CERDAFIED - Your privacy is a highly prized possession, and the government wants to take it away. You may not even notice it is gone at first, but then one day, when you least expect it, your going to want your privacy back. But it will be too late. The government will have gathered and stored enough information on every individual to initiate new laws and to abuse their power. In fact, they already do. Let’s look at some known … and perhaps unknown … ways you are losing privacy.
New Technology – New Laser Scanner
The press release on Nov. 02, 2011 begins, “Genia Photonics Inc., a high technology company specializing in fiber-laser based systems, announced today a strategic partnership and technology development agreement with In-Q-Tel (IQT), the not-for-profit, strategic investment firm that delivers innovative technology solutions to support the missions of the US Intelligence Community.”
The US Department of Homeland Security will be the first beneficiary of this new technology. They plan to install this new mobile laser system in airports and at border crossings along the United States. From 164 feet away the laser scanner will pass through your body and analyze you at a molecular level. It can "penetrate clothing and many other organic materials and offers spectroscopic information, especially for materials that impact safety such as explosives and pharmacological substances."
Instantaneously it will identify trace drugs, gun powders and explosives, dangerous chemicals, and bio-weapons. Also, what you ate for breakfast, your adrenaline level, and medical anomalies.
This Genia Photonic laser scanner is ten million times faster than existing scanners, and one million times more sensitive. Will have 30 patents, and the company claims it can be used for biomedical and industrial applications. Russians also have a similar technology. This technology is not new, just a million times faster!
It can be used systematically on everyone within range, instead of a random sampling of people. Agents can gather any information they want without touching you, asking for permission, or you ever knowing it occurred. The component is small and portable, so it can be used everywhere; prisons, traffic, sports arenas, concerts, subways, parks, schools, police cars, hospitals, etc.
According to In-Q-Tel: “In 1998, CIA identified technology as a top strategic priority, and set out a radical plan to create a new venture that would help increase the Agency's access to private sector innovation. In-Q-Tel was chartered in February 1999 by a group of private citizens at the request of the Director of Central Intelligence and with the support of the US Congress. IQT was tasked with building a bridge between the Agency and a new set of technology innovators.”
How will this type of information be used? Who will they prosecute and under what circumstances? If you’re saying to yourself….”I am glad that there is technology to protect us and it will find the guilty.”…….perhaps you should read about the unfortunate traveler currently in jail in Dubai, who unknowingly stepped on the butt of someone else’s joint.
You may be concerned about the health risks of these scanners. But the government is not talking about your health risks or your privacy, only about installing them by 2014.
Newborn Blood Spot Testing
Are you aware that most states do not inform parents that their newborn received a mandated heel prick, and that the newborn blood spot (NBS) samples are sent to the state’s health department for testing? Did you know that NBS samples are retained and used for research in some cases? Since 1965, the state health departments have not obtained consent, nor shared how your newborns samples are used in research.
As DNA research emerged, new unforeseeable opportunities presented itself. The vast supply of NBS samples offered an opportunity to look at disease development and genetic mutations. Researchers can determine how the environment interacts with the gene and alters its functionality over time. Good information to know.
However, parents are outraged when they receive disturbing news based on the NBS samples, and some believe that the state health department should get consent and destroy the samples after testing is completed.
Scholars may argue the pros and cons of genetic privacy, but parents want the last say, and some do not want their infants to be used as human research subjects and want the opportunity to opt-out.
Federal guidelines require each state to develop state health department policies governing storage, research, consent and an opt-out component. While some states have specific legislation authorizing the state health department to retain NBS samples for research, others do not.
In Minnesota and Texas, the newborn screening statute was confusing, and conflicting interpretations had parents heading to the court because they believed their child’s privacy and property rights were violated. The court dismissed the lawsuit - Bearder v. Minnesota, and Minnesota has not changed its policies.
In Beleno v. Texas Dept. of State Health Services., the parents and state health department settled the lawsuit and over four million NBS samples that had been obtained without parental consent had to be destroyed. Furthermore, the state health department agreed to post online; the research projects NBS samples were used for, and had to inform the parents of the lawsuit.
For more information, click here.
Law Enforcement - Tracking Americans' via Cell Phones
In February of 2010, Newsweek magazine covered how law enforcement tracks Americans’ using their cell phones and without the required warrants. This happens in real time, and quite frequently. Federal prosecutors are using cell phones as a tracking device and federal magistrates are questioning their legal authority for this.
Cell phone tracking is more than a little unsettling. Government surveillance has become more pervasive and without warrants they tend to be without merit.
