Technocracy

The Creepy, Long-Standing Practice of Undersea Cable Tapping

"More than 550,000 miles of flexible undersea cables about the size of garden watering hoses carry all the world's emails, searches, and tweets. Together, they shoot the equivalent of several hundred Libraries of Congress worth of information back and forth every day. In 2005, the Associated Press reported that a submarine called the USS Jimmy Carter had been repurposed to carry crews of technicians to the bottom of the sea so they could tap fiber optic lines. The easiest place to get into the cables is at the regeneration points -- spots where their signals are amplified and pushed forward on their long, circuitous journeys." Continue reading →

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UK Information Commissioner Blasts License Plate Readers

"The UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) on Wednesday ordered a review of Hertfordshire Constabulary's use of the technology in Royston, the first town in England to adopt the technology. All six possible routes into and out of the town are covered by license plate cameras creating what police like to call a 'ring of steel.' The system keeps a log of the movements of all automobiles, something the commissioner found unnecessary. 'It is difficult to see why a small rural town such as Royston, requires cameras monitoring all traffic in and out of the town 24 hours a day,' ICO enforcement chief Stephen Eckersley said in a statement." Continue reading →

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TSA: Give Us Fingerprints, Web History and You Can Keep Your Shoes On

"In order to participate in the ‘PreCheck’ TSA program, you will need to allow them to reach down into the proverbial pants of your personal life as well. Under PreCheck, you are required to not only present your fingerprints to the TSA in person and pay a fee of $85, but the agency is also looking to gather all forms of your data as well — which reports state includes your web history and online data. With the help of a third party organization, the TSA seeks to ‘pre-screen’ (think pre-crime) individuals based on their activity in order to determine if they are worthy of bypassing the most minimal of security checkpoints." Continue reading →

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Federal report: E-Verify errors could wrongly exclude Americans from jobs

"Reports published by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) reveal that the so-called E-Verify programme, which allows employers to check whether new workers are properly documented, is so inaccurate that if replicated across the country it could wrongfully exclude more than 200,000 people from the workforce. With more than one in 10 employers using E-Verify to weed out applicants before making a job offer, the potential for abuse is greatly increased. It is possible for applicants to be turned away from a post without ever finding out that they have been wrongly flagged as unauthorised on the database." Continue reading →

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Ohio Lawsuit Seeks To Use Court Precedent To Shut Down Speed Cameras

"Earlier this month a Hamilton County, Ohio judge declared Elmwood Place in contempt of court for ignoring a ruling that found speed cameras to be an unlawful 'scam.' A group of lawyers is seeking to replicate that legal success by shutting down the automated ticketing machines in New Miami, a village of 2000 residents located twenty miles to the north, with a class action lawsuit filed on Friday, citing the March decision in the hope that a Butler County Court of Common Pleas judge would agree that the automated ticketing ordinance fails to provide adequate due process to vehicle owners that receive a ticket from Optotraffic demanding payment of up to $180." Continue reading →

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A Black Box for Car Crashes

"Fourteen states have passed laws that say that, even though the data belongs to the vehicle’s owner, law enforcement officials and those involved in civil litigation can gain access to the black boxes with a court order. In these states, lawyers may subpoena the data for criminal investigations and civil lawsuits, making the information accessible to third parties, including law enforcement or insurance companies that could cancel a driver’s policy or raise a driver’s premium. Privacy advocates have expressed concern that the data collected will only grow to include a wider time frame and other elements like GPS and location-based services." Continue reading →

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California City Retreats From Red Light Camera Referendum

"City leaders in Riverside, California are backing off the promise made last November to allow residents to make the call about whether to keep or eliminate red light cameras. The city council votes later today on a staff recommendation to pull the plug on the public vote. The city has already postponed the ballot measure that was to be considered in June." Continue reading →

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Criminals can’t escape the cameras

"Inventors are continuing to tap into the power of surveillance cameras, and capabilities that might have seemed like James Bond tricks are now reality, such as face-recognition software and license-plate readers. One such invention aims to 'see' potential crime before it happens. AISight is software that uses artificial intelligence to learn over time what normal behavior the camera records, so it can recognize when there is abnormal behavior. The system will send an alert to whoever is monitoring the cameras, such as a security guard, who can then decide how to react to the situation." Continue reading →

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Liberty Slipping: 10 Things You Could Do in 1975 That You Can’t Do Now

"1. You could buy an airline ticket and fly without ever showing an ID. 2. You could buy cough syrup without showing an ID. 3. You could buy and sell gold coins without showing an ID 4. You could buy a gun without showing an ID 5. You could pull as much cash out of your bank account without the bank filing a report with the government. 6. You could get a job without having to prove you were an American. 7. You could buy cigarettes without showing an ID 8. You could have a phone conversation without the government knowing who you called and who called you. 9. You could open a stock brokerage account without having to explain where the money came from." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingLiberty Slipping: 10 Things You Could Do in 1975 That You Can’t Do Now