Canada unveils new cyber monitoring rules
AFP
February 14, 2012
Canada’s government Tuesday introduced a bill to give law enforcement authorities sweeping powers to probe online communications, but the move sparked criticism about threats to privacy.
“New technologies provide new ways of committing crimes, making them more difficult to investigate,” Justice Minister Rob Nicholson told a press conference in unveiling the measure.
“This legislation will enable authorities to keep pace with rapidly changing technology.”
Opposition parties and civil liberties groups, however, said new police powers contained in the bill could result in unreasonable searches and seizures.
Secret GPS tracker terrifies Ontario man
Ontario Provincial Police unable to identify who planted device on truck
by Kathy Tomlinson
CBC News
February 21, 2012
An Ontario man says he’s angry and frightened after discovering someone hid a GPS tracking device under his vehicle, apparently to secretly monitor his movements.
“I was doing just a regular inspection on my truck and I found this black box under my truck … with flashing lights inside,” Ben Ferrill of Warsaw, Ont., told Go Public. “I didn’t know what it was. I didn’t know if it was a bomb. We were scared to death … It felt like a movie — unreal.”
After making the discovery last fall he reported it the next morning to the Ontario Provincial Police. Ferrill said the OPP tried to find out who the device belonged to to lay a mischief charge, but were stymied in their investigation.
“I feel powerless. I can’t do anything about it and I really wish the police did more. I really wish they would do more — and I’m upset,” Ferrill said.
Ferrill said he and his wife haven’t been able to sleep properly since, because they are worried someone is watching them.
FBI, DHS, Pentagon, & Federal Reserve using social media for spying, propaganda [video]
James Corbett
February 18, 2012
globalresearch.ca
RELATED ARTICLE
FEMA Solicits Firms to Monitor Media Coverage of Their Activities
————————————
[hat tip: Activist Post]
FEMA Looking to Track Nationwide News Coverage of their Activities Around the Clock
By Madison Ruppert
The Intel Hub
February 17, 2012
For some people, the Federal Emergency Management Agency is just that – an agency that manages emergencies, or at least tries to, and often screws it up.
To others, FEMA is an apt example of the disturbing blurring of the lines between local, state and federal law enforcement and even perhaps a danger to the American people with the moves to create operable detention centers on 72 hours’ notice through KBR.
Not to mention that FEMA is part of what I have no problem calling one of the most problematic government agencies, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Apparently FEMA is trying to help twist the public’s perception of them and their work, not by actually improving themselves but instead by monitoring media coverage in order to present a better face.
According to a solicitation posted on February 15, FEMA is looking to contract a media monitoring firm “To monitor the effectiveness of public affairs messaging, and respond to critical events, FEMA requires the ability to monitor and retrieve clips and transcripts from network and local television affiliates in a rapid manner upon demand 24/7 through an on-line distribution service.”
This monitoring, archiving and analysis would spread across all local news in all “major Nielsen markets,” along with all nationally broadcasted news and all cable news outlets for their coverage of FEMA and their activities.
The monitoring service will be tasked with giving FEMA “media statistics including the audience exposure and publicity value,” for any given news coverage.
“Publicity value” is not defined but one can assume that this is either a subjective determination of the impact of a news story or perhaps an objective determination based on how many outlets cover a given story/event, what the tone of the coverage is (positive or negative), how much time is given to the coverage, etc.
Currently, the FEMA office of external affairs monitors news coverage for their Joint Field Offices (JFOs) along with their headquarters’ broadcast operations.
The project seems to be considerably large, with the solicitation stating that it should be able to hold an unlimited number of digital clips, permanent archiving of said clips, unlimited keyword searches and editing capabilities. Given this capability, it is not a leap to wonder if it might be used to monitor and archive online video and independent news as well.
“The contractor shall provide at least 11 accessible accounts or individual passwords to access the service (with a potential surge capacity of 40 if needed during extremely high disaster activity),” reads the statement of work.
The time frame on this proposal is surprisingly small, with only two days (until February 17) for prospective small businesses to submit questions about the project and until February 23 to have their complete proposals completed and submitted.
This program is clearly not something with the short-term in mind, as FEMA is looking to make this single contract into an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity, or IDIQ, contract. This contract would have a one-year base period and three one-year options although it could be extended indefinitely beyond that.
Seeing as we have no money to spend to begin with, making these kinds of plans seems nothing short of foolish.
