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Surveillance & Loss of FreedomSee also Homeland Security & Signs of the Times Homeland Security and the transformation of America |
2004-2006 |
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Surveillance & Loss of FreedomSee also Homeland Security & Signs of the Times Homeland Security and the transformation of America |
2004-2006 |
When freedom & privacy fades, our only real security is in Jesus Christ. Those who belong to Him need not fear the future. Psalm 27:1-3 and Psalm 32:7
December 2006
ID card call to 'stop bullying': "The Scottish Secondary Teachers' Association (SSTA) says many schools already have card systems in place for school lunches and libraries. It believes adding a picture would stop pupils missing meals because they have been bullied into handing over cards.... The SSTA's general secretary, David Eaglesham, said the time had come for photographic identification to be added to the cards used to access school facilities. 'Introducing photo ID cards will help bring an end to bullying over use of 'cash free' cards for school meals, will assist with access to school bus services and, ultimately, can be used to add security to school examinations.... He said that introducing such a system would also help prepare young people for 'the realities of identity management in the 21st Century".
"However, Green MSP Patrick Harvie said the suggestion was troubling. "We should be preparing young people for the reality of defending their privacy and civil liberties against ever-more intrusive government systems," he argued.... 'These ID cards will do absolutely nothing to address the causes of bullying. Instead they will teach the next generation that an ID card culture is 'normal'..." See A Global Information System
Big Brother is listening: Government can eavesdrop on your life by secretly listening through your cell phone: "The 'roving bug' technique was approved by U.S. Department of Justice officials for use on members of an organized crime family....
"...cell phone providers can install a piece of software on any phone from a remote location, allowing microphone activation, without the owner's knowledge. In addition to activating a mic, the software can also stop a display from indicating a call in progress, taking away another method by which a cell phone user could tell his phone had been compromised. According to counter-surveillance consultant James Atkinson, models from Nextel, Samsung and the popular Motorola Razr are particularly vulnerable to these remote software downloads.... The new method works whether the phone is on or off, because many phone models cannot be truly powered down without removing the battery."
See A National Information System
City unveils security cameras: "They are a new breed of crime fighters: cameras across Indianapolis, eyes focused on keeping the peace in the streets. Flashing blue lights are a typical response to crime. Now they're a warning that a star witness is watching. 'We want the criminals to know that they're being watched,' said Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson.... They're called PODSS: Portable Overt Digital Surveillance Systems." See The Pizza Choice Game
October 2006
Young shoppers want to pay with chip in skin: "Some customers are willing to have microchip implants as a means of paying in stores, a report out today says. Teenagers are more open to the idea of having a high-tech shopping experience, the Tomorrow's Shopping World report suggests. ... Some 7 per cent of people in both age groups were willing to use biometric iris or retina recognition payment systems. See An International Information System
August 2006
Bin brother' fear over wheelie tag: "The tiny devices identify each bin so that records can be kept on the waste disposal habits of its owners, and up to 500,000 bins in council districts across England are thought to have already been fitted. The devices carry a unique serial number which can be scanned when the bin is tipped into a refuse lorry....
"...in Ryde, a suburb of Sydney, Australia.... workers suddenly began fitting the devices to the rims of an estimated 90,000 bins. The devices use Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology....." See
The Pizza Choice Game and Safety in Jesus
July 2006
Hitachi Unveils Tiny 'Money Chip': "Hitachi this week unveiled a tiny Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chip so small that it can be embedded in money or other documents.... only slightly larger than a grain of sand....The chip can transmit information a distance of about 12 inches to a computer system or 'reader unit' that can determine whether a bill is real or counterfeit."
Government Control. GS1 launches European Commission supported RFID project: "A three year initiative dedicated to research, development, training and demonstration in the effective use of RFID based on EPC global standards, launched in Brussels."
New permanent state student ID number to track pupils K-12: "The kindergartners who start school in Alabama next fall will get... a 'unique student identifier' — a student ID number that won't change throughout their classroom years in Alabama public schools." See A National Information System - Executive Order #13011
4-H versus Big Brother: "Will this great tradition of 4-H and FFA draw to an end when the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) is mandated and every animal is tagged and tracked?... The small producer will be getting kicked hard and will be forced to abandon the livestock he loves to raise. This will leave food production in the hands of the big producers or third world countries whose care and quality will not match that of the small producer.... Doesn’t it seem strange that a 'horse' would be listed if they are concerned about disease since we don’t eat horsemeat in the United States?" See The U.N plan for food
June 2006
Who is going to reign in AT&T? "...monstrous, anti-American companies like AT&T have been harvesting the personal information of Americans far and above what is needed for phone service.... The big question is: just what are they doing with our personal financial history?...
