USDA using satellite images to prosecute farmers - 01/16/2006
Satellite images are being used in a crackdown for crop fraud by farmers. Satellite imaging technology is being used in water rights litigation, and in prosecution of environmental cases ranging from hot confinement facility violations of waste discharge regulations to injury damage lawsuits stemming from herbicide application. The technology is also used to monitor the forestry and mining industries.
"A lot of farmers would be shocked at the detail you can tell. What it does is keep honest folks honest," said G.A. "Art" Barnaby Jr., an agricultural economist at Kansas State University.
Satellite images are taken at roughly eight-day intervals, and are used to monitor when farmers plant their acreage, how they irrigate them and what crops they grow. If anomalies are found in a farms insurance claim, investigators can search satellite photos dating back years to determine cropping practices on individual fields.
The Agriculture Departments Farm Service Agency, which helps farmers get loans and payments from a number of its programs, is one of many who use the satellite imaging to monitor compliance farmers.
Hegeman, Roxan. "USDA using satellite images to prosecute farmers." Lewiston Tribune 16 Jan 2006: 1D.
Google fighting Fed subpoena to reveal user data -01/20/2006
Google Inc., the Mountain View, Ca based search engine, has refused to comply with a White House subpoena first issued last summer, prompting U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales this week to ask a federal judge in San Jose for an order to hand over the requested records.
Feds are demanding to peek at what millions of people have been looking up on the Internets leading search engine. This move reveals the potential for online databases to become tools for government surveillance.
The Bush administration depicts the information as vital in its effort to restore online child protection laws that have been struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court. The Department of Justice argues that Google's cooperation is essential in its effort to simulate how people navigate the Web.
Yahoo Inc., the Sunnyvale, Calif. company which runs the Internets second-most search engine behind Google, confirmed that it had complied with a similar government subpoena. Microsoft Corp MSN, the No. 3 search engine, declined to say whether it even received a similar subpoena. "MSN works closely with law enforcement officials worldwide to assist them when requested," the company said in a statement.
"This is exactly the kind of thing we have been worrying about with search engines for some time," said Pam Dixon, executive director for the World Privacy Forum. As the Internets dominant search engine, Google has built up a valuable storehouse of information that "makes it a very attractive target for law enforcement" said Chris Hoofnagle, senior counsel for the Electronic Privacy Information Center.
"When you re looking at that blank search box, you should remember that what you fill can come back to haunt you unless you take precautions," Dixon said.
Liedtke, Michael. "Google refuses to comply with subpoena for user data." Lewiston Tribune 20 Jan 2006: 5A.
Update: Google launched Google.cn, a version of its No. 1 search engine, that prevents Chinese residents from seeing censored material by the Chinese Government - 02/13/2006
Google site launch in China came days after it rebuffed a U.S. Justice Department subpoena demanding that it turn over data on how millions of users search the Internet. In contrast, Yahoo, Microsoft and America Online all cooperated with justice.
Google was allowed to place servers in China by making a deal with the Chinese Government that gave them some censorship control over the search process. Free-speech advocates blasted Google for bowing to China's demands, but Google complied in order to put servers inside the company. Until the agreement was made by Google, the search engine could not be accessed fast or often, because the servers were housed outside of China, and causing the searchers to contact USA servers for info. Response time was slow, if it worked at all.
Following the rebuffed subpoena, and the launching in China, Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J. is now drafting a bill that would force Internet companies to keep vital computer servers out of China and other nations the State Department deems repressive to human rights.
Hopkins, Jim. "Bill would keep servers out of China." USA TODAY 13 Feb 2006: 3B.
Update: Google ordered to turn over search data - 03/20/2006
Federal Judge James Ware, of the Federal District Court for Northern California, ruled that Google must turn over some search data, including 50,000 Web addresses to the government for a study of child pornography online. He denied a government request that Google be ordered to hand over keywords that customers use to search its database.
