"Sixty years after the end of World War II, IBM is still battling lawsuits from plaintiffs who accuse the company of providing the 'enabling technologies' that facilitated the holocaust. Sixty years from now will Microsoft, Cisco and Yahoo be doing the same?" [-Let A Thousand Filters Bloom, Anne Applebaum 7/2005 Washington Post syndicated]

* ...net II...encryption...cyberwars...Iridium/globalstar...e-gov?...CDA II...wired cops... wireless...*
[TOP] Insecurity Sucking It All In CALEA, Google CHINA, VPN, Real ID, Data Recovery CD destroyer OTHER NETS Internet II Google Tango ECHELON Carnivore Watchers Links Remember the 'Net' IPTF CCIP NCIC [ Scroll] FIDNET holes More things that make you go hmmm.. Border Patrol? The End of Privacy Profiling Software, CAPPS II Big Brother 20 years "late" Smile NY! Ring of Steel, Congestion pricing AMTRAK Super Bowl 2001 Mobiltrak Nanotech Gov't Net Links Copyright and DRM Telecom Act of 96 Michael Powell-FCC Higher costs CDA CDA II ..for the children COPPA V-chip CIA Internet Conspiracy Claims NSI SAIC [BOTTOM] We must all be concerned about identity theft, privacy rights, abuse of information collection and sharing and surveillance, abuse of nano-tech and robotics [...link to article in WIRED by Bill Joy-"Why the Future Doesn't Need Us] above. Other tech that could come back to bite us could be 'remote control' or smart drones of all types designed for war, and mini-smart weapons that can be dropped and seeded, or carried around by soldiers like so many walkmen then dropped off to monitor a zone and go off if a target is sensed might be turned into weapons of terror -against US, as many US & western weapons liberally applied over THERE find their way back to haunt US. Some 200 or so alzheimers patients are due to be "chiped" approx. fall 2007 with FDA-approved [Oct 13 2004] implantable [sub dermal] RFID chips by VeriChip in the advancing the companys "VeriMed Patient Identification System." [-see antichips.com] So who knows, we may be chipped and scanned instead of carded by the time they probably mandate it. A proposal for a Verified Identity Card for entry into the US if implemented that would be a test run for an smart id card if it can provide verified and secured ID for non-watchlisted, non felon etc frequent air travelers to bypass searches. If the proposed system is cracked and provide cover for terrorists, well we're f____ again by tech. Watch lists? .. why was I taken out of line at JFK NOV 2002 before I traveled AA to London. They pulled me for a "random check, but worse, in London I was stopped while walking around before I even got near the counter - but I'm a "nice Jewish boy" from NY!] A couple of the 9-11 hijackers were on a CIA watch list WERE ALLOWED TO BOARD!	InSecurity 9-11 did change everything. It accelerated dangerous trends, from cyber attacks to the erosion of civil liberties to the sellout of the citizens of the US to a globalist agenda. The US went all out post 9-11 to illegally spy on Americans giving agencies that were restricted to umm foreign spying freer hand on operating internally. The President used whatever Executive privileges and powers to circumvent the Bill of Rights. His powers of Commander in Chief overrode that. It could be OK if it just so simple but some of his buds are helping fuel, feed and finance terrorists; with gentlemen's agreements of today. And intel of THAT is not gonna make the news no matter what advanced surveillance, data gathering and mining, and comms tools there are, for example, that showed what REALLY happened to IRAQi WMD. Those stereotyped on the "left" and right coasts as disaffected / redneck/ 'militia' / Christian religious right were continually demonised by the Clinton admin. and *were* killed by at WACO and RUBY Ridge fueled fears he would seize all power by at least the feared possible Y2K disaster. GWBush claiming righteousness unleashed the Patriot Act[s] our 'respresentatives' rubber stamped it and enabled a National Security apparatus was empowered to extra-constitutionally trample our freedoms was delivered unto the hands of neoMarxist Obama admin. who have renewed the calls to beware of gun-nut right wing militia [see MORE ] people highlighted by early 2009 Missouri[!] warnings to State Police to look for Ron Paul bumper stickers and such - with actual goals to gut the second amendment - and more of the Bill of Rights! By 2007-08 it was of little consequence there was some Congressional stonewalling or giving the Administration a hard time on extending, or nullifying various surveillance and security Acts. The state security apparatus does what its wants to, secrecy and cover stories adjusted. See further below on latest public act passed on foreign-US comms monitoring. Court[s] affirmed no protection of US citizens abroad from monitoring. Fuss about FISA was just a public smokescreen that stong limitations remain on spying on US citizens. In all the fuss and challenges over US internal telecoms spying, after being outed between 2005 - 2006, the Administration announced it would comply with FISA, but could stonewall civil rights [ACLU vs. NSA] suits by invoking "state secrets privilege". No one can obtain any info /evidence they were wiretapped so FEB 2008 the Supreme Court turned down the case. Also early 2008, NYC Mayor sought to implement DNA sampling data to kept by state [forever] of EVERYONE arrested. [NAT HENTOFF VilVoice Feb 13-19 2008 "The Long Swab of the Law"]- "Bloomberg's contribution to the obsolescence of personal privacy is in ominous harmony with National Intelligence Director Michael McConell's desire -as reported in WIRED magazine- to "give "the U.S. government..unfettered and warrantless access to U.S. citizens' Google search history, private e-mails and file transfers in order to spot the cyberterrorists in our midst." The mayor has also seen to it to install slowly introduce over the last few years "City Time" hand configuration readers to replace cards, time sheets and such in name of eliminating paperwork - but is paying defence contractor SCI-Science Applications International $350,000,000 for it! Caught between terrorists and the government! Caught in terrorist governments! We could say the net is a means of enslavement! This is the FIRST time I can see this! Can you? I wish we COULD shut it all down and be able to live without it..LOG OUT. Sucking It All In A digital chain is descending round the whole world. Cut to the chase, almost overlooked in this time of the Obama rapture and US of Goldman Sachs economic coup are devious new late 2008 FBI- Dept of Justice "guidelines for Domestic Operations" warrantlessly pursue any threats in US any surveillance, pretextural interviews or investigations deemed necessary, including covert implanting of tracking devices. After 3+ years of court, Congressional and media battles what does the "compromise bill" moved mid 2008 from Senate to House and was sent to Pres. Bush JULY 10 2008 mean? The FISA Amendments Act under GDO and likely secret Executive order[s] mean anything goes, if they want to, if it can be kept quiet enough. The public bill will [compromise to some degree our civil liberties and will be challenged in court] allow unfettered monitoring of comms if ONE party is overseas and will also remove lawsuit threats from the telecoms companies. All our call records were probably saved up and the "govt" listened to whatever they wanted if they felt it was important enough, likely some of us will have our circle of family and friends analysed, and for many innocent people there is a good chance all their calls and internet habits will be completely recorded. Going back, internal spying/ wiretapping was permitted under 1994 [CLINTON, RENO -that fun ol bunch] CALEA [Communications for Law Enforcement Act] required court orders "in many cases" but then again the PATRIOT ACT "circumvents many of those restrictions." The FBI had already sought expansion of CALEA. Publicly 2004 "FBI Seeks Net Wiretapping Rights" FBI + DEA submitted to FCC March 2004 a proposal "that would require broadband service providers to introduce architecture in their networks for enabling law enforcement to eavesdrop...Its language implies that back doors should be integrated into both existing and new systems."[-S. Rupley, PC Mag. 5-4-04] Upgraded packet data comms system feature or will have switch control software with surveillance capability mandated built-in to meet fed rules. VoIP [internet telephone] systems providers Aug 4 2004 were explicitly directed in a preliminary decision by the FCC to make their systems tapable, the tech was said to be basically packet sniffing which can muck up the flow and intercept others data. For ALL internet logging, the Feds [June 2006] are directing ISPs to keep them for 2 years. Headlines that Records of "ALL" US INTERNAL phone calls since 9-11 were provided by ATT to NSA -[Bell South and Verizon both denied the Times article statement that they were involved]-to data mining analysis investigation of terrorist links. It was confirmed by officials. QWEST reportedly refused the request. It was a bombshell in 2005 when first word came out that NSA hooked up data splitters and 'siphoning' software at ATT etc. Even as Congress pushed back and tried to require the Administration to go back to using FISA intel "court" to OK such types of surveillance, govt said OK we'll obey the law on "this" program" leaving all others going on, secretly. But May 11 2006 BUSH lied and issued a statement with all the usual false disclaimers [was phone numbers involved, not conversations may be true in some cases, but read further ahead...] and legally DESPITE anything in the Bill of Rights they say we have no right to privacy in what phone numbers we dial. Attorney General Gonzalez said under testimony before the House Judiciary Committee [4-7-06] the President can decide who he can distribute classified information to and implied they can authorise NSA to conduct domestic warrantless "wiretaps" between of US citizens for any reason! There may be back doors in, say, MS Server products etc. there are rumbling over why Dept of Homeland Security among other US Agencies made curious deals to depend on notoriously insecure Microsoft product. A super-National database cheerily supplied by Oracle, if approved and accepted may very well be able as Larry Ellison wishes, to be able to keep track of "*everything*" and we all will be profiled constantly, opposed to basing keeping the relative few real serious enemies at bay based on FACTS. Late AUG 2007, these same media for hardly made a peep as more details of this or a co-system was revealed as DCSNet [Digital Collection System Network] through documents obtained by EFF summer 2007 through the FOIA! The sued telecoms in 2006 - ATT, Sprint-Nextel, Verizon in a class-action suit that they partner with NSA in secret agreements that allow them to provide direct access without warrants on US civilians calls and data- and we do not really KNOW that it is limited even to contacts to overseas which has became more difficult to snatch as they moved from unencoded open satellites to fibre optic cables. Through the DCSNet program, FBI is connected to 350+ carrier central "mediation switches" to a part of or VPN on the net. Wired online said starting from 20 central monitoring end points in 2002 they increased in 2005 to 57 hooking in "more than 350 switches." The surveillance is done in 3 levels of security, from