Privacy
...the wave of new technologies could usher in a lifestyle inimical to most Americans.
"It is beginning to call into question morality and ethics, challenge our value system, dredging up Orwellian possibilities... . We are being confronted by technical innovations based on nanotechnologies, very advanced computational capabilities, the amassing of data. We are being, I would say, challenged and threatened in some cases, in the context of American civil rights and American civil liberties. . . . So much information is available now in the digital realm, and we don’t even know what exists out there on each of us. We aren’t in control of it, we aren't in command of it. It is highly mobile, it is manipulatable, it is configurable across the digital realm in ways that most people just don’t comprehend.”
Such technologies, says Hughes, if not carefully managed and monitored, could imperil the very rights he has spent a lifetime defending. He worries that Americans do not fully appreciate the stakes. He supports a program of communication intercepts only if based on probable cause and direct links with terrorists, but he is vehemently opposed to broad domestic surveillance and monitoring of America’s telephone and Internet traffic." from Nation of Secrets: Ted Gup.
According to Privacy International, US is one of the worst in the world in surveillance rankings. http://www.privacyinternational.org/
AT&T Whistleblower: Spy Bill creates infrastructure for a 'police state'
Information Fusion Centers and Privacy
What's Wrong With Fusion Centers ?
CRS Report to Congress: Fusion Centers: Issues and Options for Congress. The Congressional Research Service (CRS) issued a report to Congress on the deployment of over 40 Fusion Centers throughout the nation. Fusion Centers are the most recent effort by the federal government to establish an operational domestic surveillance program. The CRS report states that officials justifying the development of fusion centers use a number of presumptions, and that the goals of the centers seem to be unfocused with wide-ranging explanations on what they are intended to accomplish. The report outlined threats to civil liberties and privacy posed by the deployment of Fusion Centers, which have no laws governing them. (July 10, 2007)
~ Face Recognition for Photo Searches Sparks Privacy Fears
Keith Olbermann on FISA, etc
US FBI wants Internet records kept 2 years-source
By Jeremy Pelofsky and Michele GershbergWASHINGTON/NEW YORK, June 1 (Reuters) - The
Federal Bureau of Investigation wants U.S.
Internet providers to retain Web address records
for up to two years to aid investigations into
terrorism and pornography, a source familiar with
the matter said on Thursday. The request came during a May 26 meeting
between U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and
FBI Director Robert Mueller with top executives at
companies like Google Inc.
Privacy on the line: Whitfield Diffie
The Already Big Thing: Internet Spying New York Times (April 5, 2008)
Maximiliano Herrera's Human Rights Pages
Bank Record spying
If you are not paying close attention, you may not realize that banks are now agents used to watch your financial transactions.
Real ID Act
The Real ID Act of 2005 would turn our state driver’s licenses into a genuine national identity card and impose numerous new burdens on taxpayers, citizens, immigrants, and state governments – while doing nothing to protect against terrorism. As a result, it is stirring intense opposition from many groups across the political spectrum. Real Nightmare.org provides information about opposing Real ID. no2id.net
Support the Identity Project
to oppose ID card requirements in the US.
NH rejects Real ID
Real Id Act (video)
Video of NH Protest
RF-ID Giants Merge 09 Aug 2007 Applied Digital Solutions, a leading provider of identification and security technology, and Digital Angel Corporation, which develops RF-ID for people and animals, today announced that they have entered into a merger agreement. Under the agreement, Applied Digital and Digital Angel will create the world’s leading provider of identification, location and wellness [?] monitoring systems for people and animals.
Automobiles
RFID is in your tires.
Tracking devices from the Manufacturer.
What radio station are you listening ?
Links to sites about RFID
-
American Civil Liberties Union, www.aclu.org
-
California Public Interest Research Group, CALPIRG, www.calpirg.org
-
Center for Democracy and Technology, www.cdt.org
-
Center for Digital Democracy, www.democraticmedia.org
-
Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility, www.cpsr.org
-
Consumer Action, www.consumer-action.org
-
Consumer Federation of America, www.consumerfed.org
-
Consumers Union, www.consumer.org
-
Council for Responsible Genetics, www.gene-watch.org
-
Electronic Frontier Foundation, www.eff.org
-
Electronic Privacy Information Center, www.epic.org
-
Genetic Alliance, www.geneticalliance.org
-
Health Privacy Project, www.healthprivacy.org
-
National Consumers League, www.nclnet.org
-
National Work Rights Institute, www.workrights.org
-
Privacy Activism, www.privacyactivism.org
-
Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, www.privacyrights.org
U.S. Public Interest Research Group, USPIRG, www.pirg.org
World Privacy Forum, www.worldprivacyforum.org
Surveillance
US doles out millions for street cameras --Local efforts raise privacy alarms 12 Aug 2007 The Department of Homeland Security is funneling millions of dollars to local governments nationwide for purchasing high-tech video camera networks, accelerating the rise of a "surveillance society" in which the sense of freedom that stems from being anonymous in public will be lost, privacy rights advocates warn. DHS will not say how much of its taxpayer-funded grants have gone to cameras.
LAX computer failure keeps thousands of fliers detained 13 Aug 2007 Weary international passengers were stuck at Los Angeles International Airport for hours, unable to set foot in the United States after a computer failure prevented customs from screening arrivals. Over 20,000 international passengers, Americans and foreigners, sat in four airport terminals and in 60 planes starting about 2 p.m. Saturday, when the computer system broke down, said Los Angeles World Airports spokesman Paul Haney.
KNBC Report: LAX Computer Glitch Recurs Early Monday 13 Aug 2007 The Customs and Border Protection computer glitch that stranded more than 20,000 inbound international travelers at Los Angeles International Airport over the weekend recurred overnight, affecting about 1,700 inbound international passengers between 11:50 p.m. Sunday and 1:15 a.m. Monday, KNBC reported. The computer system helps officials identify people who have been placed on a no-fly list and who are denied entry into the United States as security risks.
Court Says Travelers Can't Avoid Airport Searches By David Kravets 10 Aug 2007 U.S. airline passengers near the security checkpoint can be searched any time and no longer can refuse consent by leaving the airport, the nation's largest federal appeals court ruled Friday... Citing threats of terrorism, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled passengers give up all rights to be free of warrantless searches once a "passenger places hand luggage on a conveyor belt for inspection" or "passes though a magnetometer."
Americans Want to be Surveilled
An ABC poll has revealed that two thirds of Americans are willing to accept heightened government intrusion on privacy and support the increased use of surveillance cameras to solve crime.