According to a statement left on Google's website by Nicole Wong, Google's associate general
counsel, "What his ruling means is that neither the government nor anyone else has carte blanche when demanding data from Internet companies."
"Google ordered to turn over search data." USA TODAY 20 Mar 2006: 1B.
Drug czar wants states to keep databases on prescription drug users - 02/08/2006
Twenty-eight states have already passed laws to set up prescription-drug
registries. Drug czar John Walters will began prodding more states to set up databases that can track people who get multiple prescriptions of frequently abused prescription drugs such as OxyContin and Vicodin. This strategy of focus will come with federal money to those states who implement
registries.
The registries have faced opposition from critics who have expressed concern about privacy and medical care interference. "We're sympathetic to
registries if they are used for public health purposes, but we're really concerned that they'll be used as a law enforcement tool," says Bill Piper of the Drug Policy Alliance, a non-profit based in New York City that pushes for drug abuse to be treated as a health problem rather than as a criminal one. "We don't want doctors afraid to prescribe pain medication."
States with registries require doctors and pharmacists to log prescriptions into the computer, that are monitored by medical professionals, to ensure patients are not "doctor shopping" to get several prescriptions of the potent drugs. Many states give police access to these databases as well.
Leinwand, Donna. "Drug czar seeks to expand registries." USA TODAY 08 Feb 2006: 3A.
Britain votes to have national identity card for all passport holders - 02/14/2006
Britain's lower chamber of Parliament voted to require all citizens who want a passport to have a national identity card also. The compromise was reached on a measure that originally required all Britons to carry the card.
The bill passed the House of Commons 310-279, and now goes to the House of Lords. If approved, the bill will become law by 2008.
Government officials have said that the national ID card will allow people to prove their identity, prevent identity theft and offer a secure way of identifying people for national security.
Prime Minister Tony Blair has said ID cards bearing biometric data like electronic fingerprints or iris scans
"have an important role to play in fighting serious crime and
terrorism and tackling illegal immigration."
"Bill requiring national ID cards for passport holders passes Britain's lower house." Lewiston Tribune 14 Feb 2006: 2A.
Fingerprint scans attach numbers to person's identity - 02/14/2006
Sodexho Inc., a company that runs food service operations at 900 college and university campuses, is conducting a fingerprint scan test program with students at Gonzaga University in Spokane, WA, and the University of North Texas.
About 400 students at Gonzaga are the first to test using finger scans to pay for meals and other expenses in the campus area.
The program, known as iMye, operates like a gift or debit card. Students or their families deposit money into an account that can be managed online.
The program doesn't use fingerprints or maintain a database of them. When students scan their fingerprints for buying things, the program uses algorithms to
create an identification based on a series of numbers. No images of the fingerprint are kept, according to company spokesperson Sarah Cody.
"Gonzaga: Cash, credit or finger scan." Lewiston Tribune 14 Feb 2006: 2D.
Calls made over Skype Internet calling can be decrypted, intercepted and tracked - 02/17/2006
Skype, the Internet calling service recently acquired by eBay, provides free voice calls and instant messaging between users. Skype's calls are encrypted by encoding them using complex mathematical operations which make them difficult for others to eavesdrop on.
Unlike more cumbersome and unpopular secure e-mails and instant-messaging programs, "Skype became popular not because
it was secure, but because it was easy to use," said Bruce Schneier, chief technology officer at Counterpane Internet Security.
Skype's software is distributed free. It had 75 million registered users worldwide at the end of 2005.
Skype calls whip around the Internet encrypted with keys of 256 bits long, double the 128-bit keys used to send credit card
numbers over the net.
"It is a pretty secure form of communication, which if you're talking to your mistress you really appreciate, but if al-Qaeda is
talking over Skype, you have probably a different view," said Monty Bannerman, CEO of Verso Technologies, which makes
software that can identify and block Skype calls.
Kurt Sauer, Skype's chief security officer, said there are no "back doors" that could let a government by-pass encryption on a
call. At the same time, he said, Skype "cooperates fully with all lawful requests from relevant authorities." He would not give
particulars.
