THE PATRIOT ACT AND SURVEILLANCE

[Clara T]

If you read only one article in order to understand what is at your doorstep as Patriot Act Redux tightens its grip on your civil liberties, make it this one and hold on tight:

Police state USA and Big Brother's most cool tool
By Amy Worthington

Passing the fascist laws they never read

After passage of the Patriot Act of 2001, Rep. Paul told Insight Magazine that the 2,200-page bill was not made available to Congress to read before the vote.6 So the most corrupt Congress in history rubber stamped the most fascist legislation they had never read. Our constitution enumerates inalienable rights that are emphatically restated in the first 10 amendments commonly known as "The Bill of Rights." Under the Patriot Act, the "right" to free speech, peaceable assembly and security in one’s person, papers and effects have been relegated to "privileges" that government can take away at any time. Patriot Act authority has suspended the right to due process and a prompt and public trial; it even cancelled protection against cruel and unusual punishment. Agents serving the fascist state can freely wire-tap our phones, enter our homes/offices, search and seize without warrant and detain us indefinitely without charges—ostensibly to keep America safe.
As we go to press, the original Patriot Act, which had a sunset clause, is now in the final stages of being amended and passed by Congress as a permanent feature of America’s fascist landscape.




VeriChip Corporation recently announced that already 68 U.S. medical facilities, including 65 hospitals, have now agreed to implement its VariMed system for patient and staff identification and tracking. This includes both implantable and wearable ID chips that will tie the health records of patients into Big Brother’s electronic national database. In New Jersey, Hackensack University Medical Center and Trinitas Hospital, will be implanting patients in their emergency rooms. These crafty hucksters are targeting the most vulnerable people first-- the injured and the sick who are desperate for care, plus the homeless and mentally retarded who can’t defend themselves.



As injectable ID chips come on line, Homeland Security is paying numerous corporations to develop a national network of object-mounted wireless sensors that will be able to read implanted human chips. This network of sensors will eventually relay information on the whereabouts and activities of implantees to teams of surveillance specialists. Conceivably, every wall socket could become a reader for implanted chips.To quote University of Kansas professor Jerry Dobson, these devices will ultimately offer "a new form of human slavery based on location control. They pose the greatest threat to personal freedom ever faced in human history."



Passive ID subdermal chips are the "good news" compared to grotesque ACTIVE implant chips also developed by ADS. The implantable Digital Angel is a grotesque communication device that can continually relay information wirelessly to either ground stations or to satellite systems. Developed to be a true tracking chip like the bulky radio ankle bracelets locked onto prisoners, it is tiny enough to be implanted into human flesh. The Angel has a built-in GPS receiver and a wireless transceiver. In December, 2004, ADS signed an agreement with the satellite telecommunications company ORBCOMM. Such collusion will one day turn implanted citizens into walking radio beacons, trackable by satellite.

Digital Angel is the ultimate in totalitarian control, to date Big Fascist Brother’s most "cool tool."

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article12121.htm

[Minnesota Libra]

1. This is truly scary and is eerily similar to.........

....what is described in chapters 10 thru 15 of Revelation.

[Clara T]

2. Patriot Act E-Mail Searches Apply to Non-Terrorists, Judges Say

Patriot Act E-Mail Searches Apply to Non-Terrorists, Judges Say

BY JOSH GERSTEIN
Staff Reporter of the Sun

02/28/06 "New York Sun" -- -- Two federal judges in Florida have upheld the authority of individual courts to use the Patriot Act to order searches anywhere in the country for e-mails and computer data in all types of criminal investigations, overruling a magistrate who found that Congress limited such expanded jurisdiction to cases involving terrorism.

The disagreement among the jurists about the scope of their powers simmered for more than two years before coming to light in an opinion unsealed earlier this month. The resolution, which underscored the government's broad legal authority to intercept electronic communications, comes as debate is raging over President Bush's warrantless surveillance program and the duties of Internet providers to protect personal data.

A magistrate judge in Orlando, James Glazebrook, first questioned the so-called nationwide-search provision in 2003, after investigators in a child pornography probe asked him to issue a search warrant requiring a "legitimate" California-based Web site to identify all users who accessed certain "password-protected" photos posted on the site. The Web provider was not named in public court records.

