Big Brother, Les sociétés de surveillance et totalitarisme – Suite
*** Don’t like ID cards? Hand over your passport (UK)
Notice to citizens of the UK: that continuing thumping sound you’re now hearing, 24/7 is not some new construction; it’s George Orwell, turning over in his grave at Mach 4.
UK: MPs attack plan to give police access to ID card database
UK: Labour will force everyone to give fingerprints at ID card interview centres
Ministers plan to force all adults to travel miles at their own expense to fingerprint scanning units so their details can go onto an identity card database. From 2009, everyone will have to attend one of 69 « interview centres », whose locations are revealed today for the first time.
That steady « thumpa-thumpa » sound the folks in the UK are hearing right now is George Orwell, turning over in his grave at mach 2 speed.
What the article doesn’t ask is, what happens to people who don’t choose to get the new ID cards?
Will they become « enemy combattants » of the UK, and put in permanent detention somewhere?
439,000 snooping requests made
FCC approves Net-wiretapping taxes
Broadband providers and Internet phone companies will have to pick up the tab for the cost of building in mandatory wiretap access for police surveillance, federal regulators ruled Wednesday.
Court temporarily OKs domestic spying
Big Brother’s new toy: Another bloated gas bag watching you from the sky
New federal rules require companies to audit IMs
Legal definition of « terrorist » starts to expand
Category: DICTATORSHIP
When the law allowing torture and detaining of terrorists without judicial review was passed, I predicted that exactly what constituted a terrorist was likely to grow, including more and more activities, thus subjecting the accused to legal persecutions without the protection of the Bill of Rights.
Well, I hate being right all the time, but this particular legislation allows the government to declare someone a terrorist if they expose inhumane treatment of animals, thereby resulting in financial loss to the abuser.
****« As Long As You’re Not Doing Anything Wrong, You Have Nothing To Worry About »
Fox News Trumpets Pentagon Spy Drones Listening In On Americans
« It’s the first time anywhere in the United States that one of these big things has flown on an official air combat command mission, » Steve Doocy noted. Brian Kilmeade followed up: « Well, you know what? I love it. They gotta be listening in, listening to the right people. If they’re listening in at my house, they’re gonna be bored to tears. » Doocy jumped in to say that he « wasn’t sure » that the drone could listen in, but « they can certainly see what’s going on in your back yard. … I don’t think you have anything to worry about as long as you’re not doing anything against the law. »
Child database ‘will ruin family privacy’
Parents will be devalued and family privacy shattered by the mass surveillance of all 12 million children in England and Wales, says a report today commissioned by Parliament’s Information Commissioner. In what is likely to be a major embarrassment to Tony Blair, it says proposals for a £224 million database containing details of every child will waste millions of pounds, undermine parental authority and actually put children in more danger. Mr Blair defended the super nanny idea saying it was right to give families a « helping hand ». « No one’s talking about interfering with normal family life, » he added.
Documents show U.S. Defense Department tracked anti-Iraq war activities
An anti-terrorist database used by the Defense Department in an effort to prevent attacks on military installations included intelligence tips about antiwar planning meetings held at churches, libraries, college campuses and other locations, newly disclosed documents show. McPhearson said he found the references to his group in the Talon database unsurprising and he said the group continued to use public settings and the Internet to plan its protests. « We don’t have anything to hide, » he said. « We’re not doing anything illegal. »
So in just three examples there, you could be watched in your own home by a military surveillance plane, all aspects of your kids’ lives could be put on a database to make sure you are an adequate parent, and if you don’t agree with a government policy you may be surveilled and placed on an anti-terrorist database. The information gathered will not be available to you but will be available to the government and the government’s intelligence personnel.
Is all that OK so long as you have « nothing to hide »? Are you comfortable with that? Some may say « yeah but it probably won’t happen to me. » Well, you’ll never know until your actions are deemed to be categorized by the authorities as « something wrong ».
There are those who still deny that we have moved into a big brother society and that it affects their lives at all. For those who immediately think this applies to them, please watch this film. http://www.infowars.net/articles/november2006/211106_b_BB.htm
These people, far from living in denial, have just not noticed all the methods of surveillance that they are under. This is not surprising, given that the very essance of surveillance is that it is covert. It is not arrogant or elitist to say this, after all how many people really know what the TALON programme is or how RFID works?
This is the most dangerous aspect of the big brother society, the fact that it is creeping and that there is always scope for expansion. How many times is it relevant to say « this will not erode your liberties » about another form of surveillance? If you took every aspect of the big brother society featured in the film linked above and suddenly introduced it all at once into a society where it was unknown, would the people therein consider it to be a threat to their liberties?
I think they’d consider it to be an all out war on them.
There is a government ploy of saying that if you have nothing to hide in our modern society you should react to these measures by being bold, up front and proud that you are a law abiding citizen, you should revel in the big brother society and not shrink away and try to avoid it.
