Beast System: Laying The Foundation Of The Beast

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UK Police Unveil Aerial Surveillance Drone

UK Police Unveil Aerial Surveillance Drone

The UK's first police "spy drone" took to the skies today.

The remote control helicopter, fitted with CCTV cameras, will be used by officers in Merseyside to track criminals and record anti-social behaviour.

The drone is only a metre wide, weighs less than a bag of sugar, and can record images from a height of 500m.

It was originally used for military reconnaissance but is now being trialled by a mainstream police force.

The spy plane was launched as a senior police officer warned the surveillance society in the UK is eroding civil liberties.

Ian Readhead, deputy chief constable of Hampshire Police, said Britain could face an Orwellian situation with cameras on every street corner.

However, senior officers in Merseyside, who are trialling the drone, said they did not believe it was the next phase in creating a Big Brother society.

Assistant chief constable Simon Byrne said: "People clamour for the feeling of safety which cameras give.

"Obviously there is a point of view that has been expressed but our feedback from the public is anything we can do to fight crime is a good thing.

"There are safeguards in place legally covering the use of CCTV and the higher the level of intrusion, the higher the level of authority needed within the police force to use it. So there is that balance there."

Police said the drone is expected to be operational by June and will be given a three-month trial.

 

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The Amero - North American Currency

The Amero - North American Currency

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Google is watching you

Google is watching you

Google, the world's biggest search engine, is setting out to create the most comprehensive database of personal information ever assembled, one with the ability to tell people how to run their lives.

In a mission statement that raises the spectre of an internet Big Brother to rival Orwellian visions of the state, Google has revealed details of how it intends to organise and control the world's information.

The company's chief executive, Eric Schmidt, said during a visit to Britain this week: "The goal is to enable Google users to be able to ask the question such as 'What shall I do tomorrow?' and 'What job shall I take?'."

Speaking at a conference organised by Google, he said : "We are very early in the total information we have within Google. The algorithms [software] will get better and we will get better at personalisation."

Google's declaration of intent was publicised at the same time it emerged that the company had also invested £2m in a human genetics firm called 23andMe. The combination of genetic and internet profiling could prove a powerful tool in the battle for the greater understanding of the behaviour of an online service user.

Earlier this year Google's competitor Yahoo unveiled its own search technology, known as Project Panama, which monitors internet visitors to its site to build a profile of their interests.

Privacy protection campaigners are concerned that the trend towards sophisticated internet tracking and the collating of a giant database represents a real threat, by stealth, to civil liberties.

That concern has been reinforced by Google's $3.1bn bid for DoubleClick, a company that helps build a detailed picture of someone's behaviour by combining its records of web searches with the information from DoubleClick's "cookies", the software it places on users' machines to track which sites they visit.

The Independent has now learnt that the body representing Europe's data protection watchdogs has written to Google requesting more information about its information retention policy.

The multibillion-pound search engine has already said it plans to impose a limit on the period it keeps personal information.

A spokesman for the Information Commissioner's Office, the UK agency responsible for monitoring data legislation confirmed it had been part of the group of organisations, known as the Article 29 Working Group, which had written to Google.

It is understood the letter asked for more detail about Google's policy on the retention of data. Google says it will respond to the Article 29 request next month when it publishes a full response on its website.

The Information Commissioner's spokeswoman added: "I can't say what was in it only that it was written in response to Google's announcement that will hold information for no more than two years."

Ross Anderson, professor of Security Engineering at Cambridge University and chairman of the Foundation for Information Policy Research, said there was a real issue with "lock in" where Google customers find it hard to extricate themselves from the search engine because of the interdependent linkage with other Google services, such as iGoogle, Gmail and YouTube. He also said internet users could no longer effectively protect their anonymity as the data left a key signature.

"A lot of people are upset by some of this. Why should an angst-ridden teenager who subscribes to MySpace have their information dragged up 30 years later when they go for a job as say editor of the Financial Times? But there are serious privacy issues as well. Under data protection laws, you can't take information, that may have been given incidentally, and use it for another purpose. The precise type and size of this problem is yet to be determined and will change as Google's business changes."

A spokeswoman for the Information Commissioner said that because of the voluntary nature of the information being targeted, the Information Commission had no plans to take any action against the databases.

Peter Fleischer, Google's global privacy Ccunsel, said the company intended only doing w hat its customers wanted it to do. He said Mr Schmidt was talking about products such as iGoogle, where users volunteer to let Google use their web histories. "This is about personalised searches, where our goal is to use information to provide the best possible search for the user. If the user doesn't want information held by us, then that's fine. We are not trying to build a giant library of personalised information. All we are doing is trying to make the best computer guess of what it is you are searching for."

Privacy protection experts have argued that law enforcement agents - in certain circumstances - can compel search engines and internet service providers to surrender information. One said: "The danger here is that it doesn't matter what search engines say their policy is because it can be overridden by national laws."

How Google grew to dominate the internet

It's all about the algorithms. When Google first started up, in summer 1998, it quickly made its mark by being the internet's best, most efficient search engine. Now Google wants to know everything - all the knowledge contained on the world wide web, and everything about you as a computer user, too.

The key, at every step of the way, has been the methodology the company has used to catalogue and present information. The first stroke of genius that the company's founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, had while they were still in graduate school was to measure responses to an internet search not only by the frequency of the search word but by the number of times a given web page was accessed via other web pages. It was a revolutionary idea at the time, now copied by every one of their rivals.

A decade later, their technical brilliance is operating on an altogether more ambitious scale. Google is now a $150bn (£77bn) company and a seemingly unstoppable corporate, as well as technical juggernaut.

The big question, of course, is whether the idealism that first fired up Page and Brin can survive in a dirty corporate world where information is not just an intellectual ideal, but also a legal and political hot potato involving profound issues of privacy, intellectual property rights and freedom of speech. "You can make money without doing evil," runs one of their most celebrated mantras. Does that extend to signing a deal with China whereby its search functions will be subject to state censorship? The furore over that particular decision, made at the beginning of last year, still rages.

Google's activities thus touch on some of the key philosophical questions of our digital age. Because of its power and prominence, it will also be the benchmark by which we come to measure many of the answers.

 

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Revolt against new U.S. ID card grows

Revolt against new U.S. ID card grows

BOSTON (Reuters) - New Hampshire on Thursday joined a growing list of states to reject a controversial U.S. identification card that opponents say will cost billions of dollars to administer and present a risk to privacy.

The Democratic-controlled state Senate approved legislation to prohibit the Real ID program in a 24-0 vote, and Gov. John Lynch said he would sign the bill, which passed the state House of Representatives on April 6.

New Hampshire becomes the 13th state to oppose the identification card. Another 22 states are considering similar legislation or resolutions to reject it, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.

"I applaud the Senate for overwhelmingly rejecting Real ID and for sending a strong message to the federal government," Lynch, a Democrat, said in a statement. "I look forward to signing this legislation, which will ensure the interests of the people of New Hampshire are protected."

The U.S. Congress in 2004 passed a law calling for the national digital identification system. It is intended as a post-September 11 security measure to make more secure the state-issued driver's license that are an ubiquitous form of identification in the United States.

Under the program, states would be required to verify documents presented with license applications and to link their license databases into a national electronic network. The federal law that created the program did not provide states with funds to carry it out.

"We are tremendously concerned that everyone's most sensitive, personally identifiable information is going to be in a database that is wide open, unprotected and will draw identify thieves like bees to honey," said Tim Sparapani, senior counsel at the ACLU.

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.