"That's exactly how identity thieves work: they use that number over the phone to establish credit. AT&T deliberately operates in a fashion that promotes theft identity." See Homeland Security and the transformation of America
Reach Out and Tap Someone: "The National Security Agency has been tracking the calls of millions of Americans and constructing the 'largest database ever assembled in the world'.... When the Bush administration first pushed TIA as a ticket to safety in 2002, a public uproar awoke Congress and forced the administration to formally shelve efforts to track almost every area of people’s lives. But the feds apparently ignored any congressional orders to cease and desist.... How many laws must be violated before citizens recognize that the government is fundamentally lawless?" See No Place to Hide? (old but relevant)
March 2006
Plan to give kids ID numbers: "Personal details of every New Zealand child, including welfare and health concerns, would be entered into the database, to be shared by schools, social agencies and health authorities. It would be similar to Scottish and British initiatives, with a single ID number issued for each child, enabling authorities to be alerted to potential problems."
Chicago, Houston Consider Cameras in Private Businesses, Homes: "George Orwell's classic dystopian novel 1984 opens with a surveillance helicopter chopping its blades menacingly through London, peeking inside apartment buildings. The protagonist, a conscience-stricken state worker with no way to blow the whistle, goes home to a 'telescreen' watching and reporting his every word, move and even mood. The totalitarian state apparatus of Orwell's bleak vision was patterned after the world's Communist parties....
"
In late 2004, Daley's Chicago announced plans to install an elaborate network of surveillance cameras in the city.... And this camera network is to have a special feature: software that alerts police to allegedly 'suspicious' behavior.... but many studies of similar behavioral-algorithm systems have shown high rates of false positives -- 'hits' on innocent people. ... That software, paid for with a multimillion dollar grant from the federal Homeland Security, was set to go online in March 2006...."
Houston Police Chief Harold Hurtt is also advocating that the local building code be changed to require that private apartment complexes install surveillance cameras. Hurtt even said he wants cameras installed, telescreen-style, in private single-family homes if he decides there have been 'too many' calls for police assistance from the home." See Who is Reading Your E-Mail?
February 2006
Couple's implant chips take love to a new level: "Jennifer Tomblin and Amal Graafstra have made the most modern declaration of their affection for each other, with implanted electronic chips that allow them unfettered access to each other's lives. It's called Radio Frequency Identification, or RFID. Both have had a small electronic chip embedded under their skin that grants access to each other's front doors and home computers." See No Place to Hide?
Spy in the sky means you're always monitored: (Europe) "The pitch is that such devices can be used to locate lost children, accidents and breakdowns, said the ADB, but the same technology can also be used by governments to track their citizen 24 hours a day. 'There will be no escape from state surveillance. Privacy will be consigned to history.'.... Manufacturers will be forced by law to fit Galileo devices to all cars. You won't be able to start your car without one....
"Gregory said: 'The ABD is not opposed to technology, far from it, the existing GPS system provides great benefits to drivers. Yet we are very concerned indeed that... this technology will be abused like no other has ever been. Galileo is not a light on the horizon, it is the entrance to an abyss." See Homeland Security and the transformation of America
Tag and track no more: "The federal government announced plans last summer to implant RFID chips in all new United States passports. The RFID chips under consideration have enough memory to be programmed with all of the information currently printed on a passport.... There are currently no plans to protect the security of any of this private information through encryption. As a result, the data encoded on the RFID chips might easily be scanned from up to a meter away by anyone with a chip reader - without the knowledge or authorization of the passport holder." See The Pizza Choice Game
January 2006
Dog Chip or VeriChip? "The chip pictured at the top is VeriChip's VeriMed chip that former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson would like to see implanted in all Americans."
Cloning a Verichip: "Verichip markets their product for access control. This means that you could have a chip implanted, and then your front door would unlock when your shoulder got close to the reader. Let us imagine that you did this; then, I could sit next to you on the subway, and read your chip's ID. At this point I can break in to your house, by replaying that ID. So now you have to change your ID; but as far as I know, you cannot do this without surgery.
