Beast System: Laying The Foundation Of The Beast

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Even if they're off, cellphones allow FBI to listen in

Even if they're off, cellphones allow FBI to listen in

It should come as no surprise that cellphone calls may be tapped by law enforcement.

But authorities also can use cellphones to eavesdrop on suspects, even when the devices are off.

The FBI converted the Nextel cellphones of two alleged New York mobsters into "roving bugs," microphones that relayed conversations when the phones seemed to be inactive, according to recent court documents.

Authorities won't reveal how they did this. But a countersurveillance expert said Nextel, Motorola Razr and Samsung 900 series cellphones can be reprogrammed over the air, using methods meant for delivering upgrades and maintenance. It's called "flashing the firmware," said James Atkinson, a consultant for the Granite Island Group in Massachusetts.

"These are very powerful phones, but all that power comes with a price. By allowing ring tones and stock quotes and all this other stuff, you also give someone a way to get into your phones," Atkinson said.

Privacy advocates called such use of roving bugs intrusive and illegal. Webcams and microphones on home computers soon may be fair game for remote-control gumshoes, too, they said.

"This is a kind of surveillance we've never really seen before. The government can and will exploit whatever technology is available to achieve their surveillance goals. This is of particular concern, considering the proliferation of microphones and cameras in the products we own," said Kevin Bankston, a lawyer for the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Converting cellphones into stealth microphones violates the Fourth Amendment protection against overly broad searches, Bankston said. FBI spokesman James Margolin said the bureau's use of roving bugs is monitored closely by the courts.

"The operative thing for any concerned citizen is, we only do this when we get authorization from the judiciary, when we meet the probable-cause threshold," he said.

Legally, he said, bugging cellphones differs little from placing microphones "in a chair or a wall or behind a picture."

"It's not a situation where we just turn the tape on and we gather everything," Margolin said. "By law, we only listen to what the warrant authorizes us to listen to."

However, hackers probably can pull this off, too, said Lauren Weinstein, who warned of the possibility in 1999 on his online Privacy Forum. "A lot of people know an awful lot about the inner workings of these phones," he said.

The roving bugs came to light last month in an opinion by U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in New York.

Kaplan's opinion, reported online by CNET, upheld FBI bugging of cellphones used by John "Buster" Ardito, allegedly a high-ranking member of the Genovese crime family, and his lawyer and associate, Peter Peluso.

A listening device in Ardito's phone "functioned whether the phone was powered on or off, intercepting conversations within its range wherever it happened to be," Kaplan wrote.

Investigators got permission for the bug from another judge in 2003, after learning that Ardito's associates had discovered FBI bugs planted in restaurants where they gathered.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Southern District of New York declined to comment.

Margolin declined to say if an eavesdropping device was planted in Ardito's cellphone or if agents remotely programmed the phone for real-time eavesdropping or for recording audio to transmit at specified times.

"For obvious reasons, we don't discuss what we are or are not capable of doing, technologically," Margolin said.

Sprint Nextel spokesman Mark Elliott said the company cooperates with authorities when they have warrants and subpoenas. "In this case, we were not aware of any investigation and were not asked to participate," Elliott said.

Samsung spokesman Jose Cardona said he had not heard of any privacy issues with 900 series phones.

Nextel phones are made by Motorola, which also makes the popular Razr. Motorola spokeswoman Molly Sheehan said the company's phones were not designed or intended to violate privacy rights or laws, "and Motorola neither supports nor condones such use." She referred further questions to the FBI.

While all commercial mobile services can be tapped, Nextel is the easiest because its network uses a technology called TDMA, said the Granite Island Group's Atkinson, who was trained by the government and advises corporations about security.

TDMA conveys a constant audio stream to cell towers. That stream can be monitored surreptitiously with another Nextel phone, Atkinson said.

A walkie-talkie feature has made Nextel popular with businesses. But Atkinson said more convenience can mean less security.

That goes for Nextel-toting FBI agents, too, he said. If they gather in Washington, "I can tell you from a few blocks away where the FBI agents are, and how far apart they're sitting in the building."

Asked if the FBI uses Nextel phones, spokeswoman Cathy Milhoan said, "We use a variety of phones and providers."

Atkinson said the only sure way to shield a mobile phone from the prying ears of police, hackers and jealous spouses is to remove the battery. But don't get cocky.

"A smart eavesdropper will bug the battery," he said.

 

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Capital to increase use of cameras

Capital to increase use of cameras

Mexico City may not look much different a year from now, but if its government´s plan to install 4,000 new video surveillance cameras during 2007 is carried out, the nation´s capital will likely have a different feel to it.
Residents and visitors will certainly feel more watched, with one, two or several wireless cameras set up in each of the city´s 1,352 "territorial units" carved out for crime prevention purposes.

Joel Ortega, chief of police, is hoping they´ll also feel safer.

"We want to combat the fear," Ortega said Thursday. "We feel good about having achieved a significant decrease in the crime rate, but what we want now is for the population to perceive (the progress)."

The city already uses a modest video surveillance operation, for the most part limited to fixed installations in the Historic Center, camera set-ups in 12 patrol cars, and mandatory taping of all tow-aways.

The program will not only more than quadruple the number of functioning cameras, it will also take advantage of advanced technology for quicker response times as well as more fruitful longer-term investigations, according to Ortega, whose official job title is public security secretary for Mexico City.

The wireless cameras will use the Wimex high-speed microwave transmission system, with monitoring centers in each of the 16 "delegaciones," the borough-like governing bodies into which the city is divided. The centers will be connected to the 066 emergency call systems and operate in a "C4" set up, police jargon for a center capable of control, command, communication and computation. In practical terms, that means police response to crimes in progress can be quicker and more efficient.

That´s where the 20,000 new officers that the city is planning to hire, train and deploy next year come into the picture. Ortega emphasized Thursday that the two planned crime-fighting improvements - the surveillance program and the boost in personnel - are mutually dependent.

"If we had the cameras and not the increased deployment capacity, we wouldn´t be able to take advantage of the information," he said. "If we had the officers without the cameras, we´d be without the technical arm that helps the police do their work."

For Ortega, who said the city is following the model used by Athens as it beefed up security for the 2004 Olympics, the surveillance program means much more than scanning screens for suspicious behavior. "The cameras by themselves don´t solve the problem," he said, "The indispensable heart of all this is the technology inside them."

By that he means software programs that will enable investigators to use the taped information in useful ways. For example, city police will use a "face recognition" program that issues an alert if the face of a wanted criminal is picked up by any of the cameras.

Also, 16 cameras will do nothing but scan license plates, alerting officials when a vehicle they´ve been looking for - a stolen car, an illusive suspect - is spotted. The cameras will read 100,000 license plates a day.

Of the 4,000 new cameras, 2,352 will be distributed throughout the city, with some of the more crime-plagued territorial units getting more than one.

Another 932 cameras are targeted for dangerous areas where crime rates are especially high, and 600 will be added to the city´s road and highway monitoring system. A hundred will be used for the face-recognition program, with the final 16 dedicated to license-plate reading.

The city government has petitioned Congress to pay for the purchase and installation of the equipment, which is expected to cost 1.5 billion pesos, (US$144 million). Approval is not guaranteed, and Ortega indicated Thursday that the project would be in jeopardy without federal funding.

"We would lose a critical opportunity that comes with a change of government," he said.

Ortega said he would appear before the Congress as often as needed to lobby for the funds. "Congress should be amenable to assigning the funds to Mexico City, since they address the people´s primary demand, which is to combat crime," he said.

 

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NYC violated Constitution by jailing protesters

NYC violated Constitution by jailing protesters

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York City violated the U.S. Constitution for more than two months in 2001 with a policy to detain arrested protesters overnight instead of giving them summonses to appear in court, a U.S. federal jury found on Monday.

The suit stemmed from the city's handling of the mass protests and arrests in New York immediately after the 1999 killing by police of unarmed Guinean immigrant Amadou Diallo, who was hit by 19 shots.

An eight-person jury in Manhattan federal court found that the city's police department violated the First Amendment right to free speech and the 14th Amendment right to due process between May 1, 2001, and July 13, 2001, by its policy of locking up protesters overnight in city jails.

However, the same jury ruled that the 350 protester plaintiffs failed to show that in the two years before 2001 the city followed an unwritten policy of locking up protesters.

"It's not the victory we wanted, but certainly it's a victory for the 30 plaintiffs who alleged they were discriminated against by the police department for those more than two months," said Jonathan Moore, a lawyer for the protesters.

Susan Halatyn, a city attorney, said decision was a victory for the city.

"We are very pleased that, after hearing and carefully considering all the evidence, the jury understood that the city never had an unwritten policy to deny demonstrators equal treatment under the law," Halatyn said.

