Warning of new era of surveillance state

[MariaDine]

Britain is heading for a new surveillance state of unmanned spy drones, GPS tracking of employees and profiling through social networking sites, the information watchdog has warned.
By Tom Whitehead, Home Affairs Editor 10:13AM GMT 12 Nov 2010
The relentless march of the surveillance society has seen snooping techniques "intensify and expand" at such a pace that regulators are struggling to keep up, according to Christopher Graham, the Information Commissioner.

Despite moves by the Coalition Government to row back intrusions of privacy, a new wave of monitoring risks making the spy state greater than ever.

Mr Graham's predecessor warned in 2006 that the UK could be "sleepwalking into a surveillance society" and an updated report for him today said such concerns are "no less cogent" in 2010.
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It said that "visual, covert, database and other forms of surveillance have proceeded apace" and that much of it "goes beyond the limits of what is tolerable in a society".

Britons are already the most watched citizens in the democratic world because of an army of surveillance systems including CCTV, cameras that track vehicles, vast Government databases and the sharing of personal data such as air passenger details.

It has led to some surveillance powers being abused for less serious matters such as dog fouling or proving a family was not eligible for a school catchment area.

But advances in technology and communications means members of the public now face the prospect of even greater and more intrusive monitoring, the report said.

It highlights a pilot by Merseyside Police to use unmanned helicopter drones, which has now finished, and that it is "quite probable" they will become more commonplace around the country and will be used during the 2012 Olympics.

It quotes reports that six other police forces are considering pilots but that potential applications could be to monitor minor offences such as fly tipping and waste management.

The report warns: "Drones also present a more pervasive form of surveillance than CCTV because of their mobility.

"They raise significant problems in terms of consent and notice, as they are barely visible from the ground, and yet have the potential to track and film people in real time.

"Issues around proportionality arise when they are following a ‘target’."

Mobile phone technology and CCTV in the workplace also paves the way for employees to be monitored more closely, the report suggests.

It describes a practice in Japan where bosses were able to track the movements of a cleaner by using GPS linked to his mobile phone – technology so sensitive they could even tell if he was scrubbing or sweeping.

Along with concerns that CCTV in offices could be used to watch staff performance rather than detect fraud or dishonesty, the report said both represented "an intensification of surveillance and a diminution of our normal expectations of privacy".

The ability to use personal information in social networking sites to effectively profile people and even predict their political

or sexual preferences is also of concern to the watchdog.

It says that "anticipating and controlling new developments is a constant challenge" and that "surveillance cannot be effectively constrained without a more rigorous regime of law, supervision and enforcement".

But it also warns that attempts to curtail the growing trend will face opposition.

"Given the powerful commercial, governmental, and popular forces that brought about an intensification of surveillance in the first place, there may be considerable resistance to giving up the right."

It said that despite the scrapping of ID cards and ContactPoint, the database of every child, and ongoing reviews of CCTV, the DNA database and "there are still many areas where surveillance continues to intensify and expand".

Mr Graham said: "Many of the new laws that come into force every year in the UK have implications for privacy at their heart.

"My concern is that after they are enacted there is no one looking back to see whether they are being used as intended, or whether the new powers were indeed justified in practice"

In his report, which will be presented to the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee, he said Government departments should have a legal requirement to scrutinise how the laws are being used in practice.

Sunset clauses, which allow all or part of a law to be terminated after a specific date, should be considered and private firms launching new technologies should consider privacy implications.

Alex Deane, director of Big Brother Watch, said: "Surveillance in Britain has been expanded out of all proportion and it is getting worse.

"Now we face the prospect of improving technology allowing the state to monitor us in every moment of our lives."

A Government spokeswoman said: "The new Government believes there has been too much intrusion into the private lives of people in this country.

"We have put civil liberties at the heart of our policies and our first piece of legislation was to scrap ID cards.

"We are committed to rolling back big government and state intrusion."