"Iris Scanning For New Jersey Grade School: "When a parent arrives to pick up their child at one of three grade schools in the Freehold Borough School District, they'll need to look into a camera that will take a digital image of their iris. That photo will establish positive identification to gain entrance into the school. Funding for the project... was made possibly by a school safety grant through the National Institute of Justice, a research branch of the U.S. Department of Justice."
December 2005
From 2006 Britain will be the first country where every journey by every car will be monitored: "Using a network of cameras that can automatically read every passing number plate, the plan is to build a huge database of vehicle movements so that the police and security services can analyse any journey a driver has made over several years.... The network will incorporate thousands of existing CCTV cameras which are being converted to read number plates automatically night and day." See No Place to Hide?
November 2005
To Chip or Not To Chip: "Just a few days ago, Oct 23, 2005, the public was informed that all new US Passports will contain a RFID tag. (Drivers licenses are next)....
"FID or Radio Frequency Identification is a 'cousin' to the Implantable Radio Transponder Chip. The difference is that the 'chip' has to be implanted; an RFID tag can be placed on just about any surface or embedded just below.... According to RFID 101, 'RFID data can be read through the human body, clothing and non-metallic materials. RFID is in use all around us. If you have ever chipped your pet with an ID tag, used EZPass through a toll booth, or paid for gas using SpeedPass, you've used RFID."
Real ID: Big Brother Could Cost Big Money: "Buried in an $82 billion military spending bill and passed without any congressional debate in May 2005, the Real ID Act was touted as an anti-terrorist and immigration reform bill….
"If the government opts to require RFID chips, more than 196 million U.S. drivers will be forced to carry a license that has the memory to store every detail about the person, including health records, family history, bank and credit card transactions."
September 2005
Health Records Of Evacuees Go Online: "The federal government is making medical information on Hurricane Katrina evacuees available online to doctors, the first time private records from various pharmacies and other health care providers have been compiled into centralized databases. ...
"Electronic health records are controversial among many privacy advocates, who fear the data could be exploited by hackers, companies or the government....
"Sue A. Blevins, founder of the Institute for Health Freedom, a medical-policy think tank, said she supports emergency programs such as the Katrina databases. But she said that 'many things are done during a crisis that society normally would not accept."
August 2005
The New Healthcare System: "Applied Digital wants millions of Americans to be implanted with an RFID chip for medical purposes.... Former Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Tommy Thompson, who served in the Bush administration’s first term, recently joined the board of directors of Florida-based Applied Digital. Applied Digital is the owner of VeriChip, the company that specializes in making implantable radio frequency identification chips (RFID) for both people and pets.... According to The Business report, 'the RFID capsules would be linked to a computerized database being created by the US Department of Health to store and manage the nation’s health records.'...
"If this socialist healthcare scheme is allowed to pass, and Applied Digital succeeds in partnering with government, then Americans will be seduced into accepting a 'seamless' nationalized healthcare system. But those who participate will also end up with a medical ID implant that will undoubtedly morph into a mandatory national ID." See The Pizza Choice Game
April 2005
repeat Surveillance (2002). Roll Up Your Sleeve -- for a Chip Implant: "An underskin microchip with medical data or GPS capability could soon be a commercial reality.... The Jacobs aren't the only ones lining up to 'get chipped,' as VeriChip maker Applied Digital Solutions is calling the process."
RFID Transit: "The Virginia state legislature (along with other states and... the federal government) is exploring the idea of 'smart' driver's licenses equipped with Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology. RFID goes a couple of steps beyond so-called 'biometric' licenses or National IDs -- which are encrypted with a piece of
extremely personal information that's used to definitively identify you, such as a fingerprint, retinal scan, or DNA profile. ..."Personal information -- including who you are, where you live, your DMV record -- could be 'read' at a distance by any person with the right scanning equipment....
"The amount of information that could be stored, updated, and transmitted is virtually limitless.... Literally everything about you -- including 'profiles' developed by marketers, big business, and government about your likes, dislikes, political views and so on -- could be easily and constantly tracked." See No Place to Hide?
Scientist calls for world DNA database: "Everyone in the world should have their genetic profile stored on a database, but the information should be held independently of the authorities, according to the pioneer of DNA fingerprinting."
March 2005
RFID Invades the Capital: "A new smartcard, the type privacy advocates fear because it combines biometric data with radio tags, will soon be one of the most common ID cards in Washington....The DAC, which stands for Department of Homeland Security Access Card, will carry a digital copy of its bearer's fingerprint and other personally identifiable information. It will use radio-frequency identification and Bluetooth technologies to communicate with reader devices at the department's offices."