No price range is given, instead it is written that, “Price will be evaluated using price analysis to determine the extent to which it is reasonable, realistic, and consistent with the proposal.” Meaning we have absolutely no idea how much we will be paying for FEMA to monitor the news.
It seems quite clear to me that the real reason that FEMA is pursuing this project is to increase their ability to craft public statements and their approach to dealing with the public in an attempt to get the public to see the agency more favorably.
This could also be used to help them engineer better ways to announce disasters, direct the public and generally how to more aptly present themselves as to create the reaction they seek, be it positive or negative.
I don’t see any legitimate reason why this should be paid for when there are countless Americans living in the streets or out of cars, struggling to survive and even more who are struggling to get an education or a job.
Yet, if historical precedent is any indicator, I expect to see this contract fulfilled without a hitch and without comment from the mainstream media, as per usual.
Did I miss something? Want to tip me off to a story? Email me immediately at Admin@EndtheLie.com
This article originally appeared on End the Lie
DARPA Set to Drop Computer “F-Bombs” to Spy on Public
By Nicholas WestIt’s bad enough that drones have been welcomed by Congress into American skies, as well as already being used around the planet to conduct surveillance and bomb select countries from remote locations.
The latest proposed addition to the drone spy program is even creepier: disposable computers with software programs funded by DARPA to be dropped as self-destructing “bombs.”
Now, not only will drones surveil and hack from above, but they will drop a payload to interface with hidden computers on the ground, completely integrating a full-spectrum data transmission and control grid.
The name of the project, as well as its announcement at a hacker convention called ShmooCon, had this non-techie convinced that it had to be satire or a hoax, but the project has also been noted by Forbes and Wired, which only serves to illustrate how far off into our dystopian technocratic police state we have wandered. It seems that we are being acclimated to how funny and cool our futuristic spy toys have become. This fun has culminated in the planned dropping of F-BOMBS (Falling or Ballistically-launched Object that Makes Backdoors) to combat “Bad Men With Guns.”
The F-BOMB introduces the idea of disposable surveillance as a guard against forensic evaluation and the ability to track the source of the drop. Creator, Brendan O’Connor, has received DARPA funding to implement a software package into his nearly non-traceable surveillance hardware as cheaply as possible with easy-to-obtain components.
Back in August, another DIY project was introduced as the Wireless Aerial Surveillance Platform (since renamed Project Vespid). This modified military drone was put together from parts legally obtained on the Internet by two hackers (intelligence agency consultants, actually) Rich Perkins and Mike Tassey, who presented their work at a Black Hat conference. The release was supported by a breathless Wolf Blitzer who seized upon the announcement to illustrate the new threat of being hacked from above. Brendan O’Connor has reduced the DIY cost of similar capabilities to no more than a few hundred dollars with his F-BOMB project.
O’Connor summarizes the value and capabilities of his new Sacrificial Computing for Land and Sky concept in the video that follows, highlighting that his surveillance tool can be planted manually, or dropped from specialized drone aircraft:
Similar to the creators of the home-made WASP hacking drone, O’Connor states that he is merely exposing the vulnerabilities of networks and their users.
Despite its name, O’Connor says the F-BOMB is designed to be a platform for all sorts of applications on its Linux operating system. Outfit it with temperature or humidity sensors, for instance, and it can be used for meteorological research or other innocent data-collecting. But install some Wifi-cracking software or add a $15 GPS module, and it can snoop on data networks or track a target’s location, O’Connor adds. As is often the case with these kinds of hacker projects, he says the devices are only intended for penetration testing–finding security flaws in clients’ networks in order to fix them–and wouldn’t comment on what DARPA might do with the technology (Source)
However, this rings false (or profoundly naive), as O’Connor also has received his funding from the very organization that is at the forefront of using taxpayer money to eradicate privacy around the world, including that of American citizens. As a result, the government already can:
- Hack your personal information (source)
- Monitor your private phone calls (source)
- Read your private e-mails (source)
- Spoof cell phone towers (source)
- Break down firewalls (source)
- Jam cellular frequencies causing denial of service (source)
- Disrupt and manipulate Wi-Fi signals (source)
- Track your every move (source)
Although O’Connor said that he wouldn’t comment on what DARPA might do with the technology, his own business website Malice Afterthought indicates a solid working relationship with military intelligence:
Our principal, Brendan O’Connor, has taught at the US military’s cybersecurity school as well as working for both VeriSign and Sun Microsystems in their security divisions; he has also worked for DARPA and startups as a combination engineer, dreamer, and mad scientist capable of making even the most challenging tasks into reality.