Lawmakers in neighboring Maine passed a resolution demanding repeal of the Real ID Act in January -- making the New England state the first in the nation to do so.

The program would also require states to verify that people receiving the cards are in the country legally, though they would have the ability to issue other forms of driving permits to illegal aliens.

 

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Medical experiments to be done without patients' consent

Five-year project aims to improve car crash, cardiac, other treatments

Washington - The federal government is undertaking the most ambitious set of studies ever mounted under a controversial arrangement that allows researchers to conduct some kinds of medical experiments without first getting the patients' permission.

The $50 million, five-year project, which will involve more than 20,000 patients in 11 sites in the United States and Canada, is designed to improve treatment after car accidents, shootings, cardiac arrest and other emergencies.

The three studies, organizers say, offer an unprecedented opportunity to find better ways to resuscitate people whose hearts suddenly stop, to stabilize patients who go into shock and to minimize damage from head injuries. Because such patients are usually unconscious at a time when every minute counts, it is often impossible to get consent from them or their families, the organizers say.

The project has been endorsed by many trauma experts and some bioethicists, but others question it. The harshest critics say the research violates fundamental ethical principles.

The organizers said the studies are going forward only after an exhaustive scientific and ethical review by the National Institutes of Health, which authorized the funding in 2004, and the Food and Drug Administration, which approved the first phase about a year ago and the second phase six months ago.

The first experiments, involving nearly 6,000 patients, focus on people who are in shock or have suffered head injuries from a car crash, a fall or some other trauma.

About 40,000 such patients show up at hospitals each year, and the standard practice is to give them saline infusions to stabilize their blood pressure. For the study, emergency medical workers are randomly infusing some patients with "hypertonic" solutions containing much higher levels of sodium, with or without a drug called dextran. Animal research and small studies involving people have indicated that hypertonic solutions could save more lives and minimize brain damage.

The next experiment, which will involve about 15,000 patients, is designed to determine how best to revive those whose hearts suddenly stop beating. About 180,000 Americans suffer these sudden cardiac arrests each year.

Emergency medical workers often shock these patients immediately to try to get their hearts started again. But some do a few minutes of cardiopulmonary resuscitation first. Researchers want to determine which strategy works better by randomly trying one or the other — both with and without a special valve attached to devices used to push air into the lungs during CPR. That study is expected to start next month.

"We will never know the best way to treat people unless we do this research. And the only way we can do this research, since the person is unconscious, is without consent," said Myron Weisfeldt of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, who is overseeing the project. "Even if there are family members present, they know their loved one is dying. The ambulance is there. The sirens are going off. You can't possibly imagine gaining a meaningful informed consent from someone under those circumstances."

Before starting the research at each site, researchers complete a "community consultation" process. Local organizers try to notify the public about the study and gauge the reaction through public meetings, telephone surveys, Internet postings and advertisements and through stories in local media. Anyone who objects can get a special bracelet to alert medical workers that they refuse to participate.

The project proceeds only after also being vetted by a set of local independent reviewers known as an institutional review board. Another group of independent advisers known as a data safety monitoring board will periodically review the study for any signs of problems.

Despite such oversight, some previous similar projects have sparked intense debate. Most recently, a study testing a blood substitute called PolyHeme was criticized for putting patients at risk without consent.

In fact, concerns raised by the PolyHeme study and others prompted the FDA to launch a review of the entire program that permits experiments to be done without consent in emergency situations.

"The ethics and policy concern is how you balance the streamlining of research to get the best information to treat patients against the moral imperative to get consent," said Nancy M.P. King, a bioethicist at Wake Forest University School of Medicine. "The emergency consent exception is supposed to carve out a very narrow window. What's been happening is that narrow window seems to be expanding."

Some bioethicists say the new research is more ethical than some of the earlier studies in several ways, including that patients are not being denied highly effective therapies. Most patients who receive the current treatments do not survive.

"I understand why there might be concerns, but I think ethically this is permissible," said Arthur Derse, a bioethicist at the Medical College of Wisconsin, which refused to participate in the PolyHeme study. "The treatments we currently have are unsatisfactory."

But others say that the studies could be done by finding patients or family members who are in a position to provide consent, even though that might make such studies more difficult.

"This just seems like lazy investigators not wanting to try to get informed consent in situations where it is difficult to get it, so they say it is impossible," said George Annas, a Boston University bioethicist. "I don't think we should use people like this."

Annas was particularly disturbed that children as young as 15 might be included in the research.

"Suppose a 15-year-old child is in the back of a car that is in a terrible accident," Annas said. "The EMTs arrive and say: 'We are doing an experiment with two techniques. We think they are about equal. Is it okay if we flip a coin to see how we treat your son? Or would you rather we just give him the treatment we think is best?' Unless you think all parents would have the EMTs flip a coin, consent here is necessary."

Others are concerned patients may be getting experimental therapies that could turn out to be inferior to standard treatments.

"The most promising experimental medical interventions have often been shown to be less effective than standard treatment," said Kenneth Kipnis, a University of Hawaii bioethicist.

The "community consultation" process has also come under fire.

"Community consultation is intended to be a collaboration with the community of potential subjects, not just letting them know what the plan is," said King, the Wake Forest bioethicist.

But Weisfeldt at Johns Hopkins said the critics would be unhappy under any circumstances.

"Some people object to the whole concept of doing any study whatsoever without permission," Weisfeldt said. "We try to explain all the layers of approval we've gone through and that this is the only way we can do the kind of research that could save many more lives in the future."

 

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Masons target universities to swell numbers

Masons target universities to swell numbers

Students and university lecturers are to be encouraged to join the Freemasons as part of a drive to increase membership.

The organisation, more popularly connected with policemen, lawyers, and businessmen, has changed its constitution - lowering the age limit of candidates from 21 to 18 - and established the Universities Scheme.

Seven universities across England have been targeted, with lodges in the respective cities agreeing to "promote and encourage freemasonry among undergraduates and other university members". If successful, the project will be expanded.

"This is a challenge for the lodges that have chosen to participate," said David Williamson, Assistant Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of England, masonry's governing body, discussing the scheme on the Freemasons' website.

"Young masons under 25 make up only about 0.25 per cent of the membership of the Craft in this country, so we want to make the Craft more accessible to young men."

Lodges in Bath, Birmingham, Bristol, Durham, Exeter, Manchester and Sheffield have signed up to consider accepting younger members willing to declare their belief in a Supreme Being and brotherly love.

One mason from the University of Birmingham Lodge, who asked not to be named, said it was a two-year scheme which was in the early stages of development.

"Young members pay half dues and the dining fee is also reduced," he said. "A few members of staff have been initiated already."

"It's good for undergraduates to join because we have members from all walks of life - doctors, policemen, magistrates, clerks," said another, who belongs to the lodge of St Peter in Exeter.

A spokesman for Exeter University said: "The university is not aware of any official approach being made to senior management or the Guild of Students under the new University Lodges Scheme. We assume that recruitment is being done along the lines of individual invitations and recommendation."

Modern masonry's origins date back to 1646, when Elias Ashmole, the antiquarian, became the first recorded mason in England. The United Grand Lodge estimates that there are now 270,000 masons in Britain.

The universities of Oxford and Cambridge have masonic links dating back to the 19th century, although the Universities Scheme is being used to try to increase membership.

A spokesman for Oxford University said: "While it is not a body officially affiliated with the university, there has been a lodge at Oxford since 1819. As with any other society, as long as members obey the law and membership does not interfere with the business or procedures of the university, then we have no objection to students or staff joining."

