Mass surveillance breeds self-censorship in democracies – report
End the Lie
[Jan 5, 2015]
Reuters / Jason Reed
A study published by a top US literary organization on Monday, found that an increasing number of writers in democratic countries are censoring themselves due to fears about government surveillance.
The study entitled “Global chilling: The impact of Mass Surveillance on International Writers” surveyed 772 writers in 50 countries and concluded that writers and journalists are self-censoring for fear of reprisal.
A similar report published in November 2013 found that writers were “worried about mass surveillance, and were engaged in multiple forms of self-censorship as a result.”
A full report from writers around the world will be issued in the spring of 2015. As writers are considered to be the “canaries in the coalmine” therefore they are likely to give an accurate picture of the impact of surveillance on privacy and freedom of expression.
Writers living in democratic countries were found to be nearly as concerned as those living in non-democratic states with long histories of mass surveillance.
It found that while 61 percent of writers living in the countries labeled as ‘Not Free’ by Freedom House avoided writing or speaking about a certain topic because of government surveillance this was now true of 34 percent of writers in ‘Free’ countries.
Privacy will not exist in 10 years, Pew survey of tech experts says
By End the Lie
[Dec 21, 2014]
(Image credit: Yuri Samoilov/Flickr)
A Pew Research Center survey of over 2,500 technology industry professionals and experts found that over half believe there will not be a “secure, popularly accepted and trusted privacy-rights infrastructure” in place in 10 years.
Read more: “US treating Sony hack as ‘serious national security matter,’ considering response” and “At least 185 kidnapped in Nigeria by suspected Boko Haram militants”
The “Future of Privacy” survey found that 55 percent of the 2,511 experts polled do not agree that there will be a system in place allowing people to decide how their information will be shared while also letting companies make money, according to Top Tech News.
This comes as some have claimed that privacy is dead and has been for quite a while. Others are claiming that the public should just accept the lack of privacy as the new norm.
One executive at a top-level domain name operator, who spoke anonymously, reflected that perspective.
“Big data equals big business,” the anonymous executive said to Pew. “Those special interests will continue to block any effective public policy work to ensure security, liberty and privacy online.”
While that may be the case for the United States, some European countries are taking a stand for online privacy and the rights of consumers to control how their personal information is used.
The Netherlands, for instance, recently threatened Google with massive fines if the tech giant does not change their privacy policy to comply with their consumer protection laws.
Another expert said that the very concept of privacy will evolve so much over the next decade that it will be all but unrecognizable compared to the meaning it has today.
“Society’s definitions of ‘privacy’ and ‘freedom’ will have changed so much by 2025 that today’s meanings will no longer apply,” Nick Arnett, a business intelligence expert, said.
The notion of ubiquitous surveillance also came up in the Pew research. Today’s technology has allowed for mass surveillance that was previously unimaginable and experts say this problem will only get worse.
“I do not think 10 years is long enough for policy makers to change the way they make policy to keep up with the rate of technological progress,” said John Wilbanks, chief commons officer for Sage Bionetworks. “We have never had ubiquitous surveillance before, much less a form of ubiquitous surveillance that emerges primarily from voluntary (if market-obscured) choices. Predicting how it shakes out is just fantasy.”
5 Inventions That Herald an ”Outernet” Revolution
by Activist Post
Nov 18, 2014
If there is anything good to be said about mass surveillance, overcharging and monopolization by telecom/ISP companies, and government censorship including cell phone and Internet shutdowns as they see fit, it is that these heavy-handed measures only create a stronger desire for freedom.
For many in the modern world, open access to the World Wide Web is being viewed as an essential human right – it is a gateway to knowledge, peer-to-peer communication, innovation and economic opportunity. Basically: Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. For the 5 billion people who still do not have access, it represents the universal dream of self-determination.
There are several devices in various stages of development that aim to rectify the gaps in knowledge and communication which keep large portions of humanity enslaved and threaten freedom for the rest of us if the restrictions mentioned above are permitted to flourish. It is clear that some, if not all, of what is mentioned below carry various hurdles and challenges that might be difficult to overcome if widespread adoption is a goal. However, the ideas are there to be expanded upon – and as we know: “There is one thing stronger than all the armies in the world, and that is an idea whose time has come.”
