http://www.sott.net Signs of the Times, featuring news and commentary on world events. Never wavering in our unending search for the light of truth in a pathocracy driven world! en-us Original content Copyright 2009 by Signs of the Times. For other content, see our Fair Use Policy at www.sott.net Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:39:02 -0500 http://www.sott.net/images/sottlogo_rss.jpg SOTT.net http://www.sott.net http://www.sott.net/articles/show/197392-Identifying-Threat-New-biometrics-markets-and-terror-culture The culture of fear and distrust that has grown up around this century's terror culture and its associated wars has created vast new markets for anything that can be branded with the words security or defence. In April 2010, London's Kensington Olympia will play host to a Counter Terror Expo, put on by DSEi's infamous events' organiser, Clarion, and sponsored by French arms company, Thales. Officially supported by a plethora of military, police and private security associations, the expo will showcase over 250 security, surveillance and specialist logistics companies; state agencies including NATO and the MoD; and anyone else claiming to provide protection against terrorism for both the armed forces and civilian populations. Joining the fray are a number of corporations involved in creating identity verification technologies. The biometrics and database management companies whose invasive products, based on the recognition of physiological characteristics, are finding voice as futuristic 'solutions' in, what is deemed, an 'increasingly dangerous world'. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/197392-Identifying-Threat-New-biometrics-markets-and-terror-culture Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:37:15 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/197389-Say-no-to-asbos-for-downloaders The internet is such a huge part of life that Mandelson's plans to cut people off for copyright breach is a clear restriction of liberty At 33 years old I'm more Generation X than Generation X-Box. I'm too old to be one of the new wave of "digital natives" who've never known life without the internet, but I'm just about young enough (and geeky enough) to consider myself an enthusiastic immigrant. I moved in about 13 years ago, and if I could swear an oath of allegiance to some Head Of The Internet State, I wouldn't hesitate. Sadly there is no president of the internet, which is a shame because it means I'm stuck with my British passport instead. And relations between Britain and the internet have been strained of late. Lord Mandelson is seeking to grant himself significant powers in the fight against copyright infringement - the ability to do just about anything so long as it's in the interest of protecting copyright, and without having to go through parliament. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/197389-Say-no-to-asbos-for-downloaders Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:30:57 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/197388-Queen-s-Speech-mobile-phones-in-prisons-more-useless-repetitive-legislation-planned Although we are slightly relieved that no Communications Data Bill has been sneaked into the Queen's Speech, as originally threatened by the disgraced former Labour Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, this Labour Government simply cannot resist producing some more useless and repetitive legislation, as a public relations diversion to hide their failure to control aspects of modern technology. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/197388-Queen-s-Speech-mobile-phones-in-prisons-more-useless-repetitive-legislation-planned Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:25:56 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/197380-Ofcom-talks-to-spook-firm-on-filesharing-snoop-plan Peering inside your packets Ofcom has held talks over a monitoring system that would peer inside filesharing traffic to determine the level of copyright infringement, in preparation for new laws designed to protect the music, film and software industries. The Digital Economy Bill, to be published by Lord Mandelson tomorrow, will require the communications regulator to measure how filesharers who exchange copyright material respond to a regime of warning letters. If the overall level of infringement is not cut by 70 per cent in a year, further provisions will be triggered, compelling ISPs to impose speed restriction after warnings. Internet access will be suspended for the most persistent infringers. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/197380-Ofcom-talks-to-spook-firm-on-filesharing-snoop-plan Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:26:20 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/197379-Internet-Under-Siege It is ironic that President Barack Obama would travel to China and speak against government control over the internet. If the American Department of Homeland Security has its way new cybersecurity laws will enable Obama's administration to take control of the internet in the event of a national crisis. How that national crisis might be defined would be up to the White House but there have been some precedents that suggest that the response would hardly be respectful of the Bill of Rights. Many countries already monitor and censor the internet on a regular basis, forbidding access to numerous sites that they consider to be subversive. During recent unrest, the governments of both Iran and China effectively shut down the internet by taking control of or blocking servers. Combined with switching off of cell phone transmitters, the steps proved effective in isolating dissidents. Could it happen here? Undoubtedly. Once the laws are in place a terrorist incident or something that could be plausibly described in those terms would be all that is needed to have government officials issue the order to bring the internet to a halt. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/197379-Internet-Under-Siege Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:23:06 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/197375-UK-s-Terrifying-Anti-Piracy-Plans-Leak Tomorrow morning Lord Mandelson will present the Digital Economy Bill to the public, which among other things is aimed at reducing illicit file-sharing. According to parts of the bill that leaked today, the legislation could lead to jail terms for file-sharers and unprecedented power for the entertainment industries. Over the past months the UK government has tried to tackle the issue of online piracy. This has resulted in a proposal from Lord Mandelson, who plans to disconnect alleged file sharers without any judicial process. Tomorrow the exact text of the bill is expected to be made public, but according to early reports, the legislation will open all doors for a digital police state where alleged pirates will be crucified by private companies. Judging from some of the plans that leaked earlier today, the endless lobbying efforts of the entertainment industry by anti-piracy outfits including IFPI and the BPI have definitely paid off. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/197375-UK-s-Terrifying-Anti-Piracy-Plans-Leak Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:06:36 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/197360-Virus-in-the-Voting-Machines-Tainted-Results-in-New-York-District Gouverneur, New York - The computerized voting machines used by many voters in the 23rd district had a computer virus - tainting the results, not just from those machines known to have been infected, but casting doubt on the accuracy of counts retrieved from any of the machines. Cathleen Rogers, the Democratic Elections Commissioner in Hamilton County stated that they discovered a problem with their voting machines the week prior to the election and that the "virus" was fixed by a Technical Support representative from Dominion, the manufacturer. The Dominion/Sequoia Voting Systems representative "reprogrammed" their machines in time for them to use in the Nov. 3rd Special Election. None of the machines (from the same manufacturer) used in the other counties within the 23rd district were looked at nor were they recertified after the "reprogramming" that occurred in Hamilton County. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/197360-Virus-in-the-Voting-Machines-Tainted-Results-in-New-York-District Fri, 20 Nov 2009 09:43:08 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/197291-UK-Government-surveillance-plan-in-turmoil Complications surround strategy to monitor electronic communications, says Tom Young There have been several conflicting reports on the government's interception modernisation programme this week, ranging from "UK web snooping plans: Full steam ahead" to "Legislation to access texts and emails on hold". The confusion over the progress of plans to tighten law enforcement agencies' power to monitor communications has arisen for two reasons. First, although the government has said it wants to press ahead with the plans, it will not introduce them before the next election. And second, the government is still not sure what it actually wants to do. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/197291-UK-Government-surveillance-plan-in-turmoil Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:22:44 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/197290-The-UK-Big-Brother-State-Even-Inspects-Our-Wallpaper On Monday this paper reported a proposal by Government for inspectors to check homes for adequate child safety including smoke alarms, window locks and stair gates. In addition to state snoopers, GPs and midwives are encour- aged to report lack of safety which they may have observed when visiting. Recently a woman was reported to social services because she had wallpaper hanging off her walls. She says she was decorating but even if she were not what possible business is the dilapidation of her wallpa- per to anybody else? If such a mother has not much money is she not better spending what little she can muster on food, clothes, warmth and toys for a child than on replacing wallpaper? How do these snoopers suppose parents manage who are both renovating old properties and raising young children? http://www.sott.net/articles/show/197290-The-UK-Big-Brother-State-Even-Inspects-Our-Wallpaper Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:22:43 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/197286-UK-Big-Brother-quiz-for-new-school-parents-Officials-launch-83-point-probe-into-families-lives Parents of five-year-olds starting school have been sent an 83-point questionnaire that probes personal details of their lives. It asks whether their children tell lies or bully others, and if they steal at home or from shops. Parents are questioned over whether they have friends, if they can speak freely with others in their family and how well they did at school themselves. The form also delves into family routines, questioning whether they eat takeaways and if the children drink water with their meals. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/197286-UK-Big-Brother-quiz-for-new-school-parents-Officials-launch-83-point-probe-into-families-lives Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:10:58 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/197285-What-Is-Totalitarianism-Part-I-and-II Part I If the United States came under the control of a totalitarian regime, would we recognize it? This question is of utmost importance today, when many of us harbor fears that some time in the near future ideas such as freedom, liberty, and privacy will be alien to our society. But as we witness the regular passage of legislation designed to restrict and regulate, and the tendency of the Federal government to increase rather than decrease its power (with a handful of exceptions), we are struck by the uninterrupted routine of life in the USA . As the central government brings more and more of private society under its control, we continue to watch cable TV, shop at supermarkets overflowing with products, and eat at our favorite restaurants. Could it be that we have already passed that dreaded threshold and missed it? The trouble with diagnosing our condition is that most people are unaware of what totalitarianism actually is. Among even the most politically astute, there is little mental room for the possibility that a state in the process of becoming totalitarian might lack the most brutal and outward signs of oppressive regimes portrayed in popular culture. Because of our rather simplistic frame of reference - picture black and white images of National Socialist Germany or the Soviet Union - we recognize a country as either being in the advanced stages of totalitarianism or not at all. But just because a state maintains the structures and language of democracy and continues to have elections, for instance, that does not preclude it from being totalitarian. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/197285-What-Is-Totalitarianism-Part-I-and-II Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:10:57 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/197284-NSA-Is-Giving-Microsoft-Some-Help-On-Windows-7-Security The National Security Agency has been working with Microsoft Corp. to help improve security measures for its new Windows 7 operating system, a senior NSA official said on Tuesday. The confirmation of the NSA's role, which began during the development of the software, is a sign of the agency's deepening involvement with the private sector when it comes to building defenses against cyberattacks. "Working in partnership with Microsoft and (the Department of Defense), NSA leveraged our unique expertise and operational knowledge of system threats and vulnerabilities to enhance Microsoft's operating system security guide without constraining the user's ability to perform their everyday tasks," Richard Schaeffer, the NSA's Information Assurance Director, told the Senate Judiciary Committee in a statement prepared for a hearing held this morning in Washington. "All this was done in coordination with the product release, not months or years later in the product cycle." http://www.sott.net/articles/show/197284-NSA-Is-Giving-Microsoft-Some-Help-On-Windows-7-Security Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:10:55 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/197282-Military-Doublespeak In George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four the government had three slogans emblazoned