just recording the fact a communication is made with the "number" time etc. and later using "link analysis" on bunches of them, to full blown interception of complete calls and data, and its most classified surveillance level for terrorists where they can do real-time location tracking! Google Tango GOOGLE TANGOs with CHINA and provides FILTERED [censored] search results, blogs, and "G-mail" to its Chinese users! Worse, they have voluntary[?] arrangement with the U.S. Govt to be helpful, much they are linked we do not know, but a semi-benevolent example is [story NOV 2008] monitoring flu-searches as an "early warning" system of spread of the *REGULAR* flu - no H1N1 was in sight at that time! Oh, and they would not searchers name. Oh, sure. They can use the same means to track the spread of ideas - or push un-PC info waaay down into obscurity - for the GOVT! Google DID it already [and so did YAHOO and MS Bing at the SAME time], in this new Obama-nation, July 2009 for a couple of days at least before being called-out for it and backtracking, Google partially censored search results for political reasons. They pushed WorldNet Daily down toward the bottom of search results as a punishment for numerous investigative stories of Obama+birth certifcate and such, to leave the top only for major media [as CNN and all the usual suspects] who had just ramped up a campaign to demoise "birthers". Myanmar [under some sanction] may be the most restrictive with massive blocking of web sites plus only govt tied email service may be used, implemented in 2005 a proprietary Fortiguard filtering software from Fortinet of CA [-NYTimes 10-12-2005] says they are not selling illegally since a reseller is involved! Whatever the rules or debate on constitutionality, the government can intercept whatever they want. Do NOT blame BUSH for it all. We should NOT believe State and Federal internet intervention will not spread to throttling of what would be constitutionally protected speech in print or face to face. The new gen of DEMS in NY are in your PC already- GOVT overall control of the net is HERE. A new "fairness doctrine" by any name is suspected of coming up under the OBAMA admin and his new FCC Commissioners mid2009..left wing commmunity standards / committees could extend control of poltical speech from curent major target [right of center] talk radio then on to the internet! Having nationwide impact from local govt intimidation. NY State Atty Gen did his part to wreck some of it in his internet anti-Child porn crusade framed on stopping "child porn web sites" so since it is not possible to shut the WEB he can almost shut USENET by all major internet providers cutting off access. CUOMO said he did not seek to force removal of 1st amendment protected content from the net - hIs THREATS did! HA! The investigators CAN and HAVE to download and view child porn with no penalty.. But kiddie porn was only on "88" newsgroups out of more than at least 12,000+. The net providers caved to cut off all access instead of cutting out offending groups and filtering others. These major providers did not discuss or refer to the actions behind it to their CUSTOMERS! Still, USENET is available by private server subscription. Cuomo grandstanded. The ONLY real way to 100% stop ALL illegal pics etc. on the net is SHUT down or strictly censor/control the whole internet [...think CHINA, Saudi, Singapore, etc.]! Under threat of criminal prosecution, CUOMO JUNE 23 2008 got TimeWarner Roadrunner to KILL all USENET access; by the time an "agreement" with Cablevision was announced AUG 5 2008 it was all done. TimeWarner Roadrunner announced to customers ON the day they censored it all, that service was stopped for "low usage" -however it also saved TimewWarner Roadrunner the price of paying for the service [the had already stopped running their own news servers]. ATT[.net] retreated to carrying top 8 non-"alt" hierarchies, AOL signed on to unspecified "code of conduct" settlement, and I am not sure what Sprint and Verizon cut. CUOMO further induced [announced July 29 2008] to limit access to child porn with Net Zero, Juno and Bluelight Internet[threatened] and COMCAST to settle even though Comcast already signed onto a similar/less strict agreement amongst 48 [OTHER] US State's Attorney-s Gen. the industry and Center for Missing and Exploited Children, BUT CUOMO said *that* deal targets web sites and is weak on newsgroups. Other big-brother rules such as Sect 215 of USA Patriot Act making libraries and bookclubs informants on their readers' choices. What are the downsides to these utopian security dreams, greased by hordes of the dot-com ers? They accept and enable reshaping society with profiling everyone one step from being an active suspect. The new REAL ID driver's license requirements are being resisted in some states on the way to probable full adoption a couple of so years later than demanded by the FEDS. This could be turned into a de facto national ID card and other security and medical[!] ID initiatives could finally put the BIG in Big Brother for real. It came from the National Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Act passed before Congress' 2004-05 holiday recess requiring all driver's licenses to be standardized to include machine-readable, encoded data by the end of 2006. Police/ feds secret plantings of GPS on undersides etc. of vehicles probably is infrequent, but widepsread. Once case got public over man arrested for transporting pot in 2003, 2004 got flagged for ICE database. ON crossing from CANADA [into NYS] AUG 21 2006 while questioning a GPS was planted and he was tracked to a destination other than what he told ICE/Customs and arrested before crossing back into CAN. A failed challenge [with 1 dissent] to another arrest by planted GPS by NYState Police 2005/06 [People v. Weaver] for 65 days ON to burglary suspect Scott Weaver's van. Unreasonable seach and seizure or do the "motorists" have less privacy rights? The courts equate GPS data with constitutional personal, direct Police observation because it is on the EXTERIOR of the vehicle! The law in Washington State and Oregon declare such warrentless tracking a violation of search and seizure provisons. [-see NY Law Journal 3-24-2009]. Great, so are you ready for IMPALANTED [see BELOW], secretly or not, GPS? ON STAR can disable your vehicle - deflate tires and turn off the engine - will govt get the power to do this, will Homeland Security? Privacy is now an archaic concept. A small but significant percentage of us judged guilty with a wrong keystroke or misidentification. Ones identity might be linked to a real criminal [for example] by law enforcement entering a wrong Social Security no.-yours- on an arrest record etc. and distributed through various networks including credit bureaus. - There were 20,000 Social Security Dept mistakes out of 2 million [2% error rate!] listing as DEAD the wrong Social Security number-in Y2000. They have stopped compiling the statistic now, really f__ up some people. In *1998* G. Tenet - still CIA Director, testified before Senate Committee for Gov't Affairs that there had been only one instance of a state-sponsored cyber-attack on a US Government system, but as noted in Federal Computer Week Jun 29 1998 he also said, "..the threat from organized attacks is real because Iran, Iraq and Libya have enhanced their computer capabilities...[F]oreign nations have begun to include information warfare in their war college curricula with respect to both defensive and offensive applications." Among the most notorious hack attacks - but not necessarily the most dangerous to the US - on the net were just in Feb. 2000 with a massive distributed denial of service attack against big commercial sites of Yahoo, eBay, Amazon etc. The FBI Director said in a Senate panel hearing afterwards that there were 1,154 attacks of various kinds in 1999, a tripling from the year before. But then came a warning with "Melissa" and "I Love You" the damage was so widespread and fast - something written to be more damaging sent instead could have been such a disaster. The US Attorney general announced funding to hire 59 new assistant and 9 US Attorneys to prosecute computer and child pornography crimes, and money to train state and local law enforcement officials, and money to hire "100 new F.B.I. computer analysis and response team members." [NY Times Business 2-17-2000] The Federal Government communications needs are served through various networks that do include the general internet - both non-secure, and classified info. travels the 'pipes' that some of our regular internet traffic does. The classified data is encrypted and managed through Virtual Private Networks. The classified Defense Dept. etc. web sites are or will be behind firewalls. Unclassified info that available to the public started to be severely limited in the late 90s in military sites and now on many gov't sites of all kinds after 9-11. Data recovery utilities find 'deleted' [dirty pictures, email] files in more difficult to access hard disk areas such as in swap files and to determine "frequency and identity of Internet Web browsing and e-mail activity" [such as IPFILTER for law enforcement agencies] from New Technology, Inc. are powerful tools, "After all DOS and Windows were never intended to be secure." from Government Technology Dec. 1997 "Utility Aids Investigators in Swap-File Search Exotic tools are available to safeguard data, or destroy classified data on various media. An interesting one was a $10,000 CD destroyer. Some home shredders can cut them up, but specialised units for industry or government use scrapes data layer and finely grinds its up, some manually operable if the power is cut. Whatever technology the government has is a couple of steps ahead of what everyone else can get, whether encryption, powerful chips, miniaturized devices etc. The CIA in 2000 openly set up a venture cap. co. *Q-Tel*, which was noted as investing in information protection tech., among others, as producers of commercial products. Ah, companies lining up to buy high tech software and hardware with a CIA seal of approval!? OTHER 'NETS... ...are out there now. 