| June 14, 2009
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The Mark of the Beast
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Revelation 13:16-18
And he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead, and he provides that no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for the number is that of a man; and his number is six hundred and sixty-six.
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Daniel 3:1
Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, the height of which was sixty cubits and its width six cubits; he set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon.
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1 Kings 10:14-15
Now the weight of gold which came in to Solomon in one year was 666 talents of gold,
besides that from the traders and the wares of the merchants and all the kings of the Arabs and the governors of the country.
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Daniel 11:38a
"But instead he will honor a god of fortresses...
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1 Kings 10:18-20
Moreover, the king made a great throne of ivory and overlaid it with refined gold. There were six steps to the throne and a round top to the throne at its rear, and arms on each side of the seat, and two lions standing beside the arms. Twelve lions were standing there on the six steps on the one side and on the other; nothing like it was made for any other kingdom.
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| Shalom in Christ Jesus, |
A few important points to
make before getting into this alert's introductory commentary.
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First, technology is
lifeless. It has no soul or heart, its only purpose is what man makes of it,
and that can be for good and bad, sometimes one object or device being used for
multiple purposes, such as computers and the Internet. I have contemplated
about the possibility what would occur if biotech reached such a point of
maturity where it could actually be possessed by a demonic entity. This however
is mere speculation and really does not serve any purpose beyond that at this
point.
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Second, what we are
experiencing in the world concerning technology and the rising 'Police State'
and nearly everything else regarding much of the last days I have always
expected and watched for since I was twelve years old and so this is not the
least bit surprising to me. For any understanding I have though, I can only thank The Lord, if not for Him and His Word I would be just as blind as the rest of the world. For this I point you to a bit of my testimony posted on the blog here.
One of the more troubling
developments among believers in recent years and especially since the 9/11
Terror Attacks is the lack of concern regarding the growing 'Police State' and
government intrusion into personal privacy. This has all been propagated under
the guise of protecting us from further terrorist attacks and other forms of
criminal behavior. Furthermore, the media and government work hand-in-hand to
sell the false idea that in order to be safe one must give up their personal
liberties. This is just another version of the same lie Israel is being sold by
the nations of the world that in order to have peace they must give up their
land. All of these lies come from the father of lies, Satan who is the grand
conspirator against all the people who belong to The Lord.
Yet, the Christian nations
are the most oppressed electronic police states. The nations with the most
severe persecution outside of the Muslim nations, North Korea and China (which
also happen to have exploding populations of true believers) lead the list, and
then the formerly 'Christian' nations of the West follow. Only a few Muslim
nations even make the rankings and this includes none of the major Muslim
nations of the Middle East. [See article below or # 9: 'Electronic Police State'
report cites U.S. and related picture above showing map of the world - Red
nations have the most advanced electronic police state capabilities]
Much of my concern on this
issue I base on feedback received when sending out alerts. Certain topics
generate much more interest and dialogue than others and so over time a degree
of understanding about your beliefs and values has started to emerge. I do have
to admit this is not very scientific but just the trend I see in my own little
corner or the world, but I do feel led to share it.
For those who subscribe to 'Be
Alert!' and other such publications much of the feedback is very positive
concerning your discernment and knowledge of the scriptures. However, one thing
I notice is that most including myself tend to be conservative, rightwing or
even libertarian in their political views and this may tend for us to be
blinded by our patriotism at times. There is the idea that "if you have nothing
to hide, then you should have nothing to be afraid of".
What I suggest is that many
hold the belief that since congress passed these laws in the name of
"patriotism", to protect our lives, families and land, and that a Republican
President then signed these, all must be good (obviously, I am referring to the Patriot Act
signed by President George W. Bush).
However, this could not be
further from the truth. These ideas fly in the face of what America and much of
the Christian West was founded on, and they are totalitarian in nature.
The idea many have that
these laws may be good for our safety reflects in the lesser interest generated
on this topic from Be Alert! subscribers compared to others such as deception
in the church and Israel. Even though spiritual deception in the church is the
number one sign of Jesus soon return and events in Israel is a very close
second, the lack of concern about this topic I find somewhat alarming. The last
alert on this topic, 'Work while it is still light' had the lowest open rate of
any alerts in recent memory. Of course people judge a book by it's cover and
they judge an alert by it's subject line which is quite sad (the reason why I used "Mark of the Beast" as the title for this alert hoping to incite more interest). However, this has
been true of all alerts on this topic over the past few years. People just seem
to be less interested in this topic and I am unsure why when it will eventually
effect all of us if the Lord tarries and even is now.
When I talk to many
Christians about the growing police state and the road to a world of electronic
enslavement most just have their eyes glass over as they have no real concept
of what is transpiring. Nor do they have to concern to remove themselves from
the daily grind to dig into the Word of God and get beyond the TV, and the pop-culture
brain drain.
There seems to be no doubt
that this is just another sign along with all the deception in the church that
God's people are going into captivity (as if most are not already there
spiritually).
This alert gives you some ammunition: see
article # 3 to see how you can get involved with anti-chipping legislation. You
may have already seen this posted on the Moriel website.
Concerning what the actual
mark of the beast may be, may I point those of you who have not read it see the
commentary from the February 24, 2009 alert here and also posted on the blog
here.
Any feedback or thoughts on
this issue would be appreciated.
As always, may The LORD bless you and keep you,
BE/\LERT!
Scott Brisk
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Live Teaching Engagements
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| The Patented RFID Ink Tattoo |
SOMARK INNOVATIONS.com
SOMARK's technology is an RFID-like tattoo unique to the industry. Our technology is chipless, unlike conventional RFID, and features electronic ink for identification. Our product has competitive advantage with a lower price point, increased retention, easy application and reliable reading.
Injection of our product is short and simple. No shaving is required and the process takes less than two seconds.
The SOMARK identification system is a chipless radio frequency identification (RFID) platform. Typical RFID systems use a microchip and an antenna embedded in a tag affixed to an object. The SOMARK chipless system eliminates the high-cost microchip and antenna, instead using simply an electronic ink to create the identification 'tag'. This ink is deposited directly onto or within the object which creates seamless integration of the object and the identification of that object.
TATTOO
The ID 'tag' or tattoo in the SOMARK system is special ink deposited in a unique barcode pattern. The ink is the same for every tattoo, however the pattern in which the ink is injected under the surface of the skin or on the surface of an object is different for each item to be identified. This unique pattern is what gives each item a different and unique number, just like a fingerprint. ...
Currently, we have three U.S. issued patents.
Read Full Report
SOMARK Releases Technology 'White Paper'
PRESS RELEASE - September 9, 2008
ST. LOUIS, Mo. - SOMARK Innovations, Inc. has released a technology 'white paper' on its RFID ink tattoo platform technology. The paper outlines the technology's capabilities regarding features such as data density, detection range and available substrates. ...
"To date, we have received more than two hundred and fifty customer inquiries and website hits from ninety-seven countries," said Mark C. Pydynowski, SOMARK President. "Considering interest regarding our technology's capabilities for applications ranging from animal identification to priceless art and wine bottles, we thought a comprehensive reference would be very useful."
The capabilities paper provides details on the system components such as the tattoo, applicator, readers and middleware. Additionally, it includes comprehensive substrate compatibility, tattoo size, data capacities, environmental compliance and a listing of the company's issued patents. ...
Read Full Report
Platform Technology Capabilities
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| Arab Files for Patent for 'Killer' Microchip |
ARUTZ SHEVA (Israeli National News) - By Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu - May 18, 2009
A Saudi Arabian inventor has applied in Germany for a patent for a human tracking microchip that could be used to track wanted criminals. The Swiss daily Tagesanzeiger dubbed the device a "killer chip," which it noted also could be employed to track "political opponents, defectors, domestic help, and Saudi Arabians who don't return home from pilgrimages."
After implantation, the chip would send out coded radio waves that satellites can track to confirm a person's identity and location. A second chip would release a deadly poison if a security risk is involved.
The Germany newspaper The Local reported that the macabre invention probably will not be approved by patent officials because of a law prohibiting inventions that violate public morals. The patent application became known after it was published according to German law, which requires it be made public 18 months after the original application, which was in October, 2007.
The request for a patent was entitled "Implantation of electronic chips in the human body for the purposes of determining its geographical location." The Jeddah-based inventor explained that the invention comes at the same time that "the number of people sought by security forces has increased."
The Saudi inventor insisted in his application, "I apply for these reasons and for reasons of state security and the security of citizens."
The law firm that filed the original application for the Saudi inventors told The Local it has "resigned from representation of this case."
