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Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page JUNE 19, 2009-------- Police Departments With Heavy Artillery. Unlike most police departments, this particular police force is also equipped with 2 grenade launchers, 4 M-14 semi-automatic rifles and one M-21 sniper rifle. The grenade launchers can be used to fire tear gas in the event of a riot or a standoff. For the department, owning these weapons also means not having to wait for State Police to respond to a major emergency. The bottom line, he said it's better to be prepared than sorry. There are a handful of western Massachusetts police departments that have obtained military weapons from this federal program. YOUNG WATCHMAN —POLICE STATE!!!! THE ONLY REASON FOR POLICE TO HAVE THESE TYPE OF WEAPONS IS THAT THEY KNOW SOMETHING IS ON THE HORIZON!!!
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page JUNE 18, 2009-------- E-Mail Surveillance Renews Concerns in Congress The National Security Agency is facing renewed scrutiny over the extent of its domestic surveillance program, with critics in Congress saying its recent intercepts of the private telephone calls and e-mail messages of Americans are broader than previously acknowledged, current and former officials said. The agency’s monitoring of domestic e-mail messages, in particular, has posed longstanding legal and logistical difficulties, the officials said. Since April, when it was disclosed that the intercepts of some private communications of Americans went beyond legal limits in late 2008 and early 2009, several Congressional committees have been investigating. Those inquiries have led to concerns in Congress about the agency’s ability to collect and read domestic e-mail messages of Americans on a widespread basis, officials said. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page JUNE 17, 2009-------- Arizona Drunk Drivers Face Arrests At Fast Food Joints Drunken Arizona drivers with the late-night munchies may soon be getting more than chicken strips at drive-through windows. The Pima County Sheriff's Department has a new campaign targeting drunken driving. Operation Would U Like Fries, or Operation WULF, will put undercover deputies inside 24-hour fast-food restaurants to spot impaired drivers placing their orders. Sgt. Doug Hanna, a DUI unit supervisor, says if deputies notice someone with classic symptoms of impairment — slurred speech, red or watery eyes or beer breath — they will have a uniformed deputy stationed outside pull the driver over. Hanna says money for the intermittent program is coming from a $128,000 grant from the Governor's Office of Highway Safety. The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page JUNE 11, 2009-------- NYCLU Sues Homeland Security Over Spying on Citizens The New York Civil Liberties Union is suing the Department of Homeland Security to find anything it can about the NYPD's plans to build a massive surveillance system in Lower Manhattan. The system will allow the NYPD, and possibly the federal government, to create a computerized database on the movement and whereabouts of millions of everyday New Yorkers who travel south of Canal Street. In a segment of the plan called Operation Sentinel, the department also proposes to photograph every vehicle entering Manhattan, scan the license plates and use sensors to check for radiation, and then keep the information on file for at least a month. The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page JUNE 8, 2009-------- GPS shoes for Alzheimer's patients A shoe-maker and a technology company are teaming up to develop footwear with a built-in GPS device that could help track down "wandering" seniors suffering from Alzheimer's Disease. "The technology will provide the location of the individual wearing the shoes within 30 feet, anywhere on the planet," said Andrew Carle, an assistant professor at George Mason University who served as an advisor on the project. The shoes are being developed by GTX Corp., which makes miniaturized Global Positioning Satellite tracking and location-transmitting technology, and Aetrex Worldwide, a footwear manufacturer. The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page JUNE 3, 2009-------- City Wants Surveillance Cameras to Record Every License Plate Police in North Carolina want to build surveillance cameras that would record every car license that passes by and run it through the FBI’s criminal database, alerting authorities in real time if it finds a match. The system would store license plate numbers for up to a year to provide authorities with historic data should they want to review the data later. The system would run every plate number through the FBI’s National Crime Information Center to look for anyone with an outstanding warrant or criminal record or simply someone who’s “a person of interest in a local investigation.” Wilmington police have applied for a Department of Homeland Security grant to place the cameras along a local highway as well as at a memorial and bridge ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Florida County mandates fingerprints to sell videogames GameStop, the largest games retailer on the planet, has made billions from the trade, building an empire off the business model that one Florida County appears to now view as a haven for criminals. Broward County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Kayla Concepcion said the new requirement comes straight from the Florida Legislature, which enacted a law on October 1 of last year that treated video games like second-hand goods sold at pawn shops. Now any store buying used video games has to collect the thumb prints, along with a bunch of other personal info about the seller. The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page APRIL 29, 2009-------- TEXAS 'hate crimes' bill targets children Jonathan Saenz of the Texas-based Free Market Foundation says lawmakers in Texas are targeting young children with a "hate crimes" bill. HB 824 is expected to be voted on shortly. The bill targets children as young as ten years of age who are allegedly guilty of hate crimes. "If they committed some crime and it had to do with the issue of 'sexual preference' -- particularly the issue of homosexuality -- they could be punished," he says, "and a judge could order them to go to a program where they have to accept the other side and accept the views of homosexuality." The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page APRIL 20, 2009-------- Big Bro’s Cybersecurity Act: A means to shut down the Internet I’m not the first to write about this little-noticed Senate bill, S.773, the Cybersecurity Act of 2009.Nor should I be the last because it is such an important piece of legislation.The bill states that “the president may order a Cybersecurity emergency and order the limitation or shutdown of Internet traffic” and would hand the government continuous access to “all relevant data concerning (critical infrastructure) networks without regard to any provision of law, regulation, rule, or policy restricting such access.” It also wants to hand us a Cybersecurity Czar, to compliment our Drug Czar, Homeland Security Czar, Border Czar, and any other bizarre Czar they can think of to limit American freedoms The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page APRIL 9, 2009-------- Government opts for secrecy in wiretap suit The Obama administration is again invoking government secrecy in defending the Bush administration's wiretapping program, this time against a lawsuit by AT&T customers who claim federal agents illegally intercepted their phone calls and gained access to their records. Disclosure of the information sought by the customers, "which concerns how the United States seeks to detect and prevent terrorist attacks, would cause exceptionally grave harm to national security," Justice Department lawyers said in papers filed Friday in San Francisco. Nearly 40 such suits from around the nation, all filed after Bush's 2005 disclosure, have been transferred to San Francisco and are pending before Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, U.S. plans new government-owned satellites Defying congressional opposition, the U.S. government said it would buy expensive new spy satellites and order more imagery from two commercial providers to plug gaps in satellite coverage. The plan, which analysts and former military officials estimate will cost around$10 billion, was announced by Dennis Blair, the retired Navy admiral who serves as President Barack Obama's Director of National Intelligence. Blair said satellite imagery was a core component of U.S. national security, and the new satellites were needed to ensure the safety of U.S. troops and citizens. The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page APRIL 3, 2009-------- EUROPE: Big Brother is watching: surveillance box to track drivers is backed The government is backing a project to install a "communication box" in new cars to track the whereabouts of drivers anywhere in Europe Under the proposals, vehicles will emit a constant "heartbeat" revealing their location, speed and direction of travel. The EU officials behind the plan believe it will significantly reduce road accidents, congestion and carbon emissions. A consortium of manufacturers has indicated that the router device could be installed in all new cars as early as 2013. However, privacy campaigners warned last night that a European-wide car tracking system would create a system of almost total road surveillance. ***WATCHMAN...I BELIEVE this is ALREADY in AMERICAN CARS year 2000 and up... The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page March 18, 2009-------- UK Big Brother to spy on your holidays as security database is set up to log all trips abroad Showing your passport will be the simplest part of crossing borders, with new rules stipulating at least 24 hours' notice of travel plans All trips out of Britain are to be recorded on a massive new security database - along with personal details of every business traveller and holidaymaker. People planning a journey abroad will have to submit their exact travel plans along with details of their passports, home addresses, email addresses, and even credit cards ***WATCHMAN...Also look for this to appeard in the USA or CANADA SOON!... The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page March 6, 2009-------- Australian police will have power to secretly search homes Daily Telegraph | Police will be allowed to secretly search suspects’ homes and remotely access their home computers for a month under the most draconian covert operation laws the state has seen. The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page February 23, 2009-------- Hidden Spy Camera & Mic Found Inside Digital TV Box A popular video circulating on You Tube shows the discovery of a spy camera and a microphone hidden inside a digital TV converter box. Such devices are part of a government and industry surveillance program that is undoubtedly connected to the forced digital TV switchover being rolled out in the UK and US. “I could not believe my eyes,” states the blurb accompanying the video clip, “I have a friend who is kind of a conspiracy theorist. He was trying to convince me that many of the digital TV convert boxes that are coming out have microphones and cameras built into them. Knowing a bit about electronics I bought one of these devices opened it up fully intending on proving him wrong. To my surprise he was right. This device has both a miniature camera lens and what looks like a microphone. I was so shocked I took pictures and video. Please send this out to everyone you know who is using one of these devices.” The camera and microphone were hidden inside a MAGNAVOX TB110MW9 Digital to Analog Converter box. We are not suggesting that every digital cable box has a spy camera and microphone inside, so ripping open your cable box is not a good way to prove this one way or another - but the fact remains that companies like Google and Comcast have openly announced that they plan to use hidden cameras and microphones inside their products to spy on consumers. Watch the clip below...it is very interesting BUT it could be FAKED...BroJ http://www.youtube.com/v/TQ4iIM8Eljc The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth! ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Feds Propose Storing Internet User Data for 2 Years In the name of combating child pornography, federal lawmakers are proposing that internet users' online surfing habits be retained for two years. The so-called "Internet Stopping Adults Facilitating the Exploitation of Today's Youth Act of 2009," or SAFETY Act, was floated in both the House and Senate on Thursday. In short, if approved, everybody from employers to ISPs to coffee shops and universities would be required to keep logs of all data associated with IP addresses assigned randomly to individual users – from e-mail logins to search queries to sites visited, legal experts said ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Air Force to Unleash 'Gorgon Stare' on Insurgents The "Gorgon Stare" is the Air Force's $150 million project to outfit its latest spy drones with super high-powered cameras. By next year, 10 Reaper unmanned aircraft should have a Gorgon Stare sensor, which will film an area, two-and-a-half miles around, from 12 different angles. "Gorgon Stare will allow a combat controller on the ground, a commander at headquarters and an intelligence officer back in the U.S. all to choose a different angle from the same Reaper," according to Air Force Times' Michael Hoffman.
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page February 20, 2009-------- Pubs ordered to install Big Brother CCTV cameras - or risk losing licenses In the UK, police are telling pubs, clubs, restaurants and off-licenses they will not support their licensing applications unless they agree to train the intrusive cameras on their customers. Owners also have to promise to hand over to the police any CCTV footage requested. The Information Commissioner's office, the UK's privacy watchdog, said it was seriously concerned by the development.
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page February 18, 2009-------- UK SPY CHIEF: WE RISK A POLICE STATE Dame Stella Rimington, the former head of MI5, has warned that the fear of terrorism is being exploited by the Government to erode civil liberties and risks creating a police state. Dame Stella accused ministers of interfering with people’s privacy and playing straight into the hands of terrorists. ‘Since I have retired I feel more at liberty to be against certain decisions of the Government, especially the attempt to pass laws which interfere with people’s privacy,’ Dame Stella said in an interview with a Spanish newspaper. ‘It would be better that the Government recognized that there are risks, rather than frightening people in order to be able to pass laws which restrict civil liberties, precisely one of the objects of terrorism: that we live in fear and under a police state,’ she said. Dame Stella, 73, added: ‘The US has gone too far with Guantánamo and the tortures. MI5 does not do that. Furthermore it has achieved the opposite effect: there are more and more suicide terrorists finding a greater justification.’ She said the British secret services were ‘no angels’ but insisted they did not kill people. Dame Stella became the first woman director general of MI5 in 1992 and was head of the security agency until 1996. Since stepping down she has been a fierce critic of some of the Government’s counter-terrorism and security measures, especially those affecting civil liberties. In 2005, she said the Government’s plans for ID cards were ‘absolutely useless’ and would not make the public any safer. Last year she criticized attempts to extend the period of detention without charge for terrorism suspects to 42 days as excessive, shortly before the plan was rejected by Parliament The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page February 9, 2009-------- WARNING OVER 'SURVEILLANCE STATE' Electronic surveillance and collection of personal data are ‘pervasive’ in British society and threaten to undermine democracy, peers have warned. CCTV cameras and the DNA database were two examples of threats to privacy, the Lords constitution committee said. It called for compensation for people subject to illegal surveillance. The government said CCTV and DNA were ‘essential’ to fight crime but Liberty said recent abuses of power meant ‘even the innocent have a lot to fear’. Civil liberties campaigners have warned about the risks of a ‘surveillance society’ in which the state acquires ever-greater powers to track people's movements and retain personal data. Controversial government plans for a database to store details of people's phone calls and e-mails were put on hold late last year after they were branded ‘Orwellian’. Ministers are consulting on the plan, which would involve the details but not the content of calls and internet traffic being logged, saying it is essential to fighting terrorism. In its report, the Lords constitution committee said growth in surveillance by both the state and the private sector risked threatening people's right to privacy, which it said was ‘an essential pre-requisite to the exercise of individual freedom’. People were often unaware of the scale of personal information held and exchanged by public bodies, it said The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page February 5, 2009-------- Google Latitude Map Tool Launches Need another online method for being tracked? Google just announced the release of Latitude. Built into Google Maps for Mobile and iGoogle, the feature lets users share their locations. At present, the feature is available in 27 countries on a number of devices, including Android phones, Blackberries, Windows Mobile phones (5.0+), and Symbian S60s. iPhone compatible will follow soon.
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page February 4, 2009-------- Big Brother' ads can watch who's watching Watch an ad on a video screen in a shopping center, a health club or a supermarket and there is an increasing chance that the ad is watching you.
