come back to haunt you. With that in mind, I would like you to read the following excerpt from an article by Matt Agorist… Imagine the following scenario: You are on your way home from work, driving down the road when you notice police lights in your rearview mirror. You are being pulled over. As you sit there, on the shoulder, adrenaline rushing, simultaneously angry and nervous, the police officer, in his patrol car behind you, is sizing you up based on an algorithm that determines your “threat rating.” The officer enters your license plate into a mobile application on his laptop. In a matter of seconds, this application crawls over billions of records in commercial and public databases, including all available social media engagement, recent purchases and “any comments that could be construed as offensive.” The application then determines if your “threat rating” is green, yellow, or red. Imagine that you are one of our informed and frequent readers and understand the importance of police accountability and are unafraid to voice your entirely peaceful, yet strong opinion about police misconduct. Imagine that you left a comment on Facebook this morning about a particular officer’s misconduct; imagine that it is this particular officer who just pulled you over. We live in a society that has become absolutely obsessed with surveillance. A “Big Brother police state control grid” is being systematically constructed all around us, and we are being watched, tracked, monitored and controlled in hundreds of different ways. So what can we do about this? Is there any hope for change? Well, John W. Whitehead of the Rutherford Institute believes that the key is grassroots activism and non-violent resistance… As I make clear in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People, there is only one feasible solution left to us short of fleeing the country for parts unknown: grassroots activism that strives to reform the government locally and trickles up. Unfortunately, such a solution requires activism, engagement, vigilance, sacrifice, individualism, community-building, nullification and a communal willingness to reject the federal government’s handouts and, when needed, respond with what Martin Luther King Jr. referred to as “militant nonviolent resistance.” That means forgoing Monday night football in order to actively voice your concerns at city council meetings, turning off the television and spending an hour reading your local newspaper (if you still have one that reports local news) from front to back, showing your displeasure by picketing in front of government offices, risking your reputation by speaking up and disagreeing with the majority when necessary, refusing to meekly accept whatever the government dictates, reminding government officials—including law enforcement—that they work for you, and working together with your neighbors to present a united front against an overreaching government. So what do you think? Will we ever be able to get our privacy back, or has government surveillance become too entrenched? http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/government-software-calculates-your-threat-score-and-categorizes-citizens-as-red-yellow-or-green Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on February 11, 2016, 08:08:30 pm NSA Chief Says Gov’t Will Use Smart Home Devices To Track People
“In the future, intelligence services might use the Internet of things for identification, surveillance, monitoring, location tracking, and targeting for recruitment, or to gain access to networks or user credentials,” Clapper said. The US intelligence chief has acknowledged for the first time that spy agencies might use a new generation of smart household devices in the Internet of things to increase their surveillance capabilities. As increasing numbers of devices connect to the internet and to one another, the so-called internet of things promises consumers increased convenience – the remotely operated thermostat from Google-owned Nest is a leading example. But as home computing migrates away from the laptop, the tablet and the smartphone, experts warn that the security features on the coming wave of automobiles, dishwashers and alarm systems lag far behind. In an appearance at a Washington think-tank last month, the director of the National Security Agency, Adm Michael Rogers, said that it was time to consider making the home devices “more defensible”, but did not address the opportunities that increased numbers and even categories of connected devices provide to his surveillance agency. However, James Clapper, the US director of national intelligence, was more direct in testimony submitted to the Senate on Tuesday as part of an assessment of threats facing the United States. “In the future, intelligence services might use the Internet of things for identification, surveillance, monitoring, location tracking, and targeting for recruitment, or to gain access to networks or user credentials,” Clapper said. Clapper did not specifically name any intelligence agency as involved in household-device surveillance. But security experts examining the internet of things take as a given that the US and other surveillance services will intercept the signals the newly networked devices emit, much as they do with those from cellphones. Amateurs are already interested in easily compromised hardware; computer programmer John Matherly’s search engine Shodan indexes thousands of completely unsecured web-connected devices. source: http://www.nowtheendbegins.com/nsa-chief-says-govt-will-use-smart-home-devices-to-track-people/ Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on March 01, 2016, 12:27:34 am A New York judge just ruled that the FBI can't force Apple to unlock iPhones
A federal judge in Brooklyn has ruled that the government can't force Apple to help break an iPhone's passcode security. No, it's not the San Bernardino shooting case, a similar situation where the FBI is seeking to compel Apple to provide custom software to help it access data on a criminal's iPhone. http://www.businessinsider.com/new-york-judge-rules-fbi-cant-force-apple-to-unlock-iphones-in-major-win-for-apple-2016-2 Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on March 10, 2016, 05:24:18 pm FBI INSTRUCTS HIGH SCHOOLS TO INFORM ON “ANTI-GOVERNMENT” STUDENTS
