Wednesday, October 10, 2007
US Surveillance: These Boots Are Made for Walking

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

by Sarah Meyer

Index Research




US Military Boots

You keep saying you've got something for me.
something you call love, but confess.
You've been messin' where you shouldn't have been a messin'
and now someone else is gettin' all your best.

These boots are made for walking, and that's just what they'll do
one of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you.

You keep lying, when you oughta be truthin'
and you keep losin' when you oughta not bet.
You keep samin' when you oughta be changin'.
Now what's right is right, but you ain't been right yet.

These boots are made for walking, and that's just what they'll do
one of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you.

You keep playin' where you shouldn't be playin
and you keep thinkin' that you´ll never get burnt.
Ha! I just found me a brand new box of matches yeah
and what he know you ain't HAD time to learn.

Are you ready boots? Start walkin'!
lyrics, These Boots Are Made For Walkin'


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Just after the Romanian president, Ceaucescu, was executed in 1989, I ran a clinic in a communist-built block with a view of his huge palace. It was extremely hot. At night, cockroaches marched over my mattress on the floor on their way to the medicine cabinets. The nearby apartment doors were always ajar. Just as with East Germany’s Stasi surveillance, citizens were still in the habit of listening and watching their neighbours. It was easy to be paranoid. This suspicion and need to control everybody everywhere is now consuming America and our world. The excuse is "national security." Don't you believe it! ! The nervousness, reflected in the expected democratic concessions, is no different from the appeasement and cowardice seen during the rise and rule of Hitler. Indeed, Rumsfeld accused critics of trying to appease “a new type of fascism.” But it was the PNACers themselves who gave birth to this “new type of fascism” in the White House, the Pentagon and later in the Department of Homeland "Security". "NEVER FORGET." AMERICA HAS FORGOTTEN.

Carolyn Baker recently wrote a review of The True Story of the Bilderberg Group by Daniel Estulin. I am particularly interested in this true story thriller. I envision a group of "nice" Uncle Undershafts.1 A Bildergroup founder said "It is difficult to re-educate people who have been brought up on nationalism to the idea of relinquishing part of their sovereignty to a supra-national body. ... The Bilderbergers are searching for the age of post-nationalism: when we won't have countries, but rather regions of the Earth surrounded by Universal values. That is to say, a global economy; one World government (selected rather than elected) and a universal religion. To assure themselves of reaching these objectives, the Bilderbergers focus on a ‘greater technical approach' and less awareness on behalf of the general public".

How does one control "regions of earth?" Is the supra-national "technical approach" the underlying pin of the U.S. government's global surveillance program?

Following is further evidence on US surveillance, in addition to surveillance information in my article US Martial Law Timeline (08.09.07). And. Do you know that the The Pentagon has moved their fantasy war board games to fantasy-reality? See below. Why is this? Iran?


Surveillance



Explanation

How can a system of wholesale denial of Rights be introduced? Michael Tiger, in a superb essay, explains :

"By means of the fight against terrorism, the concept of war is introduced into criminal law. The integration of hostility into the legal order is first carried out by administrative acts relative to foreigners and justified in the name of the state of emergency. The MCA (Military Commissions Act) incorporates the concept of war into the law permanently. At the same time, it modifies its area of application and its content. It allows the president of the United States to designate citizens and political opponents as enemies.

For the executive power of the United States, the fight against terrorism is a war and not an ordinary police operation. Based on this interpretation, it has put in place a group of liberty-destroying measures ostensibly justified by the state of emergency. The suppression of habeas corpus for foreigners suspected of terrorism and the establishment of a continual surveillance of the whole population are thus made possible."

All of Mr. Tiger's article is a Must Read.

General

The Emerging Surveillance Society: Where Are We Now? Even Bigger, Even Weaker
09.07. ACLU / statewatch. And Bigger Monster, Weaker Chains: The Growth of an American Surveillance Society (2003 report).

ACLU asks court to review domestic spying case
03.10.07. reuters / ABC. The American Civil Liberties Union asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday to review a legal challenge to the warrantless domestic spying program that President [sic] George W. Bush created after the September 11 attacks.