Skype calls are decrypted if they enter the traditional telephone network to communicate with regular phones, so a
conversation could be intercepted there.
Schneier believes that eavesdropping on the content of calls is not as important to the NSA as tracking the calls, which is still
possible with Skype. "What you and I are saying is much less important than the fact that you and I are talking," Schneier says.
Svenson,Peter. "Calls made over Skype Internet service make eavesdropping tougher." USA TODAY 17 Feb 2006: 2B.
School bus drivers trained by Homeland Security for intelligence gathering - 02/18/2006
Homeland Security Department is financing training for school bus drivers to watch for potential terrorists.
Designers of the School Bus Watch program want drivers to be aware of their surroundings and report unusual activity.
"The terrorist is not going to be able to do some of their casing and rehearsal activity without being detected by one of you," said Jeffrey Beatty, an anti-terrorism veteran of the CIA, FBI, Army's Delta Force and teacher of one of the School Bus Watch driver's classes. The more people watching, he told the drivers, the safer the community will be.
With bus drivers becoming informal intelligence gatherers and extending the reach of Homeland Security, there comes growing concern over privacy issues.
Today it's bus drivers, tomorrow it could be postal officials, and the next day, it could be, 'Why don't we have this program in place for the people who deliver the newspaper to the door?' " John Rollins, a former senior Homeland
Security intelligence official now with the Congressional Research Service, now
calling for strong oversight for the program. "We could quickly get into a society where we're all spying on each other. It may be well intentioned, but there is a concern of going a bit too far."
The School Bus Watch program is part of the Highway Watch, an industry safety program run by the American Trucking Associations and financed since 2003 with $50 million in homeland security money.
Drivers are not being trained to be police, but only to report suspicious behavior to dispatchers, who alert the police and funnel tips to
that national analysis center.
Tens of thousands of bus operators have been trained in places large and small, from Dallas and New York City to Kure Beach, N.C., Hopewell, Va., and Mt. Pleasant, Texas.
Fuller, Ben. "New army on wheels: School bus drivers train to observe." Lewiston Tribune 18 Feb 2006: 5A.
The possible beginnings of the secret police in free America - 02/27/2006
On February 9, 2006, two men in uniform entered the Little Falls branch of the Montgomery County Public Library in Bethesda, Md. They walked into the main reading room and made the announcement that it is forbidden to use the library's computers to view Internet pornography.
One of the men challenged a patron about a Web site he was visiting and asked the man to step outside. The librarian intervened and summoned the uniformed men aside, and called the police. The men, later identified as employees of the department of Homeland Security, left before they could be confronted by the police for operating way outside their authority.
Pitts, Leornard Jr. "Is Big Brother Watching You." Lewiston Tribune 27 Feb 2008: 4A.
Paying bill off alerts Homeland Security - 02/28/2006
Walter Soehnge, a retired Texas schoolteacher, and his wife Deana live in Scituate, Rhode Island. They wanted to get their bills to a more manageable level, so they made a large payment of $6,522 on the JCPenney Platinum MasterCard.
When checking the account to insure that it had been credited, they learned that the check had arrived, but the amount available for credit on their account hadn't changed.
They called the credit-card company. They were told, as they moved up the managerial ladder at the call center, that the amount they had sent in was much larger than their normal monthly payment. And if the increase hits a certain percentage higher than that normal payment, Homeland Security has to be notified. The money doesn't move until the threat alert is lifted.
After notifying television stations, the American Civil Liberties Union and Bob Kerr of the Providence Journal, He went on the Internet to learn about the changes made in the Bank Privacy Act. "The more I'm on, the scarier it gets," he said. "It's scary how easily someone in Homeland Security can get permission to spy."
Kerr, Bob. "Pay too much and you could raise the alarm." 28 Feb 2006: 2A.
