Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Cameras everywhere, internet monitoring, and phone tapping by the government has been the focus of Human Rights activist’s, who argue that the government is abusing their power by watching our every move and are completely ignoring our right to privacy. Many people believe that this is being done in secrecy when in all reality, public surveillance is not one of the many secrets that the government is keeping. The information that I am sharing here is available on government ran websites not Weekly World News.
First off let me quote the former Supreme Court Justice, Louis Brandeis, who stated: “The right to privacy is a person’s right to be left alone by the government…the right most valued by civilized men.” Not to mention that the Right to Privacy is a Civil Liberty.
One reason that the government can get away with some of the surveillance technology is because technology has progressed without the progression of privacy specific’s. Take for instance the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), which is the US privacy law that specifies standards for government surveillance of our mobile phone and internet communications. The ECPA was enacted on October 21, 1986. Technology has obviously advanced since then but the privacy rules have not been updated, leading to diminished constitutional rights. The government claims the ‘right’ to track our location using our cell phone’s without obtaining a warrant. The government also argues that the fourth amendments search warrant requirement does not apply to accessing much of our email or the documents we store on the internet.
Now aside from the government spying on us directly, the government now openly recruits everyday American citizens and has been since 1996. The organization is called InfraGard, which is a partnership between the FBI and private citizens recruited to spy on friends, neighbors, and coworkers. InfraGard began in the Cleveland field office in 1996. The program expanded to other FBI field offices, and in 1998 the FBI assigned national program responsibility for InfraGard to the former National Infrastructure Protection Center (NIPC) and to the Cyber Division in 2003. In March 2003, NIPC was transferred to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). There are 48,980 InfraGard member’s (including FBI) to date, according to the official InfraGard website. Any individual can join InfraGard with no previous training necessary, all one has to do is pass a background check. There is a membership application on the InfraGard website that reads like a job application. Now that is extremely scary that all one has to do is apply and pass a background check. Even for a job flipping burger’s you have to pass a drug test but yet you can basically be an ’informant’ for the FBI and be a crack head, just as long as you have never been caught, that is completely insane! And the offices are extremely accessible, there are 87 InfraGard locations in 48 states. Two more locations are coming soon to Louisiana in Baton Rouge and Lafayette.
Now we know basically who is doing the spying but where does all of this gathered information go?
The answer is, Fusion Centers. There are, to date, 70 fusion centers around the country- 50 state and 20 regional. Fusion Center’s were created under joint project between the Department of Homeland Security and the US Department of Justice between 2003 and 2007. Designed to promote information sharing at the federal level between agencies such as the (CIA), (FBI), Department of Justice, US Military, and state and
local level government. Fusion center’s may also be affiliated with an emergency operations center that responds in the event of a disaster. The fusion process claims to seek to identify perceived threats and stop them before they occur, but as we shall see in the following accounts this is clearly not the case when innocent people are reported for standing up for their beliefs are placed on terrorist watch list’s.
One fusion center has been involved with spying on anti-war and peace activists as well as anarchists in Washington State. The Department has launched the “If you see something, say something” campaign in order to engage the public to identify and report indicator’s of terrorism, crime, and other threats.
It makes since that the government would want the general population to identify indicator’s of terrorism since the government is so completely oblivious to what indicates a terrorist attack, I.e. 9/11.
David Rittger’s of the Cato Institute has noted: “ a long line of fusion center and DHS reports labeling broad swaths of the public as a threat to national security. The North Texas fusion system labeled Muslim lobbyist’s as a potential threat; a DHS analyst in Wisconsin thought both pro- and anti- abortion activist’s were worrisome; a Pennsylvania Homeland Security contractor watched environmental activist’s, tea party group’s, and a second amendment rally; the Maryland state police put anti- death penalty and anti- war activist’s in a federal terrorism database; a fusion center in Missouri thought that all third party voters and Ron Paul supporters were a threat; and the Department of Homeland Security described half of the American political spectrum as “right wing extremists.”