 

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RFID passports 'cloned within five minutes'

RFID passports 'cloned within five minutes'

New passports using radio frequency identification (RFID) chips to hold personal data can be cloned in less than five minutes, it has been claimed.

Two technology consultants have discovered that ePassports can be cloned using internet-bought software and put the owner "more at risk" from identity thieves, according to the BBC.

RFID chips on ePassports contain information about the owner via radio signals which can be read from a short distance.

However, Lukas Grunwald and Christian Bottger bought an RFID reader on eBay and developed software that provides a blank chip for the cloned details to be copied onto.

And the cloned passport behaves no differently to the original when tested, giving rise to the pair's claims that ePassports may not be as secure as originally believed.

"Nearly every country issuing this passport has a few security experts who are yelling out…'This is not secure. This is not a good idea to use this technology'," said Mr Grunwald.

Earlier this month, Adam Laurie, a computer security expert analogised the ePassports' technology as like "installing a solid steel front door to your house and then putting the key under the mat".

TUV Product Service, part of the TÜV SÜD Group of companies with 1bn Euros turnover, in excess of 9,500 employees and 500 locations worldwide, is a leading producer of Compliance and Assurance Solutions for the RFID sector. Please contact us (info@tuvps.co.uk) for further information.

 

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Save the Internet!

Save the Internet!

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I spy - a pupil in the toilets

I spy - a pupil in the toilets

CHILDREN as young as four are being filmed in school toilets across Barking and Dagenham.

The Recorder has discovered a number of CCTV cameras have been installed in primary and secondary schools.

Officials at Barking and Dagenham Council claim there is no secrecy around the cameras, but have refused to disclose which schools are involved in the controversial scheme.

Council bosses have in the past vigorously defended pupils' identities and have even refused to name youngsters pictured in Recorder articles - yet questions are sure to be raised about the privacy and rights of pupils being caught on camera.

Despite contacting every school in the borough, the Recorder received no responses. We have therefore been forced to submit an application for the details under the Freedom of Information Act - the response to which will be due on Tuesday, January 23.

The revelations may panic parents worried about the tapes falling into the wrong hands.

Cllr Jeanne Alexander, executive member for children's services, admitted she was unaware of the situation, but said the decision was each school's alone to take.

She said: "It was the place where bullying happened when I was school, and schools have tried all sorts."

"It's down to the heads and governing bodies - our headteachers are sensible people. They wouldn't do this unless there was a problem. There must be a reason for it. CCTV is not cheap. Our schools are sensible and money is so tight."

"Also, pupils often break pipes and cause floods and they put toilet paper in the sinks."

"I think it's going to help. We have to take strong action on bullying."

"There'll be parent governors on the governing body so they should be keeping the other parents informed."

A Barking and Dagenham Council spokesman added: "We do have CCTV in certain school toilets, but we won't specify which schools for obvious reasons - we don't advertise the fact."

"But they are not in the cubicles and pupils will not be filmed in the cubicles."

"They are in various positions facing the wash basin areas."

"There's no secrecy around the cameras - most pupils know because it's for their own safety."

"We have them in primary and secondary schools. We don't want to say how many of the schools they're in. They're there for the safety and security of both pupils and staff."

"We're increasing what schools we have CCTV in. Eventually we want to have them in most schools."

 

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Wisconsin Mails Tax Forms With Exposed Social Security Numbers

Wisconsin Mails Tax Forms With Exposed Social Security Numbers

The hope that 2006 might end without yet another breach of personal information was dashed when 170,000 Wisconsin taxpayers were notified that their tax forms were being mailed out with Social Security numbers visibly printed on the front.

Wisconsin's Department of Revenue stated that taxpayers who had filed returns in 2005 using the paper Form 1 were affected. Those who filed their forms with professional tax preparers, filed different forms, or e-filed were not in danger, the department said.

The mistake was blamed on a "computer error."

The tax agency said it would notify all potentially affected taxpayers, and also notified the postal service to locate and return as many of the forms as possible.

Department spokeswoman Meredith Helgerson said that they could not estimate how many of the labels made it through the mail.

Helgerson said the agency and the postal service would take advantage of the four-day holiday due to New Year's and the day of mourning for former President Gerald Ford -- with the resultant lack of mail delivery -- to find and collect all of the mislabeled forms.

Wisconsin's Revenue Department had mailed forms out with Social Security numbers visible on them for years, until the state legislature and former governor Tommy Thompson pressured the department to use special identifier numbers instead.

Thompson, also a former Secretary of Health and Human Services, ironically went on to become a chief advocate of the usage of radio frequency identifier (RFID) tags, or "spychips," in medical patients and soldiers.

Clear and Present Danger

The chief concern was that criminals would steal the forms from unopened mailboxes and use the Social Security numbers for identity theft.

Social Security number-based identity theft is particularly difficult to detect and prevent, as criminals can mix and match names and numbers to create new identities and open credit accounts without being noticed.

Credit reporting agencies simply open new credit files for accounts using the same number, and don't notify the original or new account holders. SSN-based fraud can go undetected for years until the original account holder receives bills belonging to the thief.

It's extremely difficult to change a Social Security number once it's assigned, and even if the accountholder gets a new one, the account is often linked to the old account to ensure the recipient receives their Social Security benefits.

The Wisconsin incident is not the first time in recent months a printing mixup has led to potential risk of identity theft.

In November 2006, a contractor working for the Chicago public school system accidentally sent out the personal data of 1,740 employees and retirees as part of a mass mailing of health insurance benefit plan information.

 

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Charges Against Pants Wetting Young Girl Dropped

Charges Against Pants Wetting Young Girl Dropped

(AP) DANVILLE, Pa. - Authorities are dropping a disorderly conduct charge against a 12-year-old special education student who they said deliberately wet her pants at school.

“It was a mistake to bring police into a case of school discipline,” Superintendent Steve Keifer said Thursday.

“I think the situation was one where the parents and school officials were frustrated, and that’s why it was done,” Keifer said. “At the same time, it was probably not a good idea.”

The girl’s mother told the Press Enterprise of Bloomsburg that the girl urinated only because she was frightened by the principal.

The girl, whose name was withheld by the newspaper, had worked with her classmates and teachers preparing a holiday lunch at Danville Middle School on Dec. 20. The girl was later told to wash some pots and pans, her mother said.

After she refused, teachers summoned principal Kevin Duckworth, who confronted the girl. She then wet her pants.

Her mother said the girl is terrified by Duckworth and has wet herself during previous confrontations with him. She said her daughter has had disciplinary problems at the school but has never become violent.

School officials dispute those claims, saying the girl has assaulted staff and uses urination as a “weapon.”

Duckworth said the decision to call police was made in consultation with the girl’s parents, in hopes it would improve her behavior. He said it appears the mother later regretted the decision.

Police Chief Eric Gill said school officials were at “wit’s end” with the girl, and that they believe her actions were deliberate.

Montour County District Attorney Robert Buehner spoke with Keifer and Gill on Thursday and decided to drop the disorderly conduct charge.

“I think to bring a 12-year-old girl into the criminal justice system, when there are better alternatives, it makes better sense to just let the school district handle it with the child and parents,” Buehner said.

 

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Sex Crimes and the Vatican

Sex Crimes and the Vatican

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Interior minister proposes pan-European network of DNA and fingerprint databases

Interior minister proposes pan-European network of DNA and fingerprint databases

At an informal meeting of European Union ministers of justice and ministers of the interior in Dresden on Monday the Federal Minister of the Interior Wolfgang Schäuble proposed within the context of what is known as the Trio Presidency of Justice and Home Affairs Ministers that the Prüm Treaty be transposed into the legal framework of the EU. The treaty, which was signed by Belgium, Germany, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Austria and Spain in the town of Prüm in Germany in March 2006 provides for enhanced cross-border cooperation of the police and judicial authorities, especially with regard to combating terrorism, cross-border crime and illegal migration. The purpose of the treaty is not only to facilitate prosecution, but also to aid the crime prevention efforts of the authorities.

"The core element of the treaty is the creation of a network of national databases to step up the exchange of information," it says in a press release by the ministry. "The contracting parties give one another access to their DNA analysis files and dactyloscopic (fingerprint) files in what is called a hit/no hit system," the ministry observes. In Germany the treaty came into force in November of last year. Germany and Austria are acting as trailblazers; thus since early December 2006 Austria and Germany have been able to mutually compare the contents of their national DNA databases. This had already led to a number of successes, the minister declared. "In just six weeks, when German untraceables were checked against the Austrian database, 1500 matches were found, and when Austrian untraceables were checked against the German database, 1400 matches resulted," the ministry writes.