DNA collected before convictions -05/01/2006
California, Louisiana, Minnesota, Texas and Virginia, New Mexico and Kansas enacted laws that require DNA testing for all people arrested for alleged felonies, but not yet convicted of crimes. Similar plans are under review in New York, New Jersey, Michigan, Illinois and
Tennessee.
Once the DNA sample is taken and analyzed, it is registered in the the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), a network of state and federal computer indexes that matches DNA found at crime scenes to genetic profiles of known or suspected criminals. The database currently hold DNA profiles of 2.9 million people according to the FBI website. The matches scored by the DNA databases through have provided useful leads in about 32,000 crime investigations.
Willing, Richard. "Officials increase DNA profiles." USA TODAY 1 May 2006: 1A.
Database of ordinary citizen phone calls created by NSA after 9/11 - 05/12/2006
The National Security Agency has secretly amassed call records of tens of millions of Americans to combat terrorism. These records were obtained from AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth, who helped the government collect billions of domestic records for the compilation of the database of home and business telephone calls made within the USA by millions of ordinary citizens. The only major telecommunications company who declined to participate in this program was Qwest.
Although they reportedly do not involve listening or recording conversations, they use the call records to build a "spider web" of information that could involve extensive analysis of phone activity.
The patterns of the telephone calls reveal suspected terrorist operatives or supporters.
The largest database ever assembled in the world, whose goal is to create a database of every call ever made within the nation's borders, is a NSA program that is classified secret.
The program, which began shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, records the technical information about a phone call, including the numbers involved, time, date and duration.
Cauley,Leslie. "NSA has massive database of Americans phone calls." USA TODAY 11 May 2006: 1A.
Diamond, John and David Jackson. "Bush says privacy protected; others tell of spider web use." USA TODAY 12 May 2006: 1A.
Location and movement tracked by wireless gadgets - 06/02/2006
A cell phone, Blackberry, car navigation systems (GPS) like the OnStar system or wireless laptop computer is constantly broadcasting its location whenever its power is on, regardless of whether a call is in progress.
Three basic techniques are used to determine the location of a wireless phone or laptop within 20 or so yards:
1. GPS compares the timing of radio signals from three or four satellites in space.
2. Triangulation collects directional signals from two or three cell phone towers.
3. Wi-Fi local area networks track high-frequency radio signals from millions of transmitters in urban areas.
There are more than 214 million Americans - 2 out of 3 - who are wireless subscribers according to the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association, the wireless trade organization. There are 40 million Wi-Fi access points spread across the United States, and are used by states currently as they monitor wireless devices to detect traffic slowdowns and issue advisories to drivers.
In other words...your wireless devices inside your car, your home and your office are being used by the government to track your movement and others to control, implement and enforce movement based on this data collection.
Boyd, Robert S. "Wireless gadgets make it easy to be found, or to find someone." Lewiston Tribune 2 June 2006: 3A.
Google awarded patent to listen to ambient background TV noise for personalized ads - 06/13/2006
Google was recently awarded a patent for picking up on ambient audio from your TV and pairing those sounds to your computer to serve up ads based on what you are watching. By sampling the ambient sound emitted from the TV (presumably in the room the computer microphone is in), Google would automatically determine what is being watched from a small signature of the sound -- all with complete privacy and minuscule effort. The system would keep up with users while they channel surf by listening to the background noise, without effort or need of input from the viewer.
"Interactive TV Conference"Google Research Blog 13 June 2006. http://googleresearch.blogspot.com/2006/06/interactive-tv-conference-and-best.html
"Google Paper Explains Listening To Your TV Can Help It Put Ads and Info On Your Computer" Search Engine Watch Blog 13 June 2006. http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/060609-084319
United States gets wide access to banking records - 06/23/2006
A secret program to stop financial support for terrorism has been implemented, giving the United States government sweeping access to international banking records. The secret programs uses broad subpoenas to collect the financial records from an international system known as Swift.
"U.S. gets wide access to banking records." Lewiston Tribune 23 June 2006: 5A.