'INTERNET II'- Some 34 Universities [to start] were connected to the Very-High Performance Backbone Network Service replacing 1985 NSFnet connecting the five National Supercomputing Centers. It also is sponsored by NSF, and built by MCI. More bandwidth will be there for the scientists and researchers. Of course this ol' internet isn't good enough for the Pentagon, either. Beside the system(s) for sending unclassified e-mail, there's a Secret Internet Protocol Router Network, and a worldwide Defense Information Systems Network (DISN). An article in Federal Computer Week described the advanced systems deployed to hook up the troops in Bosnia. They got em' wired (!), and will leave a network infrastructure in place. Yes, BIG business has been waiting for the chance to rebuild $$$ASAP--- remember the group that went down with Ron Brown? (with the plane) Watch your 'fonts', too.... But all this shit did not let U.S. stop 9-11. -> Echelon may be the name of a very secret network headed by the US NSA, operating in the US and the Commonwealth countries from Britain to Australia from cold-war days. Still denied, still said that US Agencies do not conduct industrial espionage. International communications are monitored and info. is passed by our allies to NSA. It is probably collected and analyzed after a narrowing down to promising targets, in bulk by keyword filtering and then data-mining. [Exotic tech. in the past, it predates public search engines]. Telecoms agencies/companies in the UK etc. (US, too, right?) continue to cooperate in making communications traffic available. This method has been discussed in public before, but not in the framework of an ongoing, highly sensitive network. A Village Voice article Aug. 19 1998 "listening in" was the first time this system was mentioned by name in any mainstream press. It voiced concerns over use of the power to target civilian communications of un-politically correct views, or for economic or political manipulation in high stakes international affairs. There was a brou ha ha is over the Bush order to bug without warrants on US citizens who may or may not be communicating with terrorists overseas, MAY or may not be constitutional is bypassing the special FISA expedited warrant procedure. Pelois/Reid/'bama, Congress wants to gut related provisons of the Patriot Act which expires in 2010. In 'late APR 2003, comms at a 1995 "EU" HQ bldg. in Brussels, in delegates offices of Britain, Spain, Germany and Austria were found to be bugged for some time, news broken by Le Figaro, press reports even in the NYTimes [3-20-03] take a subtle view that US was a high on suspect list, of course press would do that in any case. New official acts passed quickly at Justice Depts urging by the Congressional leadership, with nearly no review or debate, all US domestic communication is wide open to interceptions if thought to be necessary in the anti-terrorism efforts. Past charges of using the network to further US industrial interests had surfaced and been denied in Feb. 2000, also in newspapers late Feb. were charges of eavesdropping on public figures and advocacy groups, from Greenpeace and Amnesty International, to the late Princess Di. The FBI CARNIVORE [now DCS-1000] system for collecting US e-mail similarly became public in Spring 2000, with few details. I GUESS equipment attached directly to an ISP's network will copy packets and transmit them over a VPN to new security stations enabling FBI access to all e-mail traffic flowing across an ISP's network, according to the ACLU. Documentation is supposed to be forthcoming, according to the Justice Dep't, starting around the end of September. FBI Assistant Director Donald Kerr said before a House of Representatives Judiciary subcommittee hearing, "It selects messages based on criteria expressly set out in the court order, for example messages transmitted to or from a particular account or to or from a particular user." US concerned over rival planned GPS system, 'Galileo' planned by international consortium because it won't be able to control it. Yes, maybe terrorists can find a use for it to target US. Watchers Internic Directory of Directories ActionHome-EFF UK - NCIS Interception of Communications [UK] New Technology Inc. why show ID? SpaceImage DEF CON org of 'hackers and crackers' ACLU's Echelon watch Critical Infrastructure Protection Global Lawful Intercept Ind. Forum OpenAirWaves media watch Privacy Activism TerraServer http://newsbusters.org/blogs/seton-motley/2009/08/06/new-fcc-chief-diversity-officer-co-wrote-liberal-groups -structural-imb New FCC 'Chief Diversity Officer' Co-Wrote Liberal Group's 'Structural Imbalance of Political Talk Radio' "Mark Lloyd...'communications attorney' ..was at one time a Senior Fellow at the uber-liberal Center for American Progress (CAP), for whom he co-wrote a June 2007 report entitled "The Structural Imbalance of Political Talk Radio."..Which rails against the fact that the American people overwhelmingly prefer to listen to conservative (and Christian) talk radio rather than the liberal alternative, and suggests ways the federal government can remedy this free-market created "problem." - Will force 'diversify' the media! -> if thy do not not change, commercial stations will be fined the equivalent of their entire profits which mostly will be transferred to Public Boradcasting! Who needs to shut down station [last resort] when FEDs can put them out of business! ===== http://www.pcworld.com/article/159967/proposed_law_might_make_wifi_users_help_cops.html PC World »Tech Industry Proposed Law Might Make Wi-Fi Users Help Cops Stephen Lawson, IDG News Service Feb 20, 2009 8:30 pm "U.S. Senator John Cornyn and Representative Lamar Smith, both Republicans from Texas, held a press conference Thursday to announce separate bills in the Senate and House of Representatives, both called the Internet Safety Act. Along with sections stipulating stiffer penalties for activities related to accessing child pornography on the Internet, the law would require Internet and e-mail service providers to retain "all records or other information" about anyone using a network address temporarily assigned by the service. The provision about retention would apply to any provider of "an electronic communication service or remote computing service," as well as someone who receives the content and recipient list of e-mail messages that it "transmits, receives, or stores," according to the text of the Senate bill." ---- NOT online, but Govt? censorship?- YOUR Bill Clinton as repped by his lawyers, threatened a NYC restaurant owner, Nino Selimaj, order to take down a pic of Selimaj taken with Chelsea Clinton there saying she was "a private citizen" did not give permission. This is a small, but chilling abuse of power... ->D. Kasison, "Snap Judgement" NYPost 9-27-2007. SPRING 2006 Who are the absolute dickheads [paid-off bureaucrats?] who want to put a hard-to-spot just sign here along with all the other places you sing on TAX returns that gives your consent to selling your return to a THIRD party who could do whatever with it?? name, soc security no, income etc. FINE, F-U IRS! CONGRESS STOP IT! ->"Customer" consent regulations were last updated in 1974. http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24568137-2862,00.html AUSTRALIA new CHINA-is net censorshop-see further below. New York Times rated among WORST places for on the job SPYING against employees from WIRED Magazine SEPT 2003. Also WalMart was "notorious." NYPost 9-8-2003 1st Announced by Press Release from Buildings Commissioner AUG 28 2009: "Using a web-based system, inspection unit heads will be able to monitor the real-time movements of their inspectors from a computer at their work station or any other computer. For security purposes, inspection unit heads each will receive a confidential log-in name and password to access the tracking system and monitor the locations of their inspectors. The daily routes of inspectors generated from the new tracking system will be electronically recorded and stored in a Department database." ----and from DOB web news September 3 2009: "The Department is now using global-positioning system (GPS) technology to track the locations of the Department's 379 inspectors during their daily inspection routes. With GPS installed in the inspectors' Department-issued cell phones, this tracking system will better ensure the integrity of inspections, while helping unit heads dispatch resources more efficiently and provide employees with greater security during the course of their duties. By the end of September, the routes of all construction inspectors, as well as inspectors from the Boilers, Cranes and Derricks, Electrical, Elevators and Plumbing units, will be electronically monitored." RADIO GA GA-->MAY 22 2006 'There's a lot of publicity about our hip hip deejay threatening a little girl with sexual violence .. So can we increase our ad rates?' imagined converation at Clear Channel radio over actual radio incident. ->PETE FORNATALE [NYC 40 year radio dj veteran] said "Radio filth starts in coprporate suites" "Rampant deregulation has created this mess.." "Unregulated, uncontrolled radio makes so much doing its worst that it simply can't afford to do its best. Since 1986, an orgy of consolidation has helped fuel a 34% decline in the number of owners, a 90% rise in the cost of advertising rates and - not conincidentally - a rise in the number of indecent broadcasts." --> Yeah also FM radio ditched real djs and tunred to faceless automated ones like "Jack", limited the number of songs and formats, NYC does NOT have a country jazz or NO oldies station. There STILL WAS [is?] PAYOLA. ON NYC AM the same owners controlling "rival" news and all-sports stations, [the smae baseball game may be on two of them at same time, *individual* commercial are LONGER than many of the news stories. "Broadly speaking, Democrats want to protect you from the physical threats posed by habits such as smoking, overeating and crossing the street while listening to an iPod. Republicans are more interested from protecting you from the moral threats posed by temptation such as drugs, gambling and pornography. Between them, they've go you covered body and soul." ->Jacob Sallum They're ALL ANTI-Choice" NYPost 2-28-2007 ........................................... ->May 5 2006 Chancellor Klein of DEPT of Education overrode a judge of Office of Administrative trials who found him guilty only of insubordination over the internet issue, not having violated other Dept regulations. But Klein terminated Choudri. The Mayor was pissed that Choudri visited "about 300 Web sites over two days." Its time to start counting how many websites managers and Mayoral appointeees visit!!! APR 2006 NYC employees have the right to use the web during workday if they listen to an administrative judge Spooner over case if Toquir Choudhri was reprimanded at Dept of Education. But he was a major goof-off pushing the issue in lateness, sick leave and bending other rules and office etiquette anyway, which helped bring the internet use to the supervisors attention. the Mayor can have the schools Chancellor accept or reject the finding. NYPOST 4-23-06 says these are the policies- NO NET or personal phones->911 operators Personal use during breaks only->Dept of Education Use allowed if not interferering with work-Parks, Dept of Design and Construction. NO net use- Dept Env. Protection, Dept of Sanitation, Dept of Transportation Citywide Admin Services. In my city office -Some have access, some don't. Policy is unclear. Mayor's office - yes allowed! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ->JUNE 2008 Balarus cracks down - internal web sites have to be registered [is this all including personal??} anyway, press is being strongly leashed... ->APR 8 2006->Rolling Stones first concert in CHINA. Shanghai...5 songs banned - including "Brown Sugar, Beast of Burdent and 3 others. 