In a move startlingly similar to that of the East German government during the Cold war, the FBI wants to recruit thousands of covert informants in the US and work with the CIA to train them in an effort to expand and adopt more aggressive intelligence capabilities.
ABC's The Blotter reports that according to a recent unclassified report to Congress, the FBI, driven by a 2004 directive from President Bush, wants to recruit more than 15,000 informants in the US, entailing a complete overhaul of its database systems at a cost of around $22 million. READ MORE
"Yigaquu osaniyu adanvto adadoligi nigohilvi nasquv utloyasdi nihi" Cherokee - "May the Great Spirit's blessings always be with you."
Monday, November 03, 2008
'Surveillance-Industrial Complex' Turbo-Charging Government Monitoring
The government is rapidly increasing its ability to monitor average Americans by tapping into the growing amount of consumer data being collected by the private sector, according to a major report released today by the American Civil Liberties Union.
"The U.S. security establishment is reaching deeper and deeper into our private lives by forcing the corporate sector to inform on the activities of individuals," said Anthony D. Romero, Executive Director of the ACLU. "The government has always recruited informers to help convict criminals, but today that recruitment is being computerized, automated, and used against innocent individuals on a massive scale that is unprecedented in the history of our nation." READ MORE
"Yigaquu osaniyu adanvto adadoligi nigohilvi nasquv utloyasdi nihi" Cherokee - "May the Great Spirit's blessings always be with you."
"The U.S. security establishment is reaching deeper and deeper into our private lives by forcing the corporate sector to inform on the activities of individuals," said Anthony D. Romero, Executive Director of the ACLU. "The government has always recruited informers to help convict criminals, but today that recruitment is being computerized, automated, and used against innocent individuals on a massive scale that is unprecedented in the history of our nation." READ MORE
"Yigaquu osaniyu adanvto adadoligi nigohilvi nasquv utloyasdi nihi" Cherokee - "May the Great Spirit's blessings always be with you."
Online NewsHour: Government Surveillance --
GWEN IFILL: The Pentagon has launched plans to create a computer surveillance system to sift through personal information as a way of tracking down terrorists. Called Total Information Awareness, the government would use a technique known as data mining, to access everything from personal e-mail and credit card purchases to banking transactions.
The man in charge is retired vice admiral John Poindexter, he was the national security advisor under President Reagan, and the highest ranking official convicted of lying to Congress during the Iran Contra scandal. That conviction was later overturned.
For two views on the Poindexter plan, we turn to retired Colonel Edward Badolato, who served former Presidents Reagan and Bush as deputy secretary of energy focusing on counter terrorism. And Marc Rotenberg, the executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington. The center is challenging the project.
Colonel Badolato, we're talking about instant access to personal records of an unprecedented nature, or at least scope and breadth without a search warrant. Why is that needed? Read More
"Yigaquu osaniyu adanvto adadoligi nigohilvi nasquv utloyasdi nihi" Cherokee - "May the Great Spirit's blessings always be with you."
The man in charge is retired vice admiral John Poindexter, he was the national security advisor under President Reagan, and the highest ranking official convicted of lying to Congress during the Iran Contra scandal. That conviction was later overturned.
For two views on the Poindexter plan, we turn to retired Colonel Edward Badolato, who served former Presidents Reagan and Bush as deputy secretary of energy focusing on counter terrorism. And Marc Rotenberg, the executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington. The center is challenging the project.
Colonel Badolato, we're talking about instant access to personal records of an unprecedented nature, or at least scope and breadth without a search warrant. Why is that needed? Read More
"Yigaquu osaniyu adanvto adadoligi nigohilvi nasquv utloyasdi nihi" Cherokee - "May the Great Spirit's blessings always be with you."
The Emerging Surveillance State
Last month, the House amended the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to expand the government’s ability to monitor our private communications. This measure, if it becomes law, will result in more warrantless government surveillance of innocent American citizens.
Though some opponents claimed that the only controversial part of this legislation was its grant of immunity to telecommunications companies, there is much more to be wary of in the bill. In the House version, Title II, Section 801, extends immunity from prosecution of civil legal action to people and companies including any provider of an electronic communication service, any provider of a remote computing service, “any other communication service provider who has access to wire or electronic communications,” any “parent, subsidiary, affiliate, successor, or assignee” of such company, any “officer, employee, or agent” of any such company, and any “landlord, custodian, or other person who may be authorized or required to furnish assistance.” The Senate version goes even further by granting retroactive immunity to such entities that may have broken the law in the past.
"Yigaquu osaniyu adanvto adadoligi nigohilvi nasquv utloyasdi nihi" Cherokee - "May the Great Spirit's blessings always be with you."