Pointing to this "added value provided by the treaty" Mr. Schäuble spoke out in favor of adopting the system throughout Europe: "Our aim is to create a modern police information network for more effective crime control throughout Europe," he said. Apart from allowing for cross-border police raids and patrols the treaty permits "the authorities to exchange information on traveling violent offenders, such as hooligans, in the context of major events (for example football matches, European Council meetings or other international summits) in order to prevent criminal acts."

Mr. Schäuble declared that his proposal had met with "broad approval" at the meeting. He believes that a future network of DNA databases involving all EU member states would have enormous potential. It would open up "a vast ocean of opportunities for gaining relevant information and preventing crime," he said by way of praising the project. His ideas have also met with the approval of Franco Frattini, the EU Commissioner responsible for Justice, Freedom and Security, who has agreed to submit an appropriate proposal to the EU Commission.

Of all the EU member states it has been the United Kingdom, which operates Europe's largest DNA database, which has been the most outspoken critic of the project. An attitude in which it has been joined by Poland, Ireland and the Czech Republic. Though it needs to be said that these members' skepticism of the project is based primarily on cost-benefit considerations.

Mr. Schäuble meanwhile is apparently prepared to step where others fear to tread. Germany could open up its police DNA databases to the United States, the minister has said. This appears to have been a request made by representatives of the US Department of Homeland Security at a meeting with the minister in September of last year, at which meeting more intense monitoring of the Internet was also agreed upon.

 

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DNA to be tracked for petty crimes

DNA to be tracked for petty crimes

The District Attorney's Office will create a database and require suspects to give samples for plea bargains leading to probation.

BY NORBERTO SANTANA Jr.
The Orange County Register

Orange County will create the nation's first local DNA database to track petty crimes such as car break-ins and home burglaries.

Calling DNA tracking the "greatest breakthrough in law enforcement since fingerprints and the two-way radio," District Attorney Tony Rackauckas told county supervisors Tuesday he plans to create a local database that will help catch criminals for petty crimes that previously went unsolved.

With unanimous support from county supervisors, Rackauckas will work with the Sheriff's Department and the British government's Forensic Science Service to create the database.

Two pilot programs – with the Santa Ana and Anaheim police departments and Sheriff's Deputies patrolling South County – are using DNA analysis in property crimes. The new program would enhance those efforts by offering a way to track the DNA collected at such crimes.

Rackauckas noted that in Britain, DNA collection has made leaps in solving minor crimes. For example, he said, solved cases involving car burglaries went from an 8 percent rate to 63 percent once DNA tracking was enabled.

Supervisors authorized Rackauckas to spend up to $500,000 to purchase the software used for the database. Samples will be sent to the British lab to establish the database and local officials will update the database.

Sheriff Mike Carona called the plan "an innovative concept" that could quickly be adopted across the state and nation.

Rackauckas said DNA samples will now be required as part of plea deals involving the granting of probation.

"It's more inclusive than the state and federal database in that it will include everybody that pleads guilty to a felony or misdemeanor," he said.

Rackauckas said he had not yet consulted with Orange County Public Defender Deborah A. Kwast, who did not return a call seeking comment.

"We will be discussing that with them in the future," Rackauckas said. "It's certainly a valid condition of probation."

The plan has drawn the attention of local government unions, uneasy about a similar program that involves the outsourcing of DNA analysis. Rackauckas had expressed concerns about the Sheriff's crime lab being able to quickly turnaround the DNA from the existing pilot programs which led to a limited outsourcing those tests.

Increased use of DNA tracking could provide new challenges to local law enforcement agencies. While many people might not call police after a car burglary, such calls could spike once the public finds out they can be solved.

Rackauckas acknowledged such investigations could impact staffing demands for local police. Yet he figures that "as this becomes more the norm, they'll get the manpower to do it."

 

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Maine revolts against digital U.S. ID card

Maine revolts against digital U.S. ID card

BOSTON (Reuters) - Maine lawmakers on Thursday became the first in the nation to demand repeal of a federal law tightening identification requirements for drivers' licenses, a post-September 11 security measure that states say will cost them billions of dollars to administer.

Maine lawmakers passed a resolution urging repeal of the Real ID Act, which would create a national digital identification system by 2008. The lawmakers said it would cost Maine about $185 million, fail to boost security and put people at greater risk of identity theft.

Maine's resolution is the strongest stand yet by a state against the law, which Congress passed in May 2004 and gave states three years to implement. Similar repeal measures are pending in eight other states.

"We cannot be spending millions of state dollars on an initiative that does more harm to our state than good," said Maine's House Majority leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat, in a statement that called it a "massive unfunded federal mandate."

The ID act sets national standards for licenses which will have to include a digital photo, anti-counterfeiting features and machine-readable technology.

States will have to verify documents presented with license applications such as birth certificates, Social Security cards and utility bills, and will have to link their license databases so they can all be accessed as a single network.

States also will have to verify that a person applying for a license is in the country legally. States will be able to issue separate credentials to illegal aliens so that they will still be able to drive.

The National Governors Association, the National Conference of State Legislatures and the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators said in a September report that the law would cost states more than $11 billion over five years and take at least another seven years to implement.

"It's a national ID card on steroids," said Barry Steinhardt, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Technology and Liberty Project. "This will indeed be a real nightmare.

But backers say the driver's license -- a primary means of identification in the United States -- is fundamentally insecure because of widespread identity theft.

Some 227 million people hold drivers' licenses or identity cards given out by states, which issue or renew about 70 million each year.

 

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More than 3m on DNA 'stealth' database

More than 3m on DNA 'stealth' database

The Government was accused last night of creating a "surveillance society by stealth" after figures showed that police have put more than 3.3 million people on the national criminal DNA database.

Home Office statistics, reflecting the size of the database on Oct 31 last year and released last week in Parliament, show that 3,327,000 people from a total of 49 million have had their genetic profiles logged by one of the 43 police forces.

This is about 6.7 per cent of the population.

Many have been convicted but tens of thousands, including youngsters, have not.

Those arrested but not proceeded against and people acquitted, are on the database.

Though they do not show whether individuals lived in the area where the force took their DNA sample, the figures compare the numbers on the database in each force with local populations and give a percentage.

The City of London emerges as by far the most likely place to have one's DNA taken, though a return of 200 per cent indicates that most of those supplying samples live outside the Square Mile.

Civil liberties campaigners and many politicians believe the Government is gradually expanding the criminal database as the foundation for a national register of the details of the whole population.

They fear that the information may be misused.

Damian Green, the Tory home affairs spokesman, said: "It is outrageous that so many people are on this database when there is no statutory basis for it.

"The Government is introducing a surveillance society by stealth. We need a proper national and parliamentary debate on this vital issue."

 

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US plans to 'fight the net' revealed

US plans to 'fight the net' revealed

A newly declassified document gives a fascinating glimpse into the US military's plans for "information operations" - from psychological operations, to attacks on hostile computer networks.

Bloggers beware.

As the world turns networked, the Pentagon is calculating the military opportunities that computer networks, wireless technologies and the modern media offer.

From influencing public opinion through new media to designing "computer network attack" weapons, the US military is learning to fight an electronic war.

The declassified document is called "Information Operations Roadmap". It was obtained by the National Security Archive at George Washington University using the Freedom of Information Act.

Officials in the Pentagon wrote it in 2003. The Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, signed it.

The "roadmap" calls for a far-reaching overhaul of the military's ability to conduct information operations and electronic warfare. And, in some detail, it makes recommendations for how the US armed forces should think about this new, virtual warfare.

The document says that information is "critical to military success". Computer and telecommunications networks are of vital operational importance.

Propaganda

The operations described in the document include a surprising range of military activities: public affairs officers who brief journalists, psychological operations troops who try to manipulate the thoughts and beliefs of an enemy, computer network attack specialists who seek to destroy enemy networks.

All these are engaged in information operations.

Perhaps the most startling aspect of the roadmap is its acknowledgement that information put out as part of the military's psychological operations, or Psyops, is finding its way onto the computer and television screens of ordinary Americans.

"Information intended for foreign audiences, including public diplomacy and Psyops, is increasingly consumed by our domestic audience," it reads.

"Psyops messages will often be replayed by the news media for much larger audiences, including the American public," it goes on.

The document's authors acknowledge that American news media should not unwittingly broadcast military propaganda. "Specific boundaries should be established," they write. But they don't seem to explain how.

"In this day and age it is impossible to prevent stories that are fed abroad as part of psychological operations propaganda from blowing back into the United States - even though they were directed abroad," says Kristin Adair of the National Security Archive.

Credibility problem

Public awareness of the US military's information operations is low, but it's growing - thanks to some operational clumsiness.

Late last year, it emerged that the Pentagon had paid a private company, the Lincoln Group, to plant hundreds of stories in Iraqi newspapers. The stories - all supportive of US policy - were written by military personnel and then placed in Iraqi publications.