Chertoff’s Creeping Surveillance
04.10.07. Technology’s challenge to privacy. Every autumn the privacy world gather for the most important global privacy conference on the calendar. The International Data Protection and Privacy Commissioner’s conference brings together hundreds of privacy commissioners, government regulators, business leaders, and privacy advocates who spend three days grappling with emerging issues. The theme of this year’s conference, held in Montreal, Canada, was “Terra Incognita,” a reference to the unknown lands that typify the fear of the unknown in a world of rapidly changing technologies that challenge the core principles of privacy protection. … The technological challenges were on display throughout the event including eye-opening presentations on the privacy impact of popular children’s websites such as Webkinz and Neopets, on genetic innovation that is pushing the boundaries of science without regard for privacy, and on the continual shift toward tiny devices that can be used to collect and disclose personal information. … Part of the unease arises from the growing realisation that the legal foundation of privacy law is being rendered increasingly irrelevant. (Chertoff) unapologetically made the case for greater surveillance in which governments collect an ever-increasing amount of data about their citizens in the name of security .

Surveillance violates privacy, ACLU says
08.10.07. contracostatimes. Agency says counties, cities misleading residents into believing cameras provide them security. And it's happening under the noses of a largely acquiescent public, said Barbara Zerbe Macnab, chairwoman of the ACLU's Berkeley-Albany-Richmond-Kensington chapter. "There is no public outrage," she said. "That's what frightens me most."

In Arizona

ZYGO Receives a $4.4 Million Order for Long-Range Night Vision Surveillance Systems
08.10.07. money.cnn.com. Zygo Corporation (NASDAQ : ZIGO ), … today announced that its Optical Systems Division has been awarded an initial $4.4 million manufacturing contract to produce long-range night vision surveillance systems serving a variety of critical Homeland Security, Department of Defense and Department of Energy applications. … The systems are to be built in the Company's state-of-the-art Tucson manufacturing operation. … The production will utilize highly specialized testing systems developed in ZYGO's Costa Mesa development center.

Playing war games. See below.

In California

Long Beach introduces video surveillance at parade
07.10.07. newsdy. The many revelers at yesterday's Irish Heritage Festival... were being watched and videotaped. Along with the 60 police officers on patrol, there were cameras - some obvious, some perched on buildings - taking it all in, and a team of officers surveying the captured video. Long Beach police called the cameras, in use for the first time at a major event, a "force multiplier."

Surveillance violates privacy
08.10.07. contracostatimes
Richmond Mayor Gayle McLaughlin -- whose City Council recently allocated, despite her objections, $4 million to install 113 surveillance cameras -- attributed the increased use of the devices in America's public spaces to a "knee-jerk quick fix."

In Maryland

City passes camera law
07.10.07. Aberdeen agencies may now require surveillance devices in developments (MD) Aberdeen has passed a measure that empowers the city government and police to require surveillance cameras in new developments. The Police Department, the Department of Planning and Community Development, and the Department of Public Works will decide whether a new residential, commercial or industrial development must install cameras at "strategic locations" before a development permit is issued.

In Missouri

St. Louis to set up video surveillance
08.10.07. Police will begin installing a network of surveillance cameras downtown in an effort to curb crime. The eight wireless video cameras, to be mounted from elevated vantage points, can pan 360 degrees and tilt in any direction. They can zoom in close enough to magnify a license plate and record outdoor footage 24 hours a day.

In New York City

NYC, the NYPD, the RNC, and Me
30.09.07. Nick Turse. Fortress Big Apple, 2007. Well, the facts now are that surveillance and "homeland security" add up to a massive, booming business (and not just in Iraq). Already our second defense department, the Department of Homeland Security, has sprouted a second, mini-military-industrial complex and it's not just a domestic matter either.

Big Brother Comes to Lower Manhattan
01.10.07. CBS. NYPD Tests Cameras to Read License Plates, People In Area Surrounding Ground Zero. The New York City Police Department has been operating a camera that scans the license plates of cars passing just blocks from ground zero, a newspaper reported Monday. The camera is an example of the kind of technology the NYPD hopes to use to create a high-tech security ring around Lower Manhattan, the New York Daily News reported. See also NYC Mayor: Surveillance a City Necessity (01.10.07. AP) New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said .