February 2005
School Drops RFID Tag Program: "The California grade school that required students to w
ear radio frequency identification badges has ended the program because the company that developed the technology pulled out." See Giving thanks
Principal tags kids like cattle: "The only grade school in this rural town is requiring students to wear radio frequency identification badges that can track their every move. Some parents are outraged, fearing it will rob their children of privacy. The badges introduced at Brittan Elementary School [CA] on Jan. 18 rely on the same radio frequency and scanner technology that companies use to track livestock and product inventory. ...
"Principal Earnie Graham hopes to eventually add bar codes to the existing ID's so that students can use them to pay for cafeteria meals and check out library books." (AP 2-9-05)
January 2005
Microchips put into 1,000 unidentified bodies: "The microchip stores key data about the victim’s identity, so it will be easier for relatives to claim the bodies later. An IT centre has also been opened with high-speed Internet links to the Public Health Ministry and Foreign Ministry and other government agencies that can offer information about the dead victims."
These identification microchips are becoming increasingly attractive as identifying markers for children, for the elderly, for pets and now for the dead. Each heartbreaking crisis help justify their use. But they carry a threat few want to contemplate.
December 2004
Intel bill to institute national ID system? "A national identification card, in whatever form it may take, will allow the federal government to inappropriately monitor the movements and transactions of every American,' [Ron] Paul continued.... 'The 9-11 commission, whose recommendations underlie this bill, has called for internal screening points where identification will be demanded....
"'Nationalizing standards for drivers licenses and birth certificates, and linking them together via a national database, creates a national ID system pure and simple,' he said."
President Signs Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act: "In a few minutes, I will sign into law the most dramatic reform of our nation's intelligence capabilities since President Harry S. Truman signed the National Security Act of 1947. ...The bill I sign today
continues the essential reorganization of our government. Those charged with protecting America must have the best possible intelligence information, and that information must be closely integrated to form the clearest possible picture of the threats to our country."Bush to Sign Intelligence Overhaul Bill: "The new law includes a host of anti-terrorism provisions, such as letting officials
wiretap 'lone wolf terrorists and improving airline baggage screening procedures. It increases the number of full-time border patrol agents by 2,000 per year for five years and imposes new federal standards on information that driver's licenses must contain. The measure is the biggest change to U.S. intelligence gathering and analysis since the creation of the CIA after World War II to deal with the newly emerging Cold War."Intel bill to institute national ID system? "A national identification card, in whatever form it may take, will allow the federal government to inappropriately monitor the movements and transactions of every American,' [Ron] Paul continued.... 'The 9-11 commission, whose recommendations underlie this bill, has called for internal screening points where identification will be demanded....
"'Nationalizing standards for drivers licenses and birth certificates, and linking them together via a national database, creates a national ID system pure and simple,' he said."
November 2004
YOU HAVE PAPERS? "I refuse to fly anymore. I refuse to be treated like a criminal. And I'm not the only one. Because of the treatment of passengers at our airports by the agents of the Transportation Security Administration, many Americans now refuse to fly if they can drive, or simply decide to stay home....
I am one of those suspicious characters that every single time I fly, get "selected" for "special screening." I get to take off my shoes, spread my legs and arms to get "wanded" and then get patted down. When I ask why I was picked out of line, I was told that it was simply "random screening." The problem is that I "randomly" get selected every single time....
"Why did I get picked out--randomly?' He showed me a checkered box at the bottom of my boarding pass and said that the computer does it, and when they see this they pull you out of line. I asked why I ALWAYS had the checkered box. 'Well, you could be on The List.' 'What list?' I pursued. 'Let's put it this way. You might have ticked someone off in Washington, like the FBI or another agency. I can't say more. I'd get in trouble.'...
"It was then that I knew what it was all about. I had written my government-critical book 'The Medusa File: Crimes and Coverups of the US Government', and in doing so stepped on a lot of toes. I knew the FBI had at one time tapped my phones, intercepted my mail, and tailed me--simply because I wrote about cases of government abuse, abuse of power and crimes committed by politicians and bureaucrats who used their positions of power for their own agendas."
See A Terrorist? Me?
October 2004
program
was closed, the link is obsolete):
"The key to fighting terrorism is information. Elements of the solution include
gathering a much broader array of data than we do currently, discovering information
from elements of the data, creating models of hypotheses, and analyzing these
models in a collaborative environment...."
Complaints led to the removal of
the