And websites that appeared to be information sites on the politics of Africa and the Balkans were found to be run by the Pentagon.

But the true extent of the Pentagon's information operations, how they work, who they're aimed at, and at what point they turn from informing the public to influencing populations, is far from clear.

The roadmap, however, gives a flavour of what the US military is up to - and the grand scale on which it's thinking.

It reveals that Psyops personnel "support" the American government's international broadcasting. It singles out TV Marti - a station which broadcasts to Cuba - as receiving such support.

It recommends that a global website be established that supports America's strategic objectives. But no American diplomats here, thank you. The website would use content from "third parties with greater credibility to foreign audiences than US officials".

It also recommends that Psyops personnel should consider a range of technologies to disseminate propaganda in enemy territory: unmanned aerial vehicles, "miniaturized, scatterable public address systems", wireless devices, cellular phones and the internet.

'Fight the net'

When it describes plans for electronic warfare, or EW, the document takes on an extraordinary tone.

It seems to see the internet as being equivalent to an enemy weapons system.

"Strategy should be based on the premise that the Department [of Defense] will 'fight the net' as it would an enemy weapons system," it reads.

The slogan "fight the net" appears several times throughout the roadmap.

The authors warn that US networks are very vulnerable to attack by hackers, enemies seeking to disable them, or spies looking for intelligence.

"Networks are growing faster than we can defend them... Attack sophistication is increasing... Number of events is increasing."

US digital ambition

And, in a grand finale, the document recommends that the United States should seek the ability to "provide maximum control of the entire electromagnetic spectrum".

US forces should be able to "disrupt or destroy the full spectrum of globally emerging communications systems, sensors, and weapons systems dependent on the electromagnetic spectrum".

Consider that for a moment.

The US military seeks the capability to knock out every telephone, every networked computer, every radar system on the planet.

Are these plans the pipe dreams of self-aggrandising bureaucrats? Or are they real?

The fact that the "Information Operations Roadmap" is approved by the Secretary of Defense suggests that these plans are taken very seriously indeed in the Pentagon.

And that the scale and grandeur of the digital revolution is matched only by the US military's ambitions for it.

 

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DHS pushes global data sharing

DHS pushes global data sharing

The Homeland Security Department’s plans for sharing biometric information internationally — designed to counter the threat of terrorism — face resistance from domestic privacy advocates and European governments that follow stricter privacy laws that protect personal data.

Senior DHS officials speaking at a recent conference on biometrics and privacy policy outlined the ethical imperative for technical standards that would foster unrestricted biometric data sharing.

And while they say they recognize and agree with the need for privacy policy, threats of terrorism require governments and private companies to completely eliminate barriers to biometric data sharing.

Robert Mocny, acting program manager for the U.S. Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology program, sketched the outline of a Global Security Envelope of internationally shared biometric data that would permanently link individuals with their personal data held by governments and corporations.

DHS’ assistant secretary for policy, Stewart Baker, condemned restrictions on information sharing that existed before the September 2001 terrorist attacks.

“Those rules that were in effect then [prevented the CIA and FBI from foiling the attacks],” Baker said. “We have systematically knocked down the ‘walls’ that prevented sharing of law enforcement and intelligence data. At that time [before the attacks] we were enthralled with creating limits on who would have access to data.”

Baker rejected the policy of separating data to preserve privacy.

He said recent negotiations with European officials over the exchange of airline passenger data had afforded him insight into the strict European privacy laws. DHS participants highlighted privacy concerns that designers of biometric information-sharing standards and systems should take into account.

Mocny sketched a federal plan to extend biometric data sharing to Asian and European governments and corporations, so as to create a Global Security Envelope of identity management.

“My question is, how is it ethical not to share?” Mocny asked. “It makes no sense for us to develop separate systems.”

Mocny cited the need for new biometric data-sharing systems to incorporate privacy controls.

The Global Security Envelope of biometric data sharing should begin slowly, but “information sharing is appropriate around the world,” Mocny said.

The department’s plans face skepticism from some domestic privacy advocates.

Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, said, “I just don’t think that the Homeland Security Department has done enough to identify the privacy implications of these biometric technologies and policies.”

Rotenberg added, “The framers of the Privacy Act saw this day coming. It has become too easy for the administration to manipulate the public’s fears of terrorism to override privacy safeguards.”

Thomas Murray, director of the Hastings Institute biometrics policy center in Garrison, N.Y., said his speech focused on how his experience in analyzing the ethical basis for the Human Genome Project illuminated the ethical aspects of counterterrorism information sharing.

Murray said a key lesson of the genome project ethics study was that designers of biometrics databases must forestall possible data abuse by gathering only the data needed for the original task.

“The people who create the technical standards will go a great distance toward upholding that critical privacy principle or undermining it,” Murray said.

Murray praised the European participants in the conference, particularly the Italians, who highlighted the privacy risks of creating massive concentrations of data. The Europeans pointed to the resulting risks of mission creep and data abuse.

Privacy attorney and conference participant Jay Stanley of the American Civil Liberties Union said, “America is in the Wild West when it comes to privacy, and it is good for American officials to see how other countries have higher standards.”

One Washington-based conference participant, who requested anonymity, said that the conference panels were “stacked” with analysts who already favor DHS’ approach to biometric privacy policy. “Congress needs to have privacy legislation as a high priority [this] year,” the attendee said.

Sophia Cope, staff attorney for the Center for Democracy and Technology, noted that the ethics discussion at the conference included consideration that governments might opportunistically exploit the differences between various nations’ privacy laws to sidestep information-sharing limits and “push the envelope of the law.”

The ACLU’s Stanley noted that in contrast to all other industrialized countries, the United States lacks an overarching privacy law that creates an expectation of privacy among the public and a guarantee of privacy for companies.

Mocny acknowledged in comments following his speech that all 10 federal privacy laws contain waiver provisions for national-security purposes. DHS uses those waivers only when necessary, Mocny said.

The DHS conference itself symbolized the weak federal approach to privacy enforcement in that it took the form of a discussion of nonbinding ethics principles rather than legal mandates, Stanley said.

“Information exchange [such as the DHS conference] is useful, but I hope it is not just sound and fury [signifying nothing],” he said.

 

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Big Brother is watching and selling pictures

Big Brother is watching and selling pictures

SHOCKING details about the controversial My Camden website - which allows web users to see detailed pictures of residents' homes - have been discovered by the Ham&High.

Papers obtained from a Freedom of Information request show photo supplier Cyclomedia is allowed to reproduce or sell any of the images to anyone who requests them.

Camden Council forks out thousands of pounds to put photos on the site, which allows anyone with a computer to view various angles of properties in the borough.

Residents have complained because some images include car licence plates and children's faces.

And we have also learned that a frantic email exchange took place between council staff when the website was established after officers failed to ask for legal advice on privacy issues.

Following complaints from residents, one e-mail sent between council officers Ben White and Martin Black said: "We did not take a legal view on whether the images should be displayed or not as we never considered that people would see this as an infringement rather than a useful service."

The contract with Cyclomedia, which runs until 2009, is worth £112,367 to the Dutch company, excluding additional costs such as staff training and travel expenses for visiting Cyclomedia engineers.

The contract states: "London Borough of Camden has agreed Cyclomedia can use, reproduce and sell (or otherwise dispose of) any of the Cycloramas (and updates) it has. LBC reserves the right to forbid a sale or disposal of cycloramas within 21 days of receipt of the written notification, but confirms it will not use this right unreasonably."

The council gets back 20 per cent of the profits from sales from the Dutch company.

One email states: "If we are very successful, a percentage (say 15 to 20 per cent) over the cost of updating will be rewarded to the borough at the end of each financial year. Success."

Residents have responded with outrage at the revelations.

Gordon Maclean from the Heath and Hampstead Society said: "It doesn't sound at all right. This is opening up information to people up to no good.

"There could be some sort of criminal impact - it could very easily happen. I wouldn't want people to know about the windows of my house or the access points. I think it is very bad indeed. I can't think what they are up to, it's all very Big Brother."

Pam Gilby, chairwoman of the South End Green Association, said: "I think this invades privacy. The fact they can sell them on is absolutely appalling.

"The whole project is a waste of money - they get back a percentage but this doesn't make up for the cost to privacy.

"Something like this should have been consulted on because it is intruding on people's lives and the fact they sell it on and slap each other on the back for it is outrageous."

Camden Council was unavailable for comment at the time of going to press.

 

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Star-Telegram | 02/24/2007 | Irate Britons want trash bins with tracking chips dumped

Irate Britons want trash bins with tracking chips dumped

LONDON - The British tolerate millions of surveillance cameras watching their every public move. They agreed to let roadside cameras record their vehicular movements and store the information for two years. But when they discovered that their garbage is being bugged, they howled that Big Brother had gone too far.