4 of these were left off the China 2003 Stones Greateset Hits CD. ===================== "Robert Moran monitors an electric grid in Dallas. Such infrastructure grids across the country are vulnerable to cyberattacks. WASHINGTON -- Cyberspies have penetrated the U.S. electrical grid and left behind software programs that could be used to disrupt the system, according to current and former national-security officials. The spies came from China, Russia and other countries, these officials said, and were believed to be on a mission to navigate the U.S. electrical system and its controls. The intruders haven't sought to damage the power grid or other key infrastructure, but officials warned they could try during a crisis or war." .......http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123914805204099085.html TECHNOLOGY APRIL 8, 2009 Electricity Grid in U.S. Penetrated By Spies ======================= [note June 2005-new regs in CHINA take effect-all bloggers, personal web page owners must be registered. Users at internet cafes and such must show ID to get a user number.] Internet filtering for CHINA courtesy of MICROSOFT, Yahoo altering software to conform to Chinese censorship rules, CISCO equip blocks banned servers or pages. All just innocent, like US efforts to control porn? A Chinese human rights activist [Harry Wu] says he knows from Cisco reps in CHINA they are working on "Golden Shield" advanced surveillance system for the police CISCO says don't make so much of it. - though only Police weapons, riot gear etc are banned from export to CHINA since 1989 this violates the law in spirit...[-see Anne Applebauym "A Thousand Filters Bloom" July 2005 NYSun] and book "Losing the New China: A Story of American Commerce, Desire and Betrayal", Ethan Gutmann SFGate.com ->".. a reporter for a business journal in the Hunan province, got in trouble for a single act: On April 20, 2004, the Chinese government ordered the country's news media not to write about the 15th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square protests. Shi, using his Yahoo e-mail account, forwarded the order to a pro-democracy group. When Chinese officials found out, they ordered the Hong Kong office of Yahoo China to hand over records that would identify the sender. The company complied. In November 2004, Shi's home was raided, his computer was confiscated, and his family was told not to talk about the case. In March 2005, he was given a 10-year sentence." see also http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070828-china-makes-web-monitoring-fun-again.html From the Newsdesk China to begin web monitoring with Clippy-style animated police By Jacqui Cheng | Published: August 28, 2007 - 12:06PM CT +++++++++++++++++++ http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24568137-2862,00.html October 29, 2008 12:02pm "AUSTRALIA will join China in implementing mandatory censoring of the internet under plans put forward by the Federal Government. The revelations emerge as US tech giants Google, Microsoft and Yahoo, and a coalition of human rights and other groups unveiled a code of conduct aimed at safeguarding online freedom of speech and privacy."... "The government has declared it will not let internet users opt out of the proposed national internet filter. "...."EFA board member Colin Jacobs said it would have little effect on illegal internet content, including child pornography, as it would not cover file-sharing networks. ".. "The need to prevent access to illegal hard-core material and child pornography must be placed above the industry's desire for unfettered access," Mr Wallace said." +++++++++++++++++++++++++ [MAY 1996!] SILENCING THE NET The Threat to Freedom of Expression On-line HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH For Further Information: Karen Sorensen (212) 972-8400, x 233 (Full text of this 24-page report is available viae-mail at sorensk@hrw.org, or from the Human Rights Gopher: URL: gopher://gopher.humanrights.org:5000/11/int/hrw/general) SUMMARY Governments around the world, claiming they want to protect children, thwart terrorists and silence racists and hate mongers, are rushing to eradicate freedom of expression on the Internet, the international "network of networks," touted as the Information Superhighway. Restrictions on Internet access and content are increasing world-wide, under all forms of government. Censorship legislation was recently enacted in the United States, the birthplace of the Bill of Rights as well as of this new communications medium and, for better or worse, a model for other nations' Internet policies. The Clinton administration claims the law will protect minors from "indecent" material and appears unconcerned that it will reduce on-line expression between adults to what may be deemed suitable for a child. Other democratic countries are following suit. The German phon e company cut off access to all the sites hosted by an American Internet service provider (ISP) in an effort to bar Germans from gaining access to neo-Nazi propaganda on one of the sites it hosted. The governments of France and Australia have also indicated they may enact legislation to control Internet content. Authoritarian regimes are attempting to reconcile their eagerness to reap the economic benefits of Internet access with maintaining control over the flow of information inside their borders. Censorship efforts in the U.S. and Germany lend support to those in China, Singapore, and Iran, where censors target not only sexually explicit material and hate speech but also pro-democracy discussions and human rights education. Proposals to censor the Internet wherever they originate violate the free speech guarantees enshrined in democratic constitutions and international law. In the attempt to enforce them, open societies will become increasingly repressive and closed societies will find new opportunity to chill political expression. Because the Internet knows no national boundaries, on-line censorship laws, in addition to trampling on the free expression rights of a nation's own citizens, threaten to chill expression globally and to impede the development of the Global Information Infrastructure (GII) before it becomes a truly global phenomenon. Democratic countries, including the U.S. and Germany, that are pushing for the development of the GII will lack legitimacy in criticizing efforts by China to eliminate information that "hinders public order" or by Vietnam, where the "the cultural aspect" is cited as a reason to censor connections to pro-democracy discussionsabroad.1 (According to Nghiem Yuan Tinh, Deputy Director of Vietnam Data Communication Company, "The Internet must be controlled, not only for technical and security reasons but from the cultural aspect." "Plan by Telecom Authority to Exercise Control Over Internet Disturbs Foreign Investors and Agency," Financial Times (London), September 19, 1995.) An issue closely related to censorship is that of access, which is to a large extent determined by the existing telecommunications system. According to a 1995 report by the Panos Institute, a London-based international non-profit organization specializing in development issues, Access requires a telephone line. Forty-nine countries have fewer than one telephone per 100 people, 35 of which are in Africa. India, for example, has 8 million telephone lines for 900 million people. At a global level at least 80% of the world's population still lacks the most basic telecommunications.2 (The Internet and the South: Superhighway or Dirt-Track? (London: Panos Institute, 1995).) Opportunities to promote access have never been greater, however. New communications technologies are providing developing countries with an unprecedented means to leapfrog antiquated communication networks. Limits on access are imposed by governments for a variety of reasons, including economic gain and political control. Some governments, including India and Saudi Arabia, have chosen to control the liberalizing effect of the Internet by denying access to entire segments of their populations, either through exorbitant charges or by confining access to select populations, such as universities. Rather than attempting to extend the Internet to a diverse group of citizens, these governments are striving to reap the economic benefits of Internet access without making it available to economically, socially, and politically disadvantaged groups, for whom it has the greatest potential for positive change. In somecountries, such as Saudi Arabia, individuals who have Internet connections through foreign-owned corporations are able to elude these restrictions. Even at this relatively early stage in the Internet's development, a wide range of restrictions on on-line communication have been put in place in at least twenty countries, including the following: -- China, which requires users and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to register with authorities; -- Vietnam and Saudi Arabia, which permit only a single, government- controlled gateway for Internet service; -- United States, which has enacted new Internet-specific legislation that imposes more restrictive regulations on electronic expression than those currently applied to printed expression; -- India, which charges exorbitant rates for international access through the state-owned phone company; -- Germany, which has cut off access to particular host computers or Internet sites; -- Singapore, which has chosen to regulate the Internet as if it were a broadcast medium, and requires political and religious content providers to register with the state; and -- New Zealand, which classifies computer disks as publications and has seized and restricted them accordingly. Privacy issues are closely related to the regulation of content and access. On-line communications are particularly susceptible to unauthorized scrutiny. Encryption technology is needed to ensure that individuals and groups may communicate without fear of eavesdropping. Lack of information privacy will inhibit on-line speech and unnecessarily limit the diversity of voices on the GII. The Internet has the potential to be a tremendous force for development by providing quick and inexpensive information, by encouraging discussion rather than violence, and by empowering citizens, to cite but a few examples. But this potential can be realized only if it becomes a truly global effort. Policy makers must make every effort to ensure that internationally guaranteed rights to free expression are extended to on-line communication and call for the repeal of censorship legislation. Without such commitments, individuals face the danger of seeing their rights eroded by the very technologies they are embracing. This report recommends principles for international and regional bodies and nations to follow when formulating public policy and laws affecting the Internet, sets forth the international legal principles governing on-line expression, and, finally, examines some of the current attempts around the globe to censor on-line communication. RECOMMENDATIONS The meeting of the G7 countries (Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United States) in South Africa in May 1996 to discuss the development of the GII should be used as one platform to emphasize the importance of freedom of expression.3 ( A UNESCO meeting was held in Madrid in March 1996 to discuss copyright protection on the Internet. To our knowledge, that conference represented the only U.N.