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page January 27, 2009-------- Watch out children: Big Mother is watching It is advertised as the perfect marriage between a child's freedom and a parent's peace of mind. To a child, it's just a watch. But to a parent, it is a GPS locator that allows them to track their children's movements via the internet, set up predetermined virtual fences or "safe zones", and receive notification via their phone if it is ever removed. It is also waterproof and dermatologically tested, and has an accuracy of three metres (with the location of the child shown on the Google Maps street directory). Called the Nu.M8, it is the latest advance in child surveillance available for sale online. Evan Penn, chief executive of GPS monitoring company Ezy2c, said similar devices would be here soon. "It's an area we will evolve to as the market develops," he said. "To get to the price point that we're looking at to make it really affordable and achievable on a mass market scale, I think you're looking at 12 to 24 months." Civil liberties groups are conc erned about the gadget, which was developed in Britain and launched last week in the US. With personal tracking devices already available here, NSW Council of Civil Liberties vice-president David Bernie said the rapid development and declining cost of technological surveillance was outstripping any debate about the implications for society. The manufacturers' instructions, which said the Nu.M8 was activated as soon as the strap was fastened and could not be removed without logging onto the internet, were of particular concern, he said. "This would be exactly the type of ankle-type restriction put on somebody who had been charged and was on bail, or had been convicted and was on parole," he said. "But it's not what you would expect what parents would do to children." The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page January 20, 2009-------- Britain 'must set population limit to safeguard national security' say experts Britain must set a maximum population level if it is to avoid destroying the environment and putting national security at risk, say experts. The Optimum Population Trust has written to ministers calling for a policy of 'zero net migration' - matching numbers allowed into Britain each year to numbers leaving. The UK's population is projected to increase from 60 to 70million over the next 20 years, and to 85million by 2081. Experts are demanding a Royal Commission to establish 'an environmentally sustainable level of population The trust, a panel of academics and environmentalists, says achieving zero net migration would cut Britain's population in 2081 to 57million. Mass immigration 'feeds through into rising greenhouse gas emissions' and more congestion, the experts say. The trust warns that because Britain can produce only 30 per cent of the food, energy and other goods that it needs, it will become increasingly vulnerable to 'resource nationalism' as foreign powers hoard their own scarce resources. 'This imperils future national security as well as destroying the environment,' it says. The trust is demanding a Royal Commission to establish 'an environmentally sustainable level of population'. The Home Office said its new points-based immigration system would help manage immigration, 'which will contribute to future population projections and control'. The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page January 16, 2009-------- BIG BROTHER DATABASE A 'TERRIFYING' ASSAULT ON TRADITIONAL FREEDOMS Sweeping new powers allowing personal information about every citizen to be handed over to government agencies faced condemnation yesterday amid warnings that Britain is experiencing the greatest threats to civil rights for decades. Shami Chakrabarti, the director of the pressure group Liberty, warned that the laws, published yesterday, were among a string of measures that amounted to a ‘terrifying’ assault on traditional freedoms. Proposals in the Coroners and Justice Bill include measures to authorise ministers to move huge amounts of data between government departments and other agencies and public bodies. Bodies that hold personal information include local councils, the DVLA, benefits offices and HM Revenue and Customs. The Bill will allow ministers to use data-sharing orders to overturn strict rules that require information to be used only for the purpose it was taken. But it places no limit on the information that could eventually be shared between public bodies, potentially allowing vast amounts of personal data to be shared by officials across Whitehall, agencies or other public bodies. Safeguards in the Bill will ensure that the proposed orders are considered by the Information Commissioner and require them to be formally approved by Parliament. Ministers insisted there would be a series of safeguards to ensure that data was secure and not misused. But in an interview with The Independent Ms Chakrabarti warned the measure was one of a string of threats to civil liberties that range from attacks on the Human Rights Act, the advent of ID cards, and proposals to retain data on internet and email use. She declared: ‘The combination amounts to the most authoritarian time in my lifetime. In Britain, we are seeing happening things I would never have dreamt of seeing.’ Ms Chakrabarti also condemned plans in the Bill to restrict the use of juries in inquests and hold hearings in secret. She added: ‘It's the second week of January and we have already seen plans for new gang Asbos and secret coroners as well as very broad data- sharing measures. What will next week bring? The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page January 9, 2009-------- Barack Obama's "Black Widow" Super Spy Computer Will Be Watching You, Your Internet Connections, Telephone Conversations Barack Obama will be in charge of the biggest domestic and international spying operation in history. Its prime engine is the National Security Agency (NSA)—located and guarded at Fort Meade, Maryland, about 10 miles northeast of Washington, D.C. 'The NSA's colossal Cray supercomputer, code-named the 'Black Widow,' scans millions of domestic and international phone calls and e-mails every hour. The Black Widow, performs hundreds of trillions of calculations per second, searches through and reassembles key words and patterns, across many languages The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page January 6, 2009-------- POLICE LOOK TO HACK CITIZENS' HOME PCS Police and state intelligence agencies from several countries may soon be working together to secretly hack into private citizens' personal computers without their knowledge and without a warrant. According to a London report, the police hacking process, called ‘remote searching,’ enables law enforcement to gather information from e-mails, instant messages and Web browsers, even while hundreds of miles away. A new edict by the European Union's council of ministers in Brussels has paved the way for international law enforcement agencies to begin remote searching and sharing the information with each other. The United Kingdom's Home Office, the nation's lead government department for immigration, drugs and counter-terrorism enforcement, has already quietly adopted a plan that would enable French, German and other European Union police forces to request remote searching be done on UK citizens' computers. The Home Office's plan has drawn immediate protest. ‘These are very intrusive powers – as intrusive as someone busting down your door and coming into your home,’ said Shami Chakrabarti, director of Liberty, a British civil liberties and human rights group. ‘The public will want this to be controlled by new legislation and judicial authorization,’ Chakrabarti told the Times. ‘Without those safeguards it's a devastating blow to any notion of personal privacy.’ According to the report, a remote search can be granted if a senior police officer believes it is necessary to detect a serious crime, and unlike searching a suspect's home, a remote search does not require a warrant under Home Office policy The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page December 29, 2008-------- Stricter Border ID to begin for U.S. If you're planning a driving trip to Canada or Mexico, starting Jan. 31, 2008, U.S. citizens returning to the U. S. by land or sea from Canada, Mexico or the Caribbean must carry a document that shows their citizenship. Those who don't have a passport must carry a birth certificate plus government-issued photo ID, such as a driver's license or school ID for young students, to show at border inspection stations. The new rule affects all vehicle and train travelers, cruise and ferry passengers, and private boaters.
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page December 24, 2008-------- The Bill Nobody Noticed: National DNA Databank In April of 2008, President Bush signed into law S.1858 which allows the federal government to screen the DNA of all newborn babies in the U.S. This was to be implemented within 6 months meaning that this collection is now being carried out. Congressman Ron Paul states that this bill is the first step towards the establishment of a national DNA database. S.1858, known as The Newborn Screening Saves Lives Act of 2007, is justified as a "national contingency plan" in that it represents preparation for any sort of public health emergency. The bill states that the federal government should "continue to carry out, coordinate, and expand research in newborn screening" and "maintain a central clearinghouse of current information on newborn screening... ensuring that the clearinghouse is available on the Internet and is updated at least quarterly". Sections of the bill also make it clear that DNA may be used in genetic experiments and tests. Twila Brase, presid ent of the Citizens' Council on Health Care warns that this new law represents the beginning of nationwide genetic testing. Brase states that S.1858 and H.R. 3825, the House version of the bill, will: • Establish a national list of genetic conditions for which newborns and children are to be tested. • Establish protocols for the linking and sharing of genetic test results nationwide. • Build surveillance systems for tracking the health status and health outcomes of individuals diagnosed at birth with a genetic defect or trait. • Use the newborn screening program as an opportunity for government agencies to identify, list, and study "secondary conditions" of individuals and their families. • Subject citizens to genetic research without their knowledge or consent. Brase states that under this bill, "The DNA taken at birth from every citizen is essentially owned by the government, and every citizen becomes a potential subject of government-sponsored genetic research." All 50 states are now routinely providing results of genetic screenings to the Department of Homeland Security and this bill will establish the legality of that practice plus include DNA.. The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page December 17, 2008-------- Innocent Britons 'may be branded criminals abroad' after Big Brother databases agreement Innocent British citizens may be drawn into foreign criminal investigations after the Government agreed to EU-wide access to its 'Big Brother' databases, the Conservatives have warned. All 26 other member countries will be able to check against sensitive personal information held on driver registration, DNA and fingerprint computer systems. Where there is a match, a suspect-could be extradited to face trial abroad or - at the least - be forced to explain their movements or provide an alibi to prove their innocence. The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page December 16, 2008-------- Cyber cops on their way? Obama urged to establish new office for regulating Internet A panel of web experts from government, private and the military sectors released a report yesterday urging the next president to establish a new office of cyberspace security and begin federal regulation of the Internet. The report, "Securing Cyberspace for the 44th Presidency," from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington, D.C., think tank established during the Cold War, alleges the Department of Homeland Security has failed to secure the Internet and new measures are needed – despite inevitable concerns about online privacy – to keep America safe. "We still have an industrial-age government that was organized a century ago," said Jim Lewis, one of CSIS's directors, as reported by the San Francisco Chronicle. "The DHS has a 1970s-style solution to a 21st century problem." "The United States must treat cybersecurity as one of the most important national security challenges it faces," the CSIS panel asserts in its r eport. "This is a strategic issue on par with weapons of mass destruction and global jihad." To back its claim, the panel cites a litany of cybersecurity breaches that it claims hit sensitive areas in 2007 alone: "The unclassified e-mail of the secretary of defense was hacked, and DOD officials told us that the department's computers are probed hundreds of thousands of times each day," the panel reports. "A senior official at the Department of State told us the department had lost 'terabytes' of information. Homeland Security suffered break-ins in several of its divisions, including the Transportation Security Agency. The Department of Commerce was forced to take the Bureau of Industry and Security off-line for several months, and NASA has had to impose e-mail restrictions before shuttle launches and allegedly has seen designs for new launchers compromised. "Recently the White House itself had to deal with unidentifiable intrusions in its networks," the report continues. "Se nior representatives from the intelligence community told us that they had conclusive evidence, covertly obtained from foreign sources, that U.S. companies have lost billions in intellectual property." To counter the reported attacks, the panel recommends steps that, by the CSIS' own admission, may raise privacy concerns for American citizens. While acknowledging the benefit of online anonymity, the report nonetheless contends there must be better systems in place to authenticate Internet users' digital identities. "Creating the ability to know reliably what person or device is sending a particular data stream in cyberspace," the panel states, "must be part of an effective cybersecurity strategy." The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page December 12, 2008-------- Fingerprints Can Reveal Drug Use A careless touch could be all police or insurance companies need to determine not only your identity, but also your past drug use, if you've fired a gun or handled explosives, even specific medical conditions.
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page December 10, 2008-------- [:-) Smiles banned on Indiana driver's license Drivers seeking a license in Indiana may be asked to brush their hair but they won't be asked to smile. The Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles has imposed restrictions on anything that might prevent facial recognition software from distinguishing one driver's appearance from another's.
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page December 9, 2008-------- 'Big Brother' in Britain There may now be more than 10 million video cameras operating in a country with a population of about 60 million. British authorities now even use miniature, unmanned "drones" carrying aerial cameras to watch crowds at large events. "It's remarkable that there is no general protest" over widespread surveillance, said Simon Davies, a director with the advocacy group Privacy International.
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page December 5, 2008-------- Scientists plan 'Big Brother' flu experiment British researchers plan to recruit 200 volunteers to be infected with flu while living together during week-long experiments, in order to deepen understanding of how to tackle a pandemic. In a groundbreaking Big Brother-style trial, recruits will be divided into groups of half a dozen. They will spend their time sleeping, eating and socializing in specially adapted hotels under constant camera observation and medical supervision. ***WATCHMAN... A "PLAN" or a TRIAL????????.... .................................. Behavioral screening may be the future of airport security Half of security experts say focus is shifting from analyzing the content of carry-ons to analyzing the content of passengers' intentions and emotions. Several Israeli-based technology companies are developing detection systems that pick up signs of emotional strain, a psychological red flag that a passenger may intend to commit an act of terror. Speedier and less intrusive than metal detectors, these systems may eventually restore some efficiency to the airplane boarding process. The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page December 4, 2008-------- Orwell's Big Brother, All-Seeing Control Grid Under Construction HARRISON BROWN, an 18-year-old freshman majoring in mathematics at M.I.T., didn’t need to do complex calculations to figure out he liked this deal: in exchange for letting researchers track his every move, he receives a free smartphone. Now, when he dials another student, researchers know. When he sends an e-mail or text message, they also know. When he listens to music, they know the song. Every moment he has his Windows Mobile smartphone with him, they know where he is, and who’s nearby. Mr. Brown and about 100 other students living in Random Hall at M.I.T. have agreed to swap their privacy for smartphones that generate digital trails to be beamed to a central computer. Beyond individual actions, the devices capture a moving picture of the dorm’s social network. The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page November 28, 2008-------- The CCTV that spots crimes BEFORE they happen CCTV cameras which can 'predict' if a crime is about to take place are being introduced on Britain's streets. The cameras can alert operators to suspicious behavior, such as loitering and unusually slow walking. Anyone spotted could then have to explain their behavior to a police officer.