Local governments have attached microchips to about 500,000 "wheelie bins," the trash cans residents wheel to the curb for collection. The aim, they say, is to help monitor collections and boost the national recycling rate, which is among the lowest in Europe.

The public has reacted with suspicion and fury.

"Germans Plant Bugs in Our Wheelie Bins," a Daily Mail headline announced in August. Two of the bin manufacturers are German. Newspaper letter writers have taken to calling it "Bin Brother."

Small-scale revolts have erupted across Britain for months as localities adopt the technology. Some towns failed to mention the new feature, which is concealed under coin-sized plugs under the rims of their garbage cans.

In the coastal city of Bournemouth, 72-year-old Cyril Baker ripped the chip off his new bin the day he discovered it, then went on national television to show how he did it. Thousands of his neighbors followed his example.

"It was a very emotional issue. The whole town was in an uproar," he said.

"I think people really see this as an intrusion into their personal space," said Bournemouth councilman Nick King, a champion of the anti-chip cause.

Residents also fear that the little bug will nip them in the wallet. The microchips -- radio frequency identification transmitters known as RFID tags -- can't actually spy on the contents of a bin. They're more like tiny digital nametags, but they hold lots of information and can be scanned from yards away.

In parts of Germany and Belgium, garbage trucks equipped with scales and scanners lift the tagged bins. The bins are weighed as they're emptied, and residents are charged for each pound they send to the landfill.

Bournemouth administrators swear that they intend only to monitor trash trends and return lost bins to their assigned homes. Other cities said they wanted to identify heavy heapers to advise them on better rubbish management.

But residents suspect a plan to levy charges for garbage hauling, and some local officials have acknowledged that's their long-term aim.

 

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British grandmother fined for using cannabis as medicine

British grandmother fined for using cannabis as medicine

London - A British grandmother who used cannabis to alleviate depression and pain was Wednesday fined 1,000 pounds (1,930 dollars) and ordered to do 250 hours of community service.

Sixty-eight-year-old Patricia Tabram, who defended herself at the trial at Carlisle Crown Court in northern Britain, was found guilty of possessing and cultivating the drug, which is classified an illegal substance in Britain.

But in a defiant statement outside court, Tabram said: 'I'm still going to medicate with cannabis. No justice has been done.'

Tabram, who grew cannabis plants in her walk-in wardrobe at home in Humshaugh, Northumberland, said she would be 'prepared to go to prison' in protest against the 'draconian' drug laws.

Commenting on the 250 hours of service she will have to do for the community, she said: 'I think I can manage that.' But the fine, she added, was unfair.

Tabram, an avid campaigner for the medical use of cannabis, said that conventional medicine made her feel 'suicidal' and would not ease her pain.

But judge Barbara Forrester told the jury that medical necessity was not a legal defence available to the defendant, nor was ignorance of the law.

The judge warned that Tabram could face prison if she continued to put cannabis in her foods, cakes, and drinks.

 

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UK biometric passports succumb to hack

UK biometric passports succumb to hack

A security expert has cracked one of the U.K.'s new biometric passports, embarrassing the British government which has touted as a way of cutting down cross-border crime and illegal immigration.

The attack, which uses a common RFID reader and customised code, siphoned data off an RFID chip from a passport in a sealed envelope, said Adam Laurie, a security consultant who has worked with RFID and Bluetooth technology. The attack would be invisible to victims, he said.

"That's the really scary thing," said Laurie, whose work was detailed in the Sunday edition of the Daily Mail newspaper. "There's no evidence of tampering. They're not going to report something has happened because they don't know."

The British government, which began issuing RFID passports about a year ago, eventually wants to incorporate fingerprints and other biometric data on the chips, although privacy activists are concerned over how data will be stored and handled.

Currently, the chip contains the printed details on the passports, the person's photograph and security technology to detect if those files have been altered.

The attack was executed while the passport was still in its original envelope used to send it from the passport service, since RFID chips can be read from a few inches away, Laurie said. He used a passport ordered by a woman affiliated with No2ID, a group that opposes the U.K.'s biometric passport and ID card programs.

The data on the passport's chip is locked until an RFID reader provides the encryption key, Laurie said. The encryption key is calculated using a combination of the person's personal data, such as date of birth, and is contained in the "machine-readable zone" (MRZ) - the string of characters and digits on the bottom of the passport's first page.

At an immigration desk, the optical character reader scans the MRZ and gets the key. The RFID chip is unlocked, and the information on the chip is matched with that on the passport.

However, Laurie was able to do this process himself. He analysed ICAO 9303, the standard from the International Civil Aviation Organization that been adopted worldwide for machine-readable passports, to see how the MRZ was organised.

Laurie also knew some of the woman's personal details - used to calculate her passport's key - and found out more through Internet research.

He then wrote what's known as a "brute force" program, which repeatedly tries different combinations of data to discover the key. After about 40,000 attempts by the program, he cracked the key.

To scan the chip, he used a common RFID reader from ACG ID, now part of Assa Abloy Identification Technology of Germany.

The attack could then let Laurie begin the process of making an exact copy of the woman's passport.

The biometric passport had been sold to the world as something that increased the security of the passport, "but so far I don't see anything about it that increases my security," Laurie said.

The greatest weakness with the passports is using relatively easy-to-find data to compose the encrypted key, Laurie said. It would be better to include more random elements that would render brute-force style programs nearly useless, he said.

Laurie's work spawned from concern over how users can know what's on their passport's chip.

"At the moment, if you want to see what's in your own passport, you have to go to passport office," Laurie said. "With my code, you can do it at home."

Laurie has published a library of open-source tools written in the Python programming language that will run on RFID readers made by ACG and by Frosch Electronics OEG, based in Austria.

 

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‘Naked’ X-ray machine tried at Delhi airport

‘Naked’ X-ray machine tried at Delhi airport

NEW DELHI: Air travellers passing through terminal 1B of Indira Gandhi International Airport here were scanned by an X-ray machine that can see through clothes, for one week in January.

The authorities later decided to dump the state-of-the-art X-ray machine after it failed to reduce passenger clearance time. The authorities decided to test the new backscatter X-ray machine two months ago without any notice or warning to passengers, a senior official with the Central Industrial Security Force confirmed. “India became the first country where it was tested, even ahead of the United States,” he said. The machine was tested at Phoenix Airport in the US last month. The official said the machine was removed after a week. “The machine ... failed to clear passengers quickly and also it was disgusting for officials to see naked pictures of passengers,” said the official.

The vending-machine-sized device, known as SmartCheck, is manufactured by Billerica, a Massachusettes-based science and engineering firm. It was procured by Delhi International Airport Ltd at a cost of about $110,000. The official said the machine is now lying idle in a corner of the airport.

The machine is one of the latest safety measures to secure aircraft and airports from terrorist attacks. The scan produces an image of the skin, and can show objects like guns and drugs hidden under clothing. The procedure is an alternative to whole body strip searches, which have often raised hackles at American airports. The backscatter has been running in the American city of Phoenix since last month, but unlike in India, with proper notice to travellers, who can opt for a scan or go for a strip search.

 

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Vaccine officials knew about MMR risks

Vaccine officials knew about MMR risks

Government officials were made aware of some problems with a version of the MMR vaccine in other countries but still introduced it in Britain in the late 1980s, newly released documents show.

The MMR vaccine with the Urabe strain of mumps was first used in Britain in October 1988. It was blamed for the deaths of several children after being withdrawn by the Department of Health in September 1992.

Previously confidential documents released under the Freedom of Information Act show how officials gradually learned of the dangers of the Urabe strain MMR which caused encephalitis-type conditions, including meningitis. Involving swelling of the brain or of the lining of the brain or spinal chord, they can lead to brain damage, deafness or even death.

The papers show that many months before the Urabe MMR vaccine was introduced in the UK, officials were made aware of problems in America, Sweden and Canada.

The first warning came when an unnamed official at a meeting of the Government's Joint Committee of Vaccination and Immunisation in May 1987 "expressed his reservations concerning reported adverse reactions to MMR in the USA".

The second came in a letter from the Central Microbiological Laboratory in Sweden in September that year, where authorities reported "52 cases of febrile convulsions probably associated with MMR vaccination".

Then, a Government working party on the introduction of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, learned of "a report of cases of mumps encephalitis'' in Canada at a meeting in Feb 1988.

The documents show that the statistical risk from Urabe MMR was considered to be low. The UK went ahead with its nationwide MMR programme in October 1988 in which 85 per cent of the triple-vaccinations contained Urabe.

The minutes of another meeting of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, in May 1990, show that there was "especial concern'' about "reports from Japan of a high level of meningoencephalitis associated with the administration of MMR".