Magistrate Glazebrook said that in passing the Patriot Act, formally known as the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act, Congress made clear its focus was on terrorism. He said there was nothing in the language Congress adopted in the days after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that suggested the nationwide-search provision should apply to garden variety federal cases.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article12131.htm

[Swamp Rat]

3. Welcome to the Brave New World

[Clara T]

4. Domestic spying more widespread than thought

Domestic spying more widespread than thought
By Joe Baker, Senior Editor
Print this page

Government surveillance of private individuals is more pervasive and detailed than previously thought. Investigative reporter Wayne Madsen tells us that the National Security Agency (NSA), at the center of the wiretap scandal, has expanded its surveillance of journalists that the administration claims have received classified information.

The NSA has built a database, part of the intelligence community’s “Denial and Deception” operations that now holds transcripts of phone calls and e-mails among journalists and their sources and associates. The database formerly was known as “Firstfruit” until Madsen exposed it last May.

Sources within the NSA told Madsen the database contains signals intelligence intercepts in violation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), U.S. Signals Intelligence Directive 18 and the Fourth Amendment. These intercepts involve communications between certain individuals and journalists like James Bamford, James Risen, Seymour Hersh, Bill Gertz, Madsen and several others.

In addition to the NSA wiretap program, it was recently revealed that the Pentagon is running its own eavesdropping operation, and there also is a top-secret wiretap program about which no information is available except a reference to it by a government employee.

http://www.rockrivertimes.com/index.pl?cmd=viewstory&cat=2&id=12560

[Swamp Rat]

7. kick...

... while clicking on a porn site. :D

[Clara T]

5. How Major Corporations and Government Plan to Track your Every Move

How Major Corporations and Government Plan to Track your Every Move with Radio Frequency Identification

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We speak with Liz McIntyre, author of "Spychips: How Major Corporations and Government Plan to Track your Every Move with RFID" that examines radio frequency identification - a technology that uses tiny computer chips to track items at distance. Major corporations are working right now to install RFIDs on all consumer products. What about in you arm? Or in your kids? We also speak with freelance journalist Annalee Newitz who recently had an RFID implanted in her arm.
"Imagine a world of no more privacy.

"Where your every purchase is monitored and recorded in a database, and your every belonging is numbered. Where someone many states away or perhaps in another country has a record of everything you have ever bought, of everything you have ever owned, of every item of clothing in your closet -- every pair of shoes. What's more, these items can even be tracked remotely.

"Once your every possession is recorded in a database and can be tracked, you can also be tracked and monitored remotely through the things you wear, carry and interact with every day.

"We may be standing on the brink of that terrifying world if global corporations and government agencies have their way. It's the world that Wal-Mart, Target, Gillette, Procter & Gamble, Kraft, IBM, and even the United States Postal Service want to usher in within the next ten years.

"It's the world of radio frequency identification.

"Radio frequency identification, RFID for short, is a technology that uses tiny computer chips -- some smaller than a grain of sand -- to track items at distance. If the master planners have their way, every object -- from shoes to cars -- will carry one of these tiny computer chips that can be used to spy on you without your knowledge or consent."

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/03/01/1447202

[Clara T]

6. HOMELAND SECURITY RFI HEIGHTENS PUBLIC CONCERNS OVER RFID

RFID Privacy Issues and News

HOMELAND SECURITY RFI HEIGHTENS PUBLIC CONCERNS OVER RFID
DHS Wants to Track Spychips in Moving Cars Going 55 MPH

"Call it Big Brother on Steroids"...DHS is looking for beefed up RFID technology that can read government-issued documents from up to 25 feet away, pinpoint pedestrians on street corners, and glean the identity of people whizzing by in cars at 55 miles per hour...

Spychips make Orwell's Big Brother seem relatively harmless
Online Journal | Jan 17, 2006 | by Kéllia Ramares
"…the tagging of everything, and thus of everyone, can be stopped dead in its tracks with massive consumer action reflecting the very high level of consumer opposition to RFID."

http://www.spychips.com/

[Clara T]

8. While You Were Sleeping Patriot Renewal Act Passed

Data Center

What it does
Dependable communications and data storage is absolutely vital for Agencies using offender tracking and monitoring systems. For this reason, iSECUREtrac maintains secondary monitoring systems in the corporate office, but houses all primary remote location monitoring system communications equipment and servers in an off-site data center to ensure security, data integrity and system redundancy.

Data Center (Co-Location)
iSECUREtrac's co-location facility is located in Omaha, NE, just a few miles away from Strategic Air Command, the failsafe location for the U.S. government and military. Why is this noteworthy? Because of the strategic implications, Omaha rests on a major hub of fiber optic and communication lines. Bandwidth is virtually unlimited and connectivity is guaranteed.