Constitutionalists figure prominently on the target list A new FBI initiative based on Britain’s “anti-terror” mass surveillance program instructs high schools across America to inform on students who express “anti-government” and “anarchist” political beliefs. “High school students are ideal targets for recruitment by violent extremists seeking support for their radical ideologies, foreign fighter networks, or conducting acts of targeted violence within our borders. High schools must remain vigilant in educating their students about catalysts that drive violent extremism and the potential consequences of embracing extremist belief,” states an unclassified document released in January by the FBI’s Office of Partner Engagement, the agency’s primary liaison for the law enforcement community. The document claims public school educators “are in a unique position to affect change, impart affirmative messaging, or facilitate intervention activities,” including informing on students. It calls for “observing and assessing concerning behaviors and communications” of students “embracing extremist ideologies.” In addition to “designated foreign terrorist organizations,” the FBI program targets “domestic violent extremism movements,” including anti-government groups. According to the FBI “some adults embrace domestic violent extremist ideologies [and] their beliefs can permeate family norms, oftentimes influencing their children. This dynamic fosters biases leading to hatred and intolerance, and drives the need for action.” Conflating Sovereign Citizens and Constitutionalists The FBI and federal and local law enforcement groups categorize many libertarian, constitutionalist and other groups and individuals as “sovereign citizens.” According to an FBI counterterrorism analysis, sovereign citizens “may refer to themselves as ‘constitutionalists’ or ‘freemen,’ which is not necessarily a connection to a specific group, but, rather, an indication that they are free from government control.” The FBI considers the Redemption Theory (the abandonment of the gold standard in favor of fiat currency), emancipation “from the responsibilities of being a U.S. citizen, including paying taxes,” and “conspiracy theories,” including the formation of global government and a police state, as indicators of extremist or sovereign citizen ideology. A National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) report produced by the Office of University Programs, Science and Technology Directorate at the Department of Homeland Security in 2014 lists sovereign citizens as the primary domestic terror threat in the United States, followed by Islamic jihadists, “militia/patriot” and “extreme anti-tax” groups. The document attempts to persuade law enforcement that sovereign citizens are a direct threat to them. “Such changing perceptions about what is a serious terrorist threat is an important finding because identifying and prioritizing a threat is akin to hitting a moving target and evolves as new intelligence, data, and events develop,” the START report argues. The FBI high school informer network initiative is part of a larger effort “identifying and prioritizing” supposed threats. Informant Culture The FBI initiative—the latest manifestation of the “see something, say something” surveillance matrix—further engenders a government informant culture that shares a parallel with East Germany’s “Inoffizieller Mitarbeiter” or informal collaborator culture. This Stasi network served as a primary instrument of repression in communist East Germany. The government forged partnerships with business, state institutions and social organizations. It is estimated that the Stasi had an informal collaborator or informant network exceeding 624,000 people (in 1989, at the height of Stasi power, the population of East Germany was 16.5 million). Former intelligence professionals are well aware the United States is on its way to becoming a totalitarian high-tech surveillance state that will soon rival the East German variant. In January 2015 a delegation of Sam Adams Associates for Integrity in Intelligence—which included ex-officers from the NSA, CIA and British MI5—visited the Stasi museum in Berlin. “As the former intelligence officers-turned-whistleblowers walked among the well-preserved offices and conference rooms of a former totalitarian state’s internal spy apparatus,” writes Elizabeth Murray, who served as Deputy National Intelligence Officer for the Near East in the National Intelligence Council, “the sense of deja vu and irony of what the United States of America has become was clearly not lost on any of them.” http://www.infowars.com/fbi-instructs-high-schools-to-inform-on-anti-government-students/ Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on April 07, 2016, 06:13:43 pm Obama: Let Big Brother In If You Want Online Protection
President Obama urged students to open up their digital life to the federal government, if they wanted to be protected by the government, calling the current privacy expectations from Americans unrealistic. “People have a whole new set of privacy expectations that are understandable. They also expect though that since their lives are all digitized, that the digital world is safe, which creates a contradictory demand on government,” he said. Obama discussed the issue during a conversation about the Supreme Court at the University of Chicago, where he used to teach Constitutional law. He pointed out that citizens expected the government to protect them from hackers and terrorists, but refused to allow the government to have some sort of access to their information. He characterized the problematic attitude as “protect me from hackers, protect me for terrorists, protect me from et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, but I don’t want you to know any of your business and I don’t even want you to have the ability to investigate some of that business when it happens because of its broader implications and we’re worried about Big Brother.” Obama asserted that privacy issues would be paramount in the future of the Supreme Court, which was why he urged Congress to confirm his nomination to the court. “There’s going to be a whole series of issues around that, that I think will be coming up,” he said. http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/04/07/obama-let-big-brother-want-online-protection/ Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on May 05, 2016, 07:05:12 pm A lot of us out there use prepaid non traceable phones...