- sponsored effort to address Internet regulation.) Regional agreements should clearly state that freedom of expression principles apply to electronic communication. These agreements should clarify that the Internet differs significantly from broadcast media in areas such as the level of choice and control afforded to the individual user. Because of such distinctions, it is important that the Internet not be subject to the same restrictions as are often imposed on broadcast media. It is important to promote the universal application of two important free expression principles not yet codified in international law. The first of these is an explicit prohibition against prior censorship, that is, requiring official approval of communication before making it public. Such a practice has been used by repressive governments against the press andcould be invoked against electronic communication. The second is an explicit prohibition against restrictions of free expression by indirect methods, such as the abuse of controls over equipment or broadcasting frequencies used in the dissemination of information; or by any other means tending to impede the communication and circulation of ideas and opinions. Controls over newsprint have frequently been used to silence critical publications. Governments are already modernizing their techniques to include modem lines and international Internet connections. In its February 1995 letter to U.S. Vice President Al Gore on the eve of the G7 Ministerial Conference on the Information Society, Human Rights Watch joined with a number of other organizations in proposing the following principles regarding content, access, and privacy.4 ( The American Library Association, American Civil Liberties Union, Article 19, Center for Democracy and Technology, Electronic Frontiers Foundation, Electronic Privacy Information Center, People for the American Way, Privacy International also signed the letter.) These principles are even more critical today, and we urge policy makers at the G7 conference in South Africa, and the framers of GII policy within other regional bodies and international organizations, to follow them. Content Issues Policy makers should take the initiative to expressly enshrine freedom of expression as a principle in the development of the GII. This should include: -- Prohibiting prior censorship of on-line communication on the GII. -- Demanding that any restrictions of on-line speech content be clearly stated in the law and limited to direct and immediate incitement of acts of violence. -- Requiring that laws restricting the content of on-line speech distinguish between the liability of content providers and the liability of data carriers. -- Insisting that on-line free expression not be restricted by indirect means such as excessively restrictive governmental or private controls over computer hardware or software, telecommunications infrastructure, or other essential components of the GII. -- Calling for the promotion of noncommercial public discourse on the GII. -- Promoting the wide dissemination of diverse ideas and viewpoints from a wide variety of information sources on the GII. -- Ensuring that the GII enable individuals to organize and form on-line associations freely and without interference. Access Issues GII policy should emphasize the importance of providing Internet access to everyone, regardless of geographic or other factors. This should encompass: -- Including citizens in the GII development process from countries that are currently unstable economically, have insufficient infrastructure, or lack sophisticated technology. -- Providing nondiscriminatory access to on-line technology. -- Guaranteeing a full range of viewpoints, by providing access to a diversity of information providers, including noncommercial educational, artistic, and other public interest service providers. -- Providing two-way communication and enabling individuals to publish their own information and ideas. -- Protecting diversity of access by establishing technical standards that can be applied easily in a variety of systems. -- Prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Privacy Issues Delegates to the G7 meeting and other meetings concerning policy on the GII should guarantee respect for the privacy of communication on the Internet by: -- Ensuring that personal information generated on the GII for one purpose is not used for an unrelated purpose or disclosed without the person's informed consent. -- Enabling individuals to review personal information on the GII and to correct inaccurate information. -- Providing privacy measures for information regarding on-line business transactions as well as content. -- Allowing users of the GII to encrypt their communications and information without restriction. The above recommendations are also pertinent to individual governments in shaping their own policies with respect to on-line communication. In addition, the following recommendations apply to domestic Internet policies: -- To ensure that domestic Internet services are designed to ensure universal access, governments should provide full disclosure of information infrastructure development plans and encourage democratic participation in all aspects of the development process. They should also advocate widespread use of the GII and strive to provide adequate training. In addition, governments should urge citizens to take an active role in public affairs by providing access to government information. -- In order to guarantee the privacy of on-line communication, governments should put in place enforceable legal protections against unauthorized scrutiny and use by private or public entities of personal information on the GII. They should also oppose controls on the export and import of communications technologies, including encryption. In addition, governments should conduct investigations on the GII pursuant only to lawful authority and subject to judicial review. ### +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+ This transmission was brought to you by.... THE CDA DISASTER NETWORK The CDA Disaster Network is a moderated distribution list providing up-to-the-minute bulletins and background on efforts to overturn the Communications Decency Act. To subscribe, send email to <majordomo@wired.com> with "subscribe cda-bulletin" in the message body. WARNING: This is not a test! WARNING: This is not a drill! +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+ InSecurity PGP for online BugKiller Anti chips PrivacyParts NO national ID Contigency Planning & Mgmt Magazine honeynet project Spy chips WorkSpeed facility security Common Sense tech Remember the "THE NET"... On JULY 15 (1996) President Clinton signed an Executive Order to create the "IPTF" Infrastructure Protection Task Force, run by the Dept. Of Justice (Janet Reno & CO. see CDA info. below) chaired by the FBI, and financed and technical operations provided by the Defense Department. Also created is a CCIP, Commission on Critical Infrastructure Protection. It is an all encompassing approach to data and network security including private and government sources, and mandates all parts of Fed. Gov't to cooperate, and also the same going for Internet related organizations -CERT, NSF, InterNIC. Secretaries and Directors of CIA, FEMA etc. It's showplace is at Bolling Air Force Base in D.C. next to the Air Force's OSI (Office of Special Investigations.) The military's various 'cyberwarfare' units are coordinated by a new center under Air Force Space Command opened at the beginning of 1999. On the civilian side, replacing and leaping technically over the original NCIC, which had been operating since 1967, July 2000 a new National Crime Information Center (NCIC) 2000, developed by Harris Corp. became operational 1967. The new system enables law enforcement agents across the nation to search databases on the broad variety of crime-related information when investigating crimes or questioning criminal suspects. There's a need to safeguard the nations critical data....but they are mixing in possible terrorists with possible child-pornographers, copyright infringers, spies, members of hate groups, etc..... "If Congress agrees to make Internet policy a "national security" issue when it passes the final versions of new anti-terrorist laws in early 1997, the ongoing operations to monitor, regulate and control the Internet can be legally shrouded in secrecy and managed by executive orders rather than by Congressional and public votes." -->Frank X. Sowa, Boardwatch Magazine Oct. 96 p. 66
Do YOU ONLINE care that NY passed 1st in US-probably in conflict with FED law- online sales 'AMAZON.com tax' [AB 9807] requires all out of state online sellers to register and collect web/internet sales tax for NYS by JUNE 1 2008 or be subject to NYS audit and back tax bills all the way back as far as NY can make them [-Lovett "NY's audit threat to 'net shops.." 4-14-2008]. Amazon IS challenging it, Overstock.com retreated some, it "notified more than 3,400 New York-based affiliate advertiser that they could no longer provide ads for Overstock as of June 1. [TOP] Insecurity Sucking It All In CALEA, Google CHINA, VPN, Real ID, Data Recovery CD destroyer OTHER NETS Internet II Google Tango ECHELON Carnivore Watchers Links Remember the 'Net' IPTF CCIP NCIC [ Scroll] FIDNET holes More things that make you go hmmm.. Border Patrol? The End of Privacy Profiling Software, CAPPS II Big Brother 20 years "late" Smile NY! Ring of Steel, Congestion pricing AMTRAK Super Bowl 2001 Mobiltrak Nanotech Gov't Net Links Copyright and DRM Telecom Act of 96 Michael Powell-FCC Higher costs CDA CDA II ..for the children COPPA V-chip CIA Internet Conspiracy Claims NSI SAIC [Bottom]	...from the magazine FEDERAL COMPUTER WEEK...article "House Panel pitches U.S. center to fight cybercrime, P1, issue of June 10, (Vol. 10 No. 14) 1996 -- "The majority staff of the Senate Governmental Affairs Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations called for a "National Information Infrastructure Threat Center," which was established at the FBI to analyze and respond to intrusions, requiring cooperation of the US Intelligence services. To complement this operation a proposed FIDNet - Federal Intrusion Detection Network, came in July 1999, a monitoring system for key Federal networks; it is denied that private networks will be monitored, yet linkage between the government and private networks with these monitoring systems is reported. Funding for FIDNet is in dispute from public sources [US House stopped preliminary funding requested by the FBI shortly after the proposal hit the NY Times 7-28] but the National Security Council et al. could find other means...Nov. 16 1999 Village Voice reported that the Justice Dept. was drafting revisions of the FOIA - Freedom of Information Act, to shield any of this information gathered by the private sector and gov't agencies about 'threats and vulnerability'. An example of a possible security hole cited towards the end of the article --- "Piqued by the feature file, "the Net," which portrays a hacker altering the electronic medical records of the secretary of Defense, the staff contacted the Bethesda Naval Medical Center. The responding official said the after conducting a vulnerability assessment, she found that she "and virtually anyone else could break into BNMC and access and change the medical records of our government's leaders." The BNMC has since addressed this vulnerability." Sometimes huge amounts of id data are compromised in other ways - falling off the truck? 