on The Ministry of Truth building: war is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength. True, the dystopian society depicted by Orwell existed only in his mind. Yet, the doublespeak that existed in that made-up society has increasingly been adopted by governments - our government. It is a tragic thing that the U.S. government employs doublespeak to deceive the American people; it is even more tragic that most Americans accept government doublespeak as the gospel truth. There is no greater instance of government doublespeak than when it comes to the military. Here are some examples: http://www.sott.net/articles/show/197282-Military-Doublespeak Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:00:12 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/197238-Arkansas-US-Taser-gun-used-on-10-year-old-girl-who-refused-to-take-shower- A police officer used a Taser stun gun to subdue a 10-year-old girl in her own home. The officer had been called to the girl's home in Ozark, Arkansas, by her mother because she was behaving in an unruly manner and refusing to take a shower. In a report on the incident the officer, Dustin Bradshaw, said the mother gave him permission to use the Taser. When he arrived, the girl was curled up on the floor, screaming, and resisting as her mother tried to get her in the shower before bed. "Her mother told me to take her if I needed to," the officer wrote. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/197238-Arkansas-US-Taser-gun-used-on-10-year-old-girl-who-refused-to-take-shower- Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:08:44 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/197194-Corporate-Fascism-eyes-role-in-India-s-unique-ID-project-to-tag-every-resident Along with a bouquet of flowers, the global CEO of Yahoo! Inc, Carol Bartz, offered the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, whom she met on Wednesday morning, help with the Unique Identification (UID) programme being put in place in the country when she met him on Wednesday morning. "The UID project involves a huge database. We, at Yahoo, have expertise in handling such huge amount of data. We met the Prime Minister today and discussed, among other things, how Yahoo can help the Government in the project," Bartz said here at an editorial round table with the media. However, Yahoo also said that it was not looking at the UID project for any commercial interest but to pay back to the nation where it has had a presence for so many years. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/197194-Corporate-Fascism-eyes-role-in-India-s-unique-ID-project-to-tag-every-resident Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:15:11 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/197177-Chinese-Media-Censors-Obama-s-Remarks-on-Censorship On Monday, U.S. President Barack Obama spoke to more than 400 Chinese students at the Shanghai Museum of Science and Technology. Obama spoke and answered questions on a range of issues - including freedom of speech and religion. However, it's not clear how many Chinese people could actually see or hear the event in the media. A scheduled live video stream of the event on the website of state-run Xinhua News Agency turned out only to be a transcript of the event. And while it was shown on a local Shanghai TV station, it was not broadcast on national television. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/197177-Chinese-Media-Censors-Obama-s-Remarks-on-Censorship Wed, 18 Nov 2009 12:04:26 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/197161-Secret-CCTV-cameras-fitted-inside-people-s-homes-to-spy-on-neighbours-outside CCTV cameras are being fitted inside family homes by council 'snoopers' to spy on neighbours in the street outside, it was revealed today. The £1,000 security cameras have been placed inside properties but are trained on the streets to gather evidence of anti-social behaviour. Each device is linked to a laptop computer and accessible online by police and council officials 24 hours a day. But the trial inside two homes by Croydon council in south London has sparked new fears about invasion of privacy and Britain's 'surveillance society'. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/197161-Secret-CCTV-cameras-fitted-inside-people-s-homes-to-spy-on-neighbours-outside Wed, 18 Nov 2009 10:16:18 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/197160-500-Million-New-Terrorists- The world is becoming unsafer by the day. Before the end of November, half a billion new terrorists will be added to the list kept by the US government. On November 30, one day before the Lisbon Treaty is scheduled to take effect, the ministers of justice of the EU's 27 member states will sign yet another security agreement with the US. It is supposed to be an essential weapon in the global "War on Terror" the US claims to be fighting. Under the new agreement, the US government will get access to all the banking data of all Europeans. This means that from December 2009, every single financial transaction done by every single European banking customer will come under the scrutiny of the US authorities. Henceforth, whenever the US government suspects a European "citizen" of supporting terrorism, it can request all his or her banking data, including all bank statements as well as any and all personal data connected with the account. No doubt, many people will fail to see much harm in this, because "they have nothing to hide." But such an attitude is based on the assumption the US is governed by benign, rational individuals, controlled by an elaborate system of checks and balances. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/197160-500-Million-New-Terrorists- Wed, 18 Nov 2009 09:50:34 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/197158-UK-Speed-cameras-the-bigger-picture The London Safety Camera Partnership is dominated by bureaucrats, has no constitution and holds meetings in secret On Wednesday the London assembly member Victoria Borwick will, on my behalf, put a series of questions to the mayor, Boris Johnson, relating to the present plight of the London Safety Camera Partnership, a road safety initiative designed to reduce speeding and the number of vehicles running red lights in the capital. The LSCP is a curious entity. It has no written constitution. Why not? The LSCP has not met since January. Why not? We are told that the LSCP is now in financial crisis, and may be "mothballed". Would this matter? There are now 38 SCPs, covering most police force areas. Until April 2007, local SCPs received a proportion of the income from fines generated by traffic-enforcement cameras, but the well-founded suspicion that the cameras were being used primarily for revenue-raising purposes led the government to abandon this method of funding. Nowadays all local authorities with a responsibility for road safety receive an annual road safety grant not related to the number of penalty notices issued. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/197158-UK-Speed-cameras-the-bigger-picture Wed, 18 Nov 2009 09:49:02 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/197157-Cardiff-Airport-gets-more-security-theatre Cardiff Airport is joining Manchester in using facial recognition technology to automate passport checks for inbound passengers. Anyone over 18 with a biometric passport issued since 2006 can choose to have their face scanned, matched to the picture held on a chip on their passport and, assuming there's a match, be allowed in. Doesn't this sound marvellous? Except the gates in Manchester were throwing up so many false results that staff effectively turned them off. Previously matches had to be 80 per cent the same - this was quickly changed to 30 per cent. This means the machines are unable to distinguish between the faces of Winona Ryder and Osama bin Laden. Even more worryingly, the adjusted gates failed to distinguish between renownded pseudo-Scot Mel Gibson and actual Scot Gordon Brown. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/197157-Cardiff-Airport-gets-more-security-theatre Wed, 18 Nov 2009 09:49:00 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/197156-The-Emerging-Medical-Dictatorship Will it make you an enemy of the state? As I have written about in a previous article entitled "Stop the Swine Whine," the public health establishment has used the current swine flu hysteria to try to impose mandatory vaccination laws under the guise of a health crisis. Fortunately, these proposed laws, with the exception of New York's short-lived mandatory health care worker vaccination mandate, have yet to come to fruition. In the case of New York some courageous doctors and nurses filed suit against the dictatorial law and were successful in getting the state government to back down. While the constitutional crisis that this represented has been temporarily averted, a dangerous precedent has been set. It may be that in the coming months and years that these same government officials will not so easily relent. It may be as soon as the next flu season or the passage of the Obamacare health bill that our medical rights are lost forever. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/197156-The-Emerging-Medical-Dictatorship Wed, 18 Nov 2009 09:48:47 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/197155-Massive-net-surveillance-programme-on-schedule The Home Office's scheme to monitor all electronic communications remains within the Home Office's financial plans, despite the government postponing the relevant legislation The Interception Modernisation Programme (IMP) is planned for completion in 2016, having started in April 2006, according to a written parliamentary answer from Home Office minister Phil Woolas. A bill to establish the scheme, which would require communications service providers to greatly increase the data they hold on customers for the benefit of the police and security agencies, has been dropped by the government from this week's Queen's Speech. However, the information from Woolas shows the Home Office does not anticipate that this will delay the IMP, with 2016 as both the original and the current planned date for completion. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/197155-Massive-net-surveillance-programme-on-schedule Wed, 18 Nov 2009 09:27:58 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/197149-The-Struggle-for-Net-Neutrality During his 2008 campaign, Barack Obama promised to "Support the principle of network neutrality to preserve the benefits of open competition on the Internet." Perhaps not given a worse record than his fiercest critics feared, worse than George Bush, across the board on both domestic and foreign policies, including: -- failing to deliver promised change; -- being the standard bearer for the corrupted political/business elite; -- governing like a crime boss in league with Wall Street; -- disdaining democratic rights, freedoms, and the rule of law; -- betraying working Americans; -- proposing social services cuts instead of increasing them when they're most needed; -- denying budget-strapped states vitally needed aid; -- ignoring growing poverty, hunger, homelessness and despair; -- expanding militarism, imperial wars, and state-sponsored terrorism; -- violating human rights and civil liberties; and -- providing open-ended banker bailouts, an array of pro-business measures, and the greatest ever amounts of military spending at a time America has no enemies. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/197149-The-Struggle-for-Net-Neutrality Wed, 18 Nov 2009 04:21:37 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/197119-US-military-veterans-help-train-California-police-for-counterinsurgency Volunteer veterans help California city use counterinsurgency strategy to stem gang violence Famed to readers as the birthplace of John Steinbeck and in supermarket produce circles as the "Salad Bowl of the World," the city of Salinas carries darker renown in the netherworld of California's prisons. Instant respect is accorded any inmate tattooed with the words "Salad Bowl" or "Salis" -- gang shorthand for a city now defined most of all by ferocious eruptions of violence. In the space of 11 days this year, seven people were murdered in Salinas. Each killing, like the record 25 homicides the previous year, spilled from the gang warfare that this summer pushed the homicide rate in the city of 140,000 to three times that of Los Angeles. Residents retreated indoors at night, and Mayor Dennis Donohue affirmed his decision to seek help from an unlikely source: the U.S. military. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/197119-US-military-veterans-help-train-California-police-for-counterinsurgency Tue, 17 Nov 2009 12:51:34 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/197094-President-Obama-Don-t-Lecture-China-on-Censorship President Obama, in his visit to China, held a "town meeting" with Chinese students in which he praised openness and lectured them on the value of freedom of information, saying that he is a "supporter of non-censorship" and that open access to information was a "source of strength." And yet America is hardly free of censorship. Heck, the president himself has gone to court to prevent the release of photographs of US troops torturing captives in Iraq, Afghanistan and at Guantanamo. Talk about censorship! But it goes way beyond just such crude, totalitarian style control over information. Let's just take the issue of depleted uranium weapons, over 1000 tons of which have been expended in the US invasion of Iraq, most of it in populated areas where millions remain exposed to the radioactive dust of the burned material. There is almost no reporting on this topic in the US media. The Pentagon has for years lied about and hidden the effects of this deadly substance, used in shells, bombs and bullets because of its unique ability to penetrate hard steel armor and concrete bunker walls. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/197094-President-Obama-Don-t-Lecture-China-on-Censorship Tue, 17 Nov 2009 09:31:49 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/197093-NYC-s-First-Non-Smoking-Apt-Building-Set-To-Open Residents At 1510 Lexington Avenue Will Be Unable To Smoke Inside -- Or Even Directly Outside -- New Development Smoking has been banned in restaurants, bars, taxis, office buildings, but what if you were told you couldn't even smoke your own home? That's just the case in Manhattan where "No Smoking" signs are going up in numerous apartment buildings. For the 1 million New York City residents who smoke, doing so in their own home has been an unwritten privilege. The problem with smoking in an apartment, however, is you can't keep that smoke from going into other parts of the building. In fact, a recent study by the New York City Department of Health says 57 percent of non-smokers have had substantial exposure to cigarette smoke. So some apartment buildings are now banning smoking for new tenants. Existing tenants who smoke will be allowed to continue to puff away. That's not the case with the new East Harlem building at 1510 Lexington Avenue, which will be the city's first completely non-smoking residence, where tenants won't even be allowed to walk outside and light up in the immediate perimeter of the building. Even the construction workers can't light up. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/197093-NYC-s-First-Non-Smoking-Apt-Building-Set-To-Open Tue, 17 Nov 2009 09:25:11 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/197092-UK-council-to-give-all-parking-wardens-head-mounted-cameras A council is to equip all its on-street parking wardens with head-mounted video cameras, making it the first in the country to do so. Wardens in Bolton will be fitted with the gadget - the size of an AA battery - to deter assaults and provide a better service, the town council said. Each camera is fastened to the side of the officer's cap and it records images continuously over the shift. These images are later downloaded on to a computer. Council bosses said that in the past three years there had been 53 ''code red'' incidents involving wardens, including physical attacks, being driven at and being spat upon. The head-cam technology was pioneered by the council's parking enforcement contractor, NSL, which has introduced the services for a small number of local authorities. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/197092-UK-council-to-give-all-parking-wardens-head-mounted-cameras Tue, 17 Nov 2009 09:21:53 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/197091-March-to-ID-cards-costing-the-UK-public-quarter-of-a-million-pounds-a-day The expansion of the ID cards and biometric passports programme is costing the taxpayer almost a quarter of a million pounds every day to develop. The roll out of the controversial identity cards has already cost the public millions of pounds and the bill is growing, figures show. The daily cost to the taxpayer for the expansion of the biometric documents is now six times the size it was just three years ago. Last month it emerged some 28 million people would have to sign up for an ID card in order to cover the cost of the scheme. The Identity and Passport Service spent a £42 million on developing both the ID cards and biometric passport programmes in the six months since March this year. That was equivalent of £229,508 every day - the highest amount of spending on the joint scheme so far. In 2008/09, a total of £81.5 million was spent - the equivalent of £223,288 a day. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/197091-March-to-ID-cards-costing-the-UK-public-quarter-of-a-million-pounds-a-day Tue, 17 Nov 2009 09:17:06 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/197090-UK-Teachers-given-powers-to-search-pupils-for-drugs Teachers will be given new powers in a fresh crackdown on bad behaviour Teachers have gained new powers to search pupils for drugs, alcohol and stolen goods, it has been revealed. They will gain the legal right to frisk pupils and search school bags without consent in a fresh crackdown on bad behaviour. The move extends the existing right of teachers to look for weapons and is enshrined in new legislation. It is designed to stamp out a culture of drug-taking and underage drinking that is developing in schools. Schools Secretary Ed Balls said the powers would ensure all pupils knew that a 'teacher's authority in the classroom is unquestionable'. But teaching leaders warned that staff could face false allegations of assault from pupils as a result. It will also increase the responsibilities of teachers. Schools can already look for weapons by removing children's jackets and jumpers and 'patting down' their clothing. They can also screen them using the sort of metal detectors seen at airports. But while they can ask pupils suspected of possessing drugs to turn out their pockets and open their bags, only police can frisk for drugs or other items. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/197090-UK-Teachers-given-powers-to-search-pupils-for-drugs Tue, 17 Nov 2009 09:12:56 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/197051-Interpol-s-first-ever-passports-enable-its-agents-to-operate-across-national-borders INTERPOL today issued its first ever passports which will enable Heads of National Central Bureaus (NCBs) and staff to travel internationally without requiring a visa when assisting in transnational investigations or urgent deployments to incidents. Two countries, Pakistan and Ukraine, have already agreed to waive visa entry requirements for INTERPOL passport bearers, recognizing that those individuals will be travelling on behalf of the organization in the furtherance of international police co-operation. Without the delay of visa processing procedures, any INTERPOL team can be immediately deployed to scenes of terrorist events, major crimes or natural disasters and officials from NCBs can easily cross borders to assist in fugitive extraditions. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/197051-Interpol-s-first-ever-passports-enable-its-agents-to-operate-across-national-borders Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:04:17 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/197039-UK-Woman-fined-for-feeding-the-ducks A mother out feeding the ducks with her young son was given an on-the-spot fine by a park warden. Vanessa Kelly was in Smethwick Hall Park, in Smethwick, West Midlands, when she was approached by the warden and given a £75 fine for littering. The warden then told Ms Kelly her son could continue to feed the ducks as he was too young to be fined. Sandwell Council defended the fine, saying Ms Kelly was not in a designated feeding area. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/197039-UK-Woman-fined-for-feeding-the-ducks Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:30:08 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/197015-Swiss-privacy-commissioner-miffed-taking-Google-to-court Google's Street View has pushed Switzerland's privacy commissioner over the edge. His organization plans to take Google to court over what it considers to be egregious privacy violations on behalf of Swiss citizens after months of trying to negotiate with the company. Loved by many, Google's Street View feature remains controversial among users and consumer groups who are concerned about privacy. The latest uproar comes from Switzerland's Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC), which claims Google hasn't taken sufficient measures to protect citizens' privacy and is now threatening to take the company to federal court. The Swiss Privacy Commissioner, Hanspeter Thür, has been on Google's back over Street View since August of this year (when the feature began to be implemented there). At that time, he demanded that Google withdraw Street View in Switzerland, and said that it would only be allowed if certain "negotiated conditions" were met. Meanwhile, Thür's office offered instructions for citizens on how to get their faces blurred if they show up in a snapshot. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/197015-Swiss-privacy-commissioner-miffed-taking-Google-to-court Mon, 16 Nov 2009 10:43:07 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/197013-Real-ID-program-in-deep-trouble A decision by lawmakers to slash funding for the unpopular Real ID national driver's license program has put an already struggling initiative on life support. The U.S. Senate recently approved a $43 billion budget for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for the federal government's 2010 fiscal year, which began Oct. 1. The appropriation called for substantial increases in DHS spending in several key technology areas but slashed Real ID funding by 40%, from $100 million to $60 million. The budget cut suggests that Real ID is going nowhere, said Jim Harper, director of information policy studies at the libertarian Cato Institute. But Congress' hesitation to kill Real ID entirely highlights the touchy political nature of the program, he said. "There isn't any love for Real ID on Capitol Hill," Harper said, but many lawmakers are reluctant to openly reject it for fear of being seen as too soft on national security. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/197013-Real-ID-program-in-deep-trouble Mon, 16 Nov 2009 09:54:36 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/197012-Biometrics-sparks-privacy-fears-in-Ireland In its report, "Biometrics: Enhancing Security or Invading Privacy?", the ICB explores privacy concerns stemming from the growing use of biometric technologies to counter identity theft. The technologies reviewed in the report include the familiar ones of fingerprint, palmprint, facial, vein pattern and voice recognition, plus newer technologies like gait (style of walking), keystroke dynamics and DNA. These are a "a more robust confirmation of a person's identity" than PIN numbers and ID cards. However, these also put privacy at risk because electronic data can be collected, compiled and connected with rapidly increasing ease. The ICB stated that individual civil liberties could be implicated, especially if personal information enters the public sphere. Individuals could be categorised with biologically-derived labels such as 'disabled', 'criminal', 'suspect' or 'immigrant', potentially leading to discrimination. "The ubiquity of biometrics begs the question whether any of us can lead truly private lives anymore," said Dr Siobhán O'Sullivan. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/197012-Biometrics-sparks-privacy-fears-in-Ireland Mon, 16 Nov 2009 09:51:33 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/197011-UK-government-denies-innocent-will-be-hit-by-filesharing-regime Simon says.... Forthcoming laws to reduce the level of peer-to-peer copyright infringement with threats of disconnection will affect "hardly anybody, other than the most serious and egregious recidivistic offenders", according to culture minister Sion Simon. The Digital Economy Bill, to be announced in the Queen's Speech next week, will mandate a regime of notifications warning against illegal filesharing, followed by restrictions on bandwidth and possible suspension of the broadband accounts of those who do not stop. The plans have attracted claims by consumer groups and ISPs that innocent people could lose internet access, an increasingly vital service. Mistakes are inevitable given many poorly secured Wi-Fi networks and flawed infringement detection procedures, they argue. In Commons questions on Monday, Simon dismissed such concerns. "People who have done nothing wrong should not be in any danger of having their internet interfered with at all," he said. "Nobody will have their bandwidth squeezed or their account suspended until they have had repeated letters, been given a healthy notice period and then had a right of appeal - indeed, two rights of appeal." http://www.sott.net/articles/show/197011-UK-government-denies-innocent-will-be-hit-by-filesharing-regime Mon, 16 Nov 2009 09:43:27 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196977-Mind-Your-Tweets-The-CIA-Social-Networking-Surveillance-System That social networking sites and applications such as Facebook, Twitter and their competitors can facilitate communication and information sharing amongst diverse groups and individuals is by now a cliché. It should come as no surprise then, that the secret state and the capitalist grifters whom they serve, have zeroed-in on the explosive growth of these technologies. One can be certain however, securocrats aren't tweeting their restaurant preferences or finalizing plans for after work drinks. No, researchers on both sides of the Atlantic are busy as proverbial bees building a "total information" surveillance system, one that will, so they hope, provide police and security agencies with what they euphemistically call "actionable intelligence." Build the Perfect Panopticon, Win Fabulous Prizes! In this context, the whistleblowing web site Wikileaks published a remarkable document October 4 by the INDECT Consortium, the Intelligence Information System Supporting Observation, Searching and Detection for Security of Citizens in Urban Environment. Hardly a catchy acronym, but simply put INDECT is working to put a human face on the billions of emails, text messages, tweets and blog posts that transit cyberspace every day; perhaps your face. According to Wikileaks, INDECT's "Work package 4" is designed "to comb web blogs, chat sites, news reports, and social-networking sites in order to build up automatic dossiers on individuals, organizations and their relationships." Ponder that phrase again: "automatic dossiers." This isn't the first time that European academics have applied their "knowledge skill sets" to keep the public "safe"--from a meaningful exercise of free speech and the right to assemble, that is. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196977-Mind-Your-Tweets-The-CIA-Social-Networking-Surveillance-System Sun, 15 Nov 2009 16:39:32 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196965-Email-surveillance-ditch-it-for-good Labour is right to think plans to snoop on our internet use will harm its election chances - but have they really been shelved? The government is playing a two-handed game over its plan to snoop on all our communication and internet activity. On the one hand, officials have put it about that the scheme has been indefinitely shelved because of concerns raised in the public consultation on the proposals. On the other, Home Office insiders assure me that the government has no intention of putting the scheme on hold. Any statements to the contrary are designed to mitigate the risk of a negative campaign in the run-up to the general election. The government quite rightly perceives an election risk because of its surveillance plans. It is, after all, proposing to reach deep into the private life of everyone in the nation. From your phone records and emails to your activity on social networking sites such as Facebook, the government wants to know everything you do. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196965-Email-surveillance-ditch-it-for-good Sun, 15 Nov 2009 12:22:45 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196829-The-Wall-Might-Be-Gone-In-Germany-But-So-Is-Freedom-Of-Speech Ilan Pappe silenced in Munich Left-wing groups enraged by Germany municipality's decision not to allow anti-Zionist Israeli historian to speak at governmental institution. Pappe writes to Munich mayor his policy reminiscent of Nazi Germany Anti-Zionist historian Prof. Ilan Pappe, one of the most important "New Historians", was scheduled to speak last weekend at the Pedagogical Institute of Munich. But a letter received from the "Israeli-German association of Munich", claiming that Pappe's lecture would turn into "an anti-Israeli propaganda show," led the Munich Municipality to reconsider the event. The municipality eventually did not let Pappe use the room, claiming its decision was prompted by fears of violent clashes breaking out in the area. The Munich police insisted that there was no danger of fear for the security of those attending the lecture. The Munich mayor refused to comment on the issue despite appeals from German media outlets. Pappe's associates eventually organized a room not owned by the authorities and the lecture took place as planned. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196829-The-Wall-Might-Be-Gone-In-Germany-But-So-Is-Freedom-Of-Speech Sat, 14 Nov 2009 09:59:47 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196827-Michigan-Cop-suspended-for-Tasering-a-cuffed-suspect A police officer who Tasered a man after the man had been handcuffed and subdued was suspended without pay for two weeks for violating department policies and procedures, officials said Thursday. Lansing Police Chief Mark Alley said the incident began early Aug. 16 after police responded to a call of a dispute between Rocky Allred, 43, and a former girlfriend. Alley said there was a scuffle between Allred and Officer Ryan Smith, a two-year veteran, and that Allred head-butted Smith while Smith tried to handcuff him. Two other officers subdued and handcuffed Allred, Alley said, and Smith then used his Taser on Allred, causing him to fall to the ground. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196827-Michigan-Cop-suspended-for-Tasering-a-cuffed-suspect Sat, 14 Nov 2009 09:50:43 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196826-Netherlands-to-levy-green-road-tax-by-the-kilometre-using-GPS-tracking The Dutch government said Friday it wants to introduce a "green" road tax by the kilometre from 2012 aimed at cutting carbon dioxide emissions by 10 percent and halving congestion. "Each vehicle will be equipped with a GPS device that tracks how many kilometres are driven and when and where. This data will be then be sent to a collection agency that will send out the bill," the transport ministry said in a statement. Ownership and sales taxes, about a quarter of the cost of a new car, will be scrapped and replaced by the "price per kilometre" system aimed at cutting the Netherlands' carbon dioxide emissions by 10 percent. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196826-Netherlands-to-levy-green-road-tax-by-the-kilometre-using-GPS-tracking Sat, 14 Nov 2009 09:45:56 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196806-Ukraine-first-and-Austria-second-for-martial-law-based-on-flu-scare- On a cold, overcast December afternoon in 2004, I briefly met with Viktor Yuschenko, the Ukrainian President. He had been treated for poisoning at a hospital in Döbling and when he was released, he held a press conference surrounded by doctors and attended by scores of journalists. Yuschenko stood there barely saying a word, looking haggard and with a bluish pallor: his face was pock marked and his hair was an unnatural colour; his eyes were full of mistrust and fear even though the private Rudolfinerhaus clinic held few threats. Five years on, this shattered looking individual, who was once the head of a pro democracy movement, is about to proclaim himself a dictator. Ukraine is the first country to come under the control of the WHO and the UN under the International Health Regulations 2005, and the reality is that Yuschenko and his Prime Minister Julia Timoschenko are just carrying out the orders from WHO and the UN when they suspend civic rights and democracy under the pretext of fighting a pandemic emergency. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196806-Ukraine-first-and-Austria-second-for-martial-law-based-on-flu-scare- Fri, 13 Nov 2009 19:56:12 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196790-Jailing-the-Uninsured Could Americans who refuse to buy health insurance actually be imprisoned? The House health reform bill would require all Americans who can afford insurance to buy it, raising a thorny question: What happens to those who opt out, then suddenly get sick, and stick the rest of Americans with their medical bills? President Obama supports a "penalty...high enough that people don't game the system." How high exactly? Republicans point out that the House bill specifies "a fine of up to $250,000 and/or imprisonment of up to five years." Could Americans really go to jail for forgoing health insurance? (Watch Obama's comments about penalizing the uninsured) The Dems have gone too far this time: "This is the ultimate example of the Democrats' command-and-control style of governing - buy what we tell you or go to jail," says Rep. Dave Camp (R-MI), as quoted by Nolan Finley in The Detroit News. Obama's health care reform is looking more and more like the product of "a totalitarian regime." - "Buy insurance or go to the gulag" http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196790-Jailing-the-Uninsured Fri, 13 Nov 2009 13:15:04 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196733-US-Navy-PANDA-tech-to-sniff-out-deviant-sailors US Navy Intelligence is soon to deploy radical new computer monitoring software able to sniff out "deviations" among hundreds of thousands of sailors at sea on the world's oceans. Rather than some kind of Orwellian porn-enforcement system for use on the USN's own matelots, however, the so-called Predictive Analysis for Naval Deployment Activities (PANDA) technology will instead be used to sift a global plot of worldwide shipping movements to identify vessels acting in a menacing fashion. "With tens of thousands of ships on the world's oceans every day, it is very difficult to identify behaviour that may indicate a threat," said Rich Dickinson, PANDA honcho at Lockheed Advanced Technology Labs, providing the kit. "We believe PANDA provides a great improvement for [maritime domain awareness] by automatically detecting deviations and alerting operators to them." The idea is that the Office of Naval Intelligence will deploy PANDA at its National Maritime Intelligence Centre in Maryland, where the new tech will be able to monitor tracking information covering much of the watery globe. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196733-US-Navy-PANDA-tech-to-sniff-out-deviant-sailors Fri, 13 Nov 2009 08:22:21 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196732-UK-Lawyer-sacked-from-150-000-job-after-DNA-is-wrongly-put-on-national-database A high-flying city lawyer was fired from her £150,000-a-year job after a 'routine security check' revealed her DNA was held on the national database - over a 'false allegation' made against her. Lorraine Elliott said that she felt 'gobsmacked and depressed' after bosses spotted her file during 'background clearance' checks as she was just about to start work on a new project. The mother-of-three today described her reputation as having been 'tainted' after she was dismissed from her post following the discovery of her DNA profile - despite never having been charged with an offence. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196732-UK-Lawyer-sacked-from-150-000-job-after-DNA-is-wrongly-put-on-national-database Fri, 13 Nov 2009 08:19:06 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196731-Rights-group-concern-at-Vancouver-sonic-gun- A Canadian civil liberties group has accused police of quietly buying a high-tech audio weapon for possible use against protesters at next year's Winter Olympics in Vancouver. The so-called long range acoustical device can fire a concentrated blast of sound powerful enough to cause hearing damage and temporary vision disruption, according to the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association. The group, monitoring security for the 2010 Games, said there should have been independent safety testing of the 'sonic gun' before Vancouver Police were allowed to buy it, executive director David Eby said. The purchase, which was never publicly announced, "reduces the credibility of blandishments from city officials about not interfering with lawful and peaceful demonstrations", the civil liberties group said. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196731-Rights-group-concern-at-Vancouver-sonic-gun- Fri, 13 Nov 2009 08:19:03 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196730-Re-arrest-of-deserter-sparks-civil-liberties-fears A British soldier who refused to return to Afghanistan after developing a principled opposition to the war, has been re-arrested and charged with five more offences following his part in an anti-war demonstration. While details of the charges remain unclear, the re-arrest of Joe Glenton has raised fears over the abuse of civil liberties, and in particular the freedom to protest. Glenton participated in an anti-war protest in London on 24 October. It is thought that the charges brought in the light of this include "refusal to obey a lawful order" and speaking to the media without permission. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196730-Re-arrest-of-deserter-sparks-civil-liberties-fears Fri, 13 Nov 2009 08:19:01 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196729-Hotmail-imposes-tracking-cookies-for-logout And where do you think you're going? Hotmail users are now unable to log out of their account if the browser they are using does not accept third party cookies. The move by Microsoft raises security concerns, particularly as PCs on corporate networks and in cybercafes and libraries are often set to reject cookies. The error screen* that greets users who try to log out tells them they must re-enable third party cookies or close every browser window. Third party cookies are most commonly used by advertising networks to track surfers across the web. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196729-Hotmail-imposes-tracking-cookies-for-logout Fri, 13 Nov 2009 08:18:58 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196727-Deputies-Hold-Boy-Who-Fled-Flu-Shot Student refused; was held down for vaccination Wheeling- It took the strength of two sheriff's deputies to keep a middle schooler still enough to receive a shot of the swine flu, or H1N1, vaccine at a recent clinic. During a regular Wheeling-Ohio County Health Board meeting Tuesday, health department Administrator Howard Gamble told board members about the student's attempt to flee Wheeling Middle School during a vaccination clinic held there last Friday. He noted the boy's mother could not bear to watch the scene and left the gymnasium. Out of apparent fear of receiving the injection, the student ran out of the building. The school's resource officer, Ohio County Sheriff's Deputy John Haglock, coaxed the boy back inside. Once at the shot station, however, Haglock apparently needed some help keeping the boy still, and another deputy assisted. "He tried to run. I looked over and saw two sheriff's deputies holding a kid down," Gamble said. "Mom took off, she couldn't take it. You had one nurse with the needle, two deputies holding him, one nurse is grabbing hands - because that's what they want to do, to go after the needle. And that's the last thing you want." http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196727-Deputies-Hold-Boy-Who-Fled-Flu-Shot Fri, 13 Nov 2009 07:46:45 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196726-Blackout-Military-Personnel-Banned-From-H1N1-Vaccine-Sites If you want to draw attention to a problem, try hiding it. That's the strategy of several military bases when it comes to the H1N1 vaccine. Shortly after the Pentagon announced that all Armed Services personnel would soon be facing a mandatory H1N1 vaccination program, I started receiving email from soldiers, airmen, marines and sailors because of a previous story I had written on the anthrax vaccine. Mandatory vaccine programs are a sensitive subject in the military, so it's not a huge surprise that swift and visceral reactions to the program gained speed. With a vaccine that was so new and little known about it, like many Americans, troops were heading to the web to find answers to their very legitimate questions -- not only for themselves, but for their families who have the option of receiving the vaccine on base. What they found instead is that several websites and blogs with key information asking critical questions had been blocked from their viewing. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196726-Blackout-Military-Personnel-Banned-From-H1N1-Vaccine-Sites Fri, 13 Nov 2009 07:44:41 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196691-Police-property-seizures-ensnare-even-the-innocent Money raised by Metro Detroit, Michigan agencies increases 50% in five years Local law enforcement agencies are raising millions of dollars by seizing private property suspected in crimes, but often without charges being filed -- and sometimes even when authorities admit no offense was committed. The money raised by confiscating goods in Metro Detroit soared more than 50 percent to at least $20.62 million from 2003 to 2007, according to a Detroit News analysis of records from 58 law enforcement agencies. In some communities, amounts raised went from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands -- and, in one case, into the millions. "It's like legalized stealing," said Jacque Sutton, a 21-year-old college student from Mount Clemens whose 1989 Mustang was seized by Detroit police raiding a party. Charges against him and more than 100 others were dropped, but he still paid more than $1,000 to get the car back. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196691-Police-property-seizures-ensnare-even-the-innocent Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:28:01 -0500