Missouri Information Analysis Center (MIAC) made news in 2009 for targeting supporters of third party candidates, Ron Paul supporters, pro- life activist’s, and conspiracy theorist’s as potential militia member’s.
In early April 2009, the Virginia fusion center came under criticism for publishing a terrorism threat assessment which stated that certain universities are potential hubs for terror related activity. The report targeted historically black colleges and identified hacktivism as a form of terrorism.
Rep. Cohen attacks would-be conspiracy ’theorist’s’ claiming that only those who believe in little green men and interstellar war would believe such things as the existence of FEMA camps. Most curious, however, is that Rep. Cohen is a co-sponsor of H.R. bill 645, which clearly mandates the creation of such camps, yet he completely denies their existence.
2/15/06 “Washington Post”- The National Counterterrorism Center maintains a central repository of 325,000 names of international terrorism suspects or people who allegedly aid them, a number that has more than quadrupled since the Fall of 2003, according to counterterrorism official’s. An NCTC official refused to say how many on the list- put together from reports supplied by the CIA, FBI, NSA, and other agencies- are U.S. citizens. The NSA is a key provider of information for the NCTC database, although official’s refused to say how many names on the list are linked to the agency’s controversial domestic eavesdropping effort. Under the program, the NSA has conducted wiretaps on an unknown number of U.S. citizens without warrants. Civil liberties advocates and privacy experts said they were troubled by the size of the NCTC database, and they said it further heightens their concerns that such government terrorism lists include the names of large numbers of innocent people. Currently, according to an NCTC official, there are 26 classified data networks carrying terrorism material.
So basically if you don’t stand for something or fight for something then you should be safe. If on the other hand you have a functional brain, then you’re screwed. But considering the fact that the government has screwed us since the beginning, why should we shut up now. So I am going to give you some ’bad’ advice, which is to stay vocal and keep fighting because if you don’t stand for something then you will fall for anything! The official InfraGard website http://infragard.net. What is the Cato Institute? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/cato_institute. Related topics http://www.libertyforlife.com/jail-police/us_concentration_camps.htm , www.thedenverchannel.com/news/9559707/detail.html
First off let me quote the former Supreme Court Justice, Louis Brandeis, who stated: “The right to privacy is a person’s right to be left alone by the government…the right most valued by civilized men.” Not to mention that the Right to Privacy is a Civil Liberty.
One reason that the government can get away with some of the surveillance technology is because technology has progressed without the progression of privacy specific’s. Take for instance the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), which is the US privacy law that specifies standards for government surveillance of our mobile phone and internet communications. The ECPA was enacted on October 21, 1986. Technology has obviously advanced since then but the privacy rules have not been updated, leading to diminished constitutional rights. The government claims the ‘right’ to track our location using our cell phone’s without obtaining a warrant. The government also argues that the fourth amendments search warrant requirement does not apply to accessing much of our email or the documents we store on the internet.
Now aside from the government spying on us directly, the government now openly recruits everyday American citizens and has been since 1996. The organization is called InfraGard, which is a partnership between the FBI and private citizens recruited to spy on friends, neighbors, and coworkers. InfraGard began in the Cleveland field office in 1996. The program expanded to other FBI field offices, and in 1998 the FBI assigned national program responsibility for InfraGard to the former National Infrastructure Protection Center (NIPC) and to the Cyber Division in 2003. In March 2003, NIPC was transferred to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). There are 48,980 InfraGard member’s (including FBI) to date, according to the official InfraGard website. Any individual can join InfraGard with no previous training necessary, all one has to do is pass a background check. There is a membership application on the InfraGard website that reads like a job application. Now that is extremely scary that all one has to do is apply and pass a background check. Even for a job flipping burger’s you have to pass a drug test but yet you can basically be an ’informant’ for the FBI and be a crack head, just as long as you have never been caught, that is completely insane! And the offices are extremely accessible, there are 87 InfraGard locations in 48 states. Two more locations are coming soon to Louisiana in Baton Rouge and Lafayette.