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukne...nce-state.html[COLOR="red"



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Like G.Orwell said and warn in his book, we must open our eyes and take responsability...

Liberty versus Securaty...where do draw the line ?

Love
MD

-------------
(...) Then the face of Big Brother faded away again, and instead the three slogans of the Party stood out in bold capitals:
WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGT
But the face of Big Brother seemed to persist for several seconds on the screen, as though the impact that it had made on everyone’s eyeballs was too vivid to wear off immediately. »
GEORGE ORWELL, «1984», CHAPTER 1

[MariaDine]

EU want to survey (keep an eye) citizens who have radical views


Among the accomplishments of the mandate in the Spanish EU presidency, has gone virtually unnoticed for approval of a monitoring program and systematic collection of personal data of citizens suspected of experiencing a process of "radicalization."

This program can be turned against those involved with "groups of extreme left or right, nationalist, religious or anti-globalization", according to some official documents.

On 26 April the EU Council meeting in Luxembourg, discussed the agenda titled "Radicalization in the EU," which ended with the approval of the document 8570/10. The initiative is part of the strategy of preventing terrorism in Europe and was initially created for Islamic terrorists.

However the document extends the suspicions and so in terms so general that includes police surveillance on any individual or group suspected of being radical.

Thus, an activist of a civic organization, political or citizen with no ties to terrorism, can be spied in a program that aims to investigate "the level of ideological and political commitment" of suspects, even if their economic situation is "of unemployment, deterioration, or a grant of financial assistance. "

The approved document recommends the member countries to "share information on the processes of radicalization." What the EU means for radicalization? The text should define the concept because it would reduce the area under the supervision of Islamic terrorism, but does not. T

hey propose, by contrast, consider your goals between all sorts of defenders heterodox ideas. The proposed agreement also under police observation citizens who advocate radical ideas classic, those partisans of democratic reformism that did so much good for democracy.

It could also be applied against those who are considered radical in the etymological sense, as "radicals" are nothing more nor less, who addresses the problems at their root.

The powder according to the European spirit of tolerance for all ideas, always defended with the word, because in their zeal to prevent terrorism, expands the range of suspects up to dilute the remarkable difference between the means with which to defend their own ideas and ideas.

The complete program of surveillance is contained in an earlier document, the 7984/10, entitled "Apparatus for storing data and information on processes of violent radicalization," March of this year.

Coincidentally, this text gave the program a confidential, and only became known through the organization of civil liberties StateWatch.org, who had access to it and made it public. This NGO reports that this program "is not directed primarily to persons or groups wishing to commit terrorist acts, but who has radical views, those who define themselves as propagators of radical messages.

Individual monitoring

Among the goals of the secret document contained "counter radicalization and recruitment," and includes references relating to the persecution of those who incite hatred or violence that seem aimed at terrorist groups or filoterrorists.

However, measures are unnecessary because they are already covered by the penal legislation of European countries.

The text refers interchangeably to radicalization and violent extremism and the use of violence associated with all kinds of extreme ideas antissistema. The document urges governments to watch "the message of radicalization" to the point of border violations of freedom of expression.

The program encourages the listening audience of formulating radical messages, whether or not they support the violence, if there are other like-minded groups that deny the violence, which transmits messages radicals, etc..

As you move down the details of individual monitoring is recommended to investigate the feelings of people who work in groups suspected, through approaches to gather information about "feelings of the individual in relation to its new corporate identity and group membership" .

With questions like "the people made comments on issues, mainly political in nature, using arguments based on radical message? Commented on his intention to take part in a violent group? "So the agreement opens a dangerous path of pursuit of ideas, arguments and even humor.

The meeting which approved the program of surveillance of citizens was presided over by Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos, that Spain already held the EU presidency.