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page November 26, 2008-------- New machines scan IDs at US border crossings A U.S. government official places a new U.S. passport with an embedded electronic chip into a book printer. Agents along the Canada and Mexico borders are using a controversial new machine that can "read" the personal information contained in some government-issued ID cards — ...such as passports and driver's licenses — as travelers approach a checkpoint. The Homeland Security Department says the new practice will tighten security and speed the flow of traffic. Privacy advocates say the technology could make Americans less secure because terrorists or other criminals may be able to steal the personal information off the ID cards remotely. The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page November 25, 2008-------- Invasive Arizona Department of Public Safety database Every plate is photographed, time-stamped, labeled on a GPS map and automatically logged into an Arizona Department of Public Safety database. An electronic voice alerts police to stolen vehicles within seconds after they pass, giving them the ability to make quick arrests. In the past 2 years, the technology has been lauded as more than a tool to thwart car thieves. DPS claims its program has the potential to intercept violent criminals and Amber Alert suspects, though lawmakers and activists raise questions about invasion of privacy for average citizens whose plates are scanned. The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page November 12, 2008-------- Veins could replace fingerprints and retinas as most secure form of ID Finger vein authentication is claimed to be the fastest and most secure biometric method. It verifies a person's identity based on the lattice work of minute blood vessels under the skin. Easydentic Group, a European leader in the biometric industry based in France, has announced that it will be using Hitachi's finger vein security in a range of door access systems for the UK and European markets. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Enjoy surveillance while it is still visible Measures such as ID cards are a temporary measure before biometric technology becomes ubiquitous; That was the warning from security guru Bruce Schneier this week who claims that surveillance technology will get more sophisticated and, more importantly, smaller and harder to detect. "We live in a very unique time in our society. The cameras are everywhere and you can still see them," said Schneier, BT's chief security technology officer. "Five years ago they weren't everywhere, five years from now you are not going to see them." As well as camera technology becoming less obtrusive, Schneier said that ID checks would also become less obvious and may not even require the obvious cooperation of the individual being checked. "Five years ago there weren't ID checks everywhere," he said. "But five or ten years from now they will happen in the background. It will be an Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chip in your wallet, you won't even know its being checked." Biometric technologies such as face recognition, or systems based on a particular type of mobile phone owned or even clothes, may also be used for identity checks. The increase in background ID checks means that the current debate around national ID cards in the UK is only a short-term issue, according to Schneier. "I know there are debates on ID cards everywhere but in a lot of ways, they are only very temporary. They are only a temporary solution till biometrics takes over," he said The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page November 7, 2008-------- UK INTERNET BLACK BOXES TO RECORD EVERY EMAIL AND WEBSITE VISIT Under Government plans to monitor internet traffic, raw data would be collected and stored by the black boxes before being transferred to a giant central database. The vision was outlined at a meeting between officials from the Home Office and Internet Service Providers earlier this week. It is further evidence of the Government's desire to have the capability to vet every telephone call, email and internet visit made in the UK, which has already provoked an outcry. Richard Thomas, the Information Commissioner, has described it as a ‘step too far’. The proposal is expected to be put out to consultation as part of the new Communications Data Bill early next year. At Monday's meeting in London representatives from BT, AOL Europe, O2 and BSkyB were given a presentation of the issues and the technology surrounding the Government's Interception Modernisation Programme (IMP), the name given by the Home Office to the database proposal. They were told that the security and intelligence agencies wanted to use the stored data to help fight serious crime and terrorism. Officials tried to reassure the industry by suggesting that many smaller ISPs would be unaffected by the ‘black boxes’ as these would be installed upstream on the network and hinted that all costs would be met by the Government The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page October 21, 2008-------- GeoEye's New Satellite Offers Unprecedented Sharp Images The sharpest commercial imaging satellite ever launched is now orbiting the Earth, sweeping over the North Pole and under the South Pole every 98 minutes, collecting high-resolution images. From 423 miles up, the GeoEye-1 satellite can spot objects as small as 16 inches across. Home plate is visible on a baseball diamond. Obviously, then, so are trucks, troops, aircraft on runways, ships at sea and other items of particular interest to the U.S. military. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, UK: New law to allow police to collect DNA in secret from teacups The new law, being discussed by Parliament, would mean samples – thousands of which have already been taken by the security services – would be admissible in court and expand the Government's DNA database. MI5 and the police may be allowed to secretly collect genetic samples from items such as cigarette butts and teacups under the new laws. The powers would allow investigators to break in to suspects' homes to collect DNA which could then be shared with foreign governments to check for links to crime and terrorism. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Interpol Details Plans For Global Biometric Facial Scan Database Interpol is planning to expand its role into the mass screening of passengers moving around the world by creating a face recognition database to catch wanted suspects. Senior figures want a system that lets immigration officials capture digital images of passengers and immediately cross-check them against a database of pictures of terror suspects, international criminals and fugitives. The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page October 17, 2008-------- Homeowners can link private cameras to city's surveillance network Charles Hill installed five surveillance cameras outside the 3,720-square-foot home he's building in West Chatham after local kids broke $3,700 worth of architectural windows. From now on he won't be the only one checking the video when something bad happens on his block. After vandals broke $3,700 worth of windows, Charles Hill had enough. He's linking his security cameras to Chicago's 911 center. Charles Hill is the first homeowner to agree to hook up his camera's to the City of Chicago network. Hill has become the first private homeowner to take the city up on its unprecedented offer to connect privately owned exterior surveillance cameras to Chicago's 911 emergency center. "It'll do wonders for the block. God forbid, something mysteriously happens in the community. Those cameras could provide the city with some edge -- wherever it takes them," Hill said. "Some people talk about the ACLU and all these privacy rights. But if a crime takes place, those individuals had to come from somewhere. I don't care if it's my brother or my mother. If those cameras do what they're supposed to do, whoever suffers will suffer." Nearly two dozen colleges, businesses and high-rises also have agreed to share their video with the 911 center to create a panoramic view of disaster scenes. Considering the enthusiastic response in the first two months, City Hall is confident that hundreds of private cameras ultimately will be added to the city's network The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth! ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, GIANT DATABASE PLAN 'ORWELLIAN' Proposals for a central database of all mobile phone and internet traffic have been condemned as ‘Orwellian’. Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said the police and security services needed new powers to keep up with technology. And she promised that the content of conversations would not be stored, just times and dates of messages and calls. But the Lib Dems slammed the idea as ‘incompatible with a free country’, while the Tories called on the government to justify its plans. Details of the times, dates, duration and locations of mobile phone calls, numbers called, website visited and addresses e-mailed are already stored by telecoms companies for 12 months under a voluntary agreement. The data can be accessed by the police and security services on request - but the government plans to take control of the process in order to comply with an EU directive and make it easier for investigators to do their job. Information will be kept for two years by law and may be held centrally on a searchable database. Without increasing their capacity to store data, the police and security services would have to consider a ‘massive expansion of surveillance,’ Ms Smith said in a speech to the Institute for Public Policy Research earlier… Ms Smith attempted to reassure people that the content of their e-mails and phone conversations would not be stored. ‘There are no plans for an enormous database which will contain the content of your emails, the texts that you send or the chats you have on the phone or online. ‘Nor are we going to give local authorities the power to trawl through such a database in the interest of investigating lower level criminality under the spurious cover of counter terrorist legislation. ‘Local authorities do not have the power to listen to your calls now and they never will in future. You would rightly object to proposals of this kind and I would not consider them. ‘What we will be proposing will be options which follow the key principles which govern all our work in this area - the principles of proportionality and necessity.’ But the idea of storing phone and e-mail records has provoked concern among experts. The government's own reviewer of anti-terror laws, Lord Carlile, said: ‘The raw idea of simply handing over all this information to any government, however benign, and sticking it in an electronic warehouse is an awful idea if there are not very strict controls about it.’ The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page October 16, 2008-------- Government's terror watchdog warns against UK's 'Big Brother' database The Government's terrorism watchdog has condemned plans to create an enormous "Big Brother" database to hold information about every phone call, email and internet visit made in the UK. Lord Carlisle of Berriew QC, the independent reviewer of anti-terrorist laws, said the "raw idea" of the database was "awful" and called for controls to stop government agencies from abusing it to fish into the private lives of the public. His intervention came as Home Secretary Jacqui Smith was expected to use a speech today (WEDS) to set out her current thinking about the controversial scheme. However, Lord Carlile said that the Government had an "unhappy" record when it came to safeguarding personal data. The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page October 14, 2008-------- Cops test license-plate cameras that store, trace data Portland, Oregon police are testing a high-tech camera system that can reach back in time and track your movements across the city, and even produce photos of your previous locations. The police promise they will only use it to solve crimes, like finding stolen cars or locating wanted criminals. ***WATCHMAN... Until the MARK that is...
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page October 10, 2008-------- UK Spy agency wants all your e-mails Plan would suck up 3 billion messages daily Sir David Pepper, the feisty director-general of GCHQ, Britain's Government Communications Headquarters, is planning to create the most intrusive ever surveillance system in Britain. The secret electronic spying agency he has run for five years operates from its famous "doughnut" shaped building in the pleasant countryside at Cheltenham. Sir David can be seen strolling around the town – home of one of Britain's most famous girls schools. Dressed in his tweeds and brogues, he could be a landowner on a day out. Instead he is the head of an 8,000-strong team, whose members spend their round-the-clock shifts listening to every conversation their computers can pick up. Now Sir David wants to go further. His proposal is to not only intercept the three billion e-mails a day sent in the UK, but extend the reach of its powerful computers into "hundreds of thousands" of targets in Europe: business firms, defense contractors and communications between diplomats. From Paris to Berlin, Madrid and Moscow, all will be likely to have their electronic correspondence intercepted on an unprecedented scale. From love notes to business details, they will each be intercepted if Sir David has his way. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Pentagon Launches Secret 'Gandalf' Project Darpa, the Pentagon's research wing, is launching a new, classified effort to find enemies by the phone they use. It's called Gandalf. The SECRET/NOFORN program's goal is to employ "set of handheld devices" to track down a particular "signal emitter of interest," using "radio frequency geolocation." The specific goals and performance objectives for the Gandalf system are classified," Darpa says. But former Royal Navy officer Lew Page, who unearthed the project, explains what he believes the R&D agency has in mind: it would appear that a group of undercover operatives… dispersed near a target (perhaps a specific cell or satellite phone) might carry portable gadgets, presumably networked. The netted devices would be able to pick out the phone, radio or whatever they were after and track it. The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page October 7, 2008-------- UK Plans Live, Real-time Citizen Telecom Spying The U.K. authorities are considering spending up to 12 billion pounds ($21 billion) on a database to keep information on Internet intercepts, e-mail, and telephone records of everyone in Britain. U.K. officials say live monitoring is necessary to fight terrorism and crime. However, critics have doubts about whether such a vast system can be kept secure.
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page September 30, 2008-------- E-Verify and the Surveillance State Chief among the schemes to "get tough" with business is the universal enforcement of something called the E-Verify System. It is the brainchild of the Department of Homeland Security and is an electronic employment verification (EEV) program. Essentially, E-Verify uses the Social Security databases to verify Social Security Numbers to determine if someone is a US citizen. Employers are to simply enter in the applicants Social Security Number to verify they are an American citizen (of legal status) and therefore eligible for employment
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page September 24, 2008-------- Honeywell Cell Phone Chip allows Big Brother Access and Monitoring of your Location and Activities. Honeywell has developed a new Integrated Circuit (IC) that enables compass pointing, location and activity tracking features in consumer electronics including mobile phones, personal navigation systems and portable auto navigation systems. The Honeywell HMC5843 chip-scale 3-axis compass IC increases functionality in consumer electronics by providing expanded tracking and location awareness when overlaid on GPS enabled maps. The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page September 15, 2008-------- Rule Changes Would Give FBI Agents Extensive New Powers The Justice Department will unveil changes to FBI ground rules that would put much more power into the hands of line agents pursuing leads on national security, foreign intelligence and even ordinary criminal cases. The overhaul, the most substantial revision to FBI operating instructions in years, also would ease some reporting requirements between agents, their supervisors and federal prosecutors in what authorities call a critical effort to improve information gathering and detect terrorist threats
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page September 10, 2008-------- French revolt over Big Brother computer that will spy on all citizens President Nicolas Sarkozy faced an embarrassing split in his Cabinet today over a computer system that a new French internal intelligence service will use to spy on the private lives of millions of law-abiding citizens. Hervé Morin, the Defence Minister, broke government ranks to side with a growing revolt against Edvige, an acronym for a police database that will store personal details including opinions, the social circle and even sexual preferences of more or less anyone who interests the state. Edvige, which is also a woman's name, was created by decree in July to store data on anyone aged 13 or above who is "likely to breach public order". "Sarkozy's Big sister", as it has been dubbed, will also track anyone active in politics or trade unions and or in a significant role in business, the media, entertainment or social or religious institutions. Listed people will have very limited rights to consult their files. The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page August 26, 2008-------- Graduate-school admission test to require palm scan Beginning this fall, individuals taking the rigorous Graduate Management Admission Test will have to submit themselves to a palm-vein scan to ensure that they are who they say they are and not a hired brain paid to bring in a higher score. More accurate than fingerprints, the PalmSecure scan is the next level of security for the exam that is essential to admissions at more than 1,800 graduate schools. In July, 140,638 people took the exam. "We're committed to weaving the best security possible through the testing programs we provide to customers," said Adam Gaber, spokesman for Pearson Vue, the company that owns the testing centers where the exam is given. The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page August 25, 2008-------- Truant teens to be fitted with tracking devices Court authorities here will be able to track students with a history of skipping school under a new program requiring them to wear ankle bracelets with Global Positioning System monitoring. But at least one group is worried the ankle bracelets will infringe on students' privacy. Linda Penn, a Bexar County justice of the peace, said she anticipates that about 50 students from four San Antonio-area school districts - likely to be mostly high schoolers - will wear the anklets during the six-month pilot program announced Friday. She said the time the students wear the anklets will be decided on a case-by-case basis. "We are at a critical point in our time where we can either educate or incarcerate," Penn said, linking truancy with juvenile delinquency and later criminal activity. "We can teach them now or run the risk of possible incarceration later on in life. I don't want to see the latter." Penn said students in the program will wear the ankle bracelets full-time and will not be able to remove them. They'll be selected as they come through her court, and Penn will target truant students with gang affiliations, those with a history of running away and skipping school and those who have been through her court multiple times. "Students and parents must understand that attending school is not optional," Penn said. "When they fail to attend school, they are breaking the law." The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page August 21, 2008-------- Israel to be first in world to create biometric database for all citizens The government has approved a motion calling for the establishment of a biometric database by the Ministry of Interior and the Public Security Ministry. The new bill called for embedding biometric data, such as fingerprints and computerized tags of facial features, in Israeli IDs and passports; as well as for the establishment of a database which would include biometric data on all Israeli citizens. Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter told the government that the "need to create a unique physical bond between the person carrying an ID and the data which appears on it, is essential in order to fight the worldwide forgeries… Should we succeed we would be able to create a nationwide database controlled, as it should be, by the State." The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page August 20, 2008-------- Passengers test new face scanners Chip inside United Kingdom and European Union biometric passport Biometric passports store facial images in chips which can then be checked Facial recognition scanners are being trialled at an airport as part of government efforts to improve security and reduce passenger congestion. The system has been introduced at Manchester Airport. It can be used by adult biometric passport holders from the UK and European Economic Area. It works by scanning passengers' faces and comparing it to the photograph digitally stored on their passports. The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page August 18, 2008-------- Airport screeners spy on unsuspecting travelers 2 federal security screeners roam a bustling Terminal C checkpoint area at Newark Liberty International Airport, scanning passengers' faces, observing their body language and tracking their movements. Unknown to most travelers as they queue up for X-ray machines and metal detectors, they are on a high-stakes mission: thwarting terrorism by looking for telltale signs of possible ill intent. Though dressed like other U.S. Transportation Security Administration screeners, they are among a special team of more than 1,000 behavior detection officers at roughly 100 airports nationwide. Not tethered to a specific spot or machine, they maneuver wherever they deem best -- behind the checkpoint, along passenger lines or even out at the curb where passengers hand bags to Skycaps. TSA officials decline to say what types of characteristics pique the attention of agents, but some obvious giveaways are excess sweating, nervousness and odd actions. **Watchman helper comment** I recently have seen one of these screeners at the airport, and they quietly stare you down. It is unnerving.