This Is Beyond Bizarre - Phone Outages Concentrated Heavily In The Same Pockets Of America By All These Providers - Command, Control And Communication Test? Late last night ANP received an interesting email informing us that Verizon was down in no less than 17 states and that a Verizon tech had told the reader it was pre-paid phones only, but what we found when we started to research these outages is beyond bizarre. We found that it was not just Verizon, nor just pre-paid cell phones, but AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile also received significant amounts of reports, and in looking at the outage maps over at Down Detector, each service provider suffered outages which were heavily concentrated in the exact same pockets of America, from coast to coast. Screen shots of the four outage maps shown below were taken this morning at approximately 9AM ET - Note the similarity and patterns in all four maps in the North East, Florida, Texas, Washington State, and California. It instantly struck me that the areas suffering the most concentration of widespread communication outages, seemed to be near water, so I pulled up a satellite image of ports in the U.S., and as seen in the map below, those same areas of heavily concentrated outages from all four of these huge providers, are also the same locations where the U.S. has medium (blue), large (green) and extra large (purple) ports. he majority of complaints were of no phone service, and to a lesser extent no mobile Internet data, but we also see a significant percent at T-Mobile and AT&T where there was no service, no network or reception. The first thing I did was check space weather, but found nothing of note that would be significant enough to cause outages this widespread along coastal areas, nor disrupt satellites that would cause this type of widepsread communications failure. The second thing I did was contact a trusted ANP source who informed me his prepaid phone also went down, this could only be done at a central location, and it is his belief that this was a test to cause people not to be able to communicate, stating "This is the first thing taken out in any operation - Command, Control, Communication." BOTTOM LINE Had this happened only to Verizon this article wouldn't have been written because a variety of issues could cause a company, even as large as Verizon, to suffer outages even in multiple states, but when we see four of the largest communications providers like AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon all having failures around the same time, heavily concentrated in the same locations, all along both coasts and the Gulf of Mexico where we just happened to have large amounts of ports...... we find it too much to chalk up to simple coincidences. ALL MAPS AND PICS: http://allnewspipeline.com/Very_Strange_The_Big_Four.php Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on May 05, 2016, 09:15:37 pm Americans Now Realize Their Paranoid Fantasies About Government Surveillance Are True For more than a decade now, Americans have made peace with the uneasy knowledge that someone — government, business or both — might be watching. Now, though, paranoid fantasies have come face to face with modern reality: The government IS collecting our phone records. The technological marvels of our age have opened the door to the National Security Agency’s sweeping surveillance of Americans’ calls. http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/06/08/americans-starting-to-realize-their-paranoid-fantasies-about-government-surveillance-have-come-true/?utm US: No plans to end broad surveillance program... http://apnews.myway.com/article/20130611/DA6RDBKO2.html Internet's big names in battle to salvage reputations after NSA revelations... http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2013/jun/10/apple-google-giants-nsa-revelations Sales of '1984' rocket up 69% on AMAZON... http://washingtonexaminer.com/sales-of-orwells-1984-up-69-percent-on-amazon-list/article/2531503 ::) :D lets see about that last one now...Remember this? Amazon Erases Orwell Books From Kindle http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/18/technology/companies/18amazon.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss Amazon CEO apologizes for deleting Orwell books http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.e5c73c285871b4ae01c48f87ff89af64.3a1&show_article=1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ad-zrFwKBQ Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on May 14, 2016, 04:49:54 pm Hidden Microphones Exposed As Part of Government Surveillance Program In The Bay Area
Hidden microphones that are part of a clandestine government surveillance program that has been operating around the Bay Area has been exposed. Imagine standing at a bus stop, talking to your friend and having your conversation recorded without you knowing. It happens all the time, and the FBI doesn’t even need a warrant to do it. Federal agents are planting microphones to secretly record conversations. Jeff Harp, a KPIX 5 security analyst and former FBI special agent said, “They put microphones under rocks, they put microphones in trees, they plant microphones in equipment. I mean, there’s microphones that are planted in places that people don’t think about, because that’s the intent!” FBI agents hid microphones inside light fixtures and at a bus stop outside the Oakland Courthouse without a warrant to record conversations, between March 2010 and January 2011. Federal authorities are trying to prove real estate investors in San Mateo and Alameda counties are guilty of bid rigging and fraud and used these recordings as