Original Report
See Also:
Arab Teens Seek Jerusalem ID
ARUTZ SHEVA (Israeli National News) - By Maayana Miskin - March 6, 2009
A program aimed at distributing Israeli ID cards to young Arab residents of Jerusalem has met with success despite anger in the capital over IDF operations in Gaza, and the demolition of illegal structures in the capital.
Almost 2,000 Arab high school students have applied for ID cards this year compared to just 355 when the program began seven years ago. Those running the program said they were "pleasantly surprised" that the number of young students applying for ID cards was roughly the same this year as in previous years. ...
Read Full Report
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| Anti-Chipping Legislation: The Bodily Integrity Act |
Dr. Katherine Albrecht, Syndicated
Radio Host, Co-author of "SPYCHIPS: How Major Corporations and
Government Plan to Track Your Every Move with RFID" and founder and
director of CASPIAN Consumer Privacy as well as being a sister in Christ, has
written "anti-chipping legislation" called the The Bodily Integrity Act which
can be viewed and printed at AntiChips.com as well as this link from the Moriel web site.
ANTICHIPS.comHere's what you can do: Here are some of the key features of The Bodily Integrity Act: · It expands the definition of "tracking device" to include devices other than microchips. Here's why:
New technologies such as the Somark chipless RFID tattoo do not contain a microchip, and would therefore be exempt from legislation referring only to "microchips." We have expanded the definition to cover all immediately foreseeable advancements in human tagging and tracking.
· It raises the age of consent for chipping to 18. Here's why:
Society recognizes that children lack the maturity to act in their own best interest when it comes to certain issues. For example, children are prohibited by law from smoking or joining the military. Being implanted with a microchip is at least as serious, and should not be undertaken by anyone who lacks the maturity to fully understand its implications from a personal, spiritual, ethical, and societal standpoint.
· It prohibits a parent or guardian from making a chipping decision for a child or other dependent person. Here's why:
In the same way that parents cannot force (or allow) their minor children to smoke or join the military, they should not be allowed to decide a chip implantation issue for them. Many people consider injecting an implant into another person's flesh without that person's full consent as violent and invasive as rape. Parental permission is not enough to allow a violating and violent act to be performed on a child. A guardian's consent is not enough to allow such an act to be performed on an incapacitated person, either.
· It prohibits the chipping of a person's remains after death. Here's why:
Injecting a microchip into someone's body after death is a desecration of that person's remains, and deeply violates many people's religious sensibilities. No one's body should be desecrated or their belief system compromised after death.
· It prohibits discrimination on the basis of chip implants. Here's why:
To protect people from forced or coerced chipping, society should be as blind to Implant status as it is to race, color, and creed. No one should be discriminated against because they refuse to take an implant. No employer, insurance company, government body or other entity should be allowed to discriminate against a person for refusing to be chipped. Incentives, discounts, or other programs that favor chipped individuals must also be prohibited. ...
Read Full ReportSee Also: Katherine Albrecht Radio Show at www.katherinealbrecht.com
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How RFID Tags Could Be Used to Track Unsuspecting People
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A privacy activist argues that the devices pose new security risks to those who carry them, often unwittingly
SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN [Holtzbrinck] - By Katherine Albrecht - September 2008
Key Concepts
- Radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags are embedded in a growing number of personal items and identity documents.
- Because the tags were designed to be powerful tracking devices and they typically incorporate little security, people wearing or carrying them are vulnerable to surreptitious surveillance and profiling.
- Worldwide, legislators have done little to address those risks to citizens.
If you live in a state bordering Canada or Mexico, you may soon be given an opportunity to carry a very high tech item: a remotely readable driver's license. Designed to identify U.S. citizens as they approach the nation's borders, the cards are being promoted by the Department of Homeland Security as a way to save time and simplify border crossings. But if you care about your safety and privacy as much as convenience, you might want to think twice before signing up.
The new licenses come equipped with radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags that can be read right through a wallet, pocket or purse from as far away as 30 feet. Each tag incorporates a tiny microchip encoded with a unique identification number. As the bearer approaches a border station, radio energy broadcast by a reader device is picked up by an antenna connected to the chip, causing it to emit the ID number. By the time the license holder reaches the border agent, the number has already been fed into a Homeland Security database, and the traveler's photograph and other details are displayed on the agent's screen.
Although such "enhanced" driver's licenses remain voluntary in the states that offer them, privacy and security experts are concerned that those who sign up for the cards are unaware of the risk: anyone with a readily available reader device-unscrupulous marketers, government agents, stalkers, thieves and just plain snoops-can also access the data on the licenses to remotely track people without their knowledge or consent. What is more, once the tag's ID number is associated with an individual's identity-for example, when the person carrying the license makes a credit-card transaction-the radio tag becomes a proxy for that individual. And the driver's licenses are just the latest addition to a growing array of "tagged" items that consumers might be wearing or carrying around, such as transit and toll passes, office key cards, school IDs, "contactless" credit cards, clothing, phones and even groceries.
RFID tags have been likened to barcodes that broadcast their information, and the comparison is apt in the sense that the tiny devices have been used mainly for identifying parts and inventory, including cattle, as they make their way through supply chains. Instead of having to scan every individual item's Universal Product Code (UPC), a warehouse worker can register the contents of an entire pallet of, say, paper towels by scanning the unique serial number encoded in the attached RFID tag. That number is associated in a central database with a detailed list of the pallet's contents. But people are not paper products. During the past decade a shift toward embedding chips in individual consumer goods and, now, official identity documents has created a new set of privacy and security problems precisely because RFID is such a powerful tracking technology. Very little security is built into the tags themselves, and existing laws offer people scant protection from being surreptitiously tracked and profiled while living an increasingly tagged life. ...
Read Full Report
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US: Radio chip coming soon to your driver's license?
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Homeland Security seeks next-generation REAL ID
WORLDNETDAILY - By Bob Unruh - February 28, 2009
Privacy advocates are issuing warnings about a new radio chip plan that ultimately could provide electronic identification for every adult in the U.S. and allow agents to compile attendance lists at anti-government rallies simply by walking through the assembly.
The proposal, which has earned the support of Janet Napolitano, the newly chosen chief of the Department of Homeland Security, would embed radio chips in driver's licenses, or "enhanced driver's licenses."
"Enhanced driver's licenses give confidence that the person holding the card is the person who is supposed to be holding the card, and it's less elaborate than REAL ID," Napolitano said in a Washington Times report.
REAL ID is a plan for a federal identification system standardized across the nation that so alarmed governors many states have adopted formal plans to oppose it. However, a privacy advocate today told WND that the EDLs are many times worse.
Radio talk show host and identity chip expert Katherine Albrecht said REAL ID earned the opposition of Christians because of its resemblance to the biblical "mark of the beast," civil libertarians opposed it for its "big brother" connotations and others worried about identity theft issues with the proposed databases.
"We got rid of the REAL ID program, but [this one] is way more insidious," she said.
Enhanced driver's licenses have built-in radio chips providing an identifying number or information that can be accessed by a remote reading unit while the license is inside a wallet or purse.
The technology already had been implemented in Washington state, where it is promoted as an alternative to a passport for traveling to Canada. So far, the program is optional. ...
WND previously has reported on such chips when hospitals used them to identify newborns, a company desired to embed immigrants with the electronic devices, a government health event showcased them and when Wal-Mart used microchips to track customers.
Albrecht, who has worked on issues involving radio chip implants, REAL-ID, "Spychips" and other devices, provided a platform for Opsommer to talk about drivers licenses that include radio transmitters that provide identity information about the carrier. She is active with the AntiChips.com and SpyChips.com websites. ...
Read Full Report
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DataBars: The Bar Code Is Taking a Leap Forward
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NEW YORK TIMES [NYTimes Group/Sulzberger] - By Anne Eisenberg - June 6, 2009
LOOK closely at recent supermarket coupons, and you may see some new markings on them near the traditional bar code: sets of neat black bars stacked in two rows.
The new symbols, called GS1 DataBars, can store more data than traditional bar codes, promising new ways for stores to monitor inventory and for customers to save money.
One use of the symbols will be in sophisticated coupon offers that combine deals on multiple products, said Jackie Broberg, who leads coupon control management at General Mills in Minneapolis. A single coupon, for example, could offer discounts on three separate items like eggs, bacon and biscuits, all in one transaction.
Another use of the new symbols is already helping to streamline operations for a common speed bump in the checkout process: loose produce. During the past three years, for example, the Loblaw Companies, the big Canadian supermarket chain, has gradually switched to scannable, miniaturized DataBar labels pasted onto some fruits and vegetables. ...
"It's quicker and far more accurate," Mr. Biddiscombe said. But the system is valuable not only for speeding checkout times and for keeping track of different varieties of bulk vegetables and fruits sold. It also prevents another checkout problem: cashiers mistaking organic vegetables for less expensive, conventionally grown ones, and ringing them up for the lower price. ...