We should all know by now that we don’t have to be technology experts to envision some rather dark applications that are no longer security challenges, but are part of an agenda to fundamentally alter our reality and perceived social contract within a supposedly free society. That reality has little to do with protecting citizens’ data and privacy, and everything to do with covering the tracks of government’s ubiquitous intrusion into our private lives, as well as ramping-up their violation of the Constitution by presuming guilt over innocence, and subjecting citizens to their mad science and mad dreams.
Additional sources:
http://singularityhub.com/2012/02/03/hold-dropping-the-f-bomb-a-disposable-spy-computer…
http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2012/01/f-bomb-shmoocon/
RELATED ACTIVIST POST ARTICLE:
How Close Are We to a Nano-based Surveillance State?
Please help us combat censorship: vote for this story on Reddit: http://www.reddit.com/r/conspiracy/comments/pn3wb/darpa_set_to_drop_computer_fbombs_to_spy_on_public/
Read other articles by Nicholas West here.
How Close Are We to a Nano-based Surveillance State? [video included]
click on image for source
By Michael Edwards
Activist Post
February 11, 2011
In the span of just three years, we have seen drone surveillance become openly operational on American soil.
In 2007, Texas reporters first filmed a predator drone test being conducted by the local police department in tandem with Homeland Security. And in 2009, it was revealed that an operation was underway to use predator drones inland over major cities, far from “border control” functions. This year it has been announced that not only will drone operations fly over the Mexican border, but the United States and Canada are partnering to cover 900 miles of the northern border as well.
Now that the precedent has been set to employ drones over non-combat areas, the military is further revealing the technology of miniaturization that they currently have at their disposal. As drone expert, P.W. Singer said, “At this point, it doesn’t really matter if you are against the technology, because it’s coming.” According to Singer, “The miniaturization of drones is where it really gets interesting. You can use these things anywhere, put them anyplace, and the target will never even know they’re being watched.”
So what exactly is on the horizon?
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) funds military tech development through the private sector with defense contractors such as Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and Honeywell. It was Honeywell that introduced the T-Hawk micro drone — now purchased by Miami-Dade county for use in the metro area — which weighs all of 16 pounds and can fly in any direction. However, this is not so “micro” compared to the latest spy drone to be revealed: the Nano Hummingbird, produced by AeroVironment. The video below illustrates the capabilities of this 19g vehicle:
This mimicking of nature heralds a range of science fiction nightmare scenarios, but the name of this vehicle, “nano”, is what should spark a red alert. Because, in fact, DARPA and their contractors are working on true nano surveillance that will have biological components . . . and applications.
Here are some surveillance and detection concepts already in operation, or under development (keeping in mind that what is revealed in the public domain is often quite far behind the reality):
- A group of smaller surveillance drones called NAV (nano air vehicles) or MAV (micro air vehicles) already have been commissioned: mapleseed drones; sparrow drones by 2015, dragonfly drones to fly in swarms by 2030, and eventually a housefly drone. And if the reconstruction of nature doesn’t pan out, nature itself can be hijacked using electrical impulses to create cyborg surveillance insects being studied at major universities.
- Nano sensors for use in agriculture that measure crops and environmental conditions.
- Bomb-sniffing plants using rewired DNA to detect explosives and biological agents.
- “Smart Dust” motes that wirelessly transmit data on temperature, light, and movement (this can also be used in currency to track cash).
- Nano-based RFID barcodes that can be embedded into any material for tracking of all products . . . and people.
- Devices to detect molecules, enzymes, proteins and genetic markers — opening up the door for race-specific bioweapons, as mentioned in the Project For a New American Century’s policy paper Rebuilding America’s Defenses.
There are countless ways that we are already tracked in our daily lives, which has acclimatized us to the next steps underway. We know that the military has a desire to track large groups of people in real time. The Gorgon Stare program is currently undergoing some operational difficulties, but the political will is there to continuously expand surveillance of large populations abroad in order to keep us safe at home in the never-ending War on Terror. Combine miniaturized surveillance capabilities with DARPA’s Mind’s Eye program of “smart camera” artificial intelligence that can “think” and make visual reporting decisions independently, and things become exponentially creepier.
The Speed of Nanotech Development
Nanotech has been receiving official federal funding for only the past 10 years when it was raised to the status of a federal initiative in 2001, which sparked massive investment in the private sector. By 2003, the newly opened Department of Homeland Security showed immediate interest in SensorNet, a program spearheaded by Oak Ridge National Laboratory and their strategic partners to research ways to fully integrate nano and micro sensors into one overall Internet-like matrix of real-time detection and surveillance. The Department of Defense allocated $3 million to the initiative for the first year, with a projected budget into the billions being allocated over the long term for “detection systems.”