Watch list kept by southern Oregon police - 06/25/2006
The Ashland, Oregon city police department has assembled a watch list of 24 people who "are creating a chronic nuisance" or have criminal records, prompting a protest from the American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon.
An officer made the list public by giving it to the Chamber of Commerce. The "Friendly Fury 3 Watch Sheet" contains names, photos and dates of birth of 24 men who the police department is
having "contentious problems with."
"It's a violation of people's rights to be arbitrarily selected for special observation or enforcement action," said Ralph Temple of Ashland, a member of the ACLU's Southern Oregon chapter.
He said it wasn't appropriate to give the list to the chamber. "It appears as if the mercantile class is using the police to go after the poor," he said.
City Administrator Martha Bennett said the list shouldn't have been released, but City Attorney Mike Franell had told her it was "not illegal to release it and not illegal to create it."
"Police in southern Oregon put 24 people on 'watch list." Lewiston Tribune 25 June 2006: 5C.
Europe wants to screen passengers with biometrics - 08/30/2006
Europe wants to make flying safer by implementing biometric technology to screen airline passengers in security checks for those who volunteer. Airport security would scan fingerprints or their iris (the colored part of the eye) with an infrared light that would digitally capture an image and translate unique patterns. The system compares the code to a database, and allows the cleared passengers to pass through immigration and security checkpoints more easily.
Privacy advocates worry that pre-screening and the use of biometric technology that begins voluntary, will end up mandatory.
Stinson, Jeffrey. "Europe pushes for study of biometrics to screen passengers." USA TODAY 30 Aug 2006: 5A
Truckers and bus drivers reporting suspicious activities - 08/31/2006
Almost 400,000 people - mostly commercial truck drivers - have been trained by Highway Watch to spot suspicious activity on the highways. The program is run by the American Trucking Association with funds from the Department of Homeland Security. Drivers take a class or watch a one-hour DVD to qualify.
Membership is predicted to top 1 million by March 2007. Currently, members phone in an average of 272 reports each month to a private toll-free number for not only security concerns, but also activities of suspicious characters that appear to be drinking and doing drugs in their
vehicles as seen from the cabs high above.
Critics say Highway Watch is creating snoops that could lead to racial profiling. "This has the potential to be vigilante justice," says Barry Steinhardt, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's technology and liberty project.
"We are in danger of turning truck drivers into barely trained,
inadequate police intelligence officials who focus on people of color."
Keen, Judy. "Truckers, bus drivers on lookout for suspicious activity on roads" USA TODAY 31 Aug 2006: 5A.
Oklahoma using electronic database to track sales of cold pills - 10/3/2006
Oklahoma has replaced logbooks which recorded the names of those who purchased
pseudoephedrine, to a new electronic system to track the sales of the cold pills. The electronic database will prevent people from circumventing the law by going to multiple pharmacies.
The Associated Press "Across the USA - Oklahoma", USA TODAY, October 3, 2006, Section 18A
Red light tickets upheld by courts in five states - 10/18/2006
Red-light cameras that snap photos of motorists running red lights has been upheld by courts in fives states and Washington, D.C. as constitutional. The cameras are in use in more than 100 cities. When the car runs a red light, the owner of the vehicle receives a ticket in the mail.
State courts in Colorado, Oregon, North Carolina, Iowa and California as well as the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and the Superior Court in Washington D.C. have rejected constitutional challenges to the cameras.
Parker, Laura. "Some seeing red over red-light tickets." USA TODAY 18 Oct 2006: 3A.
Electronic monitors sniff and screech - 11/06/2006
Courts are tracking convicted lawbreakers with more than satellite surveillance. Electronic monitors now target behaviors that need modified.
A black box beeper is used by Michigan courts to modify the dangerous driving of traffic violators. When installed in offender's cars, it screeches when they brake too hard or turn to fast, and keeps a tally of the alerts for probation
officers.