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page August 17, 2008-------- NYPD prepares to track every vehicle entering Manhattan with "Operation Sentinel" It's called "Operation Sentinel" and it proves just how far the NYPD will go to protect this city from terrorists. The plan involves some high-tech tracking that is coming under fire from some groups. As part of the plan the NYPD is creating a huge buffer zone, working with cops in a 50-mile radius of the city. Officials in New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Long Island are given radiation detectors to stop terrorists as far away from New York City as possible. Police also plan to track every vehicle that enters Manhattan. "We're going to be adding cameras as we go forward," NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly said. That part of that plan calls for photographing and scanning license plates of cars and trucks at all bridges and tunnels. Even small ones like the Willis Avenue Bridge will also be used to detect radiation. "I don't think it's hyperbole to call this Big Brotherish," said Christopher Dunn of the New York Civil Liberties Union. "The New York City Police Department is creating a huge computer database of the movement of everyone in a vehicle in Manhattan." Civil libertarians take issue with one aspect of that plan – data on each vehicle entering Manhattan would be stored for at least one month. The city also intends on putting Lower Manhattan in a so-called "ring of steel," with 3,000 public and private security cameras below Canal Street. There will be 600 cops assigned to protect ground zero. The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page August 13, 2008-------- Fingerprints are now more than just smudges With a new analytical technique called mass spectrometry, a fingerprint can now identify what the person has been touching: drugs, explosives or poisons, for example. The equipment to perform such tests is already commercially available, although prohibitively expensive for all but the largest crime laboratories. Smaller, cheaper, portable versions of such analyzers are probably only a couple of years away. As it becomes cheaper and more widely available, the Desi technology has potential ethical implications. Instead of drug tests, a company could surreptitiously check for illegal drug use by its employees by analyzing computer keyboards after the workers have gone home, for instance.
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page August 11, 2008-------- Scan or be scanned, Fully biometric airports becoming a reality From the fingerprints and digital imaging stored on e-passports, to iris scanners set up at airport immigration, biometrics are a growing part of the traveler experience. Biometrics are a growing part of the traveler experience. It is estimated $7.3 million will be spent on them by 2013. Though some of the technology might seem like the stuff of science fiction fantasy (or nightmare, if you take the view of many civil liberty campaigners), the economics are very real. The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page August 7, 2008-------- Biometric database to be formed in Israel First DNA database underway Police launches pilot program to create Israel's first ever DNA database, expected to include 9,000 samples by end of 2008. Database will assist deadlocked investigations, says police The new bill called for embedding biometric data, such as fingerprints and computerized tags of facial features, in Israeli IDs and passports; as well as for the establishment of a database which would include biometric data on all Israeli citizens. The data would be used by the Ministry of Interior in its future plans to create "smart", forgery-proof identification papers and passports; and would also allow authorities to identify people who are not carrying any means of identification, especially in cases of a mass disaster, should the need to identify fatalities arise. Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter told the government that the "need to create a unique (physical) bond between the person carrying an ID and the data which appears on it, is essential in order to fight the worldwide forgeries… Should we succeed we would be able to create a nationwide database controlled, as it should be, by the State." The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page JULY 30, 2008-------- Big Brother wants every single e-mail, text Plan would create huge expansion of government surveillance Britain's MI5 intelligence service has persuaded the Home Office to get government approval for a massive increase in surveillance in Britain, already the most-watched nation in the West, according to a report from Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin. In London, every citizen already is captured on camera an average of 400 times a day. An increasing number of the cameras are directly linked to MI5's state-of-the-art computers in the basement of headquarters overlooking the Thames. Billions of images are already stored there. But now secret plans by the Security Service and Scotland Yard's anti-terrorist command want to detail every phone call, e-mail, text message and online purchase to aid the fight against terrorism. Four billion e-mails are sent every day in the UK. Last year 67 billion text messages were transmitted. The new plans, if ratified by Parliament in the autumn, would allow the police and intelligence services to access the precise time a phone call was made, the number dialed, the length of the call and, in the case of cell phones, the location of the handset to within an accuracy of a few hundred yards. MI5 scientists, working with post office technicians, have now provided equipment that could handle the new demands. At the same time Britain's DNA database, already the world's largest, would be updated. Anyone who is arrested – even if proven to be innocent later – will have their DNA not only stored "forever," but also circulated "on a need to know basis" to all law enforcement agencies and "all those entitled under the Investigating Powers Act." The act allows local authorities to investigate minor issues such as litter dumping. Computers already positioned on all Britain's major roads will be updated so they can check every car within four seconds as it travels anywhere in the country. The details will be transmitted to all local police stations to stop a suspect car. The stations are automatically linked to armed anti-terrorist teams now present in increasing numbers around the UK. But privacy watchdog Richard Thomas has warned that the MI5 demand for new powers is "a genuine threat to the British way of life." The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page JULY 10, 2008-------- Tazer bracelet may be the future for airline travel A senior government official with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has expressed great interest in a so-called safety bracelet that would serve as a stun device, similar to that of a police Taser. The bracelet would be worn by all airline passengers and take the place of personal information about the traveler, monitor every move, and shock the suspected passenger, immobilizing them for several minutes if there is a hijacking situation.
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page JULY 2, 2008-------- Will palm screening replace fingerprint ID? The future of automated identification using body parts (biometrics) is in the palm of your hand, at least that's what Fujitsu Computer Products of America wants you to think. Fujitsu recently unveiled palm-scanning technology for the U.S. market that's already in widespread use in Asia. Hiroko Naito, Fujitsu's business development manager, said the firm's PalmSecure technology uses near-infrared scanning to identify people by the pattern of veins in their palms, which are as distinctive as fingerprints. "It's a contactless device — you just hold your hand over the sensor, so it's hygienic and easy to use," Naito said. "We have heard so many times from customers that the reason they were hesitant about biometrics is that it could be intrusive." The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth! JUNE 13, 2008 --------- Kids, Pets & Cars - Personal GPS Tracking Devices On The Rise Homeland Integrated Security Systems, Inc. is pleased to announce that the Company is preparing the release of a new, low-cost, portable GPS tracking device for a wide range of target markets. The 2.6 ounce, pocket-sized CT-100 can be used to track children, pets, sex offenders, vehicles and a limitless number of items. The CT-100 transmits its location to a personal computer, enabling users to track the location of the unit at all times. The CT-100 is currently in the testing phase and scheduled for release later this year. Approximately 2 x 2 inches, it can clip onto a belt or slip into a pocket, and uses a rechargeable battery. The tracking device does not require a line-of-sight with the open sky and can work indoors using a combination of GPS technology and cellular signals. The CT-100 will be marketed to law enforcement and public safety agencies, schools, automotive manufacturers, shipping companies and other industries The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!
JUNE 6, 2008 --------- Is GPS Big Help Or Big Brother? These days, your boss can call you on your cell phone on your time off, maybe even over the weekend or while you're on vacation. What about the idea of your boss being able to track where you are and where you've been? The city of Tampa is doing just that. Inspectors in its building department now carry cell phones equipped with global positioning system technology so the city can keep tabs on inspectors. Supervisors hope the GPS gizmos will improve efficiency and crack down on slackers. Employers increasingly are using GPS devices to keep track of workers on the road, especially as the technology gets cheaper and the price of gas rises. But while backers say the trend leads to cost savings and improved customer service, it also has raised questions about privacy and Orwellian employer tactics. One Tampa building inspector describes it as being followed by Big Brother. "It's like, 'Hey, you know, we're watching you,'" said Benjamin Buckley, who has worked for the city for three years and is the union shop steward for the building inspection department. The GPS technology was installed on about 40 inspectors' cell phones about two weeks ago The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth! ................................ Cell phone tracking A mobile phone service that lets users track the location of friends and family is launching in the UK for those over 18. The Sniff application sends users a message showing the position of the person they are trying to find, and also a map. The other person also must have signed up for the service, for this to work. Users can choose to become "invisible" if they don't want to be found. It is already available in Scandinavia with 100,000 users. MAY 30, 2008 --------- Orwellian Ubiquitous Computing May Build Ultimate Surveillance Society "...just by walking down the street you could be subject to a personal biometric system, you could be scanned by the gateway of the transit system, there could be something embedded in the street or in the flooring beneath you... you could be touching other tangible interfaces in the environment around you... the lamp posts and the other features of the streetscape could have informational services... and last but not least there's the surveillance element, there's a UAV, a robotic helicopter which is also surveying the cityscape and communicating with all of these devices... This is really what I mean by a transformation of the relationship between user and device. This person is not a user anymore in any real sense of the English world, they are a subject." The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth! MAY 29, 2008 --------- Big brother at work with the MORYNE project European researchers say public buses could be turned into mobile sensing platforms, sending out information for traffic management, road safety and even hazard alerts. The research could help improve road safety, allowing traffic controllers, police and other services to access up-to-date information from any number of public buses already on the streets. Another part of the project is to develop a bus mounted road camera, a powerful video device that can detect traffic conditions around a bus. The system can be used to spot unauthorized cars in a bus lane and inform the police. It can also be used to count the number of vehicles in adjoining lanes and measure their speed, helping to alert a city traffic-monitoring center of road conditions on the ground, in real time. The devices are quite small and powerful. Software can be developed that could analyze images to detect if a fight breaks out on the bus and automatically alert the police. The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth! MAY 22, 2008 --------- UK: 'Big Brother' database for phones and e-mails A massive government database holding details of every phone call, e-mail and time spent on the internet by the public is being planned as part of the fight against crime and terrorism. Internet service providers (ISPs) and telecoms companies would hand over the records to the Home Office under plans put forward by officials. MAY 21, 2008 --------- BIG BROTHER GPS system to track students everywhere they go with truancy tracker In the next two minutes, four teenagers will drop out of school. The national average is one every 26 seconds. Dallas truancy courts handle 20,000 cases every year. Many of those are referred to the juvenile justice system, which often sends the teenagers to jail. Using satellite technology, a pilot program may be able to turn the tide on Dallas drop outs by stopping truancy in its tracks. It’s called AIM, which stands for Attendance Improvement Management. The program attempts to steer kids back on track by watching them everywhere they go. This year, nine students in the tracking program carry hand held units that are about the size and shape of a cell phone. When they get to school each morning, they check in by hitting a small button three times. They do the same thing once during lunch and again when they get home each afternoon. The signals show up as yellow dots on a website monitored by an attendant at the school. They are updated every ten minutes. If a student isn’t at the right place, the attendant calls parents or police. Last year, several students in truancy trouble wore ankle bracelets as part of a GPS tracking system, but critics deemed that too similar to criminal monitoring programs. Now the system has been modified. Pottinger said he has prepared a plan to enroll 450 kids at two DISD campuses .................................. Waging War Online The Air Force wants a suite of hacker tools, to give it "access" to -- and "full control" of -- any kind of computer there is. And once the info warriors are in, the Air Force wants them to keep tabs on their "adversaries' information infrastructure completely undetected." The government is growing increasingly interested in waging war online. The Air Force recently put together a "Cyberspace Command," with a charter to rule networks the way its fighter jets rule the skies. The Department of Homeland Security, Darpa, and other agencies are teaming up for a five-year, $30 billion "national cybersecurity initiative." That includes an electronic test range, where federally-funded hackers can test out the latest electronic attacks. "You used to need an army to wage a war," a recent Air Force commercial notes. "Now, all you need is an Internet connection." On Monday, the Air Force Research Laboratory introduced a two-year, $11 million effort to put together hardware and software tools for "Dominant Cyber Offensive Engagement." "Of interest are any and all techniques to enable user and/or root level access," a request for proposals notes, "to both fixed (PC) or mobile computing platforms... any and all operating systems, patch levels, applications and hardware." This isn't just some computer science study, mind you; "research efforts under this program are expected to result in complete functional capabilities." Unlike an Air Force colonel's proposal, to knock down enemy websites with military botnets, the Research Lab is encouraging a sneaky, "low and slow" approach. The preferred attack consists of lying quiet, and then "stealthily exfiltrating information" from adversaries' networks The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth! APRIL 28, 2008 --------- BRITAIN TO INTRODUCE FACE SCANS AT AIRPORTS The plan was revealed in the newspaper Friday. The paper says the trials were approved at a conference in London this week including international biometrics industry executives, top civil servants in border control, and police technology experts. It quotes a British Border Agency saying a machine can do a better job of scanning passports and exposing identity fraud than humans. An official at the Border Agency, speaking to VOA on condition of anonymity, confirmed the Guardian story. A statement released to VOA quotes Immigration Minister Liam Byrne calling Britain's border security as among the toughest in the world. He said that if the automatic gates work, they will be installed at all key airports. But Phil Booth of No2ID, an organization campaigning against the introduction of ID cards in Britain, says the new technology is just another intrusion by the government. ‘The technologies that the government introduces that they say are about security are nothing of the sort,’ he said. ‘It's security theater. It's trying to bamboozle people with some new bits of technology and say it's about security when in fact it's about just gathering and sharing more of your information without your knowledge and consent.’ Booth says the technology, besides being more data gathering by the government on citizens, is not efficient. ‘Our understanding from industry, speaking with people who supply this sort of recognition systems is that they simply don't perform well enough in real world situations for them to recognize people in a queue,’ he added. He also criticized the introduction at a time when some high profile cases concerning the loss of personal data by the government have come to light. Last November two computer disks containing personal and financial data of some 25 million Britons disappeared after a junior employee of the British Revenue and Customs Office sent them to an audit office using an internal mail service. At least eight million Britons hold biometric passports. The computer chips in them hold the carriers' facial details The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth! APRIL 15, 2008 --------- D.C. police set to monitor 5,000 cameras D.C. officials are giving police access to more than 5,000 closed-circuit TV cameras citywide that monitor traffic, schools and public housing — a move that will give the District one of the largest surveillance networks in the country. "The primary benefit of what we're doing is for public health and safety," said Darrell Darnell, director of the city's Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency, who announced the initiative along with Mayor Adrian M. Fenty yesterday. But the announcement left some civil liberties advocates and a key D.C. Council member concerned. "We've been sort of sounding the alarm on this stuff for a long time, saying these little pieces — they grow," said Art Spitzer, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of the National Capital Area. "You put a camera here, it's not so bad, you put a camera there, it's not so bad. But then it turns out all the sudden, we find out there are 5,200 cameras. That's a big number. The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth! APRIL 14, 2008 --------- India Gets Smart Cards with finger biometrics Finger biometrics and photographs will be integrated with individual records in the Multi-Purpose National Identity Cards (MNIC) to be issued to each citizen after the next census in 2011. Since the logistical and financial requirement for the national roll-out will be "enormous", it has been proposed that data collection for preparation of National Population Register (NPR) for the country would be undertaken along with the 2011 census. The Smart Cards, as the MNIC is popularly known, will carry a National Identity Number and will be given to every citizen above 18 years. The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth! APRIL 10, 2008 --------- The Already Big Thing on the Internet: Spying on Users In 1993, the dawn of the Internet age, the liberating anonymity of the online world was captured in a well-known New Yorker cartoon. One dog, sitting at a computer, tells another: “On the Internet, nobody knows you’re a dog.” Fifteen years later, that anonymity is gone. It’s not paranoia: they really are spying on you. Technology companies have long used “cookies,” little bits of tracking software slipped onto your computer, and other means, to record the Web sites you visit, the ads you click on, even the words you enter in search engines — information that some hold onto forever. They’re not telling you they’re doing it, and they’re not asking permission. Internet service providers are now getting into the act. Because they control your connection, they can keep track of everything you do online, and there have been reports that I.S.P.’s may have started to sell the information they collect. The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth! March 24, 2008 --------- Comcast Cameras to Start Watching You? If you have some tinfoil handy, now might be a good time to fashion a hat. At the Digital Living Room conference today, Gerard Kunkel, Comcast’s senior VP of user experience, told me the cable company is experimenting with different camera technologies built into devices so it can know who’s in your living room. The idea being that if you turn on your cable box, it recognizes you and pulls up shows already in your profile or makes recommendations. If parents are watching TV with their children, for example, parental controls could appear to block certain content from appearing on the screen. Kunkel also said this type of monitoring is the “holy grail” because it could help serve up specifically tailored ads. Yikes. Kunkel said the system wouldn’t be based on facial recognition, so there wouldn’t be a picture of you on file (we hope). Instead, it would distinguish between different members of your household by recognizing body forms. He stressed that the system is still in the experimental phase, that there hasn’t been consumer testing, and that any rollout “must add value” to the viewing experience beyond serving ads..... ............................ Which biometric ID will lead the future? You're an individual; you're unique; and you have the fingerprints to prove it. Since fingerprints were first used as a means of identification in 1892, they have become the golden standard for identification. Everyone — including monozygotic twins who have identical DNA — has their own unique set of prints. But, as countless movies and episodes of 'CSI' have shown, fingerprints can be tampered with. Easily removed or unintentionally damaged through occupational hazards, fingerprints can also be easily duplicated. As concerns with identity theft and security increase, we are turning to more sophisticated ways of proving our 'identity'. Fingerprinting is one of the most basic forms of biometrics, which is a method of identifying humans based on one or more intrinsic physical or behavioral traits. The method works by comparing an input sample with a template. As it turns out, our fingerprints are not the only things that are unique — so too are our hands, faces, irises, retinas and vein structure. We also have a number of unique behavioral characteristics such as the way we type, speak (also physiological) and sign our name. Some of these — such as the retina and vein layout — are almost impossible to change or tamper with. Biometric identification is, however, not without its concerns. All data, including biometrics, is vulnerable in storage or in a state of processing. Because we have a limited number of biometric samples, they become more difficult to replace. If you forget a password or if your access token is stolen, you can always cancel the old one and get a replacement. If, however, your biometric samples are compromised, you will be unable to replace them. So, while biometrics potentially increase personal security, they also pose a bigger threat in the case of identity theft The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth! March 18, 2008 --------- Rapid ID biometrics deployed in Florida Washington-based Sagem Morpho says its biometric technologies deployment by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement marks a milestone for the company. Officials say the Florida Department of Law Enforcement's incorporation of Sagem Morpho's Rapid ID fingerprint identification system marks the first public safety organization in the United States with statewide biometrics use for remote rapid identification. Company officials say the system provides the officers with identification in less than 15 seconds of individuals with criminal records. The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth! March 7, 2008 --------- UK ID DATABASE WILL BE 'UNIVERSAL' BY 2017 All British citizens will be signed up to a national ID scheme within 10 years under plans outlined by the Government today. Millions of people in sensitive jobs, including teachers, carriers and health workers will be among the first to be entered onto the identity register. Up to 100,000 airport staff will be issued with unique personal identity number starting later this year in a bid to kick-start the multi-billion pound project. Foreign nationals working in Britain will be issued with cards over the next two years. From 2010 young people will be able to get an identity card if they choose. Later that year the scheme will be opened to voluntary applicants of any age. From 2011 - after the next general election - anyone applying for a new passport will automatically be fingerprinted and their personal details logged on the database. In one change from original plans, Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, said it will be possible to decline the card itself and rely upon a passport as an identity document. Miss Smith said the aim of the timetable was to make coverage of the population ‘universal’ by 2017. Either at that point, or earlier, there will be a vote in parliament to cover the rest of the population still not on the register. Miss Smith said there would be greater involvement for the private sector in delivering the scheme. There would also be a ‘consumer-driven roll-out’ of the project to try to encourage more people to join the scheme voluntarily .................... Palm vein scanning promises accurate results The technology is being displayed at the International Security National Resilience Exhibition and Conference that started on Sunday in Abu Dhabi. The latest technology enables fool proof identification of individuals even better then iris scan and is an efficient and simple security system for personal computers, industry officials said. One can open personal computers by just flashing your palm vein to the scanner. "It was reported that cancer [disease] may affect the iris which makes loopholes on the identification based on it," said Peter Scharfetter, Product Manager, Biometric Center of Siemens which displayed the palm vein scanner and reader system at the exhibition. "But palm vein scanning has overcome that loophole," said Scharfetter. His colleague explained that latest version of the 'touch less' palm vein scanner does the job faster and does not need the object within limited range. The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth! March 4, 2008 --------- Big Brother is Watching: The 2007 Electronic Monitoring And Surveillance From e-mail monitoring and Website blocking to phone tapping and GPS tracking, employers increasingly combine technology with policy to manage productivity and minimize litigation, security, and other risks. To motivate compliance with rules and policies, more than one fourth of employers have fired workers for misusing e-mail and nearly one third have fired employees for misusing the Internet, according to the 2007 Electronic Monitoring and Surveillance Survey from American Management Association (AMA) and The ePolicy Institute. Employers who use Assisted Global Positioning or Global Positioning Systems satellite technology are in the minority, with only 8% using GPS to track company vehicles; 3% using GPS to monitor cell phones; and fewer than 1% using GPS to monitor employee ID/Smartcards. The majority (52%) of companies employ Smartcard technology to control physical security and access to buildings and data centers. Trailing far behind is the use of technology that enables fingerprint scans (2%), facial recognition (0.4%) and iris scans (0.4%). The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page February 2 7, 2008 ---------Students will start using fingerprints in the lunch line South Washington County School District 833 students might soon be using their fingers to pay for lunch instead of tapping in personal identification numbers. Nutrition Services got the go-ahead from the school board Feb. 21, to test a fingerprint system for 90 days at Cottage Grove Elementary School to see if it speeds up lunch lines. ........................ Foreigners In The UK face fines over Biometric ID cards Foreign nationals living in Britain who boycott the introduction of the biometric identity card later this year could face losing their right to stay, under proposals published yesterday. A Home Office consultation paper also reveals that those who refuse to make or turn up to an appointment to scan their fingerprints and facial image will face a £250 fine, rising to £1,000 for persistent refusal. Those who fail to tell police if they lose their ID card will face a fine of £125. The sanctions regime proposed for the compulsory ID card for foreign nationals, which comes into effect from November, is expected to be a pilot for the UK residents' ID cards to be introduced from next year. The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page February 25, 2008 ---------Targeting offenders before they strike - doctors and teachers to act as 'informers' in new 'Minority Report' plans for Britain Doctors, teachers and social workers will be told to act as informers to identify potential violent offenders for monitoring by the police and other agencies. Ministers hope that by spotting binge-drinkers, drug addicts and young gang members early before they commit serious crimes they can be placed on a national database and steered away from offending behavior. The plans have been dubbed the Minority Report powers, a reference to the 2002 Tom Cruise movie in which a futuristic "precrime" police unit uses psychics to arrest and imprison criminals just before they carry out attacks. But civil liberty campaigners and union bosses warned that such intrusive measures by the Home Office would destroy the relationship of trust between GPs and their patients or social workers and clients. They would also put professionals at risk of reprisals if they are seen as police informers The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page February 18, 2008 ---------USA Minnesota Police Stock Up On Tasers Before Republican National Convention The St. Paul Police Department is requesting 230 Tasers to outfit the all of the department’s officers with the electroshock weapons. The SPPD will purchase the Tasers with $210,000 collected from drug raids. The St. Paul City Council will have to approve the purchase. The purchase is expected to arrive in St. Paul just in time for the Republican National Convention prompting media speculation that the weapons are being purchased specifically for the convention. Police spokester Tom Walsh said, “Our hope is that no one will have to use any degree of force. If it becomes necessary, will that be one of the tools available. I suppose that’s safe to say.” ***WATCHMAN... Mayby it is safe to SAY -BUT- are they SAFE to use? THEY KILL PEOPLE FOLKES!... The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page February 18, 2008 ---------***WATCHMAN... Though this is NOT CHIPPING - how CLOSE IT IS... Every child in school numbered for life All 14-year-old children in England will have their personal details and exam results placed on an electronic database for life under a plan to be announced tomorrow. Colleges and prospective employers will be able to access students’ records online to check on their qualifications. Under the terms of the scheme all children will keep their individual number throughout their adult lives, The Times has learnt. The database will include details of exclusions and expulsions. Officials said last night that the introduction of the unique learner number (ULN) was not a step towards a national identity card. But it will be seen as the latest step in the Government’s broader efforts to computerize personal records. Last night teachers’ leaders, parents’ organizations, opposition MPs and human rights campaigners questioned whether this Big Brother approach was necessary and said that it could compromise the personal security of millions of teenagers .......................... Police Go Live Monitoring D.C. Crime Cameras D.C. police are now watching live images from dozens of surveillance cameras posted in high-crime parts of the city, hoping to respond faster to shootings, robberies and other offenses and catch suspects before they get away. Since August 2006, the city has installed 73 cameras across the city, mostly on utility poles, at a cost of about $4 million. But until recently, officers were using them mainly as an investigative tool -- checking the recordings after crimes were committed in hopes of turning up leads and evidence. Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier said she thought the department wasn't making the most of the technology and was missing opportunities to more quickly solve crimes -- or even stop them in progress. "I thought, 'Why the heck aren't we watching them?' " Lanier said. And so, for about 40 hours a week, a small team of officers in the department's Joint Operations Command Center watches the live feeds from 10 to 15 of the cameras. The District is following cities such as Baltimore, Chicago, New York and Philadelphia, where police have actively monitored live camera scenes for years. London is often credited with having the most extensive network -- 500,000 cameras that make up the "Ring of Steel," dating to the early 1990s The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page February 15, 2008 ---------EU PLANS BIOMETRIC BORDER CHECKS Visitors to the EU could face digital fingerprinting at airports under plans to beef up border security, EU Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini has said. He said travelers from outside the EU could face a biometric test as part of their visa while those not needing a permit would be checked on arrival. There are also plans to improve border surveillance and land and sea patrols. Rights group Privacy International said the move could create a ‘fortress Europe’ for foreigners. The proposals for a radical shake-up of the EU's border security were unveiled by Mr. Frattini in Brussels. The commissioner said the 27-member bloc had to use ‘the most advanced technology to reach the highest level of security’ to stop visitors overstaying their welcome in Europe and to prevent terrorists from coming in. The plans would also allow for a Registered Traveler Program to enable EU citizens to pass through customs with only random checks. That could be extended to include non-EU citizens on multiple visas The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page February 13, 2008 -------------------------Pastor says cashless society would fulfill Biblical prophecy The concept of a cashless society where all financial transactions and purchases are strictly controlled and every nuance of a person's life is noted and recorded, in many cases by implanted chips, sounds like the perfect ingredients for a science-fiction thriller. Yet the Rev. Glenn Guest envisions this apocalyptic scenario following the Bible's Book of Revelation that begins with the gradual disappearance of cash and checks and the increased reliance on debit and credit cards. And he sees it coming closer every day. "Technology has progressed to the point where (becoming paperless) it can be implemented," said Guest, who has been pastor of Shiloh Baptist Church in Danielsville for 25 years. "And I believe it is being implemented." The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page Feburary 12, 2008 ------------- Travelers to Europe May Face Fingerprinting The European Commission will propose tomorrow that all foreign travelers entering and leaving Europe, including U.S. citizens, should be fingerprinted. If approved by the European Parliament, the measure would mean that precisely identifying information on tens of millions of citizens will be added in coming years to databases that could be shared by friendly governments around the world
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page Feburary 11, 2008 ------------- Fingerprints pay for lunch, track what kids are eating Students at Juan Diego High School, Draper, Utah, can pay for their lunch by placing a finger on a scanner, and parents can also see what their children are having for the mid-day meal as well. The biometric payment system is from Altoona, Pa.-based FSS Inc. To begin, parents went online and entered payment information to fund the account. Students were enrolled in the fingerprint system a couple of weeks before the new payments system was rolled out in the cafeteria. Now when a student is going through the cafeteria line they place a finger on a scanner and their picture pop up on the cashier’s display. The cashier enters what the student is having for lunch and the money is deducted from the account. The school deployed the system to speed up cafeteria lines, according to a letter on the Juan Diego High School Web site. School officials also wanted to enable parents to go online and then see what their child is having for lunch. The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page Feburary 8, 2008 ------------- FBI's Sought Approval for Custom Spyware in FISA Court The FBI sought approval to use its CIPAV spyware program from the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court in terrorism or foreign spying cases. The software, called a "computer and internet protocol address verifier," is designed to infiltrate a suspect's computer ...and collect various information, including the IP address, Ethernet MAC addresses, a list of open TCP and UDP ports, running programs, operating system type ...and serial number, default browser, the registered user of the operating system and the last visited URL, among other things