Now we know basically who is doing the spying but where does all of this gathered information go?
The answer is, Fusion Centers. There are, to date, 70 fusion centers around the country- 50 state and 20 regional. Fusion Center’s were created under joint project between the Department of Homeland Security and the US Department of Justice between 2003 and 2007. Designed to promote information sharing at the federal level between agencies such as the (CIA), (FBI), Department of Justice, US Military, and state and
local level government. Fusion center’s may also be affiliated with an emergency operations center that responds in the event of a disaster. The fusion process claims to seek to identify perceived threats and stop them before they occur, but as we shall see in the following accounts this is clearly not the case when innocent people are reported for standing up for their beliefs are placed on terrorist watch list’s.
One fusion center has been involved with spying on anti-war and peace activists as well as anarchists in Washington State. The Department has launched the “If you see something, say something” campaign in order to engage the public to identify and report indicator’s of terrorism, crime, and other threats.
It makes since that the government would want the general population to identify indicator’s of terrorism since the government is so completely oblivious to what indicates a terrorist attack, I.e. 9/11.
David Rittger’s of the Cato Institute has noted: “ a long line of fusion center and DHS reports labeling broad swaths of the public as a threat to national security. The North Texas fusion system labeled Muslim lobbyist’s as a potential threat; a DHS analyst in Wisconsin thought both pro- and anti- abortion activist’s were worrisome; a Pennsylvania Homeland Security contractor watched environmental activist’s, tea party group’s, and a second amendment rally; the Maryland state police put anti- death penalty and anti- war activist’s in a federal terrorism database; a fusion center in Missouri thought that all third party voters and Ron Paul supporters were a threat; and the Department of Homeland Security described half of the American political spectrum as “right wing extremists.”
Missouri Information Analysis Center (MIAC) made news in 2009 for targeting supporters of third party candidates, Ron Paul supporters, pro- life activist’s, and conspiracy theorist’s as potential militia member’s.
In early April 2009, the Virginia fusion center came under criticism for publishing a terrorism threat assessment which stated that certain universities are potential hubs for terror related activity. The report targeted historically black colleges and identified hacktivism as a form of terrorism.
Rep. Cohen attacks would-be conspiracy ’theorist’s’ claiming that only those who believe in little green men and interstellar war would believe such things as the existence of FEMA camps. Most curious, however, is that Rep. Cohen is a co-sponsor of H.R. bill 645, which clearly mandates the creation of such camps, yet he completely denies their existence.
2/15/06 “Washington Post”- The National Counterterrorism Center maintains a central repository of 325,000 names of international terrorism suspects or people who allegedly aid them, a number that has more than quadrupled since the Fall of 2003, according to counterterrorism official’s. An NCTC official refused to say how many on the list- put together from reports supplied by the CIA, FBI, NSA, and other agencies- are U.S. citizens. The NSA is a key provider of information for the NCTC database, although official’s refused to say how many names on the list are linked to the agency’s controversial domestic eavesdropping effort. Under the program, the NSA has conducted wiretaps on an unknown number of U.S. citizens without warrants. Civil liberties advocates and privacy experts said they were troubled by the size of the NCTC database, and they said it further heightens their concerns that such government terrorism lists include the names of large numbers of innocent people. Currently, according to an NCTC official, there are 26 classified data networks carrying terrorism material.
So basically if you don’t stand for something or fight for something then you should be safe. If on the other hand you have a functional brain, then you’re screwed. But considering the fact that the government has screwed us since the beginning, why should we shut up now. So I am going to give you some ’bad’ advice, which is to stay vocal and keep fighting because if you don’t stand for something then you will fall for anything! The official InfraGard website http://infragard.net. What is the Cato Institute? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/cato_institute. Related topics http://www.libertyforlife.com/jail-police/us_concentration_camps.htm , www.thedenverchannel.com/news/9559707/detail.html
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)