Kelly Kirschner, senior marketing manager at Sinclair International, a company in Fresno, Calif., that makes labeling for produce, said DataBars were gradually becoming popular because of limitations of the standard bar code. The standard code, she said, "takes up too much space to be used on loose produce, plus it is for fixed-weight items" - for example, 12-ounce boxes of cereal. The DataBar, by contrast, allows stores to scan for variable weight information.
The labels help stores keep better records, she said. If retailers are receiving Red Delicious apples from three separate suppliers at prices of $8 to $10 a carton, and all the apples are dumped into a single bin, retailers can still tell how many they sold of each lot, as each DataBar is tied to a purchase record.
The next use of DataBars at the supermarket will probably be for goods bought at the delicatessen counter, and for fresh meats and poultry, said Stephen Arens, director, industry development, at GS1 US in Lawrenceville, N.J. GS1 US is the trade organization working to move the DataBar standard forward in the United States. A poultry DataBar, for example, might contain not only the price and product category, but also a sell-by date. If a consumer chose an outdated package, the label would alert the cashier at checkout.
In the future, coupon bar codes will probably be read less from strips of paper, and more from cellphones that people hold out for scanning by the cashier. ...
Read Full Report
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| UK: Database of all children launched |
BBC NEWS [PSB operated by BBC Trust] - May 18, 2009
A controversial database which holds the details of every child in England has become available to childcare professionals for the first time.
ContactPoint, a response to Lord Laming's report following the death of Victoria Climbie, is beginning its national roll-out in the north west.
But the system, costing Ł224m, has been delayed twice amid data security fears.
The government says it will enable more co-ordinated services for children and ensure none slips through the net.
It will hold the details of 11 million children and young people aged up to 18 years.
The delays were prompted by concerns over access to the database. In 2007, a report into the project by auditors Deloitte and Touche said it could never be totally secure.
Last summer ministers delayed the database, admitting there were some "issues" identified in testing.
It says 390,000 people will have access to the database, but will have gone through stringent security training.
The government said the database was vital to prevent any child slipping through the net, and would enable professionals to see quickly and easily which other services and people were in contact with a child.
England's children's minister, Delyth Morgan, said: "Under current arrangements if a practitioner believes that a child is at risk or may need additional support, for example if they have a disability, they may have no way of knowing whether other services might already be in contact with that child.
"We estimate that ContactPoint, when fully operational, can save at least five million hours of professionals' time, freeing them up from trying to track down other practitioners and enabling them to spend more time on the child." ...
Read Full Report |
| Welcome to the New Total Security State |
THE RUTHERFORD INSTITUTE - By John W. Whitehead - May 11, 2009
"You had to live--did live, from habit that became instinct--in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and, except in darkness, every movement scrutinized."--George Orwell, 1984
The U.S. government now has at its disposal a technological arsenal so sophisticated and invasive as to render any constitutional protections null and void. And these technologies are being used by the government to invade the privacy of the American people.
Several years ago, government officials acknowledged that the nefarious intelligence gathering entity known as the National Security Agency (NSA) had exceeded its legal authority by eavesdropping on Americans' private email messages and phone calls. However, these reports barely scratch the surface of what we are coming to recognize as a "security/industrial complex"--a marriage of government, military and corporate interests aimed at keeping Americans under constant surveillance.
The increasingly complex security needs of our massive federal government, especially in the areas of defense, surveillance and data management, have been met within the corporate sector, which has shown itself to be a powerful ally that both depends on and feeds the growth of governmental bureaucracy. For example, USA Today reports that five years after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the homeland security business was booming to such an extent that it eclipsed mature enterprises like movie-making and the music industry in annual revenue. This security spending by the government to private corporations is forecast to exceed $1 trillion in the near future.
Money, power, control. There is no shortage of motives fueling the convergence of mega-corporations and government. But who will pay the price? The American people, of course, and you can be sure that it will take a toll on more than our pocketbooks. "You have government on a holy mission to ramp up information gathering and you have an information technology industry desperate for new markets," says Peter Swire, the nation's first privacy counselor in the Clinton Administration. "Once this is done, you will have unprecedented snooping abilities. What will happen to our private lives if we're under constant surveillance?"
We're at that point now. Americans have been conditioned to accept routine incursions on their privacy rights. However, at one time, the idea of a total surveillance state tracking one's every move would have been abhorrent to most Americans. That all changed with the 9/11 attacks. As professor Jeffrey Rosen observes, "Before Sept. 11, the idea that Americans would voluntarily agree to live their lives under the gaze of a network of biometric surveillance cameras, peering at them in government buildings, shopping malls, subways and stadiums, would have seemed unthinkable, a dystopian fantasy of a society that had surrendered privacy and anonymity."
We have, so to speak, gone from being a nation where privacy is king to one where nothing is safe from the prying eyes of government. In search of terrorists hiding amongst us--the proverbial "needle in a haystack," as one official termed it--the government has taken to monitoring all aspects of our lives, from cell phone calls and emails to Internet activity and credit card transactions. Much of this data is being fed through fusion centers across the country. These are state and regional intelligence centers that collect data on you.
Wherever you go and whatever you do, you are now being watched--especially if you leave behind an electronic footprint. When you use your cell phone, you leave a record of when the call was placed, who you called, how long it lasted and even where you were at the time. When you use your ATM card, you leave a record of where and when you used the card. There is even a video camera at most locations. When you drive a car enabled with GPS, you can be tracked by satellite. And all of this once-private information about your consumer habits, your whereabouts and your activities is now being fed to the U.S. government.
The government has nearly inexhaustible resources when it comes to tracking our movements, from electronic wiretapping devices, traffic cameras and biometrics to radio-frequency identification cards, satellites and Internet surveillance. Speech recognition technology now makes it possible for the government to carry out massive eavesdropping by way of sophisticated computer systems. Phone calls can be monitored, the audio converted to text files and stored in computer databases indefinitely. And if any "threatening" words are detected--no matter how inane or silly--the record can be flagged and assigned to a government agent for further investigation. And in recent years, federal and state governments, as well as private corporations, have been amassing tools aimed at allowing them to monitor Internet content. Users are profiled and tracked in order to identify, target and even prosecute them.
In such a climate, everyone is a suspect. And you're guilty until you can prove yourself innocent. To underscore this shift in how the government now views its citizens, just before leaving office, President Bush granted the FBI wide-ranging authority to investigate individuals or groups, regardless of whether they are suspected of criminal activity.
Here's what a lot of people fail to understand, however: it's not just what you say or do that is being monitored, but how you think that is being tracked and targeted. We've already seen this play out on the state and federal level with hate crime legislation that cracks down on hateful thoughts and expression in order to discourage so-called hateful behavior.
Total Internet surveillance is merely the next logical step in the government's attempts to predict and, more importantly, control the populace--and it's not as far-fetched as you might think. For example, the NSA is now designing an artificial intelligence system that is designed to anticipate your every move. In a nutshell, the NSA will feed vast amounts of the information it collects to a computer system known as Aquaint (the acronym stands for Advanced QUestion Answering for INTelligence), which the computer can then use to detect patterns and predict behavior. No information is sacred or spared. Everything from cell phone recordings and logs, to emails, to text messages, to personal information posted on social networking sites, to credit card statements, to library circulation records, to credit card histories, etc., is collected by the NSA. One NSA researcher actually quit the program, "citing concerns over the dangers in placing such a powerful weapon in the hands of a top-secret agency with little accountability."
The NSA is not alone in its quest for power. Another massive and invasive government agency, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), is presently engaged in a power struggle with the NSA over which agency will be appointed to oversee the nation's cybersecurity programs. One DHS official has already resigned at the prospect of the spy agency overstepping its bounds. "I have very serious concerns about the concentration of too much power in one agency," said Rod Beckstrom, the former director of the National Cyber Security Center. "Power over information is so important, and it is so difficult to monitor, that we need to have checks and balances."
Unfortunately, our somnambulant Congress is not heeding this warning. Legislation is presently making its way through Congress that is aimed at giving the president the authority to declare a cybersecurity emergency and limit or shut down the Internet altogether, as well as enable unprecedented federal oversight of private network administration.
The Cybersecurity Act of 2009 would authorize the creation of a Cybersecurity Czar to centralize power now held by the Pentagon, NSA, DHS and Department of Commerce. It would also require so-called "standards" to be established for private companies, as well as licensing and certification of cybersecurity professionals. Once the government is granted the authority to regulate the Internet and its users, which is what this legislation would ostensibly do, the ability to freely speak up and protest will be virtually wiped out.