1. Lantern – Lantern has officially adopted the term Outernet for its mission of providing free data anywhere in the world. It’s the perfect antithesis to the expanding move to exert control over the IN-ternet. https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/lantern-one-device-free-data-from-space-forever
2. goTenna – This device enables off-grid communication between any goTenna-connected smartphones, but without the need for cell towers, Wi-Fi, or satellites. It’s like a walkie-talkie on steroids. http://www.gotenna.com/
3. Cryptocurrencies – Within an Outernet framework cryptocurrencies like bitcoin could become even more powerful. We can imagine one more layer put between their use and the regulators who continue to seek ways to eradicate this powerful peer-to-peer form of economic empowerment.
4. OpenBazaar – A peer-to-peer marketplace with no central server susceptible to shut down or seizure by authorities. By running a program on your computer, you can connect directly to other users in the OpenBazaar network and trade with them. No mandatory fees, and your trade is censorship-resistant. OpenBazaar uses Bitcoin cryptocurrency, and is an open source project, which means the code is publicly available, can be reviewed, and anyone can join the project and suggest changes. This system is in beta testing right now and is expected to be fully released in 2015. https://openbazaar.org/
5. Mesh Networks – Authoritarian governments around the world (including the U.S.) have considered implementing full communications shutdowns during protest. P2P chat apps like FireChat were used by Hong Kong democracy protesters to end-run a potential Internet shutdown and/or cell tower jamming. Similar local-range solutions could be instrumental during natural disasters as well, facilitating community organization, as well as search and rescue when traditional networks might be overloaded. Texting is the first useful app for mesh networks, but imagine combining it with goTenna and Lantern technology as well as P2P markets and the current way we access the Web may soon change altogether.
Do you know of other open-source technologies that are part of this ideological revolution? Please share with others in the comment section below.
MUST WATCH/LISTEN — Sage of Quay Radio – Elana Freeland – Chemtrails, Morgellons and Transhumanism (July 2014)
The Sage of Quay Radio Hour
Jul 16, 2014
Tonight my very special guest is Elana Freeland.
Over the years, Elana has been a Waldorf school pioneer, storyteller, lecturer, and writer. She has written for alternative publications all her adult life giving non-mainstream issues a voice. For the past two decades, she has ghostwritten several books on diverse topics and edited the stories of survivors of MK-ULTRA and ritual abuse. She is the author of her own Sub Rosa America series, a fictional history of the United States since John F. Kennedy’s assassination. In 1996, she was awarded a Master of Arts in Great Books from St. John’s College in Santa Fe, New Mexico, including honors for her thesis in historiography.
Her current book – Chemtrails, HAARP, and the Full Spectrum Dominance of Planet Earth, is creating quite a stir. Elana’s book examines how chemtrails and ionospheric heaters like the High-frequency Active Auroral Research Project (HAARP) in Alaska services a full-spectrum dominance. This “Revolution in Military Affairs” needs an atmospheric medium to assure wireless access to the bodies and brains of anyone on Earth—from heat-seeking missiles to a form of mind control.
She hopes to write another book on how HAARP, chemtrails, and the Smart Grid relate to neuroscience, remote mind control, and the Orwellian transhumanist future which is now beyond the planning stage.
Along with discussing Chemtrails during our discussion tonight, Elana goes into great detail regarding the science and findings behind Morgellons Disease, the work of Clifford Carnicom and the transhumanist objectives of the global elites.
To purchase Chemtrails, HAARP, and the Full Spectrum Dominance of Planet Earth at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Chemtrails-HAAR…
Elana’s facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Chemtr…
Carnicom Institute: http://www.carnicominstitute.org/
Sage of Quay Blog: http://sageofquay.blogspot.com/
This show will also air on The Sage of Quay Radio Hour on BlogTalkRadio. Please click the link below to see our upcoming shows and On-Demand episodes: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/sageofqu…
Don’t Replace Facebook, Disrupt It
November 11, 2014 (Tony Cartalucci – LocalOrg) – Facebook is a problem. It is undoubtedly being used by special interests to manipulate and monitor entire populations both within the United States and well beyond. It represents a tool that in no way serves the people actually using it, and instead allows special interests to use the users. It is a dream global panopticon for the abusive dictators that run Western society and presume dominion over what they call an “international order.”