The Government waited another two years before it decided to stop using Urabe MMR in 1992, after the manufacturers told officials that they would stop making it.

It was replaced with MMR II, which has a different mumps component. The minutes were obtained by the FOIA Centre, a specialist research company, on behalf of one of the parents of a child in a group bringing litigation at the High Court. The Government insists it acted swiftly as soon as it became aware of the dangers of Urabe MMR in September 1992.

Sir Liam Donaldson, the chief medical officer, told one of the parents in a letter: "As soon as the Department of Health had clear evidence that there was a risk with Urabe-containing MMR and that there was no such associated risk with a different strain of mumps virus (the Jeryl Lynn strain) used in an alternative MMR vaccine, the department moved quickly to discontinue use."

Prof Kent Woods, chief executive officer of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, confirmed that the UK authorities had been aware of "sporadic cases" in Canada. However, the risk of meningoencephalitis from Urabe MMR was lower than the risk of the same condition resulting from "wild-type mumps virus", he said.

Urabe MMR was withdrawn "following reports of generally mild transient meningitis caused by the mumps vaccine virus in some children who recently received the Urabe mumps vaccine containing products".

Norman Lamb, a Liberal Democrat MP, said he would be pressing the Department of Health to find out why the warnings were dismissed.

A Government spokesman said: "The UK investigated the evidence and acted promptly when this problem with Urabe strain of mumps vaccine was identified.

"On the basis of information obtained in studies, the UK was in a position to make an informed decision on whether to continue using the Urabe vaccine, as there was an alternative vaccine strain, called Jeryl Lynn, which did not appear to have the same risk.''

The spokesman added: "In 1992 the Committee on Safety of Medicine considered all of the evidence and concluded that the benefits of vaccinating with Urabe mumps strain vaccines still outweighed the risks."

 

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Don't like ID cards? Hand over your passport

Don't like ID cards? Hand over your passport

Anybody who objects to their personal details going on the new "Big Brother" ID cards database will be banned from having a passport.

James Hall, the official in charge of the supposedly-voluntary scheme, said the Government would allow people to opt out - but in return they must "forgo the ability" to have a travel document.

With one in every eight people saying they will refuse to sign-up, up to five million adults could effectively be refused permission to leave the country.

Campaigners reacted to Mr Hall's remarks with fury, saying they were yet more evidence of the lurch towards "Big Brother" Britain.

Phil Booth, of the NO2ID group, said: "The idea that ID cards scheme is voluntary, and people can opt-out, is a joke.

"There are all sorts of reasons why people need to travel, not just for holidays. There is work, visiting relatives.

"What are these people supposed to do? It stretches the definition of voluntary beyond breaking point. They will go to any length to get personal information for this huge database. Who knows what will happen to it then?"

Mr Hall, chief executive of the Identity and Passport Service, delivered his warning during a Downing Street "webchat".

One concerned member of the public, Andrew Michael Edwards, asked what would happen to people who refuse to join the £5.4 billion scheme.

Mr Hall replied: "There is no need to register and have fingerprints taken - but you will forgo the ability to have a passport".

Officials later explained the meaning of his remark.

The first ID cards will be issued in 2009, to anybody who applies for a passport.

People will be required to give fingerprints, biometric details such as a facial scan and a wealth of personal details - including second homes, driving licence and insurance numbers.

All will be stored on a giant ID cards Register, which can be accessed by accredited Whitehall departments, banks and businesses.

While The ID Cards Bill was going through Parliament, peers agreed an "opt out" with Ministers for people who needed a passport, but did not want to participate in the ID cards scheme.

It was the only way the Lords would accept the legislation, amid howls of concern that it represents yet another move towards a surveillance society.

But, as Mr Hall's comments this week make clear, the opt-out only applies to being physically issued with a card.

In order to get a passport, people will still have to hand over all their personal details for storage on the ID cards Register - where they will be treated in the same was as those who agreed to sign-up.

They simply avoid getting the card - even though they will have to pay the full combined price of £93 for an ID card and passport.

It means that, despite the Government repeatedly insisting the scheme is voluntary, the only way to avoid signing-up is to never obtain or renew a passport.

Therefore, anybody who objects to ID cards on principle and wants to keep their personal details private must remain in the UK for the rest of their lives.

Critics said it was clear ID cards were being made compulsory by stealth.

Some 6.6million people apply for travel documents each year.

Mr Booth said legal challenges were inevitable, as restricting the right of free movement is a grave breach of human rights law.

A YouGov survey, published three months ago, found 12 per cent of Britons would refuse to take part in the scheme, even if it meant paying a fine or serving a prison sentence.

Mr Booth predicted many of this group would be prepared to bring test cases to challenge the Government's position in court.

Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Nick Clegg said: "This comment confirms long standing suspicions that the government's claim that the ID database will be voluntary is simply not true. The voluntary claim is serving as a fig leaf for a universal compulsory system.

"Once again the government's ID card plans are being pursued behind the backs of the British people."

Labour has become increasingly obsessed with the introduction of ID cards, claiming they will help to beat fraud and illegal immigration.

But both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats have fiercely opposed the scheme, amid concerns costs could spiral out of control.

Academics have predicted the final bill could reach up to £20 billion.

There are also concerns Ministers could be tempted to strike financial deals to pass on personal details, in a bid to recoup some of the enormous costs.

If the Tories win power, it will be scrapped immediately.

Mr Hall's comments will fuel the suspicion that Ministers are involved in a desperate race against time to get the project off the ground, and get as many people's details as possible before the next General Election.

The Home Office said it had never hidden the fact anybody refusing to give their biometric and other personal details to the ID cards database would not be eligible for a passport.

A spokesman said it was more cost effective to link the issuing of passports and ID cards, rather than allow people to register their details for one but not the other.

 

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DNA samples could be the fingerprints of the future

DNA samples could be the fingerprints of the future

Felons in South Carolina by law must give a DNA sample after they've been convicted. If a proposed law is passed in the state, even people just arrested would have to submit their DNA.

It's an idea that some call unconstitutional, but police officers and prosecutors say will get criminals off the streets.

DNA samples from blood, hair or saliva are the fingerprint of the new age, says Horry County Solicitor Greg Hembree.

"It's just a high tech method of personal identification."

Law enforcement already takes DNA samples from convicted offenders, which are stored in an international database. Investigators can use DNA found at a crime scene to find suspects if they're in the database.

"The bigger the DNA database gets, the easier it's going to be to identify criminals," says Carol Allen, Myrtle Beach Police Crime Scene Unit Supervisor.

She says detectives could track down more criminals with the proposed state law.

It would allow police to take DNA samples when someone is arrested. Police say it could help them catch criminals more quickly, and prosecutors say it could help them convict them more easily, unless, of course, they're innocent.

"If you become a suspect in a case that you don't have any involvement in, there's physical evidence that indicates you are not the perpetrator," says Hembree.

If someone did break into your house, for example, but decided to skip out on the court process, with this law police would already have a new age fingerprint.

"Whenever in the future they want to commit a crime, their DNA is already on file," says Allen, which could help narrow down suspects.

The American Civil Liberties Union of South Carolina says it believes the proposed law encroaches on people's rights, and the group opposes taking DNA from people who haven't been convicted of a crime.

 

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Police need federal DNA database, states told

Police need federal DNA database, states told

A NATIONAL DNA database, accessible by police in any jurisdiction in Australia, has been called for by the new Minister for Justice, David Johnston.

Senator Johnston has called on the states to "stop dragging the chain" and accept a national system which could be quickly implemented under mechanisms already in place.

He endorsed last week's decision by the South Australian Government to dramatically broaden the guidelines for collecting DNA from individuals (anyone 16 and over who is arrested), keeping the samples indefinitely, and doing checks on the DNA profiles of victims of crime.

Senator Johnston said: "I welcome the South Australian Government's initiative. It brings us one step closer to the establishment of a national DNA database … I call on the states to stop dragging the chain on the implementation of a national DNA profile-matching database."

The Federal Government had been working "for some time" on the establishment of a national DNA database, he said.

The federal agency, Crimtrac, had been established in July 2000 with funding of $50 million for capital development, including $3.7 million to develop computer systems to support a national DNA database.

Senator Johnston said he appreciated that concerns had been expressed by states and territories about the integrity of investigations in their jurisdictions. But the Australian Police Ministers' Council, which included NSW, had passed a resolution in November last year allowing national DNA profile matching to encompass all jurisdictions.

This had been enshrined in Federal Government legislative amendments the same month.

"I will be pressing the states and territories to sign the agreement in accordance with [council] resolutions," Senator Johnston said.