evidence. Harp said, “An agent can’t just go out and grab a recording device and plant it somewhere without authorization from a supervisor or special agent in charge.” The lawyer for one of the accused real estate investors who will ask the judge to throw out the recordings, told KPIX 5 News that, “Speaking in a public place does not mean that the individual has no reasonable expectation of privacy…private communication in a public place qualifies as a protected ‘oral communication’… and therefore may not be intercepted without judicial authorization.” Harp says that if you’re going to conduct criminal activity, do it in the privacy of your own home. He says that was the original intention of the Fourth Amendment, but it’s up to the judge to interpret it. http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2016/05/13/hidden-microphones-exposed-as-part-of-government-surveillance-program-in-the-bay-area/ Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on May 14, 2016, 06:33:05 pm https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcJFncR08sg
Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Mark on June 21, 2016, 05:53:45 pm FBI says utility pole surveillance cam locations must be kept secret
"Disclosure of even minor details about them may cause jeopardy," bureau says. The US Federal Bureau of Investigation has successfully convinced a federal judge to block the disclosure of where the bureau has attached surveillance cams on Seattle utility poles. The decision Monday stopping Seattle City Light from divulging the information was expected, as claims of national security tend to trump the public's right to know. However, this privacy dispute highlights a powerful and clandestine tool the authorities are employing across the country to snoop on the public—sometimes with warrants, sometimes without. Just last month, for example, this powerful surveillance measure—which sometimes allows the authorities to control the camera's focus point remotely—helped crack a sex trafficking ring in suburban Chicago. Meanwhile, in stopping the release of the Seattle surveillance cam location information—in a public records act case request brought by activist Phil Mocek—US District Judge Richard Jones agreed (PDF) with the FBI's contention that releasing the data would harm national security. "If the Protected Information is released, the United States will not be able to obtain its return; the confidentiality of the Protected Information will be destroyed, and the recipients will be free to publish it or post the sensitive information wherever they choose, including on the Internet, where it would harm important federal law enforcement operational interests as well as the personal privacy of innocent third parties," Jones ruled. Peter Winn, assistant US attorney in Seattle, won the injunction after telling Judge Jones that "the FBI’s use of the pole camera technique is a powerful tool in FBI investigations of criminal violations and national security threats. Disclosure of even minor details about them may cause jeopardy to important federal interests because, much like a jigsaw puzzle, each detail may aid adversaries in piecing together information about the capabilities, limitations, and circumstances of equipment’s use, and would allow law enforcement subjects, or national security adversaries, to accumulate information and draw conclusions about the FBI’s use of this technology, in order to evade effective, lawful investigation by the FBI" (PDF). The deployment of such video cameras appears to be widespread. What's more, the Seattle authorities aren't saying whether they have obtained court warrants to install the surveillance cams. And the law on the matter is murky at best. Consider that in February, an Ohio-based federal appeals court upheld the firearms conviction of a Tennessee man whose brother's rural farm was monitored for 10 weeks straight by a remote-controlled camera that the authorities installed on a utility pole 200 yards away without a warrant. That ruling conflicted with one issued by a Washington state federal judge who in 2014 tossed an alleged drug dealer's conviction that was gained under the same circumstances—the warrantless spying on a suspect via a webcam attached to a utility pole near his rural Washington state property. In May, the FBI dropped its appeal of that decision without providing any reason. Before abandoning its appeal, the government said (PDF) that it had the right to deploy the webcam without a court warrant because the device was on the public's right-of-way and was akin to a cop's observations from the street. The judge in the case, however, said the Fourth Amendment required that the police needed a warrant to spy. In an e-mail to Ars, Seattle city attorney spokeswoman Kimberly Mills declined to say whether the FBI obtained warrants to install surveillance cams on Seattle City Light utility poles. "The City is in litigation and will have no further comment," she said. Mills suggested we speak with the FBI office in Seattle, and we did. Ayn Dietrich-Williams, an FBI spokeswoman in Seattle, said that "given the ongoing litigation, it would not be appropriate for the FBI to comment." She pointed to Winn's filing as a source of possible answers. In Winn's brief, we discovered a link to "The Attorney General's Guidelines For Domestic FBI Operations." Under the "Particular Methods" section, there's this reference: Use of closed-circuit television, direction finders, and other monitoring devices, subject to legal review by the Chief Division Counsel or the FBI Office of the General Counsel. (The methods described in this paragraph usually do not require court