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page Feburary 6, 2008 ------------- 666 FBI wants palm prints, eye scans, tattoo mapping The FBI is gearing up to create a massive computer database of people's physical characteristics, all part of an effort the bureau says to better identify criminals and terrorists. But it's an issue that raises major privacy concerns -- what one civil liberties expert says should concern all Americans. The bureau is expected to announce in coming days the awarding of a $1 billion, 10-year contract to help create the database that will compile an array of biometric information -- from palm prints to eye scans The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page February 5, 2008 --------- Big Brother: we want to know all about ... Biometric Finger vein scans A system developed by Hitachi transmits infra-red light into a part of the finger being scanned, which is absorbed by haemoglobin in the blood, causing the person's vein pattern to show up as dark lines. The image can be captured by a special digital camera. The technology, which will be showcased at Hitachi's Inspire Life event in London this month, is being used by cash machines in Japan, as well as door controls and laptops. By 2010 finger vein scanners will appear in cars, requiring a match for the engine to start. The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page February 4, 2008 --------- State spying that would make the Stasi proud When it was passed into law, the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (2000) sounded a pretty innocuous piece of legislation. But in truth it represented a significant victory for the busybody state over our ancient liberties. Labour claimed it was responding to demands from civil liberties campaigners for more control over state snooping. But it soon became clear that the legislation which Jack Straw, then Home Secretary, was introducing would have the opposite effect, massively expanding the ability of the public sector to pry into our private lives. The Act, which has been quietly amended several times (each time handing more powers to the public sector), now gives an unprecedented range of state agencies the right to listen to our phone conversations, tap our emails and open our post...... The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page January 30, 2008 ---------
Security screening for arriving passengers has been stepped up yet again at American airports. Screening for arriving passengers has been stepped up yet again at American airports, but it is suspected there are flaws in new fingerprint-scanning technology. Last week, Logan airport, in Boston, became the third US airport to install the 10-finger scanners. Dulles airport, which serves Washington, DC, began using the devices in November and Atlanta airport began this month. By the end of the year, the devices will be installed at every international airport in the USA, as well as at seaports and border crossings. Non US residents have had two fingers scanned on entry since 2004, but the Department of Homeland Security believes the 10-finger standard will allow easier identification of undesirables, ...based on full or partial prints left at the scene of a crime or collected from terrorist safe houses or battlefields. The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page January 30, 2008 --------- UK PHONES TAPPED AT THE RATE OF 1,000 A DAY Britain is in danger of becoming a ‘surveillance state’ as authorities including councils launch bugging operations against 1,000 people a day. Councils, police and intelligence services are tapping and intercepting the phone calls, emails and letters of hundreds of thousands of people every year, an official report said. Those being bugged include people suspected of illegal fly-tipping as councils use little known powers to carry out increasingly sophisticated surveillance to catch offenders. The report, by Sir Paul Kennedy, the Interception of Communications Commissioner, has fuelled fears that Britain is becoming a state where private communications are routinely monitored. It also found that more than 1,000 of the bugging operations were flawed. In some cases, the phones of innocent people were tapped simply because of administrative errors. David Winnick, a Labour member of the Commons home affairs committee, said greater legal protection was needed to prevent abuse of surveillance powers. Britain already has more CCTV cameras per person than any other country in the world. He said: ‘Most of these operations are needed and done for good reasons, but the numbers do raise concerns about the safeguards we have put in place to protect people from constant intrusion.’ Referring to George Orwell's vision of a surveillance state, Mr. Winnick added: ‘To walk blindfolded into 1984 is not anything that anybody in their right mind would want.’ Michael Parker of NO2ID, which campaigns against ID cards, said the figures showed the state's desire to gather more information about people. ‘We are living in a surveillance state.’ The report shows that in the last nine months of 2006, there were 253,557 applications to intercept private communications under surveillance laws. It is understood that most were approved The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page January 18, 2008 --------- Americans seek international database to carry iris, palm and finger prints The US-initiated programme, "Server in the Sky", would take cooperation between the police forces way beyond the current faxing of fingerprints across the Atlantic. Allies in the "war against terror" - the US, UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand - have formed a working group, the International Information Consortium, to plan their strategy. Biometric measurements, irises or palm prints as well as fingerprints, and other personal information are likely to be exchanged across the network. The database could hold details of millions of criminals and suspects ................................ New spychief: Government must be able to read all info crossing Internet Ministers are planning to implant "machine-readable" microchips under the skin of thousands of offenders as part of an expansion of the electronic tagging scheme that would create more space in British jails. But, instead of being contained in bracelets worn around the ankle, the tiny chips would be surgically inserted under the skin of offenders in the community. The radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, as long as two grains of rice, are able to carry scanable personal information about individuals, including their identities, address and offending record ................................... AT&T and Other I.S.P.’s May Be Getting Ready to Filter For the last 15 years, Internet service providers have acted - to use an old cliche - as wide-open information super-highways, letting data flow uninterrupted and unimpeded between users and the Internet. But I.S.P.’s may be about to embrace a new metaphor: traffic cop. At a small panel discussion about digital piracy at NBC’s booth on the Consumer Electronics Show floor, representatives from NBC, Microsoft, several digital filtering companies and the telecom giant AT&T said discussed whether the time was right to start filtering for copyrighted content at the network level .................................. ***WATCHMAN... Is this APOSTATE or BIG BROTHER???... The Lord's Megachurch Multibillion Dollar Industry Doing Fine [Pay No Attention To Those Underprivileged Peeking Through Our Million Dollar Windows] The New Testament reports that Jesus rarely used fancy modes of transportation to get around. He walked most of the time, although Matthew and other gospels mention that he once rode a borrowed donkey into Jerusalem, where he burst into the Temple and tossed out the money changers. Nearly 2,000 years later, some who claim to speak in Jesus' name are taking a different view. Consider Bishop Eddie Long, who pastors a megachurch in Lithonia, Ga. With a salary approaching $1 million a year and a nine-bathroom mansion situated on 20 acres, Long's choice of vehicles reflects his opulent lifestyle: He drives a $350,000 Bentley. Far from casting out money changers, Long is likely to join them. In a 2005 profile in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, he defended his high-flying ways, insisting, "I pastor a multimillion dollar congregation. You've got to put me on a different scale than the little black preacher sitting over there that's supposed to be just getting by because the people are suffering." Long's lack of humility has probably done him no favors. At the time, U.S. Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), expressed dismay. "When I hear about leaders of charities being provided a $300,000 Bentley to drive around in, my fear is that it's the taxpayers who subsidize this charity who are really being taken for a ride," he quipped. In November, Grassley, who serves as ranking minority member on the Senate Finance Committee, ramped things up a bit. He announced that he is seeking detailed financial information from six mega-ministries, Long's among them. The move sent shock waves through the evangelical community. Grassley is a conservative Republican whose votes on social issues usually please the Religious Right. (His 2006 rating from the Family Research Council was 87 percent.) But the senator has long had an interest in preserving the integrity of the tax laws and has in the past complained about secular non-profits violating the law. In 2005-06, Grassley held a series of hearings on Capitol Hill that included testimony from large non-profit groups such as the Smithsonian Institution and the Red Cross. Now he's turning his sights to the religious sector. Grassley's investigation focuses on six ministries, all of which preach the "prosperity gospel" -- the theological assertion that wealth is a reward from God: * Benny Hinn, a TV preacher who runs the World Healing Center Church in Grapevine, Texas. Hinn, who travels the globe conducting faith-healing revivals, lives in a seven-bathroom, eight-bedroom mansion overlooking the Pacific Ocean valued at $10 million. It is claimed as a parsonage. * The Rev. Creflo Dollar's World Changers Church International in College Park, Ga. Dollar drives a Rolls Royce and has large homes in Georgia and New York. He is asked to provide a list of all vehicles provided for himself, his wife, board members and ministry employees. * Paula and Randy White's Without Walls International Church in Tampa, Fla. In a letter to the ministry, Grassley asks the couple to provide a list of expense account items "including, but not limited to, clothing expenses and any cosmetic surgery for years 2004 to present." * Joyce Meyer Ministries in Fenton, Mo. Grassley asks Meyer and her husband David to explain expenditures like a $23,000 commode with a marble top, a $30,000 conference table, an $11,000 French clock and a $19,000 pair of vases for the ministry headquarters. * Kenneth Copeland Ministries in Newark, Texas. Copeland is asked to explain how cash offerings are handled during overseas crusades and to explain the use of a ministry jet for "layovers" in Maui, Fiji and Honolulu. * Long's New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Ga. Among other things, Long is asked to explain a church official's 2005 claim that Long no longer accepts a salary from the church but does take a "love offering." In each case, Grassley is requesting detailed financial information. The ministries are asked to provide audited financial statements, lists of board members, employment contracts and other information. Other requests are specific to certain ministries. It has been widely reported, for example, that Hinn often uses a ministry jet to travel to the crusades he holds. This jet often stops along the way for "layovers" at popular vacation spots. Grassley asks Hinn to provide "a list of all layover trips taken in years 2001 to present" as well as "the number of ministry personnel who stayed during the layover (including name and addresses), the hotel name(s), the lodging costs, the food costs, salary expenses, aircraft costs, and all other layover expenses paid [by the ministry]." Reacting to reports that David and Joyce Meyer have received gifts of cash and jewelry from donors, Grassley asks the ministry to explain its procedures for handling these gifts and a statement "indicating whetherthese gifts have been included in the income reported to the Internal Revenue Service for David Meyer and Joyce Meyer for years 2004 through m2006." What led Grassley to take this step? The Iowa Republican told Church & State that he considers such oversight part of the Senate's responsibility. "I started a broad-based review of these tax laws after 9-11 when questions were raised about how the American Red Cross used donations made to help victims and their families recover from the terrorist attacks," Grassley said. "Since then I've looked at a wide range of issues, including non-profit tax structures, land conservation, fine art donations, and nonprofit hospitals. This fall I expanded my review to include media-based ministries." Continued Grassley, "The six ministries that received letters from me were chosen based upon reported allegations of wrongdoing reported by investigative journalists and brought to my attention by interested third parties, sometimes acting as whistleblowers. Some of the accounts were disturbing because of the lack of transparency regarding how these ministries spend millions of dollars, and as an industry, billions of dollars that have been exempt from federal tax." The ministries were generally cagey in their replies. Hinn said he had referred the matter to his attorneys, an approach that Dollar, the Whites and Meyer also took. Copeland refused to talk to the media. Some also began complaining of government interference. "Are we saying the First Amendment is null and void by allowing this to happen?" Dollar asked in the Journal-Constitution. Long, in brief remarks before his congregation Nov. 11, called the Grassley request "an attack on our religious freedom and privacy rights." Grassley says his inquiry is well within the scope of the law. "My inquiry has nothing to do with doctrine," he said. "Rather it's about tax law. Is the tax exemption being used according to the law, and is the money that's donated under the tax exemption being used for non-profit purposes? "It's not an attack on ministries in particular or tax-exempt groups in general," he continued. "The strong majority of non-profit groups, including churches, operate above-board and perform good works that make their tax exemption a bargain for the American people. Allegations have been raised about some ministries, and my inquiry gives them an opportunity to respond to those allegations." On Dec. 6, the day of the deadline, Grassley's office reported that information had been received from Copeland and Meyer. Attorneys for the Whites indicated that they would contact Grassley's office shortly but gave no indication if they planned to comply. Long indicated he would comply but did not meet the deadline. Hinn requested more time. Dollar was the only minister to openly defy the request for information. According to media accounts, Dollar's attorneys sent Grassley a letter telling him to either refer the matter to the IRS or issue a subpoena. The ministries being investigated may have added to their problems by being secretive about their finances. None belong to the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, a voluntary oversight group that many Christian groups choose to join. They are not required to file financial documents like other non-profit groups nor make any financial information public. Perhaps feeling some heat, Dollar prepared a brief financial statement that he showed to the Journal-Constitution. The document indicated that the church brought in $69 million in 2006. It did not list Dollar's salary, and he insisted he no longer accepts one from the church. Dollar, who in the past has argued that Jesus was wealthy, also posted a statement on his ministry's Web site. The statement tells church members that they can see a financial report but treats the document like it's a state secret. Furthermore, the process is not exactly user friendly or convenient. "Members of World Changers Church International can request to review the church's audited financial statements by contacting the ministry at 770-210-5700," reads the Web site. "Please be ready to give your name, member number, and phone number. Once your information has been verified you will be contacted to schedule an appointment to meet with a member of our accounting staff. Once the appointment is made, be prepared to present your photo I.D. for verification when you come." The statement goes on to say that the statement can be viewed on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday from 10 a.m. until 11:30 a.m. and from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. and that only last year's statement is available. Meyer is taking a more proactive approach. Her ministry's Web site contains a section titled "Financial Transparency" that links to a lengthy annual report that concludes with a financial statement. Says Meyer on the site, "Each year we conduct an independent financial and legal audit. This information, as well as our annual reports for 2003 through 2006, is available on our website. We encourage you to take a look." On Nov. 28, Meyer's ministry issued a press release pledging to provide "the requested documents for presentation to the senator's office - on time (by December 6, 2007) and in full detail." The press release also includes a fact sheet responding to specific points raised in Grassley's letter. It asserts, for example, that the $23,000 price tag for the commode (an antique chest of drawers, not a toilet) was an error from the furniture seller. The item, the Meyer ministry says, was purchased along with 67 other pieces of furniture for a total cost of $261,498.21. But critics say self-generated financial statements are often of limited value. Ole Anthony, head of the Texas-based Trinity Foundation, an evangelical group that for years has spoken out against the excesses of television evangelists, told Church & State that these statements do not guarantee accountability. "The public has no idea," Anthony said. "The ministries say we have an audited financial statement. But it's a very friendly auditor." In the case of many mega-ministries, Anthony said, church accounting is "woefully lacking." Added Anthony, "I wish the legitimate church would demand that there be some accountability. These [megachurch] organizations, for the most part their accountability is a relative or just yes men - and if anyone disagrees with them, they're touching the anointed of God or some other Balony" The legality of Grassley's overture has sparked a spirited debate. Experts at Americans United for Separation of Church and State note that tax-exempt status is granted with the understanding that organizations will work for the public good, not to enrich individuals. Since investigating allegations of fraud should not require the government to make theological judgments, AU attorneys say, mere requests for information are unlikely to be considered a violation of the First Amendment. Douglas Laycock, an expert on church-state relations who teaches at the University of Michigan Law School, said tax exemption does not mean that religious groups surrender their constitutional rights. But, he added, government must have the power to investigate allegations of fraud. "As I understand it, the allegations here are that money is being diverted from the exempt charitable purpose to the personal benefit of individuals," Laycock told Church & State. "That is simply tax fraud, if done knowingly. The government has to be able to police that; otherwise, tax exemptions would be so easily abused it couldn't grant them to anybody." Concluded Laycock, "I have no idea whether the allegations are true in these cases, but the government has to be able to investigate enough to find out." Other observers note that secular non-profits are closely monitored to make certain they do not violate the law and that religious groups should not expect a free ride. "There is no free exercise right to tax exemption, and the First Amendment doesn't shield religious organizations from government scrutiny