Make no mistake: the Cybersecurity Act is just a wolf in sheep's clothing, much in the way that the USA Patriot Act was an encroachment on our freedoms. It is being sold to us as a way to protect America against the next generation of terrorist attacks--cyber attacks. But all it will do is enable the government to finally turn the lock on this technological prison it has built.
So where does this leave us? If we've already been under surveillance for years, largely without our knowledge, what does it matter anyway? And can anything really be done to avoid moving into a total surveillance state? Frankly, technology has developed to such a point that it has outstripped the ability of human beings to control it. It has become virtually autonomous. And in the hands of government, technology is largely working against us now--except for the Internet, the freedom highway where democracy still lives. It remains, for now, our last holdout in this insidious slide towards totalitarianism.
Original Report |
| 'Electronic Police State' report cites U.S. |
Ultimate Big Brother 'basics are in place'
WORLDNETDAILY - By Bob Unruh - May 10, 2009
In what may be the first assessment of its kind, a private company that offers a range of privacy products for computers and other technology is ranking the United States No. 6 in the world for having the most aggressive procedures for monitoring residents electronically.
The report, called The Electronic Police State, assesses the status of governmental surveillance in 52 nations around the globe for 2008.
The document was released Cryptohippie, Inc., which was set up in 2007 through the acquisition of several little-known but highly regarded providers of privacy technologies.
Not surprisingly, China and North Korea ranked No. 1 and No. 2, with Belarus and Russia following up. But the United Kingdom (England and Wales) ranked fifth followed by the United States.
"Most of us are aware that our governments monitor nearly every form of electronic communication. We are also aware of private companies doing the same. This strikes most of us as slightly troubling, but very few of us say or do much about it. There are two primary reasons for this," the report said.
"We really don't see how it is going to hurt us. Mass surveillance is certainly a new, odd, and perhaps an ominous thing, but we just don't see a complete picture or a smoking gun," the report continued. Also, "We are constantly surrounded with messages that say, 'Only crazy people complain about the government.'"
The report mapped the world, showing the most advanced electronic police states in red, orange reflecting strongly developing electronic police states and yellow showing nations that are developing, but lagging:
Company spokesman Paul Rosenberg told WND the biggest obstacle, however, is that the image of a "police state" dredges up visions of Nazi Germany's thugs breaking down doors in the middle of the night and hauling people off to blacked-out trains or Stalin's USSR rounding up "offenders" for imprisonment.
"That's how things worked during your grandfather's war - that is not how things work now," the report said. "An electronic police state is quiet, even unseen. All of its legal actions are supported by abundant evidence. It looks pristine," the report said.
To create the rankings, which also included Singapore, Israel, France and Germany in the top 10, his organization searched its worldwide sources for information, checked against a number of other published reports, and assigned a value of 1 to 5 to 17 different factors:
Daily documents: How much is required day-to-day for residents to present state-issued identity documents or registration.
- Border issues: What is demanded for a border entry.
- Financial tracking: The state's ability to search and record financial transactions.
- Gag orders: The penalties for revealing to someone else the state is searching their records.
- Anti-crypto laws: Bans on cryptography.
- Constitutional protections: Either a lack of protections or someone overriding them.
- Data storage: The state's ability to record and keep what it uncovers.
- Data search: The processes to search through data.
- ISP data retention: The demand for ISPs to save customers' records.
- Telephone data retention: States' requirements for communications companies to record and save records.
- Cell phone records: The saving and using of cell phone users' records.
- Medical records: Demands from states that medical records retain information.
- Enforcement: The state's ability to use force (SWAT teams) to seize someone.
- Habeus corpus: Either an absence of such rights or someone overriding them.
- Police-Intel barrier: the absence of a barrier between police and intelligence organizations.
- Covert hacking: State operatives meddling in data on private computers covertly.
- Loose warrants: Warrants that are being issued without careful review of police claims by a truly independent judge.
The listings of China, North Korea, Belarus and Russia, all known for their repression of freedom, weren't surprising. Nor was the listing of the United Kingdom with its recent programs to copy and store virtually every telephone call, e-mail and text message within its borders.
But Rosenberg said there's more going on in the United States than many believe want to believe.
The nation's "basic system of gathering evidence and sorting it later is really dangerous," he said. "It's permanent. It's not going to go away."
It goes so far that a person's alcohol consumption actually could be tracked by government agents, if they chose, through credit card documentation, he told WND.
"In an Electronic Police State, every surveillance camera recording, every e-mail you send, every Internet site you surf, every post you make, every check you write, every credit card swipe, every cell phone ping... are all criminal evidence, and they are held in searchable databases, for a long, long time," the report said.
"Whoever holds this evidence can make you look very, very bad whenever they care enough to do so. You can be prosecuted whenever they feel like it - the evidence is already in their database," the report continued. "Perhaps you trust that your ruler will only use his evidence archives to hurt bad people. Will you also trust his successor? Do you also trust all of his subordinates, every government worker and every policeman? ...
Rosenberg told WND the organization also sought input on the status of electronic surveillance around the world from organizations including the the Electronic Privacy Information Center, Reporters Without Borders, Freedom House, the Ludwig von Mises Institute and The Heritage Foundation. ...
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US: Census GPS-tagging your home's front door
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Coordinates being taken for every residence in nation
WORLDNETDAILY - By Bob Unruh - May 5, 2009
According to an online Yahoo program, the Global Position System coordinates for the White House, probably one of the best-known publicly owned buildings in the world, are 38.898590 Latitude and -77.035971 Longitude. And since you know that, it's no big deal for the White House to know the coordinates for your front door, is it?
Some people think it is, and are upset over an army of some 140,000 workers hired in part with a $700 million taxpayer-funded contract to collect GPS readings for every front door in the nation.
The data collection, presented as preparation for the 2010 Census, is pinpointing with computer accuracy the locations and has raised considerable concern from privacy advocates who have questioned why the information is needed. The privacy advocates also are more than a little worried over what could be done with that information.
Enhancing the concerns is the Obama administration's recent decision to put White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel in an oversight role over the census, which will be used to determine a reapportionment of congressional seats and could be used to solidify a single political party's control over the nation, its budget, military and future. ...
According to the Census Bureau's website, the GPS technology "allows us to reduce the amount of time spent by census workers in locating addresses. ... Most importantly, by adding a GPS coordinate to each housing unit, the Census Bureau is able to ensure that residents are counted in the right location."
At Canada Free Press, commentator J.B. Williams said, "I can't resist the urge to question the authority and purpose behind such a BIG BROTHER initiative, when the official census itself is not due to be taken until 2010...
"No imagination is required to think up a whole laundry list of evil that could be done with a nationwide GPS grid of coordinate's markers painted on every private home across the country. But I was having trouble thinking up one good reason for it, even one legitimate use that would justify what must be a very expensive undertaking," he said.
"Why does the Obama administration need or want the latitude and longitude coordinates for every home in America? Why the rush to GPS paint every home in the next 90 days? Why must the marker be within 40 feet of every front door? For what possible purpose does the Fed need GPS coordinates for every home, and under what authority do they have the right? Census workers, whom I asked, had the same holy-crap look on their faces that I had by then," he wrote. ...
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Eye in the sky
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Spy satellites are the new tools to keep a watchful eye on any sort of subversive activities that threaten to disrupt peace
THE FINANCIAL EXPRESS of INDIA [Indian Express Group] - By Huma Siddiqui - May 4, 2009
For intelligence communities around the world, outer space is fast becoming a high-ground, hide-and-seek arena. Spy satellites are the new tools to keep a watchful eye on any sort of subversive activities that threaten to disrupt peace in their respective territories. With the recent successful launch of radar satellite called Risat-2, India has joined the growing list of nations seeking round-the-clock surveillance through spy satellites.
The Indian security forces had been seeking such capability for a long time and the need to procure one quickly was precipitated after the Mumbai attacks. Risat-2 will also provide India the capability to track incoming hostile ballistic missiles. The satellite is capable of taking high-resolution photographs through clouds, in darkness and via camouflage, enhancing real-time intelligence-gathering capabilities. The key to the new technology is high processing speed. The new satellite's systems can process data at speeds that are 1,000 times faster than a personal computer. Access to the high-tech surveillance tools would, for the first time, allow security and law-enforcement agencies to see high-resolution images and data, which would allow them, for example, to identify terror staging areas, a gang safehouse, or possibly even a building being used by would-be terrorists. Unlike electronic eavesdropping, which is subject to legislative and some judicial control, the use of spy satellites is largely uncharted territory.
Space analysts inform that for more than 40 years, spy satellites have hovered miles above the Earth, and have become increasingly powerful. When they were first launched in the early 1960s, spy satellites were the pride and joy of the US and Soviet militaries. In fact, analysts credit satellite photos-and their accurate information about air force bombers, missiles and navies-for calming tensions during the Cold War.