Courts and prosecutors in 40 states require drunken drivers to wear an ankle bracelet that sniffs their sweat once an hour for signs of alcohol use. The Alcohol Monitoring Systems reports the results daily to authorities on the Internet.
The Riverside County Probation Dept in California tracks convicted drunk drivers with a tracking device armed with GPS technology. The device, attached to a wrist or ankle, alerts authorities in less than one minute when a convicted DUI offender enters a bar.
In Fresno, California, police sneak into the driveways of convicted drunken drivers and plant Global Positioning System tracking devices on their cars to follow them when they drive.
Heath, Brad. "Electronic monitoring now includes sweat sniffers, screeching black boxes." USA TODAY 6 Nov 2006: 8A.
Larry Copeland, USA TODAY, "Some see Fresno's DUI crackdown as a model", USA TODAY, November 6, 2006, Section 1A
American travelers get terror ratings - 12/01/2006
Federal agents have been assigning millions of International and American travelers computer generated scores rating the risk they pose of being terrorists or criminals. Travelers do not get to see the rating, or directly challenge the risk assessment. The government intends to keep these ratings on file for forty years.
The computer score represents the assessment of their travel scores, where they are from, how they paid for their tickets, their motor vehicle records, past one-way travel, seating preference and what kind of meal they ordered. The Homeland Security Department calls the rating program "one of the most advanced targeting systems in the world." A similar Homeland Security data-mining project for domestic air travelers, named Secure Flight, has been barred from implementation by Congress until it can pass ten tests for accuracy and privacy protection.
The ATS data may be shared with state, local and foreign governments for use in hiring decisions, granting of licenses, security clearances, contracts and courts. Everybody will have access to this data, but the one that is being rated. According to The Homeland Security Privacy Impact statement, "an individual might not be aware of the reason additional scrutiny is taking place, nor should he or she" because that might compromise the ATS' methods.
Sniffen, Michael J. "Millions of travelers get terror ratings." Lewiston Tribune 1 Dec 2006: 4A.
High-tech identity card needed for access to ports - 01/04/2007
The Transportation Workers Identity Credential will be issued to 750,000 port workers who must first pass background checks. Issued to truck drivers, longshoreman and mariners, they will not be granted access to U.S. ports until they have the card.
The card will contain the holder's photograph and name, an expiration date and a serial number. An integrated circuit chip will store the holder's fingerprint template, a PIN chosen by the individual and unique identifying information.
Ultimately, as many as 6 million transportation workers in rail yards, airports and seaports will have to buy the card to gain access to secure areas.
Miller, Leslie. "Security card riles transport workers." Spokesman-Review [Spokane] 4 January 2007: A5.
President Bush claims sweeping new powers to open mail - 01/04/2007
President Bush has quietly claimed sweeping new powers to open American's mail without a judge's warrant.
The president signed a postal reform bill into law on December 20, followed with the issuance of a "signing statement" that declared his right to open people's mail under emergency conditions.
Experts said the new powers could be easily abused and used to vacuum up large amounts of mail.
President Bush said he will "construe" an exception, "which provides for opening of an item of a class of mail otherwise sealed against inspection in a manner consistent ... with the need to conduct searches in exigent circumstances."
Meek, James Gordon. "Bush claims right to open private mail." Spokesman-Review [Spokane] 4 Jan 2007: A10.
Bracelet wearing kids trigger voice activated car warning - 01/12/2007
Nissan Motor Corp automakers in Japan are placing bracelets on young children that will relay signals to the vehicles to alert drivers of the presence of children in a busy urban neighborhood. The Kanagawa project warns Drivers passing through kid's territory that ",Children are nearby, please be careful."
"Safety gets new look." Spokesman-Review [Spokane] 12 Jan 2007: A9.
Pentagon database has Protesters names - 01/17/2007
A Defense Department database named Talon contains over 13,000 entries concerning potential threats to military facilities. This database includes over 2800 reports involving American citizens, many which were involved in "anti-military protests or demonstrations in the U.S."