Freemasons have a long history of involvement in education. They operate The Royal Masonic School for Girls, in Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, and ran the Royal Masonic School for Boys at nearby Bushey until it closed in 1977.

The organisation also sponsors the education of many children through The Royal Masonic Trust.

 

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Autism vaccine cases go to court

Autism vaccine cases go to court

Scientists have said there is no link between childhood vaccines and autism, but the theory will soon be tested in court.

In the past six years, more than 4,800 claims have been filed against the federal government alleging that a child contracted autism as a result of a vaccine, according to a recent AP article.

The first test case from among those claims is being heard now in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.

The plaintiffs in the test case and others filed argue that their child's autism was caused by the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine in combination with other vaccines containing the preservative thimerosal. That preservative, which contains a form of mercury, is no longer in routine childhood vaccines. However, it is still used in influenza vaccines.

 

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N.H. Backs Real ID Ban

N.H. Backs Real ID Ban

CONCORD, N.H. -- Calling the federal Real ID Act "repugnant" to the state and federal constitutions, New Hampshire lawmakers have voted to join other states in rejecting the federal Real ID Act as tantamount to requiring a national ID card.

The House voted Thursday to send a bill to Gov. John Lynch that would bar the state from complying with the federal law, which sets standards for state-issued driver's licenses. Lynch's spokesman said Friday the governor will sign it.

The bill also contains an unrelated provision to pay a death benefit for police and firefighters killed in the line of duty. Two police officers have died in the line of duty in the past eight months.

Lynch spokesman Colin Manning said Lynch also supports the death benefit.

Real ID opponents said the state needed to send a clear statement that the federal government went too far in threatening individual privacy.

Last year, New Hampshire -- one of two states picked to pilot the Real ID program -- was the first state to consider rejecting the federal law, but the bill failed in the Senate.

Still, other states took up the fight, and this spring, Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire and Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer signed similar bills blocking their states from implementing the national rules.

President George W. Bush recently bowed to pressure from the nation's governors and Congress and granted states until Dec. 31, 2009, to comply. Two years ago, Congress set a deadline for states to comply with uniform licensing standards by May 2008.

The law passed in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. It requires all states to bring their driver's licenses under a national standard and to link their record-keeping systems. States must verify identification used to obtain a driver's license, such as birth certificates, Social Security numbers and passports.

Driver's licenses not meeting the standard won't be accepted as identification to board an airplane or enter a federal building.

Critics complained the law is too intrusive and costly to states to implement. They also said a national database of drivers' information will be a target for thieves looking to steal identities.

Rep. Neal Kurk, R-Weare, the prime sponsor of the New Hampshire bill, said legislation or resolutions have been introduced in at least 26 states opposing Real ID.

Lynch and the Executive Council rejected the $3 million federal grant attached to the pilot project last year. Earlier this year, he reiterated his concern that Real ID could end up costing the state tens of millions of dollars for implementation and enforcement, and said he also had privacy concerns.

 

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Tony Blair has turned Britain into a land where we are all prisoners

Tony Blair has turned Britain into a land where we are all prisoners

Even George Orwell would be shocked. He described the sinister machinations of a totalitarian police state in his novel, 1984, and laid bare the danger of eroding our basic civil liberties, including the right to freedom of speech and the right to privacy.

Although he famously coined the phrase 'Big Brother is watching you', even Orwell cannot have foreseen just how prescient those words would prove to be.

Today, in Tony Blair's Britain - which I naively voted into power ten years ago - we have witnessed a breath-taking erosion of civil liberties.

The truth is we are fast becoming an Orwellian state, our every movement watched, our behaviour monitored, and our freedoms curtailed.

Between May 1997 and August 2006, New Labour created 3,023 new criminal offences - taking in everything from a law against Polish potatoes (the Polish Potatoes Order 2004) to one which made the creation of a nuclear explosion in Britain officially illegal.

Then there has been the incredible number of CCTV cameras - a total of 4.2 million, more than in the rest of Europe put together.

And, yesterday, we learnt that the Government has agreed to let the EU have automatic access to databases of DNA (containing samples of people's hair, sperm or fingernails) in order to help track down criminals, even though many thousands of those on record are totally innocent

How did all this happen? Who allowed it? To try to answer these questions, I have made a film, Talking Liberties, about the attack on our freedoms.

I uncovered a disturbing roll call of ancient basic rights which have been systematically destroyed in the self- serving climate of fear this government has perpetuated since the 9/11 attack.

First there was the Act which banned the age- old right of protest within half-a-mile of Parliament without special police authorisation.

And who can forget Walter Wolfgang, the pensioner who was dragged out of the Labour Party Conference for daring to heckle the Home Secretary? He was detained under the Terrorism Act 2000, which gives the police unprecedented stop and search powers.

In 2005 alone, this law was used to stop 35,000 people - none of whom was a terrorist.

But this is only the thin end of the wedge - our civil liberties, enshrined in British law since the Magna Carta, are being whittled away.

There has been an unprecedented shift of power away from the individual towards the state - but now this power is being used not to defeat terrorism, but to keep tabs on ordinary citizens. As well as a raft of repressive anti-terror legislation, there are the more insidious infringements of our freedom and privacy.

We will soon see the introduction of the vast National Identity Register, linking all databases such as the DNA database to which the EU will soon have access.

The tentacles of these networks will intertwine until they form a vast state surveillance mechanism, which can track every detail of your life: what books you borrowed from the library as a student, your sexual health, your DNA profile, your spending and your whereabouts at any given moment in time.

Ministers are even creating a children's database, which will record truancy, diet, and medical history.

And, of course, ID cards will be issued in 2009 - to be used every time we carry out routine tasks such as visiting the dentist. Soon, biometric data - your iris scan, fingerprints and DNA, will help to identify you further.

And, all the time, there are those CCTV cameras - 20 per cent of the global total, even though Britain only has 0.2 per cent of the world's population.

New Labour has an absolute obsession with these devices. Soon, more sophisticated cameras will be able to recognise your face and the information matched to one of the national databases.

All cars will eventually be fitted with a GPS chip, officially to simplify road tax payments but they will also allow government agencies to track every vehicle in the country.

There are, of course, more alarming implications to being constantly monitored - as Orwell understood. Soon, we will be living in an open-air prison.

Some may ask: why does all this matter? The answer is that to surrender our identity and privacy so comprehensively is to give up something we will never get back.

Although New Labour says its mania for data-gathering is all part of its plan to protect us, there's no guarantee that future governments (who will be inheriting a nationwide surveillance machine and the National Identity Register) won't use it to more malign ends.

Totalitarian regimes have, after all, always collected information on their citizens. Hitler pioneered the use of ID cards as a means of repression. The Belgians left Rwanda with a bloody legacy by implementing an ID card system which divided the population into Hutu and Tutsi.

When the 1994 genocide began, these cards proved a device for horrific ethnic cleansing, with one million people dying in 100 days. The Stasi secret police in Soviet East Germany kept millions of files in order to keep track of everyone in the country.

Of course these examples are the extremes - but basic liberties such as privacy and free speech have been hard-won over centuries and history shows that we should not allow them to be brushed aside.

This shift away from individual freedom towards state power has happened slowly, and almost without us noticing.

Like so many others, I was proud to put a cross against the box next to New Labour in 1997 as a first-time voter. But now I have become shocked at the vast swathe of new laws which had been introduced, most of them in response to terrorism.

We are told that this is all for the good - these laws, and the surveillance cameras and ID cards will stop terrorists. Is that the case? Sadly not.

The London bombers carried ID and were observed on CCTV - of course it did not stop them committing their terrible crime.