Costing over $70 million, this facility provides the highest level of physical/network security, power and network redundancy, and accessibility. The likelihood of the data center experiencing downtime is extremely remote. Since iSECUREtrac began offering web-based services in June of 2002 we have experienced no unscheduled downtime at our facility. In the event of a system failure, the on-call officer will be notified by the Customer Support Center.

From a physical standpoint, the entire data center is surrounded by three-foot thick cement walls, floors, and ceilings that are bunkered to keep out unauthorized personnel. The perimeter of the building is encased in 200+ mph impact-resistant glass and designed to withstand a direct hit from a tornado. Over 100 cameras cover outside of building, entrances, and computer rooms; camera recordings are stored for 30 days. Access card readers, biometric iris scanners, and "man traps" secure the computer room, while a dry-moat surrounds the entire building. Guards are on site 24/7/365. All monitoring and alarm systems are on UPS system within guard station.

http://www.isecuretrac.com/products_datacenter.asp

[The Stranger]

9. But but but but Bush is giving the port operations to the A-Rabs!

Everyone in Congress (and, seemingly, on DU) don't care that all rights are being eviscerated.

[Clara T]

11. A major milestone in child protection:Child Identification Program.

http://www.glmasons-mass.org/Grand_Lodge/IMAGES/JPG/gm+amie.jpg

A major milestone in child protection: 100,000 children have participated in the Massachusetts Masonic Child Identification Program.

SPRINGFIELD, MA-The Massachusetts Masonic Child Identification Program (CHIP) is the most comprehensive in the world because it includes Toothprints®. When John and Sherry Clark of Monson brought their 10-year-old son, John, Jr. and 7-year-old daughter Amie to the Masonic CHIP program at the Springfield Civic Center as part of Kid's Safety Day, their goal was to take advantage of this free program that includes a videotape interview, fingerprints, and Toothprints. They had no idea that Amie would be recognized as the 100,000th child in Massachusetts to participate in the CHIP program.

To celebrate this major milestone, Amie was presented with four tickets to next year's Melha Shriners Circus, a certificate recognizing her new status, and a $100 U.S. Savings Bond by the Grand Master of Masons in Massachusetts, Fred K. Bauer. Amie will also be the featured guest at the circus.

The CHIP program is provided free of charge by Massachusetts Freemasons in cooperation with local dentists who are members of the Massachusetts Dental Society, and the Massachusetts Crime Prevention Officers Association. All materials including the Toothprints and fingerprints are given to the parents and no copies are kept on file.

Toothprints were developed by Dr. David Tesini of Framingham, a pediatric dentist as another means of identifying a child that fingerprints alone may not guarantee. According to Peter Banks, Director of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, when a Toothprint is taken, sufficient proteins remain in the saliva on the wafer from which a DNA test can be successfully performed for yet a second means of identification from the Toothprint. He also stated that, since the Toothprint wafer is sealed in a "zipper"-type plastic bag, enough scent remains for a trained dog to identify and track it. The Massachusetts Masonic CHIP program is the only child identification program to offer Toothprints.

http://www.glmasons-mass.org/Grand_Lodge/NEWS/100k_child.html

[converted_democrat]

10. ....

:yoiks:

[MadHound]

12. One thing to add to this,

Many, if not most Americans, have already voluntarily allowed themselves to be tagged and tracked, and this insidious action started years ago. The means with which people are being tagged and tracked? Their cell phones.

Back in 1998 Clinton pushed through a bill mandating that GPS chips be put in all new cell phones. With the rate at which cell phones are turned over, virtually everybody now has a cell phone with one of these chips. This action was taken supposedly to help police track down 911 calls for emergency purposes.

But now we're starting to see this technology put to a more ominous use. In a trial plan that is to be fully implemented by June of this year, a private company, Delcan NET, is going to be tracking the GPS signal from your phone for purposes of "monitoring traffic". Not only will this technology be able to locate precisely where you are, but it will also be able to verify exactly what speed you are traveling at, thus potentially opening up another way for the state to hand out tickets and fines without using the services of the police force.

Sure, the company says that this will all be done "anonymously", by assigning a random ID number to each cell phone they track, but really now, does anybody believe in that tired old lie anymore? I certainly don't, and neither should you.

So, what to do. Most people who are concerned about this simply state that we should turn our cell phones off. Well, that is fine and good, but first off, most people are unaware that this program is taking place(it has had little publicity within the state), and secondly, some folks need or want their cell phones on while driving in order to facilitate business, family, etc. Thus their choice is between being at out contact at vital times, or to be tracked everywhere they go. Some choice, eh?