There is no congressional oversight to access of information contained within Talon. It has a wide circulation with about 28 organizations and over 3500 individuals authorized to submit reports or view data. Access is granted to organizations as varied as military agencies, to state, federal and local law enforcement officials.
Counterintelligence Field Activity (CIFA) had been using national security letters to gather financial data on U.S. and reports were thought to have been included in Talon. A Pentagon spokesman denied this, and said such information was for particular investigations and not made part of the Talon database.
Pincus, Walter. "Protesters' names in Pentagon database." Spokesman-Review [Spokane] 17 Jan 2007: A4.
Real Id revolt to stop national driver's licenses - 02/05/2007
Lawmakers in Maine, Georgia, Wyoming, Montana, New Mexico, Vermont and Washington state are balking at implementing the Real ID Act of 2005. This federal law sets a national standard for driver's licenses and requires states to link their record-keeping systems to national databases.
Many of the states are expected to soon pass laws or adopt resolutions declining to participate in the federal
identification network. If States do not comply to the law by May 2008, then their driver's licenses will fall short of Real ID's standards, and will be be accepted for boarding an airplane, entering a federal building or opening some bank accounts.
Arizona, Georgia, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Hampshire,
Oklahoma, Utah and Wyoming have active legislation against Real ID. Many legislators are concerned about privacy issues as well as the estimated $11 billion implementation cost.
Miller, Leslie. "States opposing national driver's licenses." Spokesman-Review [Spokane] 5 Feb 2007: A6.
National security letters use increased to discover private information - 03/09/2007
The FBI has increased its secret demand of telephone, e-mail and financial records throuh the use of national security letters since Sept. 11, 2001. In 2005, the FBI issued more than 19,000 letters, with 47,000 separate requests for information. These letters enabled FBI field offices to compel the release of private information without a judge or grand jury authorization.
The USA Patriot Act elimninated the requirement that the FBI show "specific and artaiculable" reasons to believe that the records it demands belong to a foreign intelligence agent or terrorist. Clandestine scrutiny of U.S. residents and visitors who are not alleged to be terrorists or spies are permitted through this process.
Third parties, such as telephone companies, banks and Internet providers have responded to national security letters with personal information about customers upon receiving these letters. Although the information was given beyond the authority of the permissible release, the FBI merely "sequestered" that information, rather than choosing to destroy it.
Solomon, John and Barton Gellman. "Errors found in FBI records requests." Spokesman-Review [Spokane] 9 Mar 2007: A3.
DNA test kits available to public - 06/18/2007
The Internet's largest family history Web site, Ancestry.com and Sorenson Genomics, a privately held DNA research firm will launch a DNA testing product by the end of the summer, offering customers the possibility of finding DNA matches in the site's 24,000 genealogical databases. Sorenson and Ancestry.com's Provo, Utah-based parent company, The Generations Network, will allow customers to swipe their cheeks with a cotton swab, have them tested for $200 and results added to the family tree Web sites.
"Web site to offer DNA test kits." Spokesman-Review [Spokane] 18 June 2007: A3.
Powerful spy satellites allow law enforcement to penetrate buildings and underground bunkers - 8/16/2007
The Bush administration has expanded domestic access to powerful spy satellites that are able to see through cloud cover, penetrate buildings and underground bunkers. The program approved by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Department of Homeland Security gives access to domestic law enforcement to see within structures for the purpose of "collection, analysis and production skills and capabilities of the intelligence community."
The satellites cover the entire United States during the course of their orbits. They operate 24 hours a day and use infrared cameras at night.
Under the new program, the Department of Homeland Security will create a subordinate agency to be known as the National Applications Office. It has gained the backing of Congress, and is responsible for coordinating requests for access to intelligence by civilian agencies. Civil liberties groups condemned the move, and liken it to a "Big Brother in the sky," with fears that this will bring America one step closer to a police state.
Warrick, Joby. "Bush approves domestic use of powerful spy satellites." Spokesman-Review [Spokane] 16 Aug 2007: A1+.