In this sense the new forms of technology being used for surveillance and information gathering are pushed as progressive and a step in the right direction when they are in fact the exact opposite. Strip away all the technology and the myth that they keep you any safer (put everything under surveillance and you end up missing the real threats) and you are essentially left with a never ending multiplication of methods of covertly gathering information on everything you do. In a dictatorship this is progressive, in a free society it is regressive.
A generation is all they need
A generation is all they need
One day we will all happily be implanted with microchips, and our every move will be monitored. The technology exists; the only barrier is society’s resistance to the loss of privacy
Surveillance society: The DNA files
Police files hold the DNA of more than 50,000 children who have committed no offence. And that’s only the tip of the iceberg – Britain now has the largest DNA database in the world. By Marie Woolf and Sophie Goodchild
Kids Buy Lunches With Scans of Fingers
« It may be perfectly secure, but my daughter is a minor and I understand that supposedly the kids have the option to not have their prints scanned, but that’s not being articulated to my daughter, » said Hal Storey, who’s daughter is a 10th grader at Rome High.
Of course not. Get them used to constant scanning at a young age!
I don’t know about you but I get very uneasy with the change from simply paying for your lunch, to proving your identity simply to eat! What is next? No water unless you can prove who you are? No access to the bathroom unless you are on the approved list?
La peur au service du néolibéralisme
Terror police ‘monitor thousands’
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/5306580.stm
« Not just terrorists not just attackers but the people who might be tempted to support or encourage, » he said.
i.e. everyone who does not support Tony Blair’s wars on the Middle East.
Tax on ‘peace and quiet’ revealed
Mind how you walk. It could be a crime
Shopping list could make you ‘a terror suspect’
Those supermarket cards have not been given to you for YOUR convenience, but to make it easier for the government to keep watch on what you buy.
Nike+ IPod = Surveillance
France Bans Laypeople From Reporting Violence
The French Constitutional Council has approved a law that criminalizes the filming or broadcasting of acts of violence by people other than professional journalists. The law could lead to the imprisonment of eyewitnesses who film acts of police violence, or operators of Web sites publishing the images, one French civil liberties group warned on Tuesday.
U.S. drafts Holocaust denial resolution
To be followed by the « 9-11 denial resolution » which will punish everyone who does not accept the official story of 9-11, and the « Bush is a nice guy denial resolution » which will jail those who do not like the President, leaving the entire country to be supported by just 47 people.
Australia: ‘Super prison’ to be unveiled
Military shows off new ray gun
The military calls its new weapon an « active denial system, » but that’s an understatement. It’s a ray gun that shoots a beam that makes people feel as if they are about to catch fire.
Coming to a police department near you……..
Taser, l’arme qui va mettre le feu aux cités ?
Alors que l’attribution des armes Taser à plus de 5000 représentants des forces de l’ordre est imminente, RAIDH s’inquiète des conséquences de l’escalade de violence que provoquera l’introduction de ces pistolets à électrochocs, à 10 jours de la commémoration de la mort par électrocution de Ziad Benna et Bouna Traore…
Dans les tous prochains jours, le Taser X26, une arme qui adresse une décharge électrique de 50 000 volts et paralyse le système nerveux de la victime pendant plusieurs secondes sera mise à disposition de 3 000 policiers et 2 000 gendarmes.
Voir les effets de ces armes sur:
un cochon
un taureau
une personne en état d’ebriété (un peu long mais édifiant)
une manifestante (immobilisée, au sol)
une femme qui refuse de descendre de sa voiture (1er coup de taser au bout de 30 secondes !)
Autres vidéos et matériel de campagne…
CAMERA DE SURVEILLANCE
Big Brother sugars the surveillance pill
Something funny has been happening to the CCTV cameras in our neighbourhood. They have started growing ears. Not real ones – at least not yet – but audio functions enabling them to « hear » what is happening around them as well as see. At the moment the experiment is confined to six cameras operating in the Soho area of Westminster, London, which has a high concentration of clubs and bars. An advanced wireless network which the council is building relays the information to a monitoring centre. If it is successful, it will be expanded to other selected areas. Police in the UK are also thinking about installing new CCTV cameras sensitive enough to record conversations up to 100 yards away to thwart hooliganism but, wisely, are keen to have a national debate about it first.
Big Brother is shouting at you
‘Talking’ CCTV scolds offenders
Cameras in fire engines … the new way to spy on motorists
George Orwell, Big Brother is watching your house
SECURITY CAMERA PLAYERS
New type of Speed Cameras appearing
The system does not use instantaneous speed like the cameras we’re all familiar with, instead measuring the average speed of every vehicle over a distance of about a mile. How? By reading your license plates and matching them up camera-to-camera.
…. which also gives the government the means to track your every move.