Though some opponents claimed that the only controversial part of this legislation was its grant of immunity to telecommunications companies, there is much more to be wary of in the bill. In the House version, Title II, Section 801, extends immunity from prosecution of civil legal action to people and companies including any provider of an electronic communication service, any provider of a remote computing service, “any other communication service provider who has access to wire or electronic communications,” any “parent, subsidiary, affiliate, successor, or assignee” of such company, any “officer, employee, or agent” of any such company, and any “landlord, custodian, or other person who may be authorized or required to furnish assistance.” The Senate version goes even further by granting retroactive immunity to such entities that may have broken the law in the past.
"Yigaquu osaniyu adanvto adadoligi nigohilvi nasquv utloyasdi nihi" Cherokee - "May the Great Spirit's blessings always be with you."
Government Surveillance
Comprehensive examinations of the activities of US intelligence and law enforcement agencies by congressional committees in the 1970s led to significant reforms designed to ensure that investigations conducted by those agencies were respectful of the Constitutional rights of Americans. Since the attacks of September 11, 2001, the intelligence and security bureaucracy, in concert with the Bush Administration, has capitalized on the current climate and has pressed for the elimination of many of those safeguards. Sweeping anti-terrorism legislation, the USA Patriot Act, enacted in October, 2001, contained many new powers, some completely unconnected to terrorism. Most notably, the Congress enacted amendments to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) which pervert the original intent of the legislation. In addition to this congressional action, the Department of Justice has instituted policies that authorize the monitoring of communications between attorneys and their clients and severely weaken the regulations governing investigations by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Click on the links below to learn more about the government's expanded surveillance powers.
FBI guidelines for investigations
Monitoring of attorney-client conversations
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA)
Total Information Awareness (TIA)
"Yigaquu osaniyu adanvto adadoligi nigohilvi nasquv utloyasdi nihi" Cherokee - "May the Great Spirit's blessings always be with you."
FBI guidelines for investigations
Monitoring of attorney-client conversations
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA)
Total Information Awareness (TIA)
"Yigaquu osaniyu adanvto adadoligi nigohilvi nasquv utloyasdi nihi" Cherokee - "May the Great Spirit's blessings always be with you."
Emergency Preparedness & Response
Surveillance
NOTE: the surveillance resources on this website are too numerous to list on one page. For more resources on specific topics, see the list of specific types of emergencies below.
On this page:
Specific Agents & Health Topics
Case Definitions
Illness Recognition & Detection
Surveillance Planning
Surveillance Systems
"Yigaquu osaniyu adanvto adadoligi nigohilvi nasquv utloyasdi nihi" Cherokee - "May the Great Spirit's blessings always be with you."
NOTE: the surveillance resources on this website are too numerous to list on one page. For more resources on specific topics, see the list of specific types of emergencies below.
On this page:
Specific Agents & Health Topics
Case Definitions
Illness Recognition & Detection
Surveillance Planning
Surveillance Systems
"Yigaquu osaniyu adanvto adadoligi nigohilvi nasquv utloyasdi nihi" Cherokee - "May the Great Spirit's blessings always be with you."
Can Private Companies Helping the NSA Be Watchdogs, Too?
Companies that secretly helped the government's secret anti-terrorism surveillance operations without requiring valid legal orders have found their reputations sullied, their billboards re-decorated and their lawyers busy fending off suits seeking billions in damages. Just ask AT&T.
But given that the government's spooks will continue to rely on private companies -- especially telecoms -- to help with their secret intelligence efforts, could these companies actually serve as a watchdog protecting the country from intrusive, lawbreaking spying?
Jon Michaels, an acting professor at UCLA Law School, thinks they could.
The key, according to Michaels' article in the California Law Review, is making such companies tell the appropriate Congressional committees and inspectors general in regular reports when they transfer information about Americans to the government's spy agencies. Congress also much find a clear way to punish companies which cooperate informally and immunize those who follow legal orders.
That should make telecoms resist the kind of handshake agreements like the ones that led the nation's largest telecoms to give the government billions of phone call records and to let the nation's spooks wiretap the internet inside the United States, Michaels argues.
And the spies' reliance on private companies and organizations (Western Union, the phone companies, JetBlue and FedEx, among others) won't be ending any time soon.
Continue reading "Can Private Companies Helping the NSA Be Watchdogs, Too?" »
"Yigaquu osaniyu adanvto adadoligi nigohilvi nasquv utloyasdi nihi" Cherokee - "May the Great Spirit's blessings always be with you."
But given that the government's spooks will continue to rely on private companies -- especially telecoms -- to help with their secret intelligence efforts, could these companies actually serve as a watchdog protecting the country from intrusive, lawbreaking spying?
Jon Michaels, an acting professor at UCLA Law School, thinks they could.
The key, according to