Travel records of Americans collected by Feds - 09/22/2007
The American Federal government is collecting records on millions of American travelers and their travel habits. The electronic database contains data on who flies, drives, or takes cruises abroad. It keeps track of where American travelers plan to stay, the personal items they carry during their journeys, and even the books they are carrying. The personal travel records are stored for as long as 15 years.
The Homeland Security Automated Targeting System is established to help officials distinguiqh potential terrorists. However, details of the database reveal that the government is monitoring the personal habits more closely than has been previously acknowledged. Activists requests for records revealed that data included that one of them carried a book on marijuana and another had a small flashlight bearing the symbol of a marijuana leaf.
The Identity Project receives data directly from commercial reservation systems like Galileo and Sabre, but also receives specific and personal information from airlines as well. The DHS database generally includes "passenger name record" (PNR) information, and notes taken during secondary screenings of travelers.
Nakashima, Ellen. "Feds gather Americans' travel records." Spokesman-Review [Spokane] 22 Sept 2007: A10.
FBI building world's largest biometric database - 12/31/2007
The FBI has started compiling digital images of faces, fingerprints and palm patterns to include within the world's largest computer database of biometrics. They will spend approximately $1 billion dollars to build the system to enable the government to identify people at home and abroad. The system will be called the Next Generation Identification and will collect biometric information in one place for identification and forensic purposes, according to the Washington Post. The agency will be awarding a 10-year contract to expand its database in January.
"FBI building a massive tracker." Spokesman-Review [Spokane] 31 Dec 2007: A10.
Microsoft brain scan warning - 6 Jan 2008
A recent Microsoft patent application has revealed newest computing threat of monitoring brain signals, analyzing their meaning, and giving bosses, co-workers, interested parties and anyone who thinks they have a need to know access. Their patent speaks of plans to evaluate "one or more physiological or environmental sensors to detect at least one of heart rate, galvanic skin response, EMG, brain signals, respiration rate, body temperature, movement, facial movements, facial expressions, and blood pressure."
When the brain scan picks up distress signs in the "target user", the application processes user activity data with associated target activity, and sends a note to someone nearby that can help. This data of target distress is collected through a recording of "current activity, experience with the target activity, interruptibility, skill activity, cost, and success rate with the target activity."
Microsoft brain scan monitors also are envisioned to monitor workers and record their "experience with the target activity or certain aspects of the target activity, availability (e.g. free time, schedule open, proximity, or location), social distance from the target user, work patterns and interruptibility, success/failure history with respect tot he target activity, cost, current state, current activity, and/or performance rating for the target activity or for activities related or similar to the target activity." Then, when all this data is known, appropriate authority or help is summoned to ensure target is responding in manner desired.
Macbeth,Steven W., et al. "United States Patent Application: 20070300174." 06 Jan 2008 <Microsoft brain scan patent application>.
Google keeping medical records - 02/22/2008
Google Inc. is testing a long-awaited health service by storing the medical records of up to 10,000 patients at the Cleveland Clinic. Volunteers have had their medical records electronically transferred so their personal health records can be retrieved through Google's new service. The Medical Records project is not open to the general public at this time.
This newest venture should bring concerns about the volume of sensitive information that is entrusted to the Internet search leader. Although each health profile, including information about prescriptions, allergies and medical historys will be protected by a passwword, it will be the same password that is used to link other Google services such as e-mail and personalized search tools.
In 1996, the Health Insurance Portability and Accoutability Act (HIPPA) established strict standards that classified medical information as privileged communication between doctor and patient. Doctors are required by law to notify a patient when subpoenaed for a medical record. By voluntarily releasing medical records to a service run by Google, or anyother Internet service provider, the patient could make it easier for the government or lawyers to obtain their personal, medical information. Also, if the medical information is not protected by HIPPA, the information contaned within the records could be used for marketing purposes.
"Google to store health records." Spokesman-Review [Spokane] 22 Feb 2008: A12.
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