But in order to counter this threat, Facebook cannot simply be “replaced.” It specifically, and what it represents, must be disrupted entirely.
Facebook is a Skinner Box for Humans
Facebook has been at the center of several recent controversies that are increasingly leaving users disillusioned and in search of alternatives. At the center of these controversies is Facebook’s “news feed” feature. Ideally, news feed would work by showing on your timeline updates from those individuals and organizations you follow. There are two options for news feed – “most recent” and “top stories.” Facebook has decided to upend this feature by insidiously controlling what appears on your news feed regardless of which option you select.
Now, you will no longer receive regular updates from accounts you follow, and instead will see a “filtered” version determined by Facebook’s algorithms. Many Facebook users are unaware of this fact and are perplexed as to why they are no longer receiving regular updates from accounts they follow.
Silicon Valley startup unveils Internet-connected smart guns for cops — video included
Canadian Awareness Network
Oct 30, 2014
Real-time data on location, and when weapons are being unholstered and fired.
by David Kravets – Oct 24 2014, 12:30pm EDT
A Silicon Valley startup said Friday that police agencies were field testing its new product: a wireless sensor that transforms officers’ weapons into smart guns with real-time telemetry.
Yardarm Technologies’ sensor is a small device that goes inside gun handles and provides dispatchers with real-time geo-location tracking information on the weapon. The Yardarm Sensor also sends alerts when a weapon is unholstered or fired, and it can “record the direction of aim, providing real-time tactical value for commanders and providing crime scene investigators valuable data for prosecution,” the company said.
The 10-employee company based in Capitola, California, said it was deploying the technology on a trial basis. The first takers have been the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Department in California and the Carrollton Police Department in Texas.
“By connecting the firearm to the cloud, we give departments a technology that enhances officer safety, improves operational efficiency, and builds community trust,” Jim Schaff, a Yardarm vice president, said.
The announcement comes as the public is seeking more accountability of officers following the August 9 shooting in Ferguson, Missouri, of unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown. The shooting has prompted widespread protests and left some demanding a technological solution.
In response, the Ferguson Police Department began equipping its officers with body cameras so that officers may record their daily patrols. Police departments elsewhere have also started using body cameras, and others are exploring the idea. A White House petition with 154,000-plus signatures is demanding that all police in the US “wear a camera.”
While it won’t capture the details of all of an officer’s interactions with the public, the Yardarm device may provide critical information. Santa Cruz County Sheriff Phil Wowak was highly optimistic that the sensors would bolster accountability. “A law enforcement leader’s ultimate responsibility is to keep their staff and the public safe at all times,” Wowak said. “Yardarm’s technology is a groundbreaking way to do just that, and every sheriff and police chief worldwide should be looking at this product for the future of their department.”
Yardarm is also marketing the technology to private security firms and the military. It hopes to capitalize not just on its hardware but on subscription fees from dispatcher software makers.
The sensors put into gun handles are connected via Bluetooth to a law enforcement official’s smartphone, which sends the data to Yardarm’s servers. The data is then routed to police departments in encrypted form, the company said.
The 18-month-old startup has raised about $1.5 million so far and has radically altered its business model. Initially, the company focused on the consumer firearms market, but it ran into controversy. It was hawking technology that would allow private gun owners the ability to remotely lock a weapon. If a weapon was moved—or stolen—an alarm would alert the owner’s mobile phone. The owner would have the option to remotely disable the weapon from being fired.
But gun rights advocates, like the National Rifle Association, say smart guns could limit Second Amendment rights. “NRA recognizes that the ‘smart guns’ issue clearly has the potential to mesh with the anti-gunner’s agenda, opening the door to a ban on all guns that do not possess the government-required technology,” the group said. Marketing to the police and military would avoid this potential controversy.
Listing image by Yardarm Technologies
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