Freedom Is Becoming An Obsolete Word

#1

A Bill is currently being proposed in the American Congress (the "Executive Branch Reform Act") which will, if passed, require government officials to record any contact they have with citizens, so that the data can be processed and published for public access.

In other words, the average American citizen's ability to voice their input about what their government is doing is not only to be buried under a mass of paperwork, but is also to be published so that the whole world can view their opinion.

Essentially the democratic process will grind to a halt.

Federal employees would even have to keep records of what people say to them about the government in the bar after work -- even what their wife says over the dinner table, as it could influence their decisions in regard to national policy.


(From World Net Daily)


#2

American Homeland Security officials are testing a computer program that collects personal information on American citizens and analyses it to decide if they are potential terrorists. The system uses the same data gathering process as the Total Information Awareness program that was banned by Congress in 2003 for serious privacy violations.

The program gathers personal data (such as credit card purchases, phone details, medical records, travel records and bank statements) on a person to track their actions and contacts and feeds it into an algorithim which determines whether their behaviour matches that of a potential terrorist.

A Government Accountability Office (GAO) investigation of the project has been requested.


(From The Washington Times)


#3

Internet censorship is spreading rapidly - currently being practised by some two dozen countries. Recently Turkey has blocked YouTube in order to quell offensive comments about Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey. Wikipedia is blocked in China; Blogspot is blocked in Pakistan (us blogspot users can say what we like about Pakistan - they can't read it), and "keyword filtering" is practised in many countries, so that sites that contain certain words can't be accessed.

China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Burma and Uzbekistan are some of the other countries that practice internet censorship.


(From the Financial Times of London)


#4

In Britain, starting in 2010, children between the ages of 11 and 16 are to have their fingerprints stored in a national database. Furthermore, starting in 2008, anyone over the age of 16 who applies for a passport will also have their fingerprint stored in the National Identity Register. From October 2009 applicants will also be issued national ID cards. As well as fingerprints, these cards will contain personal details of the card owner on a microchip in the card. "Personal details" will include address (including secondary addresses), driver's license and insurance numbers.

These ID cards will initially not be compulsory, however you won't be able to apply for a passport without one.

Critics worry about the degree to which Britain would transform into a Big Brother surveillence society with the implementation of this scheme.


(From the Sunday Times of London and World Net Daily)


#5

A more advanced type of surveillence camera is being designed. Traditionally surveillence cameras are used as after-the-event tools to identify criminals. However research is underway to put a brain behind these eyes, making the cameras able to detect suspicious behaviour and alert the authorities. This would mean fewer people would be needed to watch the video monitors in security rooms, and would therefore make it easier to install more cameras in both public places and people's homes.

The cameras would be able to analyse your height and facial features, the way you walk, whether you appear to be hiding something in your jacket, how heavy a load is in your bag, and so on. Some of the uses that this system is claimed to have are:

Monitoring street corners
Watching sensitive government buildings
Catching speeders
Detecting gunshots
Catching graffiti sprayers or illegal dumpers
Catching cheating gamblers
Watching Airports and Ports
Securing private homes, public buses, train stations, building lobbies, schools and stores Watching over vast borders to catch people crossing illegally


(From the Washington Post)


#6

American Express has filed a patent for a system that tracks owners of American Express Blue Cards. The Blue Cards contain an RFID tag which would be tracked by RFID tags embedded in store shelves. This would be used to identify consumers and track their movements within the shop. The patent also suggested that RFID tags could be placed in social places like schools, buses, shopping centres, hotels, etc.


(From a Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering press release)


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I heartily recommend World Net Daily. It's an independent news site dedicated to freedom of the press and runs stories that everyone else is too scared to run. Incidently, it's a blocked site on US Department of Defense websites.