But it is unclear that simply turning off your phone will prevent you from being tracked. GPS chips, like internal clocks, etc., take up very little battery power to stay active. The only guaranteed way for you not to be tracked is to remove your battery pack when you are not using the phone, and again, many people will face the difficult choice of either being tracked everywhere they go, or being out of contact at vital times.

Yes, implantable chips ARE the wave of the future, and that wave is coming much closer to shore as we speak. But with cell phones, the danger is already here and present. Missouri isn't the only one who is testing out this phone technology, Baltimore is already using it, though they have only implemented it for Cingular customers. Look for this invasion of privacy to spread in the next few years. And sadly, most people won't even be aware of it.

[marcapolo]

13. 1984

I feel like I've been dropped into the pages of an Ayn Rand or George Orwell novel. For years I viewed those books with skepticism, but now the process is unfolding before our very eyes: in tiny insidious increments (cell phone and ID chips), always in the name of a good cause (protecting the good people from the bad terrorists) and under an innocuous name (The Patriot Act? The Big Brother Act would be the truth. The Protection Act would be a more accurate euphemism. But what does intrusive surveillance and revoking civil liberties have to do with Patriotism?). And here's yet another example of Congress not being given all or any information. Apparently that checks and balances thing is really cramping Bush's style.

[vireo]

14. kick

:kick: And welcome to DU, marcapolo! :hi:

[Clara T]

16. Welcome to DU

And welcome to surveillance nation. Much of this read like science future fiction of the techno-totalitarian state. This notion of total control and constant surveillance of the underclass has been around for centuries and transcends all politics. It now comes at us at breakneck speed due to technological advancement.

Read Here:
Months earlier New York Times columnist William Safire had warned about the dangers of the program. In a column headlined "You Are A Suspect" Safire wrote:
"If the Homeland Security Act is not amended before passage, here is what will happen to you:
"Every purchase you make with a credit card, every magazine subscription you buy and medical prescription you fill, every Web site you visit and e-mail you send or receive, every academic grade you receive, every bank deposit you make, every trip you book and every event you attend -- all these transactions and communications will go into what the Defense Department describes as 'a virtual, centralized grand database.'

"To this computerized dossier on your private life from commercial sources, add every piece of information that government has about you -- passport application, driver's license and bridge toll records, judicial and divorce records, complaints from nosy neighbors to the F.B.I., your lifetime paper trail plus the latest hidden camera surveillance -- and you have the supersnoop's dream: a "Total Information Awareness" about every U.S. citizen.

"This is not some far-out Orwellian scenario. It is what will happen to your personal freedom in the next few weeks if John Poindexter gets the unprecedented power he seeks."

Following public outcry, the program was halted primarily because of privacy concerns, but also because its main advocate was John Poindexter, known for his involvement with the Iran-Contra scandal of the 1980s.
It now appears that the project "was stopped in name only" and that TIA is in fact continuing. The National Journal reports that TIA was moved from the Pentagon's research-and-development agency - known by its acronym DARPA - to another group, which builds technologies primarily for the NSA. The names of key projects were changed, apparently to conceal their identities, but their funding remained intact, often under the same contracts.

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/02/27/1519235

[newyawker99]

19. Hi marcapolo!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[CrispyQ]

15. Man, this is some terrifying shit.

When I read 1984 in high school I didn't doubt that it would come to pass, but honestly, I didn't think I'd see it in my lifetime, much less before I'm 50!!

I want my country back you fucking right-wing fascist assholes!

[Clara T]

18. Keeping Track of the Fifth Column: Bush's Mysterious 'New Programs'

Bush's Mysterious 'New Programs'

By Nat Parry
February 21, 2006


Not that George W. Bush needs much encouragement, but Sen. Lindsey Graham suggested to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales a new target for the administration’s domestic operations -- Fifth Columnists, supposedly disloyal Americans who sympathize and collaborate with the enemy. “The administration has not only the right, but the duty, in my opinion, to pursue Fifth Column movements,” Graham, R-S.C., told Gonzales during Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on Feb. 6.

“I stand by this President’s ability, inherent to being Commander in Chief, to find out about Fifth Column movements, and I don’t think you need a warrant to do that,” Graham added, volunteering to work with the administration to draft guidelines for how best to neutralize this alleged threat. “Senator,” a smiling Gonzales responded, “the President already said we’d be happy to listen to your ideas.”