Intelligence experts say that most information leading to genuine breakthroughs come from informants, not through random tracking or surveillance of the general population.

In any case, liberty and security aren't balanced on some delicate equilibrium, as John Reid, the Home Secretary, and Tony Blair would have us believe. History has shown us that it is precisely when you undermine people's basic rights that they mobilise towards radical groups.

After all, one of the greatest recruiters for the IRA in Northern Ireland was the policy of internment, under which people were imprisoned without trial. Have we learnt nothing from our past?

Stop and search laws applied to Britain's Muslim communities will simply polarise those groups. Instead, we need them to help us protect the country from terrorism.

It's not all doom and gloom, of course - as I hope my film reflects. The sheer absurdity of the bewildering array of idiotic new laws has given us an abundance of bizarre and hilarious situations for our documentary.

But behind this dark comedy is something much more disturbing. Faced with the threat of terrorism, the Government has told us that we must lay down our freedoms for our lives.

Perhaps it has forgotten the millions of people from past generations who have laid down their lives for our freedom. I think we owe it to those people to turn this tide.

 

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Fingerprinting and eye scans for children as young as five

Fingerprinting and eye scans for children as young as five

Schools are to get the go-ahead to fingerprint pupils as young as five, in new measures to be approved by the Government.

Ministers will issue guidance telling schools they have the right to collect biometric data and install fingerprint scanners.

But the decision has angered opposition MPs who say collecting fingerprints from children will be a gift to identity thieves.

The guidance will say that personal data, including fingerprints and eyeball scans, can be collected from pupils and used to monitor attendance, so long as schools consult parents first and do not share the data with outside bodies.

Schools will be able to place fingerprint scanners at the entrances to classrooms, the school gates and even in cafeterias.

Fingerprint and eyeball scans would make it easy for schools to track children during the day, and tell if they are playing truant, or even what they have eaten for lunch.

MPs fear that school computers are not secure enough to hold biometric data safely and will be unable to erase the information from systems when students have left school.

Civil liberties campaigners accused the Government of wanting to barcode children and questioned whether the data would be kept from other government agencies and the police.

Nearly 900,000 children aged 10 to 17 have their genetic information stored on the police's national DNA database, along with 108 under the age of 10. The guidance, to be approved by ministers this week, will say that schools can benefit from using biometrics at entry points to schools and classrooms as well as to take out library books.

It will warn schools not to give out the sensitive information, telling them it is governed by the same data-protection laws as children's addresses and birthdays. But it is understood that schools will not have to gain written permission from each parent before their child's fingerprints are taken. The guidance, written by Becta, which advises the Government on the use of technology in education, will go out to schools and further education colleges.

The civil rights group Liberty said: "We have some serious concerns that this biometric data is being collected from children simply for administrative convenience. We want to know what happens to the data after the children leave. The police have the right to get into any database, private or public."

About 200 schools are thought to use fingerprint scans already, but most have been waiting for the Government to give the go-ahead. Sarah Teather, the Liberal Democrat education spokesman, said she was concerned that hackers could access sensitive data and steal children's identities. She questioned whether schools would be able to erase the data when children left school.

"We wanted a guarantee that nobody can get hold of this information and an absolute guarantee that the data would be destroyed," she said. "The temptation for schools to reveal this sensitive information to the police will be enormous."

Jim Knight, the schools minister, said he wanted "parents to be fully engaged with every aspect of their children's education - this will be at the heart of our guidance.

"I back every headteacher's right to choose technology to improve their day-to-day running - but it's plain common sense for them to talk to parents about this and all other issues relating to their pupils. Schools need to collect pupil personal information... But we are clear that they have to comply with data protection laws. This means that no outside organisation can access any information."

 

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Geronimo's Great-Grandson Wants Bones Returned

Geronimo's Great-Grandson Wants Bones Returned​

SANTA FE -- Legend has it that Yale University's ultrasecret Skull and Bones society swiped the remains of American Indian leader Geronimo nearly a century ago from an army outpost in Oklahoma, and now Geronimo's great-grandson wants the remains returned.

Harlyn Geronimo, of Mescalero, wants to prove the skull and bones that were purported spirited from the Indian leader's burial plot in Fort Sill, Okla., to a stone tomb that serves as the club's headquarters are in fact those of his great-grandfather.

If so, he wants to bury them near Geronimo's birthplace in southern New Mexico's Gila Wilderness.

"He died as a prisoner of war, and he is still a prisoner of war because his remains were not returned to his homeland," said Harlyn Geronimo, 59. "Presently, we are looking for a proper consecrated burial."

If the bones aren't those of Geronimo, Harlyn Geronimo is certain they belonged to one of the Apache prisoners who died at Fort Sill. He said they should still be returned.

Harlyn Geronimo sent a letter last year to President Bush, asking for his help in recovering the bones. He figures since the president's grandfather, Prescott Bush, was allegedly one of those who helped steal the bones in 1918, the president would want to help return them to their rightful place.

But Harlyn Geronimo said: "I haven't heard a word."

The White House did not respond to messages asking for comment.

Both President Bush and his father, former President George H.W. Bush, attended Yale and joined the elite club. Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, the Democratic presidential nominee in 2004, is also a Bonesman, as are many other men in powerful government and industry positions.

Members are sworn to secrecy, one reason they won't say whether the club has Geronimo's bones.

"The reason there's all these conspiracy theories around Skull and Bones is because their loyalty to one another goes beyond their public differences," said historian and former Yale Alumni Magazine editor Marc Wortman.

Skull and Bones is one of a dozen secret Yale societies, according to Yale spokeswoman Gila Reinstein.

"If it's true about the bones, that's disrespectful and disturbing," she said.

John Fryar, a retired Bureau of Indian Affairs special agent in antiquities recovery and a member of Acoma Pueblo, said if the secret society does have remains, they should be returned to Fort Sill.

"To ignore a request like this for the return of human remains is totally uncalled for. Look at our guys going to Vietnam to recover remains. It's the same thing," he said.

For Harlyn Geronimo, this is the beginning of what he assumes will be a long fight and he's preparing in a traditional way.

Six months ago, he and a group of fellow medicine men traveled to Fort Sill and to the Gila Wilderness for prayer ceremonies.

Before any major endeavor, Harlyn Geronimo said, it's typical to hold "a prayer session that will guide us in the right direction."

Harlyn Geronimo grew up hearing stories about his great-grandfather and other Apache warriors who fought relentlessly against the Mexican and U.S. armies.

After their families were captured and sent to Florida, Geronimo and 35 warriors finally surrendered to Gen. Nelson A. Miles near the Arizona-New Mexico border in 1886. Geronimo was eventually sent to Fort Sill, where he died of pneumonia in 1909.

Harlyn Geronimo has said he wants to the world to know that the famed Indian fighter was also a healer and spiritual leader.

"Yes, he was a great warrior. At one time a quarter of the entire United States Army was after him — along with 500 scouts and 3,000 men from the Mexican Army — and they still couldn't find him," Harlyn Geronimo said.

"They had their top athletes involved in tracking him but they couldn't keep up. He was a great military strategist. But many people don't know about his spiritual side."

Harlyn Geronimo wants to create a 12-foot bronze of his great-grandfather to be placed at the warrior's birthplace in the Gila. He also would like to see a new biography of Geronimo that incorporates sound historical research and also mines the wealth of information still available from living family members.

"We have a lot of oral history that has been passed down to us that has never been published," he said.