Strategically mounted sensors and a communications network are the heart of SensorNet. (click on image for source)
By 2006, Oak Ridge announced that they planned to turn Fort Bragg military base into a prototype for America’s future cities. According to Department of Energy researcher, Bryan Gorman, “Any sensor can talk to any application. Just like with the Internet or with telephone systems, it doesn’t matter what kind of computer or telephone you have, where you are or what application you’re running. The system just works.” There is even a proprietary social network that has been designed to provide online access and collaboration.
SensorNet has since morphed into an even more comprehensive system “to integrate safety and security measures . . . into the transportation system,” which includes concerns surrounding transportation and commerce in the “political, economic, or environmental” arenas. It is here that the full scope of surveillance integration can be seen as a management strategy that merges legislation, federal inspection systems, international standards, security threat assessments, and the latest in nanotechnology. Just one example is their discussion of “highway sorting” systems and screening, which begins on page 15 in the previous link; it must be read to be believed. As an aside: the Senior Research Scientist and Senior Program Manager who co-authored the paper linked above is Robert K. Abercrombie, Ph.D. who has a decided interest in cybersecurity. To see where the transportation component of the surveillance grid is heading over the near term, the ITS Strategic Research Plan 2010-2014 is a good indication.
The Promise of Total Integration
February 4, 2011 brought the release of the National Nanotechnology Initiative 2011 Strategic Plan. This 60-page must-read document lays out a projected future “to understand and control matter” for the management of every facet of human life within the surveillance matrix of environment, health and safety. Here is the short-list of the 25 participating Federal agencies and samples of their stated applications:
- Department of Defense (persistent surveillance)
- Intelligence Community (unmanned aircraft)
- Department of Energy (solving energy and climate change challenges)
- Department of Homeland Security (low-cost sensor platforms)
- Department of Justice (applicable to criminal justice needs)
- Department of Transportation (modifying or coordinating travel behavior)
- Environmental Protection Agency (environmental sensing, transformational capabilities)
- Food and Drug Administration (biological systems and effects on human health)
- National Institute of Food and Agriculture (global food security)
- National Institutes of Health (precise control to achieve predictable outcomes)
- Department of the Treasury (improved governance, implementing economic sanctions)
- National Science Foundation (education and societal dimensions)
The promise of integrating technology in a way that will benefit human knowledge and society already has been re-directed toward military applications for decades. It has manifested in the out-of-control military-industrial complex that has engaged America abroad in costly wars and destabilization campaigns. However, the fallout from this misappropriation of technology is beginning to take its toll on America in the form of militarized police and the monitoring of everyday Americans.
How much longer before the full spectrum of military sci-tech, including what we cannot even see, is unleashed upon an American people willing to accept total control to be safe? Has it happened already? Or, more importantly, how long before Americans come to the realization that when the construction of this surveillance prison has been completed — when the door is locked, and the key thrown away — it ultimately will have been our own money that was used to build it.
Additional sources for this article:
Little Brother is Watching You: The future of surveillance is small, very small
On Race-Targetable Biological Weaponry
It’s a Bird, It’s a Spy, It’s Both
The plan for smaller, faster, deadlier UAVs
RELATED ARTICLES:
DNA “Genetic Patdown” Introduced to Airports by DHS
Is Military Spending Saving or Enslaving?
Police and Military Working Together to Oppress Americans
The Front – Episode 181: Front Lines in the War on Humanity [audio]
The Front
February 2, 2012
Tonight on The Front: New World Order News – Pre-crime technology, what’s your defense if accused? Also, the outrageous things school kids have been arrested for leads to the question. Why are children being arrested in the first place? Health News – With everything from moving your legs at night to caring about the quality of food you fuel your body with being claimed as a “disorder,” being sad is now a disorder. Don’t worry, I’m sure there’s a pill for that. Also, planking, we’ll talk about why it’s so effective for core strength and overall health. Big Brother News – ACTA, the Anti Counterfeiting Trade Agreement. Survival/Prep News – Selco talks SHTF gunfights and we look at advice from Egypt during the western backed destabilization effort last spring. Divide and Conquer News – Anonymous outs Ron Paul as a racist, this should send the truth movement into a tizzy lol.
Warning: Show content may change without notice
PN 