Be it satellites from the US, Russia, China, Israel or Germany, these pass over every spot on the face of the Earth twice a day, grabbing digital snapshots of places that the intelligence agencies and the military establishments want to see. While the areas of interests could be diverse-mass graves in Bosnia, missile fields in China or Russia, or the environmental disasters in the form of tsunami or tornadoes-the spy satellites have managed to provide a steady stream of black-and-white images.
Take for instance the 'visible light' satellites, the most recent of which resemble the Hubble Space Telescope and were built at the Lockheed Martin facility in the US. They are known as 'keyhole-class' satellites. They have a resolution of 5 to 6 inches, which means that they can distinguish an object that small on the ground.
Until a few years ago, satellite imagery, even though the downlink was digital, had to be converted to film-because physically, the intelligence community didn't have the bandwidth to move it. So much so that during the US military operation Desert Storm in the Middle East, an airplane had to fly the pictures to Saudi Arabia. Thanks to rapid technology advances, digital data has permitted US intelligence and military agencies to combine visible light imagery with other imagery to make a two-dimensional image multi-dimensional. More importantly, it is now possible to transmit digital imagery to users around the world.
Such 3-D capabilities can even help intelligence agencies determine what a terrorist or drug lord's intentions might be. For example, if intelligence agencies know that a suspected terrorist has rented an eighth-floor apartment in a particular building, they can order a 3-D re-creation of that neighbourhood. This is possible by simply flying a reconnaissance satellite 80 feet above the ground. And by freezing the view in front of the suspect's apartment, intelligence agencies can keep a close watch on the suspect's activities.
Buoyed by the prospects, the Obama administration has recently approved the purchase of new spy satellites. It has also decided to buy more commercial imagery from the private sector to plug immediate gaps in satellite coverage. Interestingly, the US has developed a spy satellite with the capability to move around in space in order to inspect satellites that have malfunctioned and possibly spy on other countries' spy satellites as well.
Earlier this year, the US department of defence disclosed it has developed two covert inspection satellites that have the ability to assess damage to a failed geostationary satellite. These satellites also have the ability to attack satellites made by other countries. No wonder, the Chinese government is concerned about such developments. It sees the development as a new US intelligence tool that could theoretically also enable a sneak anti-satellite attack in geosynchronous orbit.
The Germans too are basking in the success of their new reconnaissance satellite-based system, which is capable of carrying out independent military operations. The SAR-Lupe system is based on a special radar technology called synthetic aperture radar (SAR) that provides high-definition images under any weather or light conditions. The system, which achieved full operational capability at the end of 2008, has catapulted the German armed forces into a leading position in radar-based reconnaissance. This new reconnaissance capacity has drastically reduced Germany's dependence on other countries in the field of security policy. The spy satellites will provide images that can be retrieved by radar day or night and under any weather conditions. Germany has become the third country in the world after the US and Russia to deploy its own spatial radar reconnaissance.
In the long run, there might be no place on Earth where we will be able to avoid surveillance.
Original Report
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| Pentagon plans blimp to spy from new heights |
LOS ANGELES TIMES [Tribune Company] - By Julian E. Barnes - March 13, 2009
Washington - The Pentagon said Thursday that it intends to spend $400 million to develop a giant dirigible that will float 65,000 feet above the Earth for 10 years, providing unblinking and intricate radar surveillance of the vehicles, planes and even people below. ...
The 450-foot-long craft would give the U.S. military a better understanding of an adversary's movements, habits and tactics, officials said. And the ability to constantly monitor small movements in a wide area -- the Afghanistan- Pakistan border, for example -- would dramatically improve military intelligence.
"It is constant surveillance, uninterrupted," Dahm said. "When you only have a short-time view -- whether it is a few hours or a few days -- that is not enough to put the picture together." ...
And its range would be such that the spy craft could operate at the distant edges of any military theater, probably out of the range of surface-to-air missiles as well.
The Air Force's intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance abilities have improved dramatically in the last five years with the expansion of the Predator and other drones. Although such craft can linger over an area for a long time, they do not watch constantly.
The giant airship's military value would come from its radar system. Giant antenna would allow the military to see farther and with more detail than it can now. ...
The dirigible will be filled with helium and powered by an innovative system that uses solar panels to recharge hydrogen fuel cells. Military officials said those underlying technologies -- plus a very lightweight hull -- were critical to making the project work.
"The things we had to do here were not trivial; they were revolutionary," said Jan Walker, a spokeswoman for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Pentagon's research arm.
The Air Force has signed an agreement with DARPA to develop a demonstration dirigible by 2014. The prototype will be a third as long as the planned surveillance craft -- known as ISIS, for Integrated Sensor Is the Structure, because the radar system will be built into the structure of the ship. ...
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UK: Every phone call, email or website visit 'to be monitored'
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LONDON DAILY TELEGRAPH [Barclay] - By Tom Whitehead, Home Affairs Editor - April 24, 2009
Every phone call, email or website visit will be monitored by the state under plans to be unveiled next week.
The proposals will give police and security services the power to snoop on every single communication made by the public with the data then likely to be stored in an enormous national database.
The precise content of calls and other communications would not be accessible but even text messages and visits to social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter would be tracked.
The move has alarmed civil liberty campaigners, and the country's data protection watchdog last night warned the proposals would be "unacceptable".
Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, will argue the powers are needed to target terrorists and serious criminals who are taking advantage of the increasing complex nature of communications to plot atrocities and crimes.
A consultation document on the plans, known in Whitehall as the Interception Modernisation Programme, is likely to put great emphasis on the threat facing Britain and warn the alternative to the powers would be a massive expansion of surveillance.
But that will fuel concerns among critics that the Government is using a climate of fear to expand the surveillance state.
Information Commissioner Richard Thomas, the country's data watchdog, told the Daily Telegraph: "I have no problem with the targeted surveillance of terrorist suspects.
"But a Government database of the records of everyone's communications - if that is to be proposed - is not likely to be acceptable to the British public. Remember that records - who? when? where? - can be highly intrusive even if no content is collected."
It is understood Mr Thomas is concerned that even details on who people contact or sites they visit could intrude on their privacy, such as data showing an individual visiting a website selling Viagra.
Chris Kelly, Facebook's chief privacy officer, last month revealed he was considering lobbying ministers over the proposal, which he described as "overkill".
The proposed powers will allow police and security services to monitor communication "traffic", which is who calls, texts, emails who, when and where but not what is said.
Similarly they will be able to see which websites someone visits, when and from where but not the content of those visits.
However, if the data sets alarm bells ringing, officials can request a ministerial warrant to intercept exactly what is being sent, including the content.
The consultation is expected to include three options on how the "traffic" information is then stored: a "super database" held by the Government, a database held and run by a quango or private company at arms' length, or an order to communication providers to store every detail in their own systems, which can then be accessed by the security services is necessary. ...
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China's REAL ID: Name Not on Our List? Change It, China Says
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NEW YORK TIMES [NYTimes Group/Sulzberger] - By Sharon LaFraniere - April 20, 2009
BEIJING - "Ma," a Chinese character for horse, is the 13th most common family name in China, shared by nearly 17 million people. That can cause no end of confusion when Mas get together, especially if those Mas also share the same given name, as many Chinese do.
Ma Cheng's book-loving grandfather came up with an elegant solution to this common problem. Twenty-six years ago, when his granddaughter was born, he combed through his library of Chinese dictionaries and lighted upon a character pronounced "cheng." Cheng, which means galloping steeds, looks just like the character for horse, except that it is condensed and written three times in a row.
The character is so rare that once people see it, Miss Ma said, they tend to remember both her and her name. That is one reason she likes it so much.
That is also why the government wants her to change it.
For Ma Cheng and millions of others, Chinese parents' desire to give their children a spark of individuality is colliding head-on with the Chinese bureaucracy's desire for order. Seeking to modernize its vast database on China's 1.3 billion citizens, the government's Public Security Bureau has been replacing the handwritten identity card that every Chinese must carry with a computer-readable one, complete with color photos and embedded microchips. The new cards are harder to forge and can be scanned at places like airports where security is a priority. ...
Full Report Posted on the Be Alert! Blog
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Canada: You Are Being Watched
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With hidden cameras seemingly everywhere, what are the implications for our lives?
OTTAWA CITIZEN [Asper-CanWest Global] - By Don Butler - February 5, 2009
OTTAWA - David Lyon is studying the ceiling in an Ottawa coffee shop, searching for hidden cameras. A leading figure in the fast-growing field of surveillance studies, the Queen's University sociologist is only too aware of the many ways we're all being watched.