FLASHBACK: Who’s Watching You in Your Hotel Room?
WASHINGTON – Next time you check into a hotel, you may want to consider asking if there are any hidden cameras in your assigned room.
There could be cameras hidden in mirrors, television sets, lamps and even the radio alarm clock on your nightstand.
Fox News reports that at least two hotels have bought that kind of security equipment. More than that may be involved. In an interview with NewsMax.com, Arielle Jamil, director of public affairs for Counter Spy Shops, specialty stores for high-tech spy equipment and devices, did not dispute us when we asked if two hotel chains had bought the spy gear.
Speed camera fines used to buy plasma TVs and T-shirts
ESPIONNAGE DE NOS VIES PRIVEES
***** Google developing eavesdropping software
***** Government, Industry To Use Computer Microphones To Spy On 150 Million Americans
Is Google Evil?
http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2006/11/google.html
Google: Disabling the Politically Incorrect
Big Microsoft Brother
Opinion: Who wouldn’t trust a company that hid built-in spyware on every Windows-based PC in the land?
It turns out that Microsoft’s Genuine Advantage anti-piracy program is also keeping daily tabs on Windows users. Who knew?
Gonzales Wants ISPs to Save User Data
TELEPHONES CELLULAIRES
FBI taps cell phone mic as eavesdropping tool
Even if they’re off, cellphones allow FBI to listen in
For $5.99 per month, you can turn a cell phone into a surveillance device and track when your target leaves home, where he or she travels and at what speed. You can even detect how much battery power is left on the phone. Marketed as « virtual eyes » on your kids or employees, the service also allows you to construct a virtual « fence » so that you can receive electronic alerts if the phone’s carrier crosses into forbidden areas.
Provided by the company AccuTracking, this service is just one of dozens integrating the Global Positioning System (GPS) into everyday life. The system uses satellites to determine the locations of GPS-enabled devices.
RFID
***** World’s Smallest RFID Tag
Media Cranks Up Hard Sell of Biometric and RFID Microchipped Future
Wisconsin Bans Forced Human RFID Chipping
L’ENFER DES AEROPORTS POUR LES PASSAGERS
Des millions de voyageurs secrètement mis en fiches depuis quatre ans
Au cours des quatre dernières annnées, sans prévenir le public, des agents fédéraux ont assigné à des millions de voyageurs internationaux, y compris américains, des estimations informatisées évaluant le risque qu’ils soient des terroristes ou des criminels. Les voyageurs ne sont pas autorisés à voir ou à contester ces estimations de risques, que le gouvernement a l’intention de conserver en archives pendant quarante ans. La notation est attribuée aux gens entrant et sortant des Etats-Unis après que les ordinateurs aient enregistré les détails de leurs trajets, comprenant leur point de départ, le coût de leurs billets, leur dossier d’automobiliste, leurs déplacements précédents, leur choix de siège et le genre de repas qu’ils ont commandés.
Big Brother: Watching, Listening, Shouting And Firing X-Rays
Airport Hustlers
Airport to tag passengers
Airport security chiefs and efficiency geeks will be able to keep close tabs on airport passengers by tagging them with a high powered radio chip developed at the University of Central London.
People will be told to wear radio tags round their necks when they get to the airport. The tag would notify a computer system of their identity and whereabouts. The system would then track their activities in the airport using a network of high definition cameras.
One solution might be to require people to use their tags to get through gates placed throughout the airport, he said. Perhaps a little like a shepherd might gate off his pasture and check the tags on his sheep as they passed into this field
Coming to an airport, school, workplace, and home near you!
And you have to love that line in the last paragraph about using the tag as a shepherd uses a « shepherd’s gate »: that really says it all.
Travel only if you don’t mind being seen NAKED
For people who HAVE to travel, get used to it; you WILL be seen naked by some anonymous pervert at the TSA.
But the real damage will be to tourism. What family on vacation will want to come to the US now, knowing that at every airport, they are electronically forced to strip before the eyes of strangers.
And what investors will come to the US to start a business here, when they have to be so humiliated at the airports?
With full-body X-ray, a closer look at air travelers
Most passengers asked to submit to a full-body X-ray at Security Checkpoint B didn’t bat an eyelash. Nine in 10 gamely stepped up to a scanner about the size of a vending machine, placed their feet on the red footprints painted on the carpet, and raised their arms – all in the name of airport security.
« Friendly Skies »?
Not any more. Just don’t travel by air, period, end of discussion.
These processes are really not about keeping Americans more safe.
If this was a real objective of this administration, we would have something approximating a sane foreign policy, something which the members of this administration cannot seem to find with a flashlight and both hands.
The indignities this government has inflicted on its citizens regarding travel (strip-searching grandmothers with metal joints, etc.) is simply about getting the public condititioned to them; nothing more.
LNI Média 