Al Gidari, a telecommunications lawyer, told NEWSWEEK that the telecommunication companies are receiving "thousands of these requests per month," and requests have grown "exponentially" over the past few years. Sprint Nextel set up a dedicated Web site for law-enforcement agents. Now they can access records from their desks.
Federal prosecutors go “judge shopping” to bypass judges who question the merit of their requests. According the article, they submit "2703(d) orders—a reference to an obscure provision of a 1986 law called the Stored Communications Act, in which prosecutors only need to assert that records are "relevant" to an ongoing criminal investigation.”
For more information, click here.
Supreme Court Ruling - Allows Strip Searches for Any Arrest
In 2012, the New York Times reported on a Supreme court ruling that allowed officials to strip-search people arrested for any and all offenses, no matter how minor, before admitting them to jails. Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, wrote in the brief, that courts are in no position to second-guess the judgments of correctional officials. Justice Stephen G. Breyer, wrote for the dissenters, that strip searches were “a serious affront to human dignity and to individual privacy”. In a study in an Orange County, N.Y. correctional facility, contraband was detected once in 23,000 people.
For more information, click here.
Secrets of Digital Photocopiers
In April of 2010, CBS News revealed how digital copy machines store every image ever copied, on to its hard drive. Sensitive information remains on the copy machines long after they are no longer fit for service. Copies of birth certificates, bank records, income tax returns, driver’s licenses, social security numbers, and credit card numbers are stored just waiting for the savvy identity theft criminal or even big brother. The manufacturers offer encryption packages on their products but at the cost of about $500 most people are not willing to pay for that protection of a useless or aged copier, particularly not government agencies or medical billing companies.
It only takes about 30 minutes to pull the hard drives out, and download tens of thousands of documents using forensic software programs that are available for free on the Internet. Within 12 hours he can view every scan and copy.
For more information, click here.
Government Tags – Passports and Licenses, Privacy Erosion
Los Angeles Times demonstrated how easy it was to “skim” the identity of strangers by wireless remote due to the new micro-chipped passports and licenses. Using a Matrics antenna and a Motorola reader, you can detect from a distance of 20 feet, scan and then download identities to a laptop. Electronic US passport cards are embedded with radio frequency identification, or RFID tags.
These micro-chipped passports and licenses make people traceable without their knowledge or consent. It is now mandatory for Americans entering the United States by land or sea from Canada, Mexico, Bermuda and the Caribbean to present identity documents embedded with RFID tags. Conventional passports remain valid until they expire.
For more information, click here.
US Spy Satellites - Focused on the US
ABC News reported in September of 2007 that powerful spy satellites have been directed at American interests by our own government. This is potentially a violation of the Posse Comitatus Act. PCA bars the military from serving as a law enforcement body within the United States. The Department of Homeland Security has even developed a new office to use the satellites to monitor the US, called the National Applications Office. "What's most disturbing is learning about it from The Wall Street Journal," said Committee Chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss.
The Homeland Security Committee wrote, "Today's testimony made clear that there is effectively no legal framework governing the domestic use of satellite imagery for the various purposes envisioned by the department. … The use of geospatial information from military intelligence satellites may turn out to be a valuable tool in protecting the homeland."
Congress expressed concern about using military capabilities for U.S. law enforcement and Homeland Security operations. "We are so concerned that ... we are calling for a moratorium on the program. Today's testimony made clear that there is effectively no legal framework governing the domestic use of satellite imagery for the various purposes envisioned by the department."
For more information, click here.
Schools use GPS to track students who skip
MSNBC reported in February of 2011 that the Anaheim Union High School District in California is currently participating in a pilot program which involves Global Positioning System technology to locate truant students in the seventh or eighth grade who have four or more unexcused absences over the course of a school year. They will be assigned a GPS tracking device about the size of a cell phone, currently on a volunteer basis to avoid continuation school or prosecution with a potential stay in juvenile hall. Parents would also be avoiding the $2,000 fine, levied for turning a blind eye to truancy.
For more information, click here.
There are so many instances of privacy abuse that it will take a number of articles to cover them all. What is of the greatest concern is how easy it is to make an argument, touting the benefits of each violation of privacy, but how pervasive our loss of privacy has become. Most of us can see what’s over the horizon if we stay this course.
(Lisa Cerda is a contributor to CityWatch, a community activist, Chair of Tarzana Residents Against Poorly Planned Development, and former Tarzana Neighborhood Council board member.) –cw
CityWatch
Vol 10 Issue 63
Pub: Aug 7, 2012