In less paranoid times, Graham’s comments might be viewed by many Americans as a Republican trying to have it both ways – ingratiating himself to an administration of his own party while seeking some credit from Washington centrists for suggesting Congress should have at least a tiny say in how Bush runs the War on Terror.

But recent developments suggest that the Bush administration may already be contemplating what to do with Americans who are deemed insufficiently loyal or who disseminate information that may be considered helpful to the enemy.

http://www.consortiumnews.com/2006/022106a.html

[Clara T]

17. Big Brother Is Reading Your Blog

Big Brother Is Reading Your Blog

These days, social networkers are concerned about protecting their privacy, not only from predators and scam artists, but from nosy employers and campus authorities. Social networker Shannon Sullivan was getting worried. Like all of her friends, she was spending much of her free time chatting, blogging, and sharing photos on the social-networking site, MySpace.com. But soon, the 14-year-old high school freshman had divulged so much personal information online -- from her address and phone number to her birth date and names of friends -- that she no longer felt she could surf safely. So Sullivan did the unthinkable: she suspended her MySpace profile.

"I was putting myself in harm's way," says the New Jersey teen, recalling the flurry of news reports in recent months of sexual predators and identity thieves prowling social-networking sites. Some of her friends share those concerns, she says. "With all these stories coming out, that's scaring people."

DISGUISES AND FICTIONS.  It's not just the prospect of predators and swindlers that has the social-network set alarmed. University officials and campus cops are scouring blogs and sites for tips on underage drinking and other student misbehavior. Corporations are investing in text-recognition software from vendors such as SAP (SAP) and IBM (IBM) to monitor blogs by employees and job candidates.

In response, users of social sites have come up with a host of creative ways to evade what they consider threats to safety or privacy. Sullivan, like many others, opted for a different site. Others are resorting to fictionalized or disguised entries, and many are stepping up use of features and software aimed at protecting privacy.

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/feb2006/tc20060228_241578.htm

[mariecurie]

20. thanks for the post

yikes

[Clara T]

21. Welcome to the ITS Deployment Tracking Web Site

Welcome to the ITS Deployment Tracking Web Site

The Department has made substantial progress toward achieving its goal of deploying ITS infrastructure in the nation’s largest metropolitan areas by 2005. Data on this site tracks progress by focusing on nine key infrastructure components, specifically deployment levels and the extent of integration between agencies that operate the infrastructure. Periodic surveys are taken of 78 metropolitan areas, the most recent being for the year 2000. This figure considers both levels of deployment and integration and shows steady progress from a low rating to medium and high. A complete report is available here.

Attainment of threshold values for deployment and integration is a great beginning and demonstrates a significant commitment on behalf of numerous stakeholders within a state and/or metropolitan area. Meeting or exceeding the survey's benchmarks indicates metropolitan areas are making great strides in ITS deployment and integration. These efforts are critical to both improving system performance and restoring a sense of control to our customers' traveling experiences. Clearly, however, the thresholds are not an end in themselves. Metropolitan areas deemed "high" still may require significant deployment and integration activities to achieve a level of performance that is satisfactory to customers within their respective areas. A sustained commitment of time and resources for ITS deployment and integration will undoubtedly support a system that meets or exceeds performance expectations from the traveling public.

ITS Deployment Indicators

Deployment is measured using a set of indicators tied to the major functions of each component. These indicators serve as estimators of the extent of technology deployment supporting critical functions. For each component, one indicator has been designated to serve as a summary for the whole component. The following figure presents the national summary indicators. Click here to view the 2000 National Summary Report.

http://itsdeployment2.ed.ornl.gov/its2000/default.asp

[Clara T]

22. WHAT IS RFID?

WHAT IS RFID?

RFID stands for Radio Frequency IDentification, a technology that uses tiny computer chips smaller than a grain of sand to track items at a distance. RFID "spy chips" have been hidden in the packaging of Gillette razor products and in other products you might buy at a local Wal-Mart, Target, or Tesco - and they are already being used to spy on people.

Each tiny chip is hooked up to an antenna that picks up electromagnetic energy beamed at it from a reader device. When it picks up the energy, the chip sends back its unique identification number to the reader device, allowing the item to be remotely identified. Spy chips can beam back information anywhere from a couple of inches to up to 20 or 30 feet away.

Shown at left is a magnified image of actual tag found in Gillette Mach3 razor blades.

Note: The chip appears as the tiny black square component. The coil of wires surrounding the chip is the antenna, which transmits your information to a reader device, which can be located anywhere!

http://www.spychips.com/what-is-rfid.html