Closed-circuit TV cameras, like the ones likely concealed in the coffee shop ceiling, are among the most common. Since 9/11, their use has exploded worldwide. Britain now has an estimated 4.2 million CCTV cameras - one for every 14 citizens. People in central London are now caught on camera about 300 times a day.
One estimate puts the number of public and private CCTV cameras in the United States at 30 million. So far, similar estimates are lacking for Canada. But experts agree camera surveillance has been growing steadily here as well.
"I find it mind-boggling when I see what they do in Britain," Lyon says. "Police officers on bicycles now have video surveillance cameras in their helmets," he exclaims, then blurts, "What kind of a world are we living in?"
A very different world. Enabled by computer technology and algorithms, driven by a mania for security, safety and certainty, and engineered by a class of mathematicians and computer scientists that author Stephen Baker has dubbed "the Numerati," surveillance is emerging as the dominant way the modern world organizes itself.
"We're seeing just an unbelievable intensification of monitoring capacity," says the University of Alberta's Kevin Haggerty, a surveillance expert. "There's an ability to connect all of this stuff across realms that is just a little unnerving."
Surveillance is a condition of modernity, integral to the development of the nation-state and to global capitalism, writes University of Victoria political scientist Colin Bennett in his new book, The Privacy Advocates: Resisting the Spread of Surveillance. "It is that important."
More than ever before, our lives are visible to others, from government agencies and security services to the owners of the websites we surf and the stores where we shop. They track us in public, in workplaces and online, compiling our personal information in massive databases and sorting us into categories of risk, value and trustworthiness.
Their accomplices are companies that mine our personal data using sophisticated technologies to extract and refine what they gather to slot us into ever-finer slices and segments.
CCTV cameras are just one of their tools. Others include radio frequency identification (RFID) chips, GPS location trackers, website cookies, facial recognition software and store loyalty cards. Computer programs used by security services can monitor and analyse billions of phone calls and e-mails in real time. We even make it easier for our trackers by willingly disclosing pieces of our lives on social networking sites like Facebook or in online contests and questionnaires.
"We are inadvertently handing over to centralized authorities an infrastructure of visibility the likes of which no society has ever seen before," Haggerty says.
"We're talking about something that is frequently invisible," says Lyon, director of the New Transparency Project, a $2.5-million research program involving leading surveillance scholars, including Haggerty. But it can do harm to real people, he says.
In one form or another, surveillance has always been part of human society. What's new is computer technology that has made it possible to integrate vast and diverse bits of information.
As well, our post-9/11 obsession with eliminating risk has produced an architecture of mass surveillance in which everyone is treated as a suspect. "We've inverted the relationship between the citizen and the state," says University of Ottawa criminologist Valerie Steeves. Our governments should be transparent to us, so citizens can hold them to account, she says. Instead, it's citizens who are being made transparent, because we're all viewed as potential risks. "We got it backwards." ...
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Work while it's still light
Privacy may be a victim in cyberdefense plan
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NEW YORK TIMES [NYTimes Group/Sulzberger] - By Thom Shanker and David E. Sanger - June 13, 2009
WASHINGTON - A plan to create a new Pentagon cybercommand is raising significant privacy and diplomatic concerns, as the Obama administration moves ahead on efforts to protect the nation from cyberattack and to prepare for possible offensive operations against adversaries' computer networks.
President Obama has said that the new cyberdefense strategy he unveiled last month will provide protections for personal privacy and civil liberties. But senior Pentagon and military officials say that Mr. Obama's assurances may be challenging to guarantee in practice, particularly in trying to monitor the thousands of daily attacks on security systems in the United States that have set off a race to develop better cyberweapons.
Much of the new military command's work is expected to be carried out by the National Security Agency, whose role in intercepting the domestic end of international calls and e-mail messages after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, under secret orders issued by the Bush administration, has already generated intense controversy.
There is simply no way, the officials say, to effectively conduct computer operations without entering networks inside the United States, where the military is prohibited from operating, or traveling electronic paths through countries that are not themselves American targets. ...
'Quandary'
Military officials say there may be a need to intercept and examine some e-mail messages sent from other countries to guard against computer viruses or potential terrorist action. Advocates say the process could ultimately be accepted as the digital equivalent of customs inspections, in which passengers arriving from overseas consent to have their luggage opened for security, tax and health reasons.
"The government is in a quandary," said Maren Leed, a defense expert at the bipartisan Center for Strategic and International Studies who was a Pentagon special assistant on cyberoperations from 2005 to 2008.
Ms. Leed said a broad debate was needed "about what constitutes an intrusion that violates privacy and, at the other extreme, what is an intrusion that may be acceptable in the face of an act of war." ...
Unlike a missile attack, which would show up on the Pentagon's screens long before reaching American territory, a cyberattack may be visible only after it has been launched in the United States.
"How do you understand sovereignty in the cyberdomain?" General Cartwright asked. "It doesn't tend to pay a lot of attention to geographic boundaries."
For example, the daily attacks on the Pentagon's own computer systems, or probes sent from Russia, China and Eastern Europe seeking chinks in the computer systems of corporations and financial institutions, are rarely seen before their effect is felt inside the United States.
New laws needed?
Some administration officials have begun to discuss whether laws or regulations must be changed to allow law enforcement, the military or intelligence agencies greater access to networks or Internet providers when significant evidence of a national security threat was found.
Ms. Leed said that while the Defense Department and related intelligence agencies were the only organizations that had the ability to protect against such cyberattacks, "they are not the best suited, from a civil liberties perspective, to take on that responsibility."
Under plans being completed at the Pentagon, the new cybercommand will be run by a four-star general, much the way Gen. David H. Petraeus runs the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq from Central Command in Tampa, Fla. But the expectation is that whoever is in charge of the new command will also direct the National Security Agency, an effort to solve the turf war between the spy agency and the military over who is in charge of conducting offensive operations. ...
The complications are not limited to privacy concerns. The Pentagon is increasingly worried about the diplomatic ramifications of being forced to use the computer networks of many other nations while carrying out digital missions - the computer equivalent of the Vietnam War's spilling over the Cambodian border in the 1960s. To battle Russian hackers, for example, it might be necessary to act through the virtual cyberterritory of Britain or Germany or any country where the attack was routed.
General Cartwright said military planners were trying to write rules of engagement for scenarios in which a cyberattack was launched from a neutral country that might have no idea what was going on. But, with time of the essence, it may not be possible, the scenarios show, to ask other nations to act against an attack that is flowing through their computers in milliseconds. ...
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EU wants 'Internet G12' to govern cyberspace
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EU OBSERVER - By Leigh Phillips - May 5, 2009
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The European Commission wants the US to dissolve all government links with the body that 'governs' the internet, replacing it with an international forum for discussing internet governance and online security.
The rules and decisions on key internet governance issues, such as the creation of top level domains (such as .com and .eu) and managing the internet address system that ensures computers can connect to each other, are currently made by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a private, not-for profit corporation based in California which operates under an agreement with the US Department of Commerce.
The decisions made by ICANN affect the way the internet works all around the world.
EU information society commissioner Viviane Reding on Monday (4 May) suggested a new model for overseeing the internet from October this year, when the Commerce Department agreement runs out.
She called on US President Barack Obama to fully privatise ICANN and set up an independent judicial body, described as a "G12 for internet governance," which she described as a "multilateral forum for governments to discuss general internet governance policy and security issues." ...
... Brussels would prefer that an international government forum that to meet twice a year makes recommendations by majority vote to the newly privatised ICANN. The forum would be restricted to representatives from 12 countries, with a regional balance taken into consideration.
Her "Internet G12" would include two representatives each from North America, South America, Europe and Africa, three representatives from Asia and Australia, as well as the Chairman of ICANN as a non-voting member. International organisations with competences in this field meanwhile could be given observer status.
The new US administration's position on global internet governance is not yet clear. However, during the Bush administration, Washington was steadfastly opposed to handing ICANN over to the United Nations. ...
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Children tracked by sat nav to stop bad behaviour
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LONDON DAILY TELEGRAPH [Barclay] - April 23, 2009
Children will be tracked by satellite on public transport and encouraged to spy on their friends and report bad behaviour, under a pilot scheme by the Welsh Assembly.
The project is being trialled across the six North Wales counties to tackle anti-social behaviour on school buses.
Pupils will use a picture swipe card to clock on and off the bus allowing parents to keep a closer check on their child via a website.
It will help deal with a number of issues including truancy, drivers reporting and identifying ill-behaved children and monitoring a child's whereabouts in the event of them going missing or a bus breakdown.
The scheme include 'Bus Angels' aged 14 and above, who covertly report incidents of bad behaviour. ...