2005-April- "600,000" names and info on TimeWarner staff on 40 backup tapes in a container that were being moved to an IRON MOUNTAIN secure storage facility disappeared - looks like the major safeguard to be added will be to ENCRYPT the data. Earlier in 2005 BankofAmerica lost id data on its 1.3 million FED Govt Mastercard holders. CRACKERS OBTAINED GULF WAR MILITARY SECRETS...During the Gulf War, computer vandals working from Eindhoven in the Netherlands cracked into U.S. government computers at 34 military sites to steal information about troop movements, missile capabilities, and other secret information; they then offered it to the Iraqis, but the Iraqis rejected it because they considered the information a hoax. Dr. Eugene Schultz, former head of computer security at the U.S. Department of Energy, told the British Broadcasting Company: "We realized that these files should not have been stored on Internet-capable machines. They related to our military systems, they related to Operation Desert Shield at the time, and later Operation Desert Storm. This was a huge mistake." (London Telegraph 23 Mar 97) - But hey no problems, the Justice Dept and FBI have enough resources to go around and SEPT 2005 a top priority is recruiting from exist agents for a new internet porn patrol squad to go after the really hard stuff. MORE things that make you go hmmmm... WHAT ABOUT OUR BORDERS? Lack of will among the elite and intelligentsia - of all political leanings has blinded them to the peril..they see the masses flooding in as a source of labor and new flesh to replace population - they worry about falling birth rates, like in Japan...Hey, there's the St. Regis Mohawk reservation in upstate NY that borders on Quebec Canada, and they smuggle whoever, whatever, for a price..the authorities know but have to treat the place like it is an embassy. Meanwhile, we've got thousands overstaying visas without penalty, training in skills that can be used to destroy us [soon probably in the military itself], working at many sensitive locations like the airports cleaning or handling luggage, and so on..ready to act and destroy, plant things aboard, whatever, while your mother can't being a scissor on board. BIG BROTHER 20 years "late"? The new surveillance state is more like big Satan. Profiling software, which in its latest 2003 incarnation was CAPPS II, field trial with DELTA Airways started FEB 2003. July 2004 it was officially discarded prob crumbling under its own weight more than a win for privacy - but I'm sure that's no the complete end of it. In CAPPS, a risk score was first based on passenger name, address, birth date and place. A flagged passenger "person of interest"[?] is investigated using latest data mining techniques with growing database[s] culled from a large variety of sources. Though major concern is "big brother" and govt abuse of information is a great concern, the private sector can get its grubby hand$ on confidential information unrestrained, usually for marketing purposes. CAPPS II supposedly is not yet allowed to be implemented according to Congress until they judge it has meet some privacy, security and accuracy standards but some airlines working with govt contractors on this project HAVE shared already passenger data with the TSA, -and- in the case of American Air [AMR Corp] through Automation INC shared data with 4 research companies "HNC Software, Infoglide Software, Ascent Technology and Lockheed Martin." for what?? [-NYPost 4-1-204 "American Air in privacy flap"] CAPPS I in place 1997 prescreened air travelers "flight history" to select evaluate passengers as security risks for more baggage checks. Congress was "concerned" and investigating but essentially could not stop it. The F.A.A.'s pre-Homeland Security Act rules for previous proposed system was up for comment in Spring 1999. MORE PROFILING-In April 2001 it was revealed [first by a local newspaper] that AMTRAK sends customer info. direct from its Albuquerque NM ticketing computer ctr. linked to "a local DEA office" DEA, and gets a 10 percent bounty of the value of seized assets. Somehow, names of people and their luggage are picked to be searched etc. Invasion of privacy, Fourth amendment issues, etc. are raised. A first pilot program for explosives screening on AMTRAK check bags started mid 2004 or so at Union Sta, D.C. Also, mini satellites tethered together, insect sized/like surveillance devices are all coming or here, for use in the name of national security and where expense is not a major consideration. SMILE! |:-( NY! The NYC Mayor continues to say hey, what is a few more cameras! Or sensors...even using YOUR EZ Pass! "For traffic monitoring" [-see NYPost 4-11-2009] Intelligent Transportation System by early MAY 2009 you EZ Pass transponder will be checking in while making crossing into Manhattan on Brooklyn [and prob then on Manhattan Br too, later others!] and then inland to check travel times..supposedly only to help Lower Manhattan Construction Command Ctr, and not part of the "Ring of Steel." The Port Authority publicly pondered going cash-less EZ Pass ONLY on entree on their crossing into Manhattan for years. It's coming for our "convenience". Anyone not on EZ Pass will get a bill sent to them courtesy license plate readers.[-and the network.] Every land will have to be monitored. The latest report late NOV 2009 word was some plan is in the works, though not yet ready for their board vote. Muse be working on linking their system to Homeland Security or such. The first wifi networked regular-cam + license reader for Manhattan was secretly tested APRIL 2007 [see Lisberg, Daily News 10-1-2007]. There was another earlier announcement in 2007 that 2,000 private video cams are supposed to be networked TOGETHER with 1,000 govt cams and license plate readers into a new NYC monitoring centre. The NYPD said don't worry if there is no problem, your record will be purged from the database after 30 days but the true facts about data retention and collection are secret, so far are not and probably will not be released in documents the NYCLU requested. though. The most big deal project was newly disclosed [AUG 11 2008] Operation Sentinel which build upon earlier announced Lower Manhattan security initiatives like "Ring of Steel plan and the earlier-announced new [umm in 2007] monitoring centre. We do not know, but I feel that cams for the [failed] congestion pricing plan would have been hooked in for this use, and perhaps the government would have kept it secret. It appears the new plan was fast tracked as the congestion pricing plan failed. Quietlyu, in palce now, a large part if mid Manhtaan is similary being added. So NO matter what, plans entail checking EVERY vehicle entering Manhattan, scanning for radioactivity and checking licenses against umm like a no-drive list! "The NYCLU, which received a $10,000 gift from the Bloomberg Foundation, was silent on the privacy implications of congestion pricing." ..this means installation of additional 1,000 cameras to "photograph" license plates and [match to registrations] of those entering the zone in order to charge or bill them [-see A. Karni, Road Congestion Cameras Assailed for Privacy Risk" NY Sun 6-8-2007] Ah DEC 12 2007, op-ed piece by the Exec Director and Associate Legal Director of NYCLU on this was printed in NYSun. It was NOT assured that drivers, passengers and even pedestrians would not be photographed and tracked. There are already many thousands of ordinary video cams south of 14st in Manhattan, mostly private for retail stores, office security etc. NEWARK NJ has in place 109 secure, wireless police cams, nightvision and all, and showed off its monitoring centre JULY 1 2008. The Department of Traffic has many 'innocent' traffic cams around NYC whiuhc CAN be accessed over the NET. The Police have more! The first continuous street area to be monitored as anti-crime measure late 2004 is W. Fordham Road Bronx commercial strip with 120 new cams in 2005, and more areas will come. "They" starting "taping" all subway access first at 9 stations in [a heavily Jewish area of] Brooklyn where a local Assemblyman spearheaded the installation; now at least one camera per "turnstile" and gate[s] are being added in every station. How are and who is watching and or "taping" feeds from thousands of cameras needed to cover 468 or so stations? 2002-4 permanent radiation detectors were first added at Penn Sta, and in other public places, and portable units were widely distributed. NYC-"Since the Sept. 11 attacks last year [the MTA] has been confiscating the film from anyone caught taking pictures at the Verrazano-Narrows, the Queens Midtown Tunnel and other bridges and tunnels." "Use of cameras prohibited. Strictly Enforced" posted and enforced. NYC is being wired up, but CHI and D.C. are coming in at tops of public monitoring. Washington will hook existing cams, police crime cams installed since AUG 2006 and new cams to total about 5,600 by fall 2008, run by their city agencies from the streets to public housing to government bldgs into the one location within the "D.C. Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency." [-Sheridan, "D.C. Forging Surveillance Network" Washington Post 5-1-2008]. Chicago has about 6,000 cameras also will be hooked into THEIR similar Emergency Management Office. This is not yet totally like ol East Germany, one -half of the population watching the other half, these for now are set up as mostly reactive systems to record images and just a few staff to actively watch some of the feeds for problems. That still leaves much potential for abuse, and yet also for actual terrorists operate anyway. No reports yet mention anything about filtering the images with "video analytics" [facial recognition etc] software and databases. Outdoor videos cams blanketed the DEM and REP convention areas in BOSTON and NYC Aug 2004, even a cam along with machine gunner in a blimp. It was actually reported these cams sent feeds to redundant monitoring centres located throughout the country - they must still be open, these may also be rumoured internet monitoring centres. This is all a huge but logical step-up from the "field demonstration" [or public but very secret operation] at the JAN. 2001-*Super Bowl* in Tampa FL where all ticketholders were screened on entry with cams and facial recognition software, in attempt to catch, ummm, some people - well if there *was* any connection at all to "9-11", [and the 9-11 terrorists had big FLORIDA connections!] it didn't help. Then, summer 2001 cameras in Ybor City the 'Times Sq.' of TAMPA FL. were linked to software. This is face fingerprinting. The first person mis-id'd in Tampa was a guy in the street on cam because the system was being shown off in a demo for the media. Other cities are implementing similar programs, not without controversy and opposition, notoriously LONDON and UK cams with mics and speakers. "Pubs in Yorkshire have been ordered to ban people from wearing flat caps or other hats so troublemakers can be more easily recognised." DailyTelegraph online 6-23-2008. Oh they say it has been for years that wearing hat in banks and post offices was prohibited, to. 2003-4-Biometric id verification extended into live camera surveillance. One company proves a set-ups processes info into a 3-d image of the unchanging rigid under-skin structure of your skull that a source of "near-infrared light" picked up by cams feeds to a computer. Camcorders and conventional video cams are being replaced with CCD units feeding new hard-drive time recorders [replacing VCR extended-time tape recorders] or newer IP-based cams which can be directly feed over the net. Image analysis tool sexist besides facial recognition, "NICE" content analysis [Nice Systems of Israel] software can analyze pixels within a scene, ignore usual ol' stuff and pick out anomalies, which are persons or object to be noticed by security. Their software is being used now, for audio systems such as NYC's 911, and at some airports and this or similar classified