to make sure the tax laws are being complied with," said J. Brent Walker, executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty. Walker added, "That said, I would expect that Sen. Grassley and the committee will proceed carefully with an eye toward potential church autonomy rights and religious freedom issues that could be implicated." Many evangelical religious broadcasters are watching developments with some unease. "[W]hen I see a senator charging into organizations, wielding this kind of budget ax and laying bare religious figures and expenditures, huge constitutional questions are being raised," said Gary McCaleb, senior counsel at the Alliance Defense Fund, a large, well-funded Religious Right legal group founded by wealthy religious broadcasters. Although none of the targeted ministries is a member of the National Religious Broadcasters (NRB), the organization sent a letter to Grassley asserting that the probe may be unconstitutional. The NRB, which is composed of many fundamentalist-oriented non-profit and for-profit entities, issued a press release quoting Craig Parshall, its general counsel, who said Grassley's "overly broad" approach uses "an axe rather than a scalpel." "We hope this is not a prelude to congressional hearings and possible legislation that would erode the cherished protections that religious ministries enjoy under the First Amendment," Parshall added. If the ministries are determined to have violated the law, the penalties can be severe. Not only could these groups lose their tax-exempt status, but they could also be fined or their leaders held liable. The directors of some secular non-profits have learned the hard way that it doesn't pay to violate federal tax law. In 1995, the former head of United Way, William Aramony, was found guilty of using charity funds to finance personal overseas trips and affairs with young women. He was sentenced to seven years in prison. In 2004, Oral Suer, chairman of the United Way of Washington, D.C., was sentenced to 27 months in prison after he was found guilty of receiving excessive pension payments, misusing leave to boost his salary and billing private travel and personal expenses to the charity. No one is suggesting that the ministers could end up in jail. And if Grassley proceeds with the investigation, he may have to navigate some treacherous waters. A 1984 law requires the Internal Revenue Service to meet several conditions before a church can be audited. A regional IRS commissioner must approve the inquiry, and the church must be given the option of a pre-examination meeting with the IRS, among other conditions. But two wrinkles in the law may cut in Grassley's favor: Some of these ministries may not meet the IRS's definition of a church, and the law does not apply in cases of criminal investigations. What's likely to happen next? The Senate Finance Committee has subpoena power, and as long as Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) agrees, officials with the ministries could be summoned to testify under oath. Grassley told Church & State that his staff will review the documents, look for possible violations and forward relevant material to "the appropriate enforcement agency." He added, "This committee staff also will consider whether any of the organizations have taken actions that may go against the spirit and intent of the law. It's often the case that such investigations yield actions that are perfectly legal but shock the conscience and thereby highlight shortcomings in current law or in the enforcement of that law. That said, it's also been my experience more often than not that public scrutiny leads to necessary and credible self correction." If the investigation deepens, the Trinity Foundation's Anthony is hoping it becomes an opportunity for changing the status quo. He said his group supports laws similar to those in England, where any claim made over the air for the purpose of raising money must be verifiable. Anthony also said he regrets that Congress has had to get involved. He'd prefer that other religious leaders would counter the "prosperity" TV preachers and mega-evangelists who use their positions to finance extravagant lifestyles. "For 20 years I've been hoping that the leaders of the legitimate church would stand up and say, 'this is enough,' but they haven't," Anthony said. "It breaks my heart that we have to do this but no one else will." The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page January 15, 2008 --------- Fingerprint visas go global ahead of schedule Visa applicants looking to come to the UK from 133 countries will now have their fingerprints checked against local databases, as a new biometric database system is finished rolling out, the Home Office has announced The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page January 14, 2008 --------- States Will Get More Time for Secure ID Plan The Bush administration will announce today that states will have more than five additional years to comply with its controversial nationwide Real ID program, the second such delay in a year. By May 2011, the program to tighten national standards for driver's licenses would require motorists born after Dec. 1, 1964, ...to submit a digital photograph, a birth certificate or similar proof of identity, and a statement that information provided on applications was true ...................................... Big Brother to control thermostats in California homes? Proposed mandate would grant utility companies unlimited remote access to regulate temperatures Add thermostats to the list of private property the government would like to regulate as the state of California looks to require that residents install remotely monitored temperature controls in their homes next year. The government is seeking to limit rolling blackouts and free up electric and natural gas resources by mandating that every new heating and cooling system include a "non-removable" FM receiver. The thermostat is also capable of controlling other appliances in the house, such as electric water heaters, refrigerators, pool pumps, computers and lights in response to signals from utility companies. If contractors and residents refuse to comply with the mandate, their building permits will be denied. The proposal, set to be considered by the commission Jan. 30, requires each thermostat to be equipped with a radio communication device to send "price signals" and automatically adjust temperature up or down 4 degrees for cooling and heating, as California's public and private utility organizations deem necessary. Claudia Chandler, assistant executive director for the California Energy Commission, said the new systems would be highly beneficial to residents. "From the Energy Commission's perspective, all we're doing is ensuring that this new technology is included in new homes instead of the older programmable technology," she said. The Programmable Communication Thermostat, or PCT, will allow power authorities to control home temperatures without granting consumers ability to override settings during "emergency events." Nowhere in the proposal does it clarify what type of situation would qualify as an "emergency," but Chandler offered her own explanation: "An emergency is when the utilities need to implement rolling blackouts and drop load in order to be able to meet their supplies because the integrity of the grid is being jeopardized." She claims residents will be able to manually override controls in all cases, but the 2008 Building Efficiency Standards (Page 64), known as Title 24, specifically states: "The PCT shall not allow customer changes to thermostat settings during emergency events." Michael Shames, executive director of California's Utility Consumers' Action Network, said he believes the idea of a chip consumers are unable to override is not feasible. While he considers the technology to be a positive development, he said denying consumers control over their own appliances is a highly problematic concept. "The implications of this language are far-reaching and Orwellian," he said. "For the government and utility company to say, 'We're going to control the devices in your house, and you have no choice in that matter,' that's where the line is drawn. That sentence must be removed." ***WATCHMAN... Removing the SENTANCE does NOT REMOVE their ability to DO IT!!!... Additionally, no provisional exceptions for people with health conditions worsened by excessive temperatures are mentioned in the current proposal; however, the Energy Commission spokeswoman said existing supply problems are more worrisome to Californians with health issues than the projected solution. "I actually was more concerned in the 2001 electricity crisis that folks on critical medical devices like respirators, kidney dialysis machines and things like that were going through rolling blackouts," Chandler said. "That's a very challenging thing to face. Moving somebody's temperature up by a few degrees really seems mild by comparison." Jim Gunshinan, managing editor of Home Energy, based in Berkley, Calif., said the changes would also provide consumers with an option to control thermostats via the Internet. "That means someone can turn on the air conditioning before they leave work for home and have the house comfortable when they walk in the door. Or if they forgot before leaving home for a ski trip, they can remotely lower the thermostat at home and save money." Gunshinan claims the new system is needed because it will be more beneficial to the environment than building new energy facilities for the state. "Since utilities have old, inefficient and dirty power plants on reserve to use during peak demand hours, dropping demand will mean less use of these dirty power plants and less pollution." ***WATCHMAN... 666 EXCUSES and NOW WE HEAR THEM ALMOST EVERY DAY... Some critics say California authorities will be incapable of enforcing compliance if homeowners and renters bootleg heating and cooling systems from other states, block radio reception with inexpensive FM transmitters or simply install window air conditioning units and space heaters, a bypass method that could use more energy than traditional units. Concerned California residents expressed outrage with the proposal in several online postings: "I hate this state. Why don't we just fly a communist flag while we are at it? We are planning a move out of state. I'm done." "This is insane. Please, everyone reading this, take action. Write your representatives, call the RINO governor, call your local radio programs and, lastly, write letters to the editors of your local papers. Dear God, just when I thought California couldn't get much worse!" Other opponents of the state proposal expressed concern that its mandatory nature is a sign of increasing "Big Brother" government control. The California Energy Commission invites public comment until the proposed adoption date, Jan. 30. Written responses must indicate "Docket No. 07-BTSD-1." Members of the California Energy Commission are appointed by the governor. Concerned individuals can also contact California state legislators. The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page January 10, 2008 --------- Police Begin Fingerprinting on Traffic Stops If you're ticketed by Green Bay police, you'll get more than a fine. You'll get fingerprinted, too. It's a new way police are cracking down on crime. If you're caught speeding or playing your music too loud, or other crimes for which you might receive a citation, Green Bay police officers will ask for your drivers license and your finger. You'll be fingerprinted right there on the spot. The fingerprint appears right next to the amount of the fine. Police say it's meant to protect you -- in case the person they're citing isn't who they claim to be. But not everyone is sold on that explanation. "What we've seen happen for the last couple of years is increasing use of false or fraudulent identification documents," Captain Greg Urban said. Police say they want to prevent the identity theft problem that Milwaukee has, where 13 percent of all violators give a false name. But in Green Bay, where police say they only average about five cases in a year, drivers we talked with think the new policy is extreme. "That's going too far," Ken Scherer from Oconto said. "You look at the ID, that's what they're there for. Either it's you or it's not. I don't think that's a valid excuse." "I would feel uncomfortable but I would do it," Carol Pilgrim of Green Bay said. Citizens do have the right to say no. "They could say no and not have to worry about getting arrested," defense attorney Jackson Main said. "On the other hand, I'm like everybody else. When a police officer tells me to do something, I'm going to do it whether I have the right to say no or not." That's exactly why many drivers are uneasy about the fine print in this fingerprinting policy. Police stress that the prints are just to make sure you are who you claim to be and do not go into any kind of database; they simply stay on the ticket for future reference if the identity is challenged. The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page January 6, --------- Microsoft Seeks To Patent System To Spy On Workers The application describes a program that would watch users' computer activity, automatically offering help and letting supervisors monitor users. The patent application, published Dec. 27, describes a program that would monitor users' computer activity, automatically offer help solving problems or links to information resources, and even allow supervisory monitoring of users to make sure they're working or so others can give employees' guidance if they're stuck on a certain task. The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth! January 4, 2008 --------- The National Surveillance World What do Vladimir Putin, George W. Bush and Hu Jintao have in common? They are the heads of the three most significant nations whose people live under “endemic surveillance”— -that is to say, whose governments have a penchant for aggressively spying on their own people. For those interested in tracking the disintegration of civil rights as a global phenomenon and the simultaneous rise of massive national surveillance bureaucracies, we have a significant tool January 3, 2008 --------- Individual privacy under threat in Europe and U.S., report says Individual privacy is under threat in the United States and across the European Union as governments introduce sweeping surveillance and information-gathering measures in the name of security and controlling borders, an international rights group has said in a report. Greece, Romania and Canada had the best privacy records of 47 countries surveyed by Privacy International, which is based in London. Malaysia, Russia and China were ranked worst. Both Britain and the United States fell into the lowest-performing group of "endemic surveillance societies." "The general trend is that privacy is being extinguished in country after country," said Simon Davies, director of Privacy International. "Even those countries where we expected ongoing strong privacy protection, like Germany and Canada, are sinking into the mire." In the United States, the administration of President George W. Bush has come under fire from civil liberties groups for its domestic wiretapping program, which allows monitoring, without a warrant, of international phone calls and e-mail messages involving people suspected of having terrorist links. Britain was criticized for its plans for national identity cards, a lack of government accountability and the world's largest network of surveillance cameras. Davies said the loss earlier this year of computer disks containing personal information and bank details on 25 million people in Britain highlighted the risks of centralizing information on huge government databases. It said concern about terrorism, immigration and border security was driving the spread of identity and fingerprinting systems, often without regard to individual privacy. The report said the trends had been fueled by the emergence "of a profitable surveillance industry dominated by global IT companies and the creation of numerous international treaties that frequently operate outside judicial or democratic processes." The survey considers a range of factors, including legal protection of privacy, enforcement, data sharing, the use of biometrics and the prevalence of closed circuit TV cameras. "People shouldn't feel despondent about the results," Davies said. "Our view is that privacy-friendly systems will emerge in coming years and that consumers will soon begin to see privacy as a political issue." The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page December 31, 2007 ---------Airport profilers: They're watching your expressions If a pair of Transportation Security Administration officers strolling by a Sea-Tac Airport ticket counter wish you happy holidays and ask where you're traveling, it might be more than just Christmas spirit. Travelers at Sea-Tac and dozens of other major airports across America are being scrutinized by teams of TSA behavior-detection officers specially trained to discern the subtlest suspicious behaviors. TSA officials will not reveal specific behaviors identified by the program -- called SPOT (Screening Passengers by Observation Technique)
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page December 2 6, 2007 ---------IN THE USA - "SHOCKING" Almost every move you make is being watched - and privacy is fast becoming obsolete If Hollywood and its movies are America thinking aloud, then a very interesting thought bubble has just appeared over the map of the United States. The bubble appears, naturally, in the form of a film, Look, which opened in US cinemas this month. It weaves a range of stories with entwining themes of sex, blackmail, crime and alienation, with a twist: every scene of the film is shot from the perspective of a surveillance camera, from the bubble lens above an ATM, to the elevated perspective of the security cameras that are ubiquitous and sometimes invisible, across the US. As entertainment, the jury will return a verdict by the end of the year. As a statement of the American and world zeitgeist, Look is impeccable in its timing. On a localized level, there is what Yvonne Cager, a video surveillance marketing manager at Texas Instruments, called the "drive to have more eyes everywhere". An IBM report last year estimated there were 26 million surveillance cameras in the US, while the iSuppli research company forecasts that international sales of surveillance systems will more than double to 66 million units by 2011. In 37 states it's legal for hidden cameras to be in dressing rooms and bathrooms," Rifkin says. "I wanted to throw a bucket of cold water onto the public's obliviousness about these cameras." The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page December 24, 2007 --------- FBI Prepares Vast Database Of Biometrics The FBI is embarking on a $1 billion effort to build the world's largest computer database of peoples' physical characteristics, a project that would give the government unprecedented abilities to identify individuals in the United States and abroad. Digital images of faces, fingerprints and palm patterns are already flowing into FBI systems in a climate-controlled, secure basement here. Next month, the FBI intends to award a 10-year contract that would significantly expand the amount and kinds of biometric information it receives The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth! December 19, 2007 --------- Knesset okays establishing 'Big Brother' database for Police The Knesset on Monday approved a law allowing the police to establish a huge database or search engine based on citizens' telephone numbers, including unlisted ones, as well as other communication data. It would be the broadest such database created by any Western police force.