 

[oneofmany]

Pope riles Protestants, says Catholicism is the only way

​

Pope riles Protestants, says Catholicism is the only way​

LORENZAGO DI CADORE, Italy — Pope Benedict XVI reasserted the primacy of the Roman Catholic Church, approving a document released Tuesday that says other Christian communities are either defective or not true churches and Catholicism provides the only true path to salvation.

The statement brought swift criticism from Protestant leaders. "It makes us question whether we are indeed praying together for Christian unity," said the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, a fellowship of 75 million Protestants in more than 100 countries.

It was the second time in a week that Benedict has corrected what he says are erroneous interpretations of the Second Vatican Council, the 1962-1965 meetings that modernized the church. On Saturday, Benedict revived the Latin Mass — a move cheered by traditionalists but criticized by liberals as a step backward from Vatican II.

"Christ 'established here on earth' only one church," said the document, released as the pope vacations in Lorenzago di Cadore, in Italy's Dolomite mountains.

The Rev. Sara MacVane, of the Anglican Centre in Rome, said "it's important always to point out that there's the official position and there's the huge amount of friendship and fellowship and worshipping together that goes on at all levels."

 

[dbluesun]

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5547481422995115331&pr=goog-sl
check out,,,hope it is not a repost

 

[oneofmany]

Added to DNA database every 45 seconds

Added to DNA database every 45 seconds​

One person is added to the national DNA database every 45 seconds, it was revealed on Thursday.

The total number of records will soon pass the 4million mark – provoking accusations the Government is in a 'headlong rush' towards a surveillance state.

The files contain genetic profiles for those charged with – or suspected of – an arrestable offence.

Some 722,464 profiles were added to the nationwide system in the last 12 months.

The DNA database currently contains 3,976,000 profiles, although around 13 per cent of these are thought to be duplicates.

And the numbers could be set to rise faster. The Home Office is considering adding people to the database who are caught for minor offences such as speeding or dropping litter.

That proposal has the support of the police.

Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Nick Clegg said: 'The Government's onward march towards a surveillance state has now become a headlong rush.

'They seem determined to Hoover up the DNA details of as many people as they can, regardless of guilt or innocence. We already have by far the largest DNA database in the world.'

But the Home Office said that 'those who are innocent have nothing to fear'.

A spokesman said the police recommendations would not necessarily be accepted. 'Proposals will be subject to a further public consultation next year,' he added.

 

[oneofmany]

US Congress approves expanded wiretap powers

US Congress approves expanded wiretap powers​

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US Congress late Saturday gave final approval to a White House-backed plan to extend the power of US intelligence agents to eavesdrop on terror suspects, giving a long-sought victory to President George W. Bush.

The House of Representatives voted for the bill 227-183, one day after it won approval by the US Senate.
The measure allows US intelligence agencies to listen in on telephone and e-mail conversations mainly outside the United States, but routed through US-based communications firms.

Under the bill, intelligence officers will be able to listen in to such conversations without obtaining prior approval from a special court.

The bill will have to be re-authorized after six months.

The House vote came after Bush pressed its members earlier Saturday to swiftly pass the spying legislation.

 

[oneofmany]

Ritalin: The ADHD drug may affect the developing brain

Ritalin: The ADHD drug may affect the developing brain​

Ritalin – given to around 5 million young Americans diagnosed with ADHD (attention-deficit, hyperactive disorder) – may affect the developing brain.

Ritalin (methylphenidate) is a stimulant similar to amphetamine and cocaine, and it seems to have a paradoxical effect on ADHD children, and calms them.

But it may do so at a price, new research suggests. The new study, which monitored the effect of the drug on the brains of rats, found that it altered areas of the brain related to executive functioning, addiction and appetite, social relationships and stress.

The rats recovered the longer they were off the drug, researchers noticed.

Although there’s often no direct correlation between the effects on animals and humans, the rats did respond in a similar way when they were first given Ritalin. They lost weight, which often happens in children who first take the drug.

The fact that the rats soon regained their healthy mental capacities suggests the drug should be taken over a short period of time rather than for years as currently happens, the researchers say.

 

[oneofmany]

UK orders new gag on armed forces

UK orders new gag on armed forces​

New rules barring military personnel from talking about their service publicly have been quietly introduced by the UK Ministry of Defense.

Soldiers, sailors and airforce personnel will not be able to blog, take part in surveys, speak in public, post on bulletin boards, play in multi-player computer games or send text messages or photographs without the permission of a superior if the information they use concerns matters of defense.

They also cannot release video, still images or audio - material which has previously led to investigations into the abuse of Iraqis. Instead, the guidelines state that "all such communication must help to maintain and, where possible, enhance the reputation of defense".

According to the regulations, issued by the Directorate of Communication Planning, receiving money for interviews, conferences and books which draw on official defense experience has now been banned.

The MoD document covers "all public speaking, writing or other communications, including via the internet and other sharing technologies, on issues arising from an individual's official business or experience, whether on-duty, off-duty or in spare time".

The rules have provoked consternation among the ranks, with human rights lawyers saying that they could be in contravention of Article 10 of the Human Rights Act, which allows for freedom of expression. The rules apply not only to full-time forces but to members of the Territorial Army and cadets whilst on duty, as well as MoD civil servants.

Service personnel are currently bound by Queen's Regulations, which mean they must seek permission before speaking to the press but are free to blog and take part in online debates. However, many have spoken out anonymously on issues such as poor kit, housing and the treatment of wounded service personnel evacuated from combat zones.

Criticism of the RAF in Afghanistan and the state of the ageing vehicles being used there have all appeared in the press.

The MoD's director general of media communications, Simon McDowell, denied that the guidelines were a form of censorship or gagging.

"We are trying to give straightforward, clear guidance that is up to date. The existing regulations were confusing and didn't include things like accepting payment. It applies to communicating about defense matters, not personal things.

"Particular things can impact on operational security; information which somebody can get a hold of. Even a little photograph sent from Afghanistan on a mobile phone could endanger people's lives and break operational security."

 

[GET YOU HOT]

Thanks, One of Many

An encyclopedia of Deterioration of Freedom

 

[GET YOU HOT]

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5547481422995115331&pr=goog-sl
check out,,,hope it is not a repost

some see, some don't, some remain anonymous, some won't...

 

[oneofmany]

Freaky News Report About Clergy Used In US Martial Law

Freaky News Report About Clergy Used In US Martial Law

<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/e-BtWhs8qlg"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/e-BtWhs8qlg" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>​

 

[oneofmany]

US won't tell Britons why they're banned from travelling to America

Britons denied access to the US will no longer be informed why​

US won't tell Britons why they're banned from travelling to America​

British holidaymakers and businessmen banned from travelling to America under anti-terror laws will no longer have any right to know why they have been turned away.

The US Department of Homeland Security, set up following the September 11 attacks, last week applied for a blanket ban on disclosing the information it holds on Britons and other EU citizens.

Last month, Britain agreed to send the secretive US department all details of UK passengers before they fly to America.

The agency was given full access to huge amounts of information on individual passengers, including details of their credit cards, home addresses, e-mail addresses, frequent-flier records and even requests for special meals.

And, despite a huge privacy row in the European Parliament, it was also given permission to keep the airlines' lists of passengers' names for at least eight years.

The Department of Homeland Security last week said it intended to make this information available for 'routine use' by the intelligence community 'to protect the United States from terrorist threats' and to tackle cases of identity theft.

But it said it was also applying for a complete ban on disclosing the information it holds on individuals and then uses to turn passengers away.

Last week, it published a "notice of proposed rulemaking" for an exception from the US Privacy Act, which allows individuals to check records the American government holds on them.