software at NSA. [NY Times, Circuits, 3-6-03]. It is no more a compliment or good at all to *look like someone else*, but who could help it? ORACLE software- Larry Ellison offered to aid the gov't in creating the national database software for new national ID smart cards if they are approved to be issued. Increased ability to carry out wiretaps etc. for specific individuals no matter what communication they use, rather than that just for a phone no. etc. as in the past is part of new Ánti-Terrorism" bill passed OCT. 26 in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks on the U.S. "Several new, sweeping Internet surveillance initiatives...have been introduced by the Clinton White House...including one that would monitor private industries for illegal transactions. Another would allow law enforcement agents with a court order to secretly enter private homes or office to "wiretap" the hard disks and Internet connections of computer users." CALIFORNIA stopped selling its database of birth and death records, in whole or in part, nearly two dozen times - to local governments, law offices, medical groups, and genealogical research firms." $900. for 90 years worth! - NY TIMES DEC. 13 2001. MANY states have open policies towards birth, divorce, marriage records but prior to the 'net they were not so easily acquired en masse. Companies are using their paid influence of US Gov't to prevent regulations they don't like; US West, and several of the largest phone companies in the nation, is an example noted, as persuading "a Federal appeals court in Denver to reverse some recent F.C.C. rules that are designed to protect private customer data" to analyze collected customer data and share it amongst themselves - it interfered with the first amendment rights of the phone company [-NY TIMES 8-30-99 Denise Caruso, Digital Commerce.] Some State Motor Vehicle depts are/were selling their databases with drivers personal info AND photos to marketers. 2-1 ruling Aug. 18 1999 the US Court of Appeals 10th. Home-used software is suspect for reporting on you or having weak points of vulnerability - notoriously Microsoft's IE has had security holes in each version. The new Windows XP may be a real security nightmare as some its new main features are advance remote-control facilitation. RealJukebox now used "with default settings, [it] automatically loads each time a CD is inserted in the CD-ROM drive...if connected to the internet the title of the CD is sent, with the GUID to RealNetworks. A user profile could be constructed from this info. EFF (June 2007) warned that iTunes and ITunes+ embeds your name and e mail address in your purchased tracks! TiVO, Replay TV, MS Ultimate TV, and the like, the now defunct consumer Divx player, and others, come with the necessity of connecting to your tel line download and upload info. and the companies involved have been collecting data on customers, some was linked to individual subscribers and not just id'd by collective groups such as zip codes. There are no applicable US privacy laws or regulation on this method of collection of information. Retailers use ReturnExchange to compile merchandise returns and to flag people on its secret list as chronic returners who can be denied returns on the spot. Wanna have companies know what radio station is on in your CAR, MOBILTRAK markets a device to do this and it is being placed from malls to arenas and along freeways- lets companies know how many cars in a particular location hear their ads....add links to monitoring to digital cameras and it would i.d. you. The first all-electronic toll collection highway uses laser sensors to sort trucks from cars and activate digital cams as primary means to ID car license plates for toll collection on privately-run 407 Express Toll Route north of T.O. which opened in 1997. All is not perfect; it became important to have EZ-pass type transponders for trucks and cars too to aid in collection. There are many mistakes in billing though few details are public, even people who have never traveled on it receive invoices. Customer service staff increased after 1999 from 27 to 300 staff, but is likely to be reduced as errors are decreasing.[-"Sorry, Wrong Number" NYTimes Circuits 3-11-04] on top of it all, monthly and per-trip video id fee can add up. Cams in streets in many cities now pick out your car for traffic infractions, red light running, but again, not necessarily pick out the driver involved and of course not necessarily the car OWNER, so BEWARE of the automatically generated summons. Many of these systems are contracted out - money fine$ collected and in some cities shared with vendor may trump actual safety improvements and violate due process. Also, if mail does not get through...jail for you, too. God help you if software determines you look like someone else who is wanted. If someone is misidentified, they really can be screwed everywhere. [re: the future of warfare as written up in 'Student Briefing Page' 11-17-99 in Newsday -"One technology that is the wave of the future is directed energy." - in lasers or high-power microwaves ..Earl Good, director of Air Force Research Lab Directed Energy Directorate in Kirtland N.M.] The future is concentrated. A prototype "pacemaker size"-to be shrunk waaay down- subdermal GPS personal location device [PLD] was made in 2003 by Applied Digital Solutions and is induction-recharged. This can transmit location data and vital signs [in medical usage] to the internet. Miniature switches and chips- Pres GWBush was expected to sign a $3.7 bil appropriation for 4 year funding of new National Nanotechnology Coordination Office for NANO R+D. At the Office's first review is expected "...a study of whether it is feasible to create nanoscale devices that can assemble themselves or copies of themselves molecule by molecule.." [-NYTimes, Business Section 11-20-03 B. J. Feder] This Office builds upon the Clinton Administration's National Nanotechnology Initiative of early 2000. Molecular-electronics labs of HP and USC [NY Times 11-1-99 Business] created wires 10 atoms wide as part of "rudimentary logic gates' starting path to smallest possible circuits yet, other similar research at other university labs continues. Nano devices won't all be benevolent. The military will surely research ways to deploy and defend against nano tech environmental or bio terrorism, and even torture. Reading about 'mad-cow' disease [Creutzfeldt-Jakob] caused by the strange think called prions "rogue proteins" What if nano devices acted as or create such destructive things as prions-which are not living thing, forget the cow. It is reported that [at a US EPA meeting Spring 2002] nano particles are finding their way into livers of lab animals could "piggyback on bacteria and enter the food chain". Virus, stunningly, can be lab engineered. HIV virus has already been engineered to change its effect.. [just heard on CBS AM network 10-2-02] that HIV has unparalleled ability to get into *ANY* of the body's cells, but only 2 of 8 or 9 chromosomes cause AIDS, if those are removed 'GOOD GENES' for whatever healing purpose [hey also BAD genes!!] can be widely distributed in the body! We don't know what damage is going to be unleashed. Federal Government on the 'Net Report on Cybersecurity-Public comment solicited to NOV 18 2002 Government Technology Mag. complain to FCC Defense Technical Information Center vote(s) in Congress FedWorld..the most US Gov't links Library of Congress C I A Federal Computer Week Mag. F E M A Federal Election Commission Telecom. Act of 1996, Universal Access, the CDA and other ACTS The time between the 1984 "Betamax" ruling Sony vs Universal Studios, the 1996 Telecom Act, the SONNY BONO Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998 and the Millennium Copyright Act, too, can be seen as a golden age for electronic media consumers. It marked rise of widespread VCR use and rise of digital media then the public internet, despite one format the Record industry did kill for the US consumer- DAT [it prob is just as well by now]. Skirmish of several years ago was the major media companies lawsuit against CABLEVISION and their new network-or [remote] RS-DVR [no DVR or Tivo et al box needed at home!] as copyright infringement. Cablevision lost against 20th Cent various Fox, Cartoon Network, CNN, Universal etc MAR 2007. It could appeal the FED court decision. Time Warner and Comcast are following this closely and did not yet publicly offer the service. The last victories for consumers over recording media lords was in mid-late 1980s defeat of [pre-SONY] takeover CBS Records CD copy-protection [sound] notch, which was found could be heard in some music and victories over RIAA attempts to BAN resale of used compact discs and mid 1990s RIAA attempt to ban MP3 players as the "Rio" came along. Today, the industry plods along in defeating some large-scale pirating but succeeds more in criminalizing consumers and restricting ordinary use of their own media and equipment and severely hunting down and punishing others for petty copying as it lobbies [pays off] our Congress to do its bidding. The wide open internet also began to be throttled back in various countries over security, porn, and ideological concerns by 1997. In 2005 the trend accelerated greatly. The Supreme Ct and other regulatory decisions are limiting competition and defending the turf of major comms companies, such as that cell service providers can require their own contracted handsets to be used [is not illegal tying], that cable companies can keep rival internet providers from using their lines, etc. Since the 1996 Act, cable rates rose at 3x rate of inflation. with most areas still locked in with one service. SonyBMG goofed big time, twice with various copy protection /marketing schemes. On new CDs SONY spyware was inserted without notice when you played "their" CD on your p-c - it was changed to give you a warning that their software is being installed [and cannot be removed ?!]