orders or warrants unless they involve physical trespass or non-consensual monitoring of communications, but legal review is necessary to ensure compliance with all applicable legal requirements.) Mocek told Ars that as part of his utility pole cam investigation, "I have learned nothing of related warrants or of a lack thereof." Winn, meanwhile, wrote to Judge Jones that the location information about the disguised surveillance cams should be withheld because the public might think they are an "invasion of privacy." "Because of their close proximity to the subjects of surveillance, unauthorized disclosure of the locations of current or previously installed pole cameras can reasonably be expected to constitute an unwarranted invasion of privacy for those persons under investigation who have not yet been charged. It can also reasonably be expected to constitute an unwarranted invasion of the privacy of innocent third parties not under investigation but geographically near the current or past location of the camera, who may falsely be assumed to be the subject of an FBI investigation," Winn wrote. Winn also said that revealing the cameras' locations could threaten the safety of FBI agents. "Revelation of the subject of an FBI investigation by the unauthorized disclosure of the location of a current or previously installed pole camera can have a devastating impact on an investigation," Winn told Judge Jones. "Armed with such knowledge, a subject would not only be able to evade further investigation by the FBI but would also be able to employ countermeasures to impede further investigation such as destroying, hiding, or otherwise concealing evidence; intimidating or retaliating against cooperating witnesses; or by simply fleeing the jurisdiction. Such disclosure would also allow any individual other than the subject of an investigation who is intent on interfering with or thwarting the investigation to do so. As such, unauthorized disclosure of the location of a pole camera could threaten the safety of the FBI agents involved with the investigation." And if the cameras become "publicly identifiable," Winn said, "subjects of the criminal investigation and national security adversaries of the United States will know what to look for to discern whether the FBI is conducting surveillance in a particular location." http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/06/fbi-says-utility-pole-surveillance-cam-locations-must-be-kept-secret/ Title: Re: Shadow Government Post by: Psalm 51:17 on July 22, 2016, 10:10:28 am http://www.msn.com/en-us/movies/news/oliver-stone-says-every-studio-turned-down-snowden/ar-BBuCYZn?li=BBmkt5R&ocid=spartandhp Oliver Stone says every studio turned down 'Snowden' 7/22/16 Despite a good cast, a good budget, and a good script, veteran filmmaker Oliver Stone says every studio turned down the opportunity to make Snowden, the story of Edward Snowden, the famed CIA contract employee who famously leaked classified information about secret global surveillance programs being run by the NSA. Stone, who made his first-ever appearance at Comic-Con on Thursday, ultimately found his financing from France and Germany, where he shot the majority of the movie (which Open Road Films will debut on Sept. 16). Joining Stone on the first official day of Comic-Con were his film's stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who plays the titular character, Shailene Woodley, who plays Snowden's girlfriend Lindsay Mills, and Zachary Quinto, who portrays Guardian reporter Glenn Greenwald. Despite the rousing applause for the filmmaker behind such iconic films as Platoon, Wall Street, and The Doors, among many others, the panel conversation turned pretty serious pretty fast with Stone lamenting the fact that today's society is "feeling the 1984 Big Brother vibe" and all the cast members urging the primarily young audience to educate themselves on the level of surveillance currently in their lives. Stone met Snowden three times in 2014 before eventually deciding to make the movie, and said he was initially reluctant to do so. "I didn't want to do this at the beginning," he said. "You get beat up, current [event movies] get you killed. Protagonists often turn on you, especially in rock movies." But Stone was compelled by Snowden's personal story and the impact of his actions on both his personal and professional life. "He's going through a painful, personal story," said Stone. "He was only 29 when he did this enormous thing. And in our two years together, he's never wilted in the face of opposition." Gordon-Levitt, who spent a lot of time with Snowden's voice in his ears to nail his unique speech, was relieved to find the activist didn't carry any ego with him after the pair met. Rather, Gordon-Levitt found Snowden to be humble and polite. "I was trying to get to know him on a different level," says Gordon-Levitt, who donned a T-shirt with an American flag for Thursday's panel. "He's like an old-fashioned gentleman, really warm and an optimist about the future of technology. I've been dying to ask him if he's cool with [what I've done] with my voice." Stone also added that Snowden's relationship with Mills provided the soul to the movie and wouldn't have worked without her. "He doesn't have any friends. He's not close to his sister, mother or father. He lives in the computer world. It's one of the main reasons he did this radical action." Added Woodley, who Stone wanted for his film after seeing her in The Fault in Our Stars, "I felt the opportunity to know him as a human being was crucial. It's easy to forget that people who make these decisions are still human with an emotional life." |