In Oregon

Judge rules for Mayfield in Patriot Act challenge
27.09.07. KGW. A U.S. District Court judge in Oregon has ruled in favor of Portland attorney Brandon Mayfield's challenge to the Patriot Act. Mayfield, wrongly arrested by the FBI, filed suit claiming that the Foreign intelligence Surveillance Act, as amended by the Patriot Act, was unconstitutional. These amendments changed the laws governing physical searches, electronic eavesdropping, and wiretapping, as well as the government's retention of those materials. The judge ruled Wednesday that those amendments violated the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution which protects against unlawful searches and seizures.

Oregon is participating in US war games. See below.

Buy Your Own Designer Spy Camera

So. Will the U.S. govn. 'Spy on Everyone' becoming a corporate money winner? People are quick to get on to Greed Street.

New version motion detection surveillance camera available from Hidden Camera Surveillance
Ferret.com.au.

Blockwatch backyard periscope surveillance system
08.10.07. core77.com


Eavesdropping

Spy Chief Seeks More Eavesdropping Power
18.09.07. sfgate.

Intelligence Director: US is intercepting 'billions' of foreign communications
18.09.07. Raw Story. Update: McConnell says 9/11 'could have been prevented. Director of National Intelligence acknowledged that the terror attacks of Sept. 11, which he invoked to justify expanding US spy powers, "could have been prevented" under existing laws if intelligence agencies had "connected the dots" in analyzing intelligence.

Case Dismissed?
20.09.07. M. Isikoff, M. Hosenball, Newsweek. The secret lobbying campaign your phone company doesn't want you to know about. The nation’s biggest telecommunications companies, working closely with the White House, have mounted a secretive lobbying campaign to get Congress to quickly approve a measure wiping out all private lawsuits against them for assisting the U.S. intelligence community’s warrantless surveillance programs.

New Phone Service Will Eavesdrop, Sell Ads
24.09.07. CBS / blacklisted.com. Some people have just devised a new way to listen into private telephone calls and use the information gathered from them for their own purposes

Protecting the Wiretappers
27.09.07. Aziz Hug, the Nation. Bowing to White House pressure, Congress passed the 2007 Protect America Act in August, eviscerating any meaningful checks and balances on a sweeping range of governmental surveillance. Now that it has protected telecommunications giants from all future liabilities, the Administration is demanding they be granted amnesty from legal liability forpast complicity in spying on ordinary Americans.

Attorney Talks About Lawsuit Against Bush, NSA Over Wiretaps
27.09.07. Jason Leopold , Truthout. "Recently, I sat down with attorney Jon Eisenberg who sued George W. Bush, the National Security Administration (NSA), and other federal agencies, on behalf of two Washington DC-based lawyers who allege their telephone calls were illegally monitored by the NSA in March 2004. The lawyers, Wendell Belew and Asim Ghafoor, appear to be the only American citizens who say they have hard evidence that proves the government spied on them."

Verizon Rejects Text Messages From Abortion Rights Group
Adam Liptak, New York Times/Truth out.
[NB. Verizon also blocked my emails to my sister ]

Ex-White House Lawyer: Eavesdropping Program Was Illegal
01.10.07. Pamela Hess, AP / Truthout. "A former top lawyer (Jack Goldsmith) for the Bush administration said on Tuesday said that parts of President Bush's controversial eavesdropping program were illegal." But he would not say exactly what law or constitutional principle the surveillance violated. Goldsmith said the White House has forbidden him from saying anything about the legal analysis underpinning the program. See also Former DOJ Lawyer Couldn't Find Way to Legalize Bush Spying Program (02.10. Wired).

ACLU asks court to review domestic spying case
03.10.07. reuters / legitgov.org. The American Civil Liberties Union asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday to review a legal challenge to the warrantless domestic spying program that President [sic] George W. Bush created after the September 11 attacks.

House panel launches investigation into government wiretapping
02.10.07. marketwatch / legitgov. Lawmakers on the House Commerce Committee on Tuesday launched an investigation into the extent to which large telephone companies cooperated with federal government efforts to eavesdrop on Americans without warrants.