Also participated in the Spanish Minister for the EU Diego Lopez Garrido, as well as most of the ministers of foreign affairs.

http://operamundi.uol.com.br/opiniao...dConteudo=1164

[Fina]

Charlie Brooker in yesterdays' Guardian:

"The words you read next will be your last ...
... because I'm going to strangle every single one of you"

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisf...e#comment-fold

Classic! And do take time to read the comments, just don't be eating toast or drinking coffee at the time, choke, splutter, RAOTFLMAO

[Ahkenaten]

Yeah and one would hope that good old Charlie himself would be arrested, detained and questioned for his documented and widely distributed threats....................................

[Kulapops]

Oh goody.. I was looking for a home for this news article... I so don't like starting new threads ...

Is it just me, or does this sound suspicious to you ?

Councils to start cross-referencing their databases...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-11764157

K

[MariaDine]

http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=21940

In the future, whether it's entering your home, opening your car, entering your workspace, getting a pharmacy prescription refilled, or having your medical records pulled up, everything will come off that unique key that is your iris. Every person, place, and thing on this planet will be connected [to the iris system] within the next 10 years."-- Jeff Carter, CDO of Global Rainmakers



The U.S. government and its corporate allies are looking out for you--literally--with surveillance tools intended to identify you, track your whereabouts, monitor your activities and allow or restrict your access to people, places or things deemed suitable by the government. This is all the more true as another invasive technology, the iris scanner, is about to be unleashed on the American people.

Iris scanning relies on biometrics, which uses physiological (fingerprint, face recognition, DNA, iris recognition, etc.) or behavioral (gait, voice) characteristics to uniquely identify a person. The technology works by reading the unique pattern found on the iris, the colored part of the eyeball This pattern is unique even among individuals with the exact same DNA. It is read by projecting infra-red light directly into the eye of the individual.

The perceived benefits of iris scan technology, we are told, include a high level of accuracy, protection against identity theft and the ability to quickly search through a database of the digitized iris information. It also provides corporations and the government--that is, the corporate state--with a streamlined, uniform way to track and access all of the information amassed about us, from our financial and merchant records, to our medical history, activities, interests, travels and so on. In this way, iris scans become de facto national ID cards, which can be implemented without our knowledge or consent. In fact, the latest generation of iris scanners can even capture scans on individuals in motion who are six feet away. And as these devices become more sophisticated, they will only become more powerfully invasive.

At the forefront of this effort is the American biometrics firm Global Rainmakers Inc. (GRI), which has partnered with the city of Leon--one of the largest cities in Mexico--to create "the most secure city in the world." GRI plans to achieve this goal by installing iris scanners throughout the city, thus creating a virtual police state in Leon.

The eye scanners, which can scan the irises of 30-50 people per minute, will first be made available to law enforcement facilities, security check-points, police stations, detention areas, jails and prisons, followed by more commercial enterprises such as mass transit, medical centers and banks and other public and private locations. As the business and technology magazine Fast Company reports:

To implement the system, the city is creating a database of irises. Criminals will automatically be enrolled, their irises scanned once convicted. Law-abiding citizens will have the option to opt-in.

However, as Fast Company points out, soon no one will be able to opt out:

When these residents catch a train or bus, or take out money from an ATM, they will scan their irises, rather than swiping a metro or bank card. Police officers will monitor these scans and track the movements of watch-listed individuals. "Fraud, which is a $50 billion problem, will be completely eradicated," says Carter. Not even the "dead eyeballs" seen in Minority Report could trick the system, he says. "If you've been convicted of a crime, in essence, this will act as a digital scarlet letter. If you're a known shoplifter, for example, you won't be able to go into a store without being flagged. For others, boarding a plane will be impossible."

Mark my words: the people of Leon, Mexico, are guinea pigs, and the American people are the intended control subjects.

In fact, iris scanning technology is already being implemented in the U.S. For example, the Department of Homeland Security ran a two-week test of the iris scanners at a Border Patrol station in McAllen, Texas, in October 2010. That same month, in Boone County, Missouri, the sheriff's office unveiled an Iris Biometric station purchased with funds provided by the U.S. Department of Justice. Unknown by most, the technology is reportedly already being used by law enforcement in 40 states throughout the country.