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Fingers likely to replace ID cards in U.S.
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XINHUA NEWS AGENCY [Official Press Agency of the People's Republic of China] - May 15, 2009
LOS ANGELES -- Beginning in March, students at University of California, Irvine were no longer required to show their ID cards to gain access to the Anteater Recreation Center, instead, they only had to place their hands in a scanner and type in their personal identification numbers.
Campus officials said the "hand geometry" system has been available for less than two months and almost 9,000 students have signed up to use it. With it, people no longer have to worry whether they have carried their ID or not. Their fingers are their IDs.
The hand scanner does not take fingerprints of handprints. It records a series of specific measurements and analyzes more than 31,000 points and 90 measurements on the hand, including length, width, thickness and surface area and compares the data with that on file for a member's personal identification number (PIN). It is also called the "hand geometry" system.
Although the university currently does not have any public plans to use the scanners at other major venues, it is possible that such scanners will go into wider use if they continue to prove to be fast and efficient.
The California State University in Fullerton, Southern California, started to use the system at its fitness center a year ago.
Right now, only a few special facilities or places have used the hand geometry system. But possibly people will soon find they do not have to bring their ID cards with them when they go to the airport, check in at hotels or draw money from banks.
The system will have a wider application in the military. The Pentagon has developed its own Defense Biometric Identification System, also called DBIDS, which has already been introduced to U.S. Air Force bases around the world.
With the DBIDS, gate guards use a hand-held wireless scanner, which has an instant, always-on connection to a database at the U.S. Department of Defense, to read the bar codes of personnel and instantly tell whether or not they are allowed into the base.
Hand scanners will also be used in law enforcement agencies.
Last week, Texas contracted with the L-1 Identity Solutions company to provide full hand biometric scanning technology for use in criminal investigations.
In addition to electronic finger and facial images, law enforcement and investigators across the state can capture full hand prints sent to the state-wide criminal automated fingerprint identification system.
However, there are some security concerns over the hand geometry system. Some worried that criminals could kidnap a person to place this person's hands in the scanners to force the withdrawal of money from a bank or get entry to a place which is restricted. Criminals could also cut the hand or fingers off a key person to gain entry to a secured area.
Others worried that the increased use of hand scanners would greatly increase the chances of people spreading or contracting diseases.
Original Report
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| Ohio District looks to expand finger scan program to three schools |
HUDSON HUB TIMES of Hudson, Ohio [Record Publishing Co, LLC.] - By Tim Troglen - May 3, 2009
Hudson -- Hoping to build on the success of the biometric finger scan pilot program which began earlier this year, Maureen Faron, district food service supervisor, announced the program will be expanded to three more schools next year.
Faron said the program assigns an identification number to a student, according to the ridges of the fingerprints. The print, or scan, acts like a debit card, deducting money for the student's lunch from an existing account. ...
Faron said parental feedback bad been very positive, and safety is not an issue because the prints are not kept or stored.
"Our system is closed and it is secure," Faron said. "And there are layers of security built in." ...
Faron said the biometric scanning process can also be used in other areas, including for identification purposes when parents pick children up at HCER programs. ...
Board member Gary Mushock said the feedback he has gotten from students on the program is that "it's really cool and they like it."
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| F.B.I. and States Vastly Expand DNA Databases |
DNA will be translated into a numerical sequence at the F.B.I.'s DNA database, the largest in the world.
NEW YORK TIMES [NYTimes Group/Sulzberger] - By Solomon Moore - April 18, 2009
Law enforcement officials are vastly expanding their collection of DNA to include millions more people who have been arrested or detained but not yet convicted. The move, intended to help solve more crimes, is raising concerns about the privacy of petty offenders and people who are presumed innocent.
Until now, the federal government genetically tracked only convicts. But starting this month, the Federal Bureau of Investigation will join 15 states that collect DNA samples from those awaiting trial and will collect DNA from detained immigrants - the vanguard of a growing class of genetic registrants.
The F.B.I., with a DNA database of 6.7 million profiles, expects to accelerate its growth rate from 80,000 new entries a year to 1.2 million by 2012 - a 17-fold increase. F.B.I. officials say they expect DNA processing backlogs - which now stand at more than 500,000 cases - to increase.
Law enforcement officials say that expanding the DNA databanks to include legally innocent people will help solve more violent crimes. They point out that DNA has helped convict thousands of criminals and has exonerated more than 200 wrongfully convicted people.
But criminal justice experts cite Fourth Amendment privacy concerns and worry that the nation is becoming a genetic surveillance society.
"DNA databases were built initially to deal with violent sexual crimes and homicides - a very limited number of crimes," said Harry Levine, a professor of sociology at City University of New York who studies policing trends. "Over time more and more crimes of decreasing severity have been added to the database. ...
Minors are required to provide DNA samples in 35 states upon conviction, and in some states upon arrest. ...
Sixteen states now take DNA from some who have been found guilty of misdemeanors. As more police agencies take DNA for a greater variety of lesser and suspected crimes, civil rights advocates say the government's power is becoming too broadly applied. ...
This year, California began taking DNA upon arrest and expects to nearly double the growth rate of its database, to 390,000 profiles a year from 200,000. ...
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| DHS wants to use human body odor as biometric identifier, clue to deception |
UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL - By Shaun Waterman, UPI Homeland and National Security Editor - March 9, 2009
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Department of Homeland Security plans to study the possibility that human body odor could be used to tell when people are lying or to identify individuals in the same way that fingerprints can.
In a federal procurement document posted Friday on the Web, the department's Science and Technology Directorate said it would conduct an "outsourced, proof-of-principle study to determine if human odor signatures can serve as an indicator of deception. ... As a secondary goal, this study will examine ... human odor samples for evidence to support the theory that an individual can be identified by that individual's odor signature." ...
The procurement notice said the department is already "conducting experiments in deceptive behavior and collecting human odor samples" and that the research it hopes to fund "will consist primarily of the analysis and study of the human odor samples collected to determine if a deception indicator can be found."
"This research has the potential for enhancing our ability to detect individuals with harmful intent," the notice said. "A positive result from this proof-of-principle study would provide evidence that human odor is a useful indicator for certain human behaviors and, in addition, that it may be used as a biometric identifier." ...
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Privacy invasion fears over first mobile phone directory that stores every number in Britain
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LONDON DAILY MAIL [Associated Newspapers/DMGT] - By Sean Poulter - June 10, 2009
The upcoming launch of the first mobile phone directory was yesterday attacked as a 'clear invasion of privacy'.
Connectivity, the company behind the service, has bought details of 16million phone numbers - around 40 per cent of those in regular use in the UK.
It says it will not give out mobile numbers, but instead act as an intermediary to put users in touch with whoever they are searching for. ...
Connectivity has bought its list of mobile numbers from brokers - who themselves have purchased personal details from market research firms and online stores.
Individuals will also be able to volunteer to place their numbers with the mobile directory inquiry service, which launches on June 16.
Connectivity insists it is 'privacy friendly' because it does not hand over mobile phone numbers to users of the service.
Instead, operators will find and dial the target's number and ask whether they are prepared to receive the call. ...
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Every eye will see Spycam, spycam, everywhere a spycam... |
 Anti-surveillance filmmaker plans eye-socket camera
REUTERS [Thomson-Reuters] - March 5, 2009BRUSSELS - A Canadian filmmaker plans to have a mini camera installed in his prosthetic eye to make documentaries and raise awareness about surveillance in society. Rob Spence, 36, who lost an eye in an accident as a teenager, said his so-called Project Eyeborg is to have the camera, a battery and a wireless transmitter mounted on a tiny circuit board. ... "In Toronto there are 12,000 cameras. But the strange thing I discovered was that people don't care about the surveillance cameras, they were more concerned about me and my secret camera eye because they feel that is a worse invasion of their privacy." Spence, in Brussels to appear at a media conference, said no part of the camera would be connected to his nerves or brain. ... Read Full Report
The Display That Watches You
Researchers in Germany have created a display that doubles as a camera.