Professor Roger Clarke, chairman of the Australian Privacy Foundation, said the foundation took no issue with the proper, controlled use of DNA data to clear up significant crime.

But it did take issue with the establishment of what was a de facto "general population database" where data was inappropriately collected and then stored, as was occurring in South Australia.

"It is always extremely difficult to get anything withdrawn from a database," he said. "There is a great suspicion that many fingerprints exist that were incorrectly captured."

Senator Johnston stirred controversy in his home state of Western Australia last year by accusing the state's police commissioner, Karl O'Callaghan, of not matching his claims on the effectiveness of DNA with action.

He said in the Senate that Mr O'Callaghan was perpetrating a fraud on the people of Western Australia by not using available DNA data to catch criminals. The West Australian State Government minister John Kobelke said the criticism was unjustified and DNA data had been used effectively.

 

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Now a council uses cameras in bean tins to catch bin 'criminals'

Now a council uses cameras in bean tins to catch bin 'criminals'

A local council is to use hidden cameras to catch residents who leave rubbish out on the wrong day.

CCTV devices will be disguised inside objects such as baked bean cans and house bricks to film offenders.

The covert surveillance has been ordered by Ealing council to target "enviro-criminals" - those who leave out black bags when they should not or let the contents spill on to the pavement. Offenders can be issued with onthe-spot fines of up to £1,000.

Cameras will be installed around the London borough before the change in collections from weekly to fortnightly. But today the move was attacked as an invasion of privacy.

The cameras, which cost about £200 each, are triggered by builtin movement sensors. It is understood they are to be used to catch large-scale fly-tippers and graffiti vandals but the council said residents who failed to abide by refuse collection times would also be punished.

Tory-controlled Ealing said: "To catch vandals and envirocriminals, cameras disguised as anything from tin cans to house bricks will email images to the council's CCTV control centre."

Will Brooks, the Tory councillor responsible for environment and transport, said anyone who broke the rules on collection would be considered to be a fly-tipper.

Labour councillor Virendra Sharma said: "I predict a lot of complaints about this method of catching litter louts. It is possible that many will question the motives of using CCTV and feel it is an infringement of privacy.

"Educating people on rubbish collection times is a better longterm solution than spy cameras in baked bean tins."

In 2004, the Audit Commission rated Ealing as having the dirtiest streets in London. Human rights group Liberty said: "Let's give people more opportunities to be clean and green rather than declaring that if you put your bin out at the wrong time you are committing criminal activity."

 

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US wants all 10 fingerprints on entry

US wants all 10 fingerprints on entry

The US will increase the amount of information it holds on foreign visitors when it takes all 10 fingerprints from air travellers rather than the usual two.

Currently foreign travellers must have their index fingers scanned into a database when they enter the US by agents of the Department of Homeland Security. Those prints can then be checked against a database of fingerprints held by police forces or the FBI.

That number will increase to all 10 fingerprints on a trial at 10 US airports. It is planned that the programme will be in place in all airports in around a year, according to a report in The Daily Telegraph.

US authorities claim the current scan of two fingers takes around 15 seconds and that the new process will not take significantly longer than that. Tourism bodies in the US have expressed concern that such measures are harming the tourist trade, however.

"We applaud the US Senate for striving to fix a flawed travel system," Stevan Porter, chairman of the Discover America Partnership, told the Telegraph. The Discover America Partnership is a representative body for tourism bodies.

"The policies implemented over the past five years appear to have strengthened our security. Lost, however, were efficiencies and a semblance of customer service," Porter said.

There are already concerns in Europe about the amount and importance of data held by US authorities on European air passengers. The US has a less stringent privacy regime than Europe.

Airlines are currently forced to hand over 34 pieces of information about every passenger that travels to the US. Called Passenger Name Records, the information is transferred in line with a deal signed by the European Commission and US authorities.

The European Parliament has opposed the deal, though, and a new agreement is due to be signed later this year. An earlier agreement was deemed illegal by the European Court of Justice on a technicality, but a near-identical scheme was set up in its place.

The Department of Homeland Security is said to have arrested 1,800 suspects since biometric identification was introduced, but in order to do that they collected the fingerprints of 80 million passengers.

Visitor numbers from the UK to the US have dropped since 2001's terrorist attacks in the US and the security measures put in place in their aftermath. Around 4.7 million UK citizens visited the US in 2001, a figure that fell to 4.3 million in 2005.

 

[oneofmany]

Freemasons Officially Founded America

Freemasons Officially Founded America

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Intelligence Control Grid: ‘The Official Version’

Intelligence Control Grid: ‘The Official Version’

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Britain steps closer toward a biometric ID card

Britain steps closer toward a biometric ID card

Toward the end of 2009, the United Kingdom hopes to have a national identity card scheme up and running for citizens and residents. The personal information of millions of people will be included in a computer database, along with biometric details such as fingerprints and facial characteristics.

At the beginning, the new scheme will be voluntary from 2008. It will be developed and problems worked out as more people join. The government is estimating that approximately 60% will obtain the card during this phase.

Then by 2014 it is planned that it will be compulsory for people to own a card. One of the reasons for the card is that people will be required to present it when obtaining various services.

Documents were published by the Department for Work and Pensions under the Freedom of Information laws earlier this month. Some of the working assumptions are based upon analysis from late 2004, in which it is suggested that up to 30% will refuse to show their card or other biometric data. 10% are expected to confirm their identity by allowing biometric methods to be used.

Foreign national residency permits would account for about 3% of all identity cards. Both citizens and immigrants using social services will be required to have a card, which will also help confirm the immigration and visa status of people.

The current government maintains that the identity cards are necessary not only for security, but that they will up to halve identity fraud in the United Kingdom. Most foreign nationals living in Britain will have to carry a card, and the government has said it wants the cards to eventually become compulsory in order to fight terrorism and identity fraud.

Identity fraud from Income Support and Jobseekers Allowance funds is estimated to currently be approximately £50 million a year.

Additionally, earlier this year the government admitted that it intends for all fingerprints collected for ID cards to be cross-checked against prints collected from approximately 900,000 unsolved crimes.

Controversy

The Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives both oppose the identity card scheme, and many people have expressed concerns about the potential for abuse.

Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Jeremy Browne said: "A major failing of ID cards is that it will cost billions of pounds to coerce law-abiding people into providing their details while those with genuinely malign intentions will strive to avoid complying with the authorities."

Labour says ID cards will have a wide range of benefits and plans, if it wins the next election, to bring in new legislation to make it compulsory to own - but not necessarily carry - a card.

However, motives for pushing the scheme are being questioned. Among them at the end of last month the revelation of the Former Home Secretary, David Blunkett, has reportedly taking a $60,000 per year position with a United States firm interested in producing the cards.

He resigned as Home Secretary in December 2004 after allegations surfaced that he'd improperly helped the Filipina nanny of his lover attempt to obtain a visa.

Blunkett was at the heart of the government strategy to develop the national card scheme and his new job is as the chair of the international advisory committee to Entrust, a Dallas-based company. Entrust claims it has hired Blunkett to do overseas work and that he will not be involved with any projects for the United Kingdom.

In 2005, Entrust was among several companies that won a contract to work on the Spanish national electronic identity card system.

There have been several conflicting reports on the exact timing of the scheme in the past several months. At least one source has published that all British passports holders must obtain an ID card for 2010. However, the government has not yet set a firm date.

This month, as the government begins setting up a network of offices to interview identity card applicants, a civil liberties group predicted that the government will aggressively pursue and fine people who have accidentally provided erroneous information for entry into the database.

Under the 2004 legislation that created the scheme, identity card holders are required to inform the government of any change in their details - if they move or get married, for example -- or face a civil penalty of $1,960.

Guy Herbert, the head of NO2ID, a group that opposes the cards, said Thursday he thinks the Identity and Passport Service (IPS) will continually check other government databases to discover possible errors.

As a result, someone who forgot to change their details or forgot to return the card of a deceased family member might face a hefty penalty.

 

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Scanners keep students under China college's thumb

Scanners keep students under China college's thumb

BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese college has introduced fingerprint scanners to stop students playing truant, the China Daily said on Tuesday, but not everyone is pleased about it.

Meiya College of International Studies at Hunan University spent 250,000 yuan ($32,360) last year to install the scanners in each of its 30-plus classrooms.

"Students are now required to 'check in' to each class by pressing their thumbs against the scanner," the newspaper said.

Hou Lichen, dean of the college in the central province of Hunan, said that in the past, teachers would record attendances by taking registers. However, these were time-consuming and it was easy to cheat.

Attendance had risen to 95 percent since the scanners were introduced, the newspaper said.

However, not everyone is happy.

Gu Yifan, a first-year student, said she would never skip class, regardless of whether there was a scanner.

"We are adults. Is it really necessary to control us in this way?" she was quoted as saying.