The law is supposed to allow anyone to check files for mistakes but the new exception rule is being brought in on the grounds of national security and law enforcement.

 

[oneofmany]

Now police are told they can use Taser guns on children

Now police are told they can use Taser guns on children

Police have been given the go-ahead to use Taser stun guns against children.

The relaxing of restrictions on the use of the weapons comes despite warnings that they could trigger a heart attack in youngsters.

Until now, Tasers - which emit a 50,000-volt electric shock - have been used only by specialist officers as a "non lethal" alternative to firearms.

However, they can now be used against all potentially violent offenders even if they are unarmed.

It is the decision not to ban their use against minors that is likely to raise serious concerns.

Home Office Police Minister Tony McNulty said medical assessments had confirmed the risk of death or serious injury from Tasers was "low".

But he failed to mention Government advisers had also warned of a potential risk to children.

The Defence Scientific Advisory Council medical committee told the Home Office that not enough was known about the health risks of using the weapons against children.

Tasers work by firing metal barbs into the skin which then discharge an electrical charge which is designed to disable someone long enough to allow police to detain them safely.

The committee, which is made up of independent scientists and doctors, said that limited research suggested there was a risk children could suffer "a serious cardiac event".

It recommended that officers should be "particularly vigilant" for any Taser-induced adverse response and said guidance should be amended to "identify children and adults of small stature" as being at potentially greater risk from the cardiac effects of Tasers.

The Government scientists were also asked to test whether the weapons could cause a miscarriage if used on a pregnant woman.

While not saying whether police would be allowed to Taser an expectant mother, the Home Office said the DSAC committee had "specifically asked" for computer simulations to be carried out to analyse the effect on "a pregnant female".

Amnesty International claims Tasers have been responsible for 220 deaths in America since 2001. Many cities and police forces there have banned their use against minors.

Two years ago in Chicago a 14-year-old boy went into cardiac arrest after being shot with one. Medics had to use a defibrillator four times to resuscitate him.

Taser International, the American firm that makes the device, said tests on pigs suggested the weapons were safe.

The Association of Chief Police Officers, which issues guidance to forces on the use of weapons, said Tasers would be made "readily available" for "conflict management" at incidents of "violence and threats of violence of such severity that they will need force".

Non-firearms officers in ten forces will be trained to use the weapons. Every incident they are involved in will be assessed over a 12-month trial period.

 

[oneofmany]

A 'chilling' proposal for a universal DNA database

A 'chilling' proposal for a universal DNA database

A civil liberties storm erupted yesterday after a senior judge called for the genetic details of every person in Britain, and all visitors to the country, to be added to the national DNA database. Critics warned that the "chilling" move would infringe privacy, be hugely impractical and have only a marginal impact on crime.

Downing Street and the Home Office, which have been accused of moving Britain towards a surveillance society, distanced themselves from Lord Justice Sedley's controversial suggestion without entirely ruling it out.

About 4.1 million samples are already on the database, almost 7 per cent of the population and far more than in any other Western country. Police can take DNA from anyone arrested, regardless of whether they are eventually charged.

But Sir Stephen Sedley, one of the most experienced Court of Appeal judges, protested that there were "indefensible" anomalies in the system, including disproportionate numbers of people from ethnic minorities on the database.

He said: "We have a situation where if you happen to have been in the hands of the police, your DNA is permanently on record and if you haven't, it isn't."

The judge told the BBC that the remedy could be to place every person on the database, as well as the 32 million annual foreign visitors to the country, for the "absolutely rigorously restricted purpose of crime detection and prevention".

He acknowledged that the creation of a universal database had very serious implications, but argued that it ultimately led to a fairer system.

Tony Blair said last year that he could see no reason why the DNA of everyone should not ultimately be kept on record.

Gordon Brown's official spokesman said the Government had no plans to introduce a compulsory database, and stressed the logistical and bureaucratic problems, and the civil liberties concerns, surrounding such a move.

Tony McNulty, the Home Office minister, said he was broadly sympathetic to the "real logic" of the judge's argument. But he stressed: "There is no government plan to go to a compulsory database now or in the foreseeable future."

Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman, accused the Government of a "cloak-and-dagger strategy of creating a universal database behind the backs of the British people".

David Davis, the shadow Home Secretary, called for a parliamentary debate on the issue. He said: "The erratic nature of this database means that some criminals have escaped having their DNA recorded whilst a third of those people on the database – over a million people – have never been convicted of a crime."

Shami Chakrabarti, director of the human rights organisation Liberty, said a database of DNA from convicted sexual and violent offenders was a "perfectly sensible crime-fighting measure".

But she added: "A database of every man, woman and child in the country is a chilling proposal, ripe for indignity, error and abuse."

The DNA database, created in 1995, is growing by 30,000 samples a month. It contains the profiles of 884,000 children, including more than 100 who are less than 10 years old.

The Home Office is currently reviewing the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, which sets out the powers to take and retain biometric data. It will consider whether records should only be held temporarily for minor offenders and people who are not charged.

The Home Office said last night that the database provides police with an average of 3,500 matches each month.

 

[oneofmany]

Chip Implants Linked to Animal Tumors

Chip Implants Linked to Animal Tumors

When the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved implanting microchips in humans, the manufacturer said it would save lives, letting doctors scan the tiny transponders to access patients' medical records almost instantly. The FDA found "reasonable assurance" the device was safe, and a sub-agency even called it one of 2005's top "innovative technologies."

But neither the company nor the regulators publicly mentioned this: A series of veterinary and toxicology studies, dating to the mid-1990s, stated that chip implants had "induced" malignant tumors in some lab mice and rats.

"The transponders were the cause of the tumors," said Keith Johnson, a retired toxicologic pathologist, explaining in a phone interview the findings of a 1996 study he led at the Dow Chemical Co. in Midland, Mich.

Leading cancer specialists reviewed the research for The Associated Press and, while cautioning that animal test results do not necessarily apply to humans, said the findings troubled them. Some said they would not allow family members to receive implants, and all urged further research before the glass-encased transponders are widely implanted in people.

To date, about 2,000 of the so-called radio frequency identification, or RFID, devices have been implanted in humans worldwide, according to VeriChip Corp. The company, which sees a target market of 45 million Americans for its medical monitoring chips, insists the devices are safe, as does its parent company, Applied Digital Solutions, of Delray Beach, Fla.

"We stand by our implantable products which have been approved by the FDA and/or other U.S. regulatory authorities," Scott Silverman, VeriChip Corp. chairman and chief executive officer, said in a written response to AP questions.

The company was "not aware of any studies that have resulted in malignant tumors in laboratory rats, mice and certainly not dogs or cats," but he added that millions of domestic pets have been implanted with microchips, without reports of significant problems.

"In fact, for more than 15 years we have used our encapsulated glass transponders with FDA approved anti-migration caps and received no complaints regarding malignant tumors caused by our product."

The FDA also stands by its approval of the technology.

Did the agency know of the tumor findings before approving the chip implants? The FDA declined repeated AP requests to specify what studies it reviewed.

The FDA is overseen by the Department of Health and Human Services, which, at the time of VeriChip's approval, was headed by Tommy Thompson. Two weeks after the device's approval took effect on Jan. 10, 2005, Thompson left his Cabinet post, and within five months was a board member of VeriChip Corp. and Applied Digital Solutions. He was compensated in cash and stock options.

Thompson, until recently a candidate for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination, says he had no personal relationship with the company as the VeriChip was being evaluated, nor did he play any role in FDA's approval process of the RFID tag.

"I didn't even know VeriChip before I stepped down from the Department of Health and Human Services," he said in a telephone interview.