MIT TECHNOLOGY REVIEW - By Kate Greene - June 5, 2009
For decades, engineers have envisioned wearable displays for pilots, surgeons, and mechanics. But so far, a compact wearable display that's easy to interact with has proved elusive. Researchers at Fraunhofer Institute for Photonic Microsystems (IPMS) have now developed a screen technology that could help make wearable displays more compact and simpler to use. By interlacing photodetector cells--similar to those used to capture light in a camera--with display pixels, the researchers have built a system that can display a moving image while also detecting movement directly in front of it. Tracking a person's eye movements while she looks at the screen could allow for eye-tracking control: instead of using hand controls or another form of input, a user could flip through menu options on a screen by looking at the right part of the screen. The researchers envisage eventually integrating the screen with an augmented-reality system. "We can present an image and, at the same time, track the movement of the user's eye," says Michael Scholles, business unit manager at Fraunhofer's IPMS. "This is of great interest for all kinds of applications where your hands are needed for something else, like a pilot flying an aircraft or a surgeon wanting to access vital parameters while performing a surgery." ... Read Full Report
On the Lookout, With a Digital Security Camera
NEW YORK TIMES [NYTimes Group/Sulzberger] - By Anne Eisenberg - April 11, 2009STANDARD surveillance cameras guard homes, businesses and public spaces around the clock, but they do the job imperfectly: fish-eye lenses can distort the image, and pan-and-tilt cameras may point the wrong way at a crucial moment. Now a new, six-ounce security camera the size of a deck of cards uses a different approach to cover a 180-degree field of view. It employs fixed, inexpensive sensors that divvy up the surveillance job, and smart software that instantly puts their separate views together into one live streaming video. The camera, the Digital Window D7, uses five 1.3 megapixel sensors just like the ones in camera phones, each aimed at its slice of the total view. Ingenious programs and a controller chip synchronize the five images as they are received, stitching them simultaneously into a panoramic stream that transmits at 15 frames a second. ... "This is an impressive technology for surveillance," he said. "It's a more affordable way to get a high-quality, wide-angle image with no distortion." ... Read Full Report
Burglary Live On The Internet
Florida woman watches intruders rob home via surveillance feed
THE SMOKING GUN - April 9, 2009A Florida woman who used a live Internet video feed to monitor the interior of her home was shocked yesterday when she saw two men burglarizing her residence in real time. Jeanne Thomas, 43, was seated at her office desk when two strangers appeared in her living room (the intruders got into Thomas's Boynton Beach house through a doggie door at the rear of the home, according to the below probable cause affidavit). Thomas, who set up the live video stream after her home was burglarized last October, immediately called 911 to report the burglary (click here to listen to her conversation with a police operator). Cops raced to her home and arrested the two men inside the house: Curtis Williams, 20, and Steven Morales, 19. Two other suspects--Scott George and Jonathan Cruz, both 20--were nabbed at a nearby residence and charged with helping plan the burglary. The amazing surveillance video from inside Thomas's house was uploaded to YouTube by the Boynton Beach Police Department and can be seen above. ... Read Full Report and See Video |
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Put on Your Best Clothes Before Going Out: Google's Camera Car May Cross Your Path
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NEW YORK TIMES [NYTimes Group/Sulzberger] - By Noam Cohen and Corey Kilgannon - May 22, 2009
Smile, New York - it's time for your close-up.
In the past few days, a gray four-door sedan with 360-degree panoramic cameras on its roof has been roaming the city's streets, photographing sidewalks and buildings. It is on a mission for Google, creating a virtual streetscape for Street View, a feature of the Google Maps Web site.
The Google car has gained near-mythic status, in large part because it is easy to miss, even with its odd rooftop adornment, as it moves like Pac-Man through the city grid. ...
The car, with small Google insignias on the sides, is itself a popular target for photographers. New Yorkers have posted snapshots of it on blogs and on the Flickr Web site. The car is missing a hubcap; one online photograph showed a laptop computer between the front seats. ...
Stephen Chau, Google's project manger for Street View, said each Google car had a global positioning device, used when the images are stitched together.
Users can see cars, pedestrians, homes, stores - basically anything on the street the precise moment the Google car rolled by. Google uses special "face-blurring technology" and sometimes obscures license plates. ...
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Just Say No to Google
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Germany to Google: Erase raw street-level imagesASSOCIATED PRESS - By Melissa Eddy - May 21, 2009 BERLIN - A data protection official for Germany said Wednesday that Google had yet to meet a key request that photos gathered for its panoramic mapping service be erased after they are sent to the United States for processing. ... Greece's Data Protection Authority recently rejected Google's bid to roam Greek streets with cameras mounted on vehicles, while the Pentagon barred Google from photographing U.S. military bases for the service. ... Read Full ReportGoogle reshoots Japan views after privacy complaintsREUTERS [Thomson-Reuters] - Reporting by Yoko Kubota; Editing by Jeremy Laurence - May 13, 2009 TOKYO - Internet search engine Google said it would reshoot all Japanese pictures for its online photo map service, Street View, using lower camera angles after complaints about invasion of privacy. ... Google said in a statement on Wednesday it would lower the cameras on its cars by 40 cm (16 inches) after complaints they were capturing images over fences in private homes. ... Read Full Report
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Google taking a step into power metering
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INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE [NYTimes Group/Sulzberger] - By Matthew Wald and Miguel Helft - February 10, 2009
SAN FRANCISCO - Google will announce its entry Tuesday into the small but growing business of "smart grid," digital technologies that seek to both keep the electrical system on an even keel and reduce electrical energy consumption.
Google is one of a number of companies devising ways to control the demand for electric power as an alternative to building more power plants. The company has developed a free Web service called PowerMeter that consumers can use to track energy use in their house or business as it is consumed.
Google is counting on others to build devices to feed data into PowerMeter technology. While it hopes to begin introducing the service in the next few months, it has not yet lined up hardware manufacturers.
"We can't build this product all by ourselves," said Kirsten Olsen Cahill, a program manager at Google.org, the company's corporate philanthropy arm. "We depend on a whole ecosystem of utilities, device makers and policies that would allow consumers to have detailed access to their home energy use and make smarter energy decisions."
"Smart grid" is the new buzz phrase in the electric business, encompassing a variety of approaches that involve more communication between utility operators and components of the grid, including transformers, power lines, customer meters and even home appliances like dishwashers.
"They've been putting a chip in your dishwasher for a long time that would allow you to run it any time you want," said Rick Sergel, chief executive of the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, an industry group that sets operating standards for the grid.
If the utility could "talk" to the dishwasher, it might tell the machine to run at 2 a.m. and not 2 p.m., or it might tell the homeowner how much money would be saved by running the dishwasher at a different hour. ...
The grid could bill the owner of the car for recharging the battery no matter where the car was plugged in. It would charge the owner a rate based on the time of day or night. If the car were left plugged in, the grid could decide when to charge it at the lowest rate.
The stimulus bill now going to a House-Senate conference committee has allocated $4.4 billion for "smart" technologies, including four million of these next-generation monitors, called smart meters. Proponents say that could make more effective use of existing power lines and generate employment. ...
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Airport security bares all, or does it?
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CNN [Turner Broadcasting/Time Warner] - By Jessica Ravitz - May 18, 2009
ATLANTA, Georgia -- Privacy advocates plan to call on the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to suspend use of "whole-body imaging," the airport security technology that critics say performs "a virtual strip search" and produces "naked" pictures of passengers, CNN has learned. ...
"People need to know what's happening, with no sugar-coating and no spinning," said Coney, who is also coordinator of the Privacy Coalition, a conglomerate of 42 member organizations. She expects other groups to sign on in the push for the technology's suspension until privacy safeguards are in place. ...
The machines "detect both metallic and nonmetallic threat items to keep passengers safe," said Kristin Lee, spokeswoman for TSA, in a written statement. "It is proven technology, and we are highly confident in its detection capability." ...
The sci-fi-looking whole-body imaging machine -- think "Beam me up, Scotty" -- was first introduced at an airport in Phoenix, Arizona, in November 2007. There are now 40 machines, which cost $170,000 each, being tested and used in 19 airports, said TSA's Lee.
Six of these airports are testing the machines as a primary security check option, instead of metal detectors followed by a pat-down, she said. The rest present them as a voluntary secondary security option in lieu of a pat-down, which is protocol for those who've repeatedly set off the metal detector or have been randomly selected for additional screening.
So far, the testing phase has been promising, said Lee. When given the choice, "over 99 percent of passengers choose this technology over other screening options," she said.
A big advantage of the technology is the speed, said Jon Allen, another TSA spokesperson, who's based in Atlanta, Georgia. A body scan takes between 15 and 30 seconds, while a full pat-down can take from two to four minutes. And for those who cringe at the idea of being touched by a security official, or are forever assigned to a pat-down because they had hip replacements, for example, the machine is a quick and easy way to avoid that contact and hassle, he said.
Using millimeter wave technology, which the TSA says emits 10,000 times less radio frequency than a cell phone, the machine scans a traveler and a robotic image is generated that allows security personnel to detect potential threats -- and, some fear, more -- beneath a person's clothes. ...
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Watch a video of the body-imaging scans
Whole-Body Scans Pass First Airport Tests
NEW YORK TIMES [NYTimes Group/Sulzberger] - By Joe Sharkey - April 6, 2009
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