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page November 28, 2007 ---------"Most people don't realize it, but they're carrying a tracking device in their pocket" Federal officials are routinely asking courts to order cellphone companies to furnish real-time tracking data so they can pinpoint the whereabouts of drug traffickers, fugitives and other criminal suspects, according to judges and industry lawyers. In some cases, judges have granted the requests without requiring the government to demonstrate that there is probable cause to believe that a crime is taking place or that the inquiry will yield evidence of a crime. Privacy advocates fear such a practice may expose average Americans to a new level of government scrutiny of their daily lives. Such requests run counter to the Justice Department's internal recommendation that federal prosecutors seek warrants based on probable cause to obtain precise location data in private areas. The requests and orders are sealed at the government's request, so it is difficult to know how often the orders are issued or denied. The issue is taking on greater relevance as wireless carriers are racing to offer sleek services that allow cellphone users to know with the touch of a button where their friends or families are. The companies are hoping to recoup investments they have made to meet a federal mandate to provide enhanced 911 (E911) location tracking. Sprint Nextel, for instance, boasts that its "loopt" service even sends an alert when a friend is near, "putting an end to missed connections in the mall, at the movies or around town." With Verizon's Chaperone service, parents can set up a "geofence" around, say, a few city blocks and receive an automatic text message if their child, holding the cellphone, travels outside that area. "Most people don't realize it, but they're carrying a tracking device in their pocket," said Kevin Bankston of the privacy advocacy group Electronic Frontier Foundation. "Cellphones can reveal very precise information about your location, and yet legal protections are very much up in the air." The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page November 16-19, 2007 --------- ***CAUTION WHEN YOU READ THIS AS IT IS A HOMOSEX THING...BroJ Talking cameras' look to end sex on the beach Imagine going for a romantic stroll on the beach with your loved one, perhaps even giving a kiss, when suddenly you're blasted with a bright light and a voice from above warning against having sex on the beach. Such a scenario is a strong possibility in one South Florida county where officials are looking to install "talking" video cameras to warn and/or catch people engaged in amorous relations. Camera already in use at Jensen Beach Park in Martin County, Fla. The county is considering voice warnings to deter people from having sex on the beaches ***DiTerlizzi first proposed putting Web cams at beaches after several recent arrests of men soliciting men for sex at county beaches. "Anything that deters that kind of activity is going to be good," he said. ***WATCHMAN... YES of course BUT how long will it be before they use it on ANYONE innocently walking???... The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page November 16-19, 2007 ---------Sign Of Times: NJ School Cameras Fed Live To Cops Surveillance cameras rolling inside our local schools is nothing new, but what's taking place inside Demarest's public schools is truly cutting edge: a live feed from more than two dozen cameras with a direct connection to the police. It's an expensive, but effective tool that could be a sign of the times with an increase in school shootings over the years. The system, which cost about $28,000, can even track movement in a crowded room. "When they arrive, they can pull up the school's live feed and do a sweep instantly," Demarest Police Chief James Powderley tells CBS 2. Patrolling officers have access to the video feed from headquarters and several laptops. To address privacy concerns, all of the cameras are installed in public areas and are not equipped to pick up audio. The video capabilities are extremely impressive. Each of the laptops can pick up 16 different angles at one time, turning a single operator into a mobile surveillance team. In an emergency situation, Powderley says the cameras -- complete with zoom and pan functions -- also cut down search and response times. "One officer has 17 eyes in multiple locations. It's amazing," he says. Schools Superintendent Larry Hughes says if nothing else, the ability to digitally timestamp and archive the video should discourage bad, even criminal behavior. It doesn't hurt that people know and that if something is going to take place at your facility, if it does deter people from doing that, it's an added benefit," says Hughes. ........................... Say Goodbye To Privacy Privacy doesn't mean anonymity. Think about that for a bit - and get used to it. Or if you don't like it, get a plan. But it had better be a good one. On Oct. 23, Donald Kerr, deputy director of the Office of National Intelligence, outlined the new order of things: "Too often, privacy has been equated with anonymity; and it's an idea that is deeply rooted in American culture." Well, yes, the Bill of Rights, for instance, includes protections against "search," as well as "seizure." But that was then. As Kerr put it, "In our interconnected and wireless world, anonymity - or the appearance of anonymity - is quickly becoming a thing of the past." Kerr's speech got little notice until it was highlighted in a write-up. No doubt, of course, the Office of National Intelligence will soon issue a soothing statement assuring us that the government indeed respects your privacy and your anonymity. And we've all heard that line before: "Nothing to see here folks, just move along." Then Uncle Sam will resume perfecting his warrantless surveillance. In fact, the old equation - privacy equals anonymity - is being buzz-sawed six ways. First and most obviously, terrorism concerns. If you're walking through Times Square carrying a backpack and acting strangely, inquiring minds will want to know why. And Godspeed to cops brave enough to tap that shoulder. Second, and closely related, the proliferation of cameras and Webcams. Nobody likes to be spied on, but many people - including parents keeping tabs on baby-sitters - like to spy. In the coming face-off, the spies have it. Third, health insurance. We have decided, collectively, to be generous with each other in terms of "human services." But though most Americans are happy to operate a welfare state for Americans, they draw the line at subsidizing the world. So as a matter of administrative necessity, the Nurse State will have to know exactly who you are - and your legal status. Fourth, the reality that medical treatment now depends on medical information. If doctors are to help you, they need to know your medical history - not just blood type and allergies, but everything about you, including your genetic background. Such monitoring is fraught with controversy - recent headline in The New York Times: "In DNA Era, New Worries About Prejudice" - but this is the era of the instant Q-Tip identity test. Fifth, Google and the basic nature of the Information Age. Once upon a time, people cared about bushels of wheat. Then it was tons of pig iron. Now it's bits and bytes. If you ever wondered why the Googlers can give you search engines - and Gmail, and everything else - for free, it's not because they are necessarily nice guys. In fact, they've built a $200-billion company by studying you closely. Sixth, the realization that the planet is getting smaller. If we can agree that pollution is a serious concern, it follows that ore-smelting in China or deforestation in Brazil, is a threat to everyone everywhere. Down the road of those concerns lies a massive global government, which will want to know if you're smoking too many cigarettes. So what to do? Go off the grid? Become a hermit? That's one way, although, the eye in the sky, of course, will always be looking down from its orbit. But surely there are other ways to escape - virtual reality, digging deep underground, traveling to space. People are going to try them all, and a huge privacy protection industry is destined to emerge. But then, of course, everyone else will be curious as to what's being hidden, and why. The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page November 8, 2007 ---------Nashville schools will use face-recognition cameras Classroom-security test is first in U.S. The Metro Nashville school system plans to become the first in the nation to use security cameras that spot intruders by using controversial, cutting-edge, face-recognition technology. Starting Dec. 1, the 75,000-student district will equip Harpeth Valley Elementary, Gra-Mar Middle and Antioch High School and an administration building with cameras that sound alarms when they detect an unfamiliar face or someone barred from school grounds, Assistant Superintendent Ralph Thompson said. The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!
Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page November 6, 2007 ---------Japan will fingerprint, photograph all visitors Japan hopes to thwart potential terrorists from entering the country by fingerprinting and photographing all foreigners ages 16 and over on entry starting next month, an official said Friday. Only some permanent residents, diplomatic visitors and children under 16 will be exempt from the measures after the system goes into effect Nov. 20, Immigration Bureau official Takumi Sato said. Under the new system, all adults will be photographed and fingerprinted on arrival in Japan. Incoming aircraft and ship operators also will be obliged to provide passenger and crew lists before they arrive. Resident foreigners will be required to go through the procedure every time they re-enter Japan. Immigration officials will run the images and information through a database of international terror and crime suspects as well as against domestic crime records. People matching the data on file will be denied entry and deported. The bureau plans to store the data for ''a long time,'' Sato said. Japan saw 8.11 million foreign entries in 2006, Sato said. Opponents say the measures amount to discrimination against foreigners and a violation of their right to privacy. Tokyo's staunch support of the U.S.-led invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq and dispatch of forces to each region have raised concerns that Japan could become the target of terror attacks. ....................... Surveillance cameras inside the home? Canadian officials took the unprecedented step of asking a judge to install closed-circuit video cameras inside a terrorism suspect's home. Government lawyer Donald MacIntosh said Monday that he hopes the Federal Court will approve the heightened surveillance for Mahmoud Jaballah, an Egyptian asylum-seeker who Canadian officials have accused of being a "communications link" in al-Qaeda's 1998 African embassy bombings. MacIntosh said he knows of no jurisdiction that has tried installing closed-circuit cameras in a suspect's home, but he intends to submit a formal argument before a hearing next month. Jaballah, who already lives under extremely strict house arrest, has never been charged with a criminal offense but spent nearly all of 1997 to 2007 in a Canadian jail. Attempts to deport him to Egypt, a country known to torture fundamentalists, failed on humanitarian grounds. He is being held under Canada's controversial "security certificate" system, which allows the government to detain and deport foreign-born terrorist suspects with charging them or providing them with evidence of their allegations. Aspects of the certificate system were ruled unconstitutional by Canada's Supreme Court in February. Jaballah recently agreed to live under extraordinary surveillance, in return for being let out of jail in April. Past measures have included having suspects submit to being followed by federal agents during their few weekly excursions, having their calls monitored, staying away from computers and having video cameras installed outside the home. Never before has any Canadian prisoner on bail been known to have had to countenance cameras inside their house. Prosecutors in the Jaballah case argued last week in court that surveillance in his home is critical for reasons of national security. Lawyers acting for Jaballah are resisting added surveillance and fighting for increased liberties. The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth! November 1, 2007 --------- The 'Orwellian' Bush administration In the United States, the government with vastly improved methods of surveillance enables the citizenry to believe that any of us may, at any time, be under its watchful eye or ear without any prior judicial approval. So we can't be sure we've become a "state secret." Even the phone companies and Internet providers we use are collaborating with the government to also become our Big Brothers. This is the land of the free?
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