Also making no mention of the findings on animal tumors was a June report by the ethics committee of the American Medical Association, which touted the benefits of implantable RFID devices.

Had committee members reviewed the literature on cancer in chipped animals?

No, said Dr. Steven Stack, an AMA board member with knowledge of the committee's review.

Was the AMA aware of the studies?

No, he said.

Published in veterinary and toxicology journals between 1996 and 2006, the studies found that lab mice and rats injected with microchips sometimes developed subcutaneous "sarcomas" -- malignant tumors, most of them encasing the implants.

* A 1998 study in Ridgefield, Conn., of 177 mice reported cancer incidence to be slightly higher than 10 percent -- a result the researchers described as "surprising."

* A 2006 study in France detected tumors in 4.1 percent of 1,260 microchipped mice. This was one of six studies in which the scientists did not set out to find microchip-induced cancer but noticed the growths incidentally. They were testing compounds on behalf of chemical and pharmaceutical companies; but they ruled out the compounds as the tumors' cause. Because researchers only noted the most obvious tumors, the French study said, "These incidences may therefore slightly underestimate the true occurrence" of cancer.

* In 1997, a study in Germany found cancers in 1 percent of 4,279 chipped mice. The tumors "are clearly due to the implanted microchips," the authors wrote.

Caveats accompanied the findings. "Blind leaps from the detection of tumors to the prediction of human health risk should be avoided," one study cautioned. Also, because none of the studies had a control group of animals that did not get chips, the normal rate of tumors cannot be determined and compared to the rate with chips implanted.

Still, after reviewing the research, specialists at some pre-eminent cancer institutions said the findings raised red flags.

"There's no way in the world, having read this information, that I would have one of those chips implanted in my skin, or in one of my family members," said Dr. Robert Benezra, head of the Cancer Biology Genetics Program at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York.

Before microchips are implanted on a large scale in humans, he said, testing should be done on larger animals, such as dogs or monkeys. "I mean, these are bad diseases. They are life-threatening. And given the preliminary animal data, it looks to me that there's definitely cause for concern."

Dr. George Demetri, director of the Center for Sarcoma and Bone Oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, agreed. Even though the tumor incidences were "reasonably small," in his view, the research underscored "certainly real risks" in RFID implants.

In humans, sarcomas, which strike connective tissues, can range from the highly curable to "tumors that are incredibly aggressive and can kill people in three to six months," he said.

At the Jackson Laboratory in Maine, a leader in mouse genetics research and the initiation of cancer, Dr. Oded Foreman, a forensic pathologist, also reviewed the studies at the AP's request.

At first he was skeptical, suggesting that chemicals administered in some of the studies could have caused the cancers and skewed the results. But he took a different view after seeing that control mice, which received no chemicals, also developed the cancers. "That might be a little hint that something real is happening here," he said. He, too, recommended further study, using mice, dogs or non-human primates.

Dr. Cheryl London, a veterinarian oncologist at Ohio State University, noted: "It's much easier to cause cancer in mice than it is in people. So it may be that what you're seeing in mice represents an exaggerated phenomenon of what may occur in people."

Tens of thousands of dogs have been chipped, she said, and veterinary pathologists haven't reported outbreaks of related sarcomas in the area of the neck, where canine implants are often done. (Published reports detailing malignant tumors in two chipped dogs turned up in AP's four-month examination of research on chips and health. In one dog, the researchers said cancer appeared linked to the presence of the embedded chip; in the other, the cancer's cause was uncertain.)

Nonetheless, London saw a need for a 20-year study of chipped canines "to see if you have a biological effect." Dr. Chand Khanna, a veterinary oncologist at the National Cancer Institute, also backed such a study, saying current evidence "does suggest some reason to be concerned about tumor formations."

Meanwhile, the animal study findings should be disclosed to anyone considering a chip implant, the cancer specialists agreed.

To date, however, that hasn't happened.

The product that VeriChip Corp. won approval for use in humans is an electronic capsule the size of two grains of rice. Generally, it is implanted with a syringe into an anesthetized portion of the upper arm.

When prompted by an electromagnetic scanner, the chip transmits a unique code. With the code, hospital staff can go on the Internet and access a patient's medical profile that is maintained in a database by VeriChip Corp. for an annual fee.

VeriChip Corp., whose parent company has been marketing radio tags for animals for more than a decade, sees an initial market of diabetics and people with heart conditions or Alzheimer's disease, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

The company is spending millions to assemble a national network of hospitals equipped to scan chipped patients.

But in its SEC filings, product labels and press releases, VeriChip Corp. has not mentioned the existence of research linking embedded transponders to tumors in test animals.

When the FDA approved the device, it noted some Verichip risks: The capsules could migrate around the body, making them difficult to extract; they might interfere with defibrillators, or be incompatible with MRI scans, causing burns. While also warning that the chips could cause "adverse tissue reaction," FDA made no reference to malignant growths in animal studies.

Did the agency review literature on microchip implants and animal cancer?

Dr. Katherine Albrecht, a privacy advocate and RFID expert, asked shortly after VeriChip's approval what evidence the agency had reviewed. When FDA declined to provide information, she filed a Freedom of Information Act request. More than a year later, she received a letter stating there were no documents matching her request.

"The public relies on the FDA to evaluate all the data and make sure the devices it approves are safe," she says, "but if they're not doing that, who's covering our backs?"

Late last year, Albrecht unearthed at the Harvard medical library three studies noting cancerous tumors in some chipped mice and rats, plus a reference in another study to a chipped dog with a tumor. She forwarded them to the AP, which subsequently found three additional mice studies with similar findings, plus another report of a chipped dog with a tumor.

Asked if it had taken these studies into account, the FDA said VeriChip documents were being kept confidential to protect trade secrets. After AP filed a FOIA request, the FDA made available for a phone interview Anthony Watson, who was in charge of the VeriChip approval process.

"At the time we reviewed this, I don't remember seeing anything like that," he said of animal studies linking microchips to cancer. A literature search "didn't turn up anything that would be of concern."

In general, Watson said, companies are expected to provide safety-and-effectiveness data during the approval process, "even if it's adverse information."

Watson added: "The few articles from the literature that did discuss adverse tissue reactions similar to those in the articles you provided, describe the responses as foreign body reactions that are typical of other implantable devices. The balance of the data provided in the submission supported approval of the device."

Another implantable device could be a pacemaker, and indeed, tumors have in some cases attached to foreign bodies inside humans. But Dr. Neil Lipman, director of the Research Animal Resource Center at Memorial Sloan-Kettering, said it's not the same. The microchip isn't like a pacemaker that's vital to keeping someone alive, he added, "so at this stage, the payoff doesn't justify the risks."

Silverman, VeriChip Corp.'s chief executive, disagreed. "Each month pet microchips reunite over 8,000 dogs and cats with their owners," he said. "We believe the VeriMed Patient Identification System will provide similar positive benefits for at-risk patients who are unable to communicate for themselves in an emergency."

And what of former HHS secretary Thompson?

When asked what role, if any, he played in VeriChip's approval, Thompson replied: "I had nothing to do with it. And if you look back at my record, you will find that there has never been any improprieties whatsoever."

FDA's Watson said: "I have no recollection of him being involved in it at all." VeriChip Corp. declined comment.

Thompson vigorously campaigned for electronic medical records and healthcare technology both as governor of Wisconsin and at HHS. While in President Bush's Cabinet, he formed a "medical innovation" task force that worked to partner FDA with companies developing medical information technologies.