Other students said they feared the fingerprint data could be leaked out of the college and used for other purposes.

 

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School toilets 'to be observed' to tackle bullying

School toilets 'to be observed' to tackle bullying

School toilet facilities should be unisex and open to observation from teachers to stop them being colonised by bullies, the Government recommended today.

Fear of bullying leads some children to refuse to go to the toilet all day, causing bladder problems, while others do not drink to avoid using the loo.

New design guidelines from the Department for Education set out to make school toilets safer and more attractive.

Campaigners welcomed the guidance and said pupils would benefit from "toilets they can be proud of".

The guidelines are intended to be used by planners drawing designs for new school buildings under the Government's £45 billion Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme.

Tim Byles, chief executive for Partnerships for Schools, the agency overseeing the initiative, said he wanted cramped and dirty toilets to be "a thing of the past".

"There is a very real issue around bullying in schools, with toilet blocks recognised as a hot spot for bullies to target those they choose to intimidate and threaten," he said.

"In a bid to avoid having to visit the toilet at school, many young people refuse to drink water, exposing them to the risk of becoming dehydrated, while others have developed bladder and bowel problems.

"This is an unacceptable situation.

"Toilets in BSF schools will no longer provide bullies with places that lend themselves all too readily to anti-social behaviour."

The design guidance recommended that urinals should not be installed in new toilets as they can cause embarrassment for boys, particularly at puberty.

Individual cubicles with locking doors should be fitted and washing areas outside the cubicles should be used by both boys and girls as this can reduce bad behaviour.

The document said "trough" sinks should replace individual hand basins because they look more attractive and can make it harder for pupils to flood toilet areas deliberately.

Facilities should be built opposite staffrooms or other preparation rooms so teachers can keep an eye on children using the facilities. A glass door or transparent wall could be used so staff can see into the toilet washing area, the guidance said.

Beverley Leeson, deputy director of the Education and Resources for Improving Childhood Continence, which ran the "Bog Standard" campaign for better school toilets, welcomed the guidelines.

"School toilets are often the most concerning issue for pupils and the impact on their health and wellbeing can be serious and far-reaching," she said.

"The very important focus on encouraging pupils to drink more during the school day must be accompanied by having toilets that pupils are happy and able to use when they need to.

"Toilets that pupils can be proud of also reduce rates of absenteeism, boost self-esteem, improve relations between pupils and teachers, and encourage willingness and ability to learn."

 

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Anger over Church abuse cover-up

Anger over Church abuse cover-up

Campaigners have called the Church of England's failure to tell police about an ex-choirmaster who sexually abused children "totally irresponsible".

Peter Halliday, 61, from Farnborough, Hants, was jailed for 30 months after admitting sex offences from the 1980s.

BBC News has learned he admitted the abuse 17 years ago, but left the Church quietly on condition he had no further contact with children.

Church officials say they now have "robust" child protection policies.

Halliday, who is married, was ordered to pay all three victims £2,000 each, after admitting to 10 counts of abuse at an earlier hearing at Winchester Crown Court.

He abused the boys who were in his church choir between 1985 and 1990.

Judge Ian Pearson banned Halliday from working with children and said he would be put on the Sex Offenders Register, both for life.

'Duty of care'

Bishop David Wilcox, who was among those to make the decision not to inform police of Halliday's behaviour, said it was a common way of dealing with such cases at the time.

"I believe that we sought to act in the best interests - not only of the Church, but of the family and of everybody concerned at that time," he said.

"Things were very different then. I think that we make the mistake of trying to read back what we now know and how we now do things."

But the Churches' Child Protection Advisory Service said the bishop's argument was a "red herring" and it was "well known even then" that such cases had to be reported to police.

Anti-abuse campaigner Margaret Kennedy, of the Minister and Clergy Sexual Abuse Survivors group, said the Church had a "duty of care" towards children.

"You might have wanted to be pastorally caring for the individual victim - but that meant that this guy was out there for 16 years and it's totally irresponsible."

Dormitory abuse

Det Sgt Alison Heydari, of Hampshire Police, said Halliday's actions had had a "devastating impact on his victims and their families".

In 1990 a young chorister at St Peter's Church in Farnborough told his parents his choirmaster had abused him repeatedly during a period of several years, and he was not the only victim.

His parents told the vicar, who consulted the bishop - but rather than call the police the churchmen advised Halliday he should leave quietly and agree to have no more contact with young children.

One of his victims, who was 10 years old at the time, told BBC News how Halliday abused him during individual tuition and also on choir trips.

"It even happened when I was in dormitories with other boys," he said.

"I was horrified. When your first sexual experience is a 40-year-old man forcing himself on you it's pretty horrific."

'Robust policies'

Halliday continued to work with young boys, as a singer with the Royal School of Church Music, which said the child abuse was "entirely unconnected" with the school.

It was only when Halliday was charged last year with indecently assaulting children that he gave up his work with the school.

Church of England national safeguarding adviser, the Reverend Pearl Luxon, who is responsible for child protection issues, said the Church had "robust policies in place" to deal with child abuse.

Child abuse lawyer Richard Scorer said the Church had not dealt very well with child protection until recent times, but that things were improving.

In a statement, the Church of England said it was committed to the safeguarding, care and nurture of the children within the Church community.

 

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Priest jailed for sexually abusing boys

Priest jailed for sexually abusing boys

LONDON (Reuters) - A parish priest was sentenced to five-and-a-half years in jail on Thursday after being found guilty of sexually abusing boys over a 30-year period.

Reverend David Smith, 52, was convicted at Bristol Crown Court of 10 counts of indecent assault, one of sexual assault and one of sexual activity with a child.

Some of the incidents took place during sleep-overs at St John the Evangelist vicarage in Clevedon, Somerset, where Smith was vicar.

Smith had pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Concerns about Smith had been raised with the Church of England on two separate occasions in 1983 and 2001.

A spokesman for the diocese said no formal complaint was made in 1983, but police were immediately notified in 2001 when the second complaint was made.

"We are shocked and horrified that he has fallen so far short of the very high standards expected of priests in the Church of England," the diocese said in a statement.

"We are very sorry that these offences were committed by a man in a position of trust."

Last week, Church of England ex-choirmaster Peter Halliday was sentenced at Winchester Crown Court to two-and-a-half years in prison after admitting indecently assaulting boys between 1985 and 1990.

It emerged that both the local vicar and bishop in Farnborough, Hampshire, had been aware of allegations against Halliday, but had failed to report the claims to police.

 

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Nutricide - Criminalizing Natural Health, Vitamins, and Herbs

Nutricide - Criminalizing Natural Health, Vitamins, and Herbs

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Putin wants control of Russian scientists

Putin wants control of Russian scientists

Russia's ageing but revered scientific geniuses are on a collision course with Vladimir Putin after the 1,200-member Academy of Sciences rejected Kremlin proposals to end its unique independence from state control.

Since it was founded by Tsar Peter I in 1724, the Academy has enjoyed immunity from government interference. Freedom to think and work unfettered has enabled 17 of its alumni since 1904 to win science's highest plaudit, the Nobel prize. Of those, 14 have been within the past 50 years and the most recent, Vitaly Ginzburg and Alexei Abrikosov, shared the prize for physics in 2003.

Now, however, its autonomy is threatened by a proposed new charter which would give the government control of its management, funding and multi-billion pound property holdings.

Kremlin officials claim the institution needs dragging into the modern world to harness its members' brainpower for lucrative scientific patents and commerce. But critics fear it will fall victim to Mr Putin's appetite for control and his distrust of free-thinking institutions.

Prof Vitaly Ginzburg, who is 90 yet still academically active, said Mr Putin's Russia was worse than Stalin's Soviet Union. "Of course, in Stalin's times the Academy was under the control of the central committee of the Communist Party," he told The Sunday Telegraph.

"But in those days you could come up with an idea and create - that's how we put the first Sputnik satellite into space. Now the government thinks science must bring only income and profit, which is absurd."

He added: "Of course it is about Putin. Our democracy is far from ideal."

The Kremlin tried last year to gain political leverage, but its officials failed to gain election to the academy. Some were said be so ignorant they could not explain the law of gravity. Critics say the Kremlin then deployed its Ministry of Education and Science to take control when the Academy's Soviet-era charter came up for revision. It proposed a new supervisory council, stuffed with Kremlin place men from the Russian Parliament, and to take control of the academy's finances and vast property holdings.

The Academy receives £870 million in federal grants, owns about 400 affiliated institutes and employs around 200,000 people across Russia. Prof Valery Kozlov, 57, its vice-president, said: "This is simply an attempt to seize control of our finances and property."

A full meeting of academy members voted last month almost unanimously in favour of a charter which would preserve its autonomy.