. In NOV 2005 a trojan virus discovered by a computer security firm in Amsterdam, was e mailed that piggy-backed on the Sony spyware that could open a gateway thru for hackers past the firewalls of users computers. Baloney, no SONY! Copyright and DRM The Culture of Ownership Copyright for Canadians Defective by Design digital freedom The comms and broadcast-media industries got a lot for their money to Congress and from the FCC. A 'National Information Infrastructure Copyright Protection Act of 1996' passed House and Senate committees. This threatens "fair use" doctrine as now practiced by libraries and universities, book reviewers, etc. Providers generally supported the proposal(s) because it would exempt them, along with telcos from copyright infringements. So, many publishers of various media are against it. It may also contain provisions that would, in effect, require a license beforehand, to even view copyrighted material! How can the Web function w/ this mindless rule?? - I gotta read up on the current status and what it's final form was for ya...Georgia House Bill 1630 passed April 18 "Georgia residents must now obtain legal authorization from an organization or company before using their trademarked name, logo, copyrighted symbol, or legal or official seal on a Web site.", according to a story in the June '96 issue of INTERNET underground magazine. Also see an interview with Alan Dershowitz in the same issue about the CDA. The legacy of 1996 Telecom Act under Clinton was deregulation that led to the current giant media combos and higher long distance bills and cable rates. The 1996 Telecom Act *required* review of media ownership regs every two years. One of the 1998 changes to copyright law gave the recording labels right to songs in perpetuity, but the artist pressured repeal of the clause in 1999. Now it is 'only" 75 years, but renewable I think. A Fed Appeals Court on June 24 2004 slowed the last big move towards consolidation of major media by the FCC vote 3-2, June 2 2003 to ease media ownership restriction [except for radio!] under pressure of Congress to act [we know who pre$$ures Congress] and allow more combinations of media in the name of the "market." The court rebuffed Powell [that is unsaid in the press] because it called the way the FCC handled easing ownership restrictions in the case involved in an "arbitrary and capricious" way. The 2003 FCC changes were biggest act of deference to the industry since the Telecom Act of 1996. Under the FCCs Michael Powell's [yes, son of Colin] chairmanship [since 2001]. In 2002 a DC appeals court struck down ban on owning cable and broadcast TV in the same market. The rules now allow 45% of TV in a market under single ownership. Clear Channel Communications sticks out like a sore thumb so much, [grown from less than "..40 radio stations to more than 1,200 nationwide" that a protest of musicians and fans was held 12-17-03 in a D.C. club, last stop on a 13-city "Tell Us The Truth" about Media consolidation tour[-NYTimes, The Arts 12-18-03. "Musicians Protesting Monopoly In Media"]. Cross ownership [TV-radio-newspaper-cable] is only prohibited in markets with 3 or fewer TV stations. [Go to the window and shout "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!" I think its all that left us]. Its very political, very much let's make a deal taking precedence over the good of the country DESPITE denials of this by Mr. Powell, he and advocates of this deregulation can't see the forest for the trees! Long distance bills are raised through a high surcharge administered by FCC (not Congress, so some claim this is an unconstitutional tax) to pay for providing access in schools and libraries and around 1 percent for provide rural telephone service. Since the telecom act, cable rates have greatly increased. Key provisions were passed with $$$ lobbying money from the industry in mind, thanks Mr. Gore and Congress!- many of the public are unaware of this charge; some do support it. Cell carriers were very twisted over FCC rules *which was delayed 3 times* NOV 24 2003 regulation mandating cell *number* "portability [between carriers] takes effect in 100 largest US metro area, then to be system wide by May 2004..JUNE 24 2003 Verizon caved and said OK, and other carriers were set to fight the rule as costing them too much [well f__ them we are paying through the nose already and its about time we got at least this..] and here's to competition! ...for the Children Congress continues to pass more insidious rules criminalising larger and larger groups of people for what is potential harm at most, rather than any direct wrong-doing. On July 20 2006, the U.S. Senate passed its version of House Resolution (H.R.) 4472, now titled the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006, with minor changes that the House approved, and President Bush signed July 27. In Title V, the section titled "Child Pornography Prevention," also revamps 18 U.S.C. §2257, the statute derived from the Child Protection Restoration and Penalties Enhancement Act of 1990, whose effect will be to put more adult content producers at risk for federal prison sentences and fines, even though they deal exclusively in material made by adults, for adults. It is also feared that web masters and poster of internet newsgroup content, if nude pictures, are subject to FBI [persecution] requiring ID and address information OR ELSE, of those persons to be kept on file "..available to the Attorney General for inspection at all reasonable times." PLUS it is not clear else who would have access to home address info of regular people and say performers maybe not even porn- subjecting them to potential stalkers or other criminal harassment! CDA - COPPA - CIPA KEEPING child porn off the net, well yes..criminalising other "adult' activities too??? The Supreme Court raised eyebrows in a controversial decision April 2002 that virtual child porn is not the same as actual, was the latest of successful challenges to the 1998 statute and enjoined the Justice Dept from enforcement of these acts. If this stands it would not be criminal to create or possess it in the way there is an absolute prohibition on any real or almost being as real as REAL, even your naked baby pics could have gotten you into trouble, or art or advertising etc, that is not intended to be erotic could have led to arrest and being put on public perv watch lists JAN2006-aiming to get justification it could need to restart aggressive child[?] COPA antiporn enforcement that would survive another court challenge, the US Justice Dept "asked" YAHOO, AOL, MSN, GOOGLE to turn over a million random hits each search records data [not to ID the users, but to gather statistics on how many searches for porn]...ONLY GOOGLE said NO and is being sued by the Govt and in mid MAR will prob given a deadline to comply so the GOVT can process the data ASAP to present to a Phila judge MAY 3 2006. On JUNE 23 2003. the Supreme Ct. held that 2001's CIPA is constitutional [Children's Internet Protection Act], latest incarnation of a series of fed laws, requires libraries use filtering software on ALL PCs-terminals -NO adults only machines- though it may also block sites of non-objectionable general interest. CIPA perhaps is a fine-tuned successor to CDA and 1998's COPPA which was declared unconstitutional by US CT. of Appeals for 3rd Cct. on MAR 6 2003. It was put in effect April 2000 -[Children's Online Privacy Protection Act] made a federal offense for anyone making "any communication for commercial purposes that is available to any minor [on the web] that includes any material that is harmful to minors.", states the usual "community standards" and broad scope of lewdness, breasts, genitals, actual or simulated, etc etc. but act was unclear in its definition of which sex acts are perverted or normal, what is commercial purposes. President Clinton was quoted *NY Times June 27 96* "We can and must develop a solution for the Internet that is as powerful for the computer as the V-chip will be for television, and that protects children in ways that are consistent with America's free-speech values.".. "With the right technology and ratings systems..we can help insure that our children don't end up in the red-light districts of cyberspace." The rules led to increased dependence on gatekeeping measures such as credit card use as id for entry. Current filtering software such as Net-Nanny, SurfWatch and Cyber Patrol block many official government, political activists, students and, penpal sites, and sites with even just wrong color skins can be interpreted as "skin" as in porno, "flesh tone" color can be blocked by censorware such as Eyeguard. A test showed the Financial Times of London blocked.. [salmon colored page background]... A few years ago the Supreme Court essentially affirmed the June 13 decision 97 (OCT. 31 96 ACLU motion) of the lower court - a 'summary affirmance' of the hearings and decision held in Philadelphia by three federal district and appellate court judges, on the legal status of the CDA. backing broad First Amendment protection for 'speech' on the Internet. For each instance of 'problem' material which is not necessarily porno at all, there is probably an instance of blocking out "Breast cancer" with word or category breast, historical weapons and war with a block on word or category "weapons', etc. stopping serious study of legitimate subjects at established institutional web sites, not to mention AIDS because of its connection to sexuality. "..The reason the judges were able to come out with their recent CDA verdict upholding the rights and freedoms of the Internet was that none of them was running for office. It wasn't their job to serve The People. It was only their job to serve the truth ." --John Perry Barlow, in Wired's The Netizen feature Sept.'96 A successful challenge was mounted by Civil Liberties groups to New York's own 'anti-indecency on the 'net' law. What this, and other state's similar laws will mean to the online user and the ISP industry remains to be seen. The case was (American Library Association and others..) ALA vs. Pataki. The law - N Y State Penal Code 235.21(13) made it a crime to disseminate information "harmful to minors" via computer. (I am looking for news of any appeals of the decision). CIA Internet conspiracy claims Does the CIA control the Net? Even John Dvorak in Boardwatch [JAN 01] pondered the gov'ts ultimate ability to halt IP traffic now in the age of 'Carnivore'..."Some even suspect the entire Carnivore system....is nothing more than a scheme which would allow the U.S. government the ability to close down the Net as necessary for some political reason." [Dvorak online, Boardwatch mag. Jan. 2001]. Anyway, the death of peer-to-peer connections such as BBSs creating the current dependence on the Net, with traffic controlled at relatively few choke points such as the original NAPs and a few major private network peering connection points. ..but then he says Ï will be pleasantly surprised if I'm worn about all this and the Net becomes some sort of open and reliable system that improves our lot in life and can be relied upon as a source of connectivity and truth. Fat chance." CIA control was the claim of on-line magazine US Web Review, which says since the National Science Foundation turned domain name registration over to Network Solutions Inc (NSI). NSI was purchased by Scientific Applications International Corporation (SAIC) in May 1995. The hiss are alive with the sound of gigabits - Related stuff makes the tabloids gossip columns - Sr. Vice Pres and chief trust officer of AOLTatiani Gau "Tatiana has been described by the Boston Herald as "a former CIA spook" who speaks six languages." -re: her upcoming wedding to fab architect Campion Platt [-"Page Six, NYPost 8-23-04]..how many more of the major net players are overseen by those linked directly to the intelligence community? Its oh so convenient for so many providers, the major NAP, and the intelligence community to be clustered together in VA. SAIC is a $ 2 billion company indicted by the Justice Department on ten felony counts for fraud in managing a Superfund toxic clean-up site (SAIC pleaded guilty). It was also sued by the US Justice Department for civil fraud on an F-15 fighter contract. SAIC's board members include Admiral Bobby Inman, former NSA (National Security Agency) head and deputy director of the CIA; Melvin Laird, Nixon's Secretary of Defence; and retired General Max Thurman, commander of the Panama invasion. Recently departed board members include former CIA director Robert Gates; current Secretary of Defence William Perry; and current CIA director William Deutch. SAIC government contracts include projects for the Pentagon and the FBI. Web Review reported concerns about "this bunch of spooks sitting at the very entry point of the Net."

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