At a "Medical Innovation Summit" on Oct. 20, 2004, Lester Crawford, the FDA's acting commissioner, thanked the secretary for getting the agency "deeply involved in the use of new information technology to help prevent medication error." One notable example he cited: "the implantable chips and scanners of the VeriChip system our agency approved last week."

After leaving the Cabinet and joining the company board, Thompson received options on 166,667 shares of VeriChip Corp. stock, and options on an additional 100,000 shares of stock from its parent company, Applied Digital Solutions, according to SEC records. He also received $40,000 in cash in 2005 and again in 2006, the filings show.

The Project on Government Oversight called Thompson's actions "unacceptable" even though they did not violate what the independent watchdog group calls weak conflict-of-interest laws.

"A decade ago, people would be embarrassed to cash in on their government connections. But now it's like the Wild West," said the group's executive director, Danielle Brian.

Thompson is a partner at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, a Washington law firm that was paid $1.2 million for legal services it provided the chip maker in 2005 and 2006, according to SEC filings.

He stepped down as a VeriChip Corp. director in March to seek the GOP presidential nomination, and records show that the company gave his campaign $7,400 before he bowed out of the race in August.

In a TV interview while still on the board, Thompson was explaining the benefits -- and the ease -- of being chipped when an interviewer interrupted:

"I'm sorry, sir. Did you just say you would get one implanted in your arm?"

"Absolutely," Thompson replied. "Without a doubt."

"No concerns at all?"

"No."

But to date, Thompson has yet to be chipped himself.

On the Web:

http://www.verichipcorp.com

http://www.antichips.com

 

[Finito]

Re: Chip Implants Linked to Animal Tumors

Crazy man. I was watching "Mythbusters" on Discovery today and one of the myths was about weather or not a RFID would explode if put in an MRI machine(while in a person).. They REALLY talked up the whole idea of implanting one of those things for medical purposes and whatnot.. sounded like a big ass advertisement. To top it off, They were provided with a couple of "Verichip" brand chips to test with, and one of the mythbusters(the cute lil broad) was implanted with one willingly.



Mind Control. They want us to become accustomed to these things.

 

[oneofmany]

Re: Chip Implants Linked to Animal Tumors

Crazy man. I was watching "Mythbusters" on Discovery today and one of the myths was about weather or not a RFID would explode if put in an MRI machine(while in a person).. They REALLY talked up the whole idea of implanting one of those things for medical purposes and whatnot.. sounded like a big ass advertisement. To top it off, They were provided with a couple of "Verichip" brand chips to test with, and one of the mythbusters(the cute lil broad) was implanted with one willingly.



Mind Control. They want us to become accustomed to these things.

Wow. To take a chip willingly? I wouldn't do it. I remember a show said scar tissue develops around the implanted chip and can sometimes migrate around in the body. Thus a surgeon has to skillfully take it out if you don't want it anymore. The risks outweigh the benefits as far as I'm concerned. When they first made these chips, they claimed it was only or mostly for elderly people in hospital/nursing home settings. But over time, they've made so many more chips, you can see the goal is to sell more of the chips and that means many young, nonelderly people would have to buy into the program. So what once was an idea proposed to be only for a certain group of people is now trying to be pushed for everybody.

 

[GreedySmurf]

Its amazing to me how the erosion of freedoms in Britain parallel those here in america. Anyone who doesn't believe there's a world wide effort to bring in the New World Order has got to be in a state of denial.

 

[Fuckallyall]

Re: Chip Implants Linked to Animal Tumors

Wow. To take a chip willingly? I wouldn't do it. I remember a show said scar tissue develops around the implanted chip and can sometimes migrate around in the body. Thus a surgeon has to skillfully take it out if you don't want it anymore. The risks outweigh the benefits as far as I'm concerned. When they first made these chips, they claimed it was only or mostly for elderly people in hospital/nursing home settings. But over time, they've made so many more chips, you can see the goal is to sell more of the chips and that means many young, nonelderly people would have to buy into the program. So what once was an idea proposed to be only for a certain group of people is now trying to be pushed for everybody.

As someone who may have a VERY dangerous allergy, I would like to have the chip, as long as it is proven safe. Judging by the article, I am not convinced it is dangerous, considering the amout of tumors reported shrank with each passing discovery of them, no controled comparison and the lack of any reports of a higher rate of tumors in the humans who have them. I don't think it's a good idea to COMPEL them, but it's a good technology.

 

[QueEx]

Re: Chip Implants Linked to Animal Tumors

. . . I don't know why you would go and spoil a perfectly good anti-technology thread . . .

 

[oneofmany]

Re: Chip Implants Linked to Animal Tumors

As someone who may have a VERY dangerous allergy, I would like to have the chip, as long as it is proven safe. Judging by the article, I am not convinced it is dangerous, considering the amout of tumors reported shrank with each passing discovery of them, no controled comparison and the lack of any reports of a higher rate of tumors in the humans who have them. I don't think it's a good idea to COMPEL them, but it's a good technology.

The tumors besides, you don't want objects migrating in your body. Reports from what I've heard range from no discomfort to considerable discomfort. Also, the information inside of the chip can be hacked (RFID has been hacked out of passports and other technology as well).

 

[oneofmany]

Re: Chip Implants Linked to Animal Tumors

. . . I don't know why you would go and spoil a perfectly good anti-technology thread . . .

My stance is that certain types of technology may be bad and if certain technology is used in a certain manner then it's bad. But I don't believe technology itself is bad. There's a lot of good innovation out there.

 

[oneofmany]

VeriChip shares plunge

VeriChip shares plunge

Shares of VeriChip Corp. plunged as much as 14 per cent today following a report linking implanted microchips to cancer in lab rats.

The Florida company, which develops and makes products in Ottawa, saw its stock drop as much as 14 per cent, the biggest decline since it went public early this year.

The Associated Press reported on a 1996 study which found a cancer link. It said it was not clear whether U.S. regulators considered the study before approving the use of the chips in humans.

VeriChip said in a statement that studies have shown the implanted chips are safe for humans, as well as for the millions of household pets who have also received them as identification devices.

 

[Fuckallyall]

Re: Chip Implants Linked to Animal Tumors

The tumors besides, you don't want objects migrating in your body. Reports from what I've heard range from no discomfort to considerable discomfort. Also, the information inside of the chip can be hacked (RFID has been hacked out of passports and other technology as well).

First, from what I read, there is no guarantee anything is going to migrate. Second, if they do migrate, there is no guarnatee of a reaction.
Third, the reaction may not be strong.
Fourth, anything can be stolen.
Fifth, and the most important, why should I not have the choice ? Cars are dangerous, all manner of things are dangerous, hell, the computer monitor you are looking at now is dangerous. Doesn't mean you can'ttake the chance, especially when there are competing interests to consider.

I think you , like many, live in a world where you want others to disprove negatives. It doesn't and shouldn't IMO, work that way.

 

[nittie]

Re: Digital Cable boxes listening to you

CNN reported this week that organized crime had profits of 2 trillion dollars last year, that's trillion not billion dollars. They went on to say that 2 trillion dollars is more than twice the defense budgets of every country in the world combined. With that kind of threat lurking it's no wonder governments are becoming more invasive. That kind of money could corrupt every institution in the world. There really is a underground economy equal to the global market, there really are gangs capable of over-throwing countries, as we speak our government has probably been compromised how else do you explain the billions missing in Iraq? It's good some people in government see the need to stop this covert movement or declare a global war on terror, if that means losing some civil liberties then we have to lose them but we should demand that the people representing us be beyond reproach. We have to hold them accountable.

 

[oneofmany]

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