There's even an iPhone app in the works that will allow police officers to use their iPhones for on-the-spot, on-the-go iris scanning of American citizens. The manufacturer, B12 Technologies, has already equipped police with iPhones armed with facial recognition software linked to a statewide database which, of course, federal agents have access to. (Even Disney World has gotten in on the biometrics action, requiring fingerprint scans for anyone entering its four Orlando theme parks. How long before this mega-corporation makes the switch to iris scans and makes the information available to law enforcement? And for those who have been protesting the whole-body imaging scanners at airports as overly invasive, just wait until they include the iris scans in their security protocol. The technology has already been tested in about 20 U.S. airports as part of a program to identify passengers who could skip to the front of security lines.)

The goal of the corporate state, of course, is to create a total control society--one in which the government is able to track the movements of people in real time and control who does what, when and where. In exchange, the government promises to provide security and convenience, the two highly manipulative, siren-song catchwords of our modern age

Again, as Fast Company reports:

For such a Big Brother-esque system, why would any law-abiding resident ever volunteer to scan their irises into a public database, and sacrifice their privacy? GRI hopes that the immediate value the system creates will alleviate any concern. "There's a lot of convenience to this--you'll have nothing to carry except your eyes," says Carter, claiming that consumers will no longer be carded at bars and liquor stores. And he has a warning for those thinking of opting out: "When you get masses of people opting-in, opting out does not help. Opting out actually puts more of a flag on you than just being part of the system. We believe everyone will opt-in."

So who's the real culprit here? While we all have a part to play in laying the foundations for this police state--the American people due to our inaction and gullibility; the corporations, who long ago sold us out for the profit they could make on us; the federal government, for using our tax dollars to fund technologies aimed at entrapping us; lobbyists who have greased the wheels of politics in order to ensure that these technologies are adopted by government agencies; the courts, for failing to guard our liberties more vigilantly; the president, for using our stimulus funds to fatten the pockets of technology execs at the expense of our civil liberties--it's Congress that bears the brunt of the blame. Our so-called elected representatives could and should have provided oversight on these technologies in order to limit their wide-spread use by corporations and government agencies. Yet they have done nothing to protect us from the encroaching police state. In fact, they have facilitated this fast-moving transition into a suspect society.

Ultimately, it comes back to power, money and control--"how it is acquired and maintained, how those who seek it or seek to keep it tend to sacrifice anything and everything in its name"--the same noxious mix that George Orwell warned about in his chilling, futuristic novel 1984. It is a warning we have failed to heed. As veteran journalist Walter Cronkite observed in his preface to a commemorative edition of 1984:

1984 is an anguished lament and a warning that vibrates powerfully when we may not be strong enough nor wise enough nor moral enough to cope with the kind of power we have learned to amass. That warning vibrates powerfully when we allow ourselves to sit still and think carefully about orbiting satellites that can read the license plates in a parking lot and computers that can read into thousands of telephone calls and telex transmissions at once and other computers that can do our banking and purchasing, can watch the house and tell a monitoring station what television program we are watching and how many people there are in a room. We think of Orwell when we read of scientists who believe they have located in the human brain the seats of behavioral emotions like aggression, or learn more about the vast potential of genetic engineering. And we hear echoes of that warning chord in the constant demand for greater security and comfort, for less risk in our societies. We recognize, however dimly, that greater efficiency, ease, and security may come at a substantial price in freedom, that "law and order" can be a doublethink version of oppression, that individual liberties surrendered for whatever good reason are freedoms lost.



Constitutional attorney and author John W. Whitehead is founder and president of The Rutherford Institute. His new book The Freedom Wars (TRI Press) is available online at www.amazon.com. He can be contacted at johnw@rutherford.org. Information about The Rutherford Institute is available at www.rutherford.org


Global Research Articles by John W. Whitehead