The New York Times | The Verizon Warning
03.10.07. New York Times / Truthout. We have long been concerned about the potential threat to free speech and a free press as communications migrate from old-fashioned telephone lines, TV broadcasts and printing presses to digital networks controlled by unregulated private companies. The threat stopped being theoretical recently when Verizon Wireless censored political speech on one of its mobile services.”

FCC won't probe disclosure of phone records
05.10.07. Washington Post. The head of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission declined to investigate reports that phone companies turned over customer records to the National Security Agency, citing national security concerns according to documents released on Friday. ..

FCC again refuses investigation of telecom involvement in NSA domestic spying
08.10.07. The Jurist. The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) [official website] will not investigate allegations made last year that several large telephone companies handed over customer phone records to the government as part of the domestic surveillance program [JURIST news archive] conducted by the National Security Agency (NSA), according to a letter [PDF text; press release] from FCC Chairman Kevin Martin.

And US-NATO Surveillance

NATO sets standards for unmanned aerial vehicles
01.10.07. compositeworld.com. UAVs are mainly used for military purposes, including combat situations to perform surveillance and other intelligence-gathering operations in theatre. A small number of UAVs are also used for civilian purposes during and after natural disasters.

Democratic Capitulations

Democrats to Offer New Surveillance Rules
07.10.07. E. Nakashima, Washington Post. Bill Aims to Meet Privacy and Security Concerns; Fierce Debate Is Expected. House Democrats plan to introduce a bill this week that would let a secret court issue one-year "umbrella" warrants to allow the government to intercept e-mails and phone calls of foreign targets and would not require that surveillance of each person be approved individually.

The bill is likely to resurrect controversy that erupted this summer when Congress, under White House pressure, rushed through a temporary emergency law that expanded the government's authority to conduct foreign surveillance on U.S. soil without a warrant. The Protect America Act, which expires in February, has been criticized as being too broad and lacking effective court oversight.

Democratic Concessions Are Expected on Wiretapping
08.10.07. NY Times. Two months after vowing to roll back broad new wiretapping powers won by the Bush administration, Congressional Democrats appear ready to make concessions that could extend some of the key powers granted to the National Security Agency.

Democrats Signal New Spying Cave-in
By Robert Parry 09.10.07 , who says that the Democrats are fearful that they will give the powerful right-wing media machine some issue that will destroy their victory dreams.

Video Bush Calls for Extension of Spy Law We should be asking if the government really needs the authority to monitor our phone conversations, our e-mails and our mail. We should also be concerned about the laws that have been passed that require every citizen to have a national ID card. Carolyn Baker 08.10.07

Where are the Protests?

Germany

Germans Protest Online Surveillance

23.09.07. CBS News. In spite of the few scuffles between police and radical left groups the demonstration with about 8,000 protestors, was peaceful.


ID

DMV Gets Educated on Real ID by Homeland Security Industrial Complex
25.09.07. wired / legitgov. The database and identity wing of the Homeland Security Industrial Complex sponsored a conference this week on Real ID, the controversial, unfunded government mandate that forces states to join in a national identification program or face having their residents unable to enter federal buildings or board airplanes.


The Internet

Google and Microsoft Want Your DNA
28.09.07. Wired / blacklisted. According to consumer watchdog Privacy International, Google conducts comprehensive surveillance and embodies an entrenched hostility to privacy. Microsoft, though a little less invasive, is still Microsoft. What do they have in common? Both want you to trust them with your DNA.

In Australia

Australia pushes further Web censorship
A bill introduced this week by Australia's Parliament would give the Australian federal police the power to control which sites can and cannot be viewed by Australian Web surfers.

In Great Britain

OOOPS

DHS e-mail snafu reveals info on thousands of security pros
04.10.07. computerworld.com / legitgov.org. A Reply All to a daily news roundup that had been e-mailed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to some 7,500 people, including thousands of security professionals, flooded government and business mail servers with over 2 million messages Wednesday.

The gaffe also revealed all subscribers' e-mail addresses, and in some cases other personal information, to other recipients of the DHS bulletin. Some of that information, including telephone numbers and titles of military personnel and government workers, may have been classified. a top intelligence official concluded it would "pose an unnecessary risk of damage to the national security,"

Did White House Lie About Loss of Five Million Emails?
03.10.07. Daemon Poeter, CMP Channel/ Truthout.: "when Congress asked about 5 million executive branch e-mails that went missing, a White House lawyer pointed the finger at an outside IT contractor. The only problem? No such IT contractor exists, according to sources close to the investigation of a possible violation of the Federal Records and Presidential Records acts."


Travel Surveillance

ARE YOU ON THE GOVERNMENT'S NO-FLY LIST?
13.09.07. Naomi Wolf, Chelsea Green publiching, Alternet.

TSA WANTS TO REQUIRE PASSENGERS TO GET THEIR PERMISSION BEFORE FLYING
17.09.07. Daily Kos. The Nightmare of DHS´s *Secure Flight*
buried in the September 5 issue of the Federal Register, was a notice that this Thursday, September 20, the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) will hold public hearings on their ¨Secure Flight Plan.¨

U.S. Airport Screeners Are Watching What You Read
20.09.07. wired.com

The Nightmare of DHS's *Secure Flight*
17.09.07. Daily Kos / globalresearch.ca. (O)n September 20, the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) will hold public hearings on their "Secure Flight Plan..." Beginning in February 2008, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will implement their "Advance Passenger Information System (APIS)," the gist of which is that you will need permission from the United States Government to travel on any air or sea vessel that goes to, from or through the U.S. The travel companies will not be able to issue a boarding pass until you are cleared by DHS. This applies to ALL passengers, US citizens and visitors alike.

Read Your Own DHS Travel Dossier
27.09.07. mparent7777-2. ‘Are you prepared to find out for yourself the outrageous amount of personal information Homeland Security has been vacuuming-up on you?’

Soon You'll Have To Ask Permission Before You Fly
04.10.07. Mark Nestman, rense.com,


OOOPS

Report: Millions Wasted on Gov't Travel
03.10.07. Huffington Post / ICH. Federal employees wasted at least $146 million over a one-year period on business- and first-class airline tickets, in some cases simply because they felt entitled to the perk, congressional investigators say.



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MIND, AMERICANS, OR COCKROACHES WITH BOOTS ON WILL BE MARCHING OVER YOU!

PS: The following information has come to my attention, and I feel this information needs public surveillance pdq., because the US govn. is playing the Iraq WMD War Game all over again, but this time it is called IRAN.

War Games

Boston Conducts Bioterrorism Drill
25.09.07. nti.org. Boston authorities Sunday tested the city’s ability to distribute antibiotics during an anthrax attack, officials said Sunday

Dangerous Crossroads: US Sponsored War Games
06.10.07. Prof. Michel Chossudovsky. Globalresearch.ca. US Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) has announced the conduct of major war games under Vigilant Shield 2008 (VS-08). Vigilant Shield 2008 (15 to 20 October, 2007) is designed to deal with a "terrorist" or "natural disaster" scenario in the United States. The operation will be coordinated in a joint endeavor by the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security.

3,000 US troops to arrive for two-week war games
08.10.07. manilastandardtoday. ALMOST 3,000 US Marines will arrive in the country for a two-week joint military exercise in various training areas next week, a Navy official said yesterday.

Explosive simulation planned for TOPOFF-4
08.10.07. KUAM. A simulated dirty bomb exercise is planned for next week's TOPOFF-4 military exercise. Guam is slated to host the largest counterterrorism exercise to date from October 15-19. Along with participants from Guam, Arizona and Oregon, various federal agencies as well as the governments of Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom will also take part in the event.

Is Anyone Protesting?
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FOOTNOTE

[1] Undershaft was an arms dealer in Bernard Shaw's Major Barbara.
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Sarah Meyer is a researcher living in the UK. She is a member of the
BRussels Tribunal Advisory Committee

The url to US Surveilllance: These Boots are Made for Walking is http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/10/us-surveillance-these-boots-are-made.html
Smaller url: http://tinyurl.com/3amda7

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More on U.S. surveillance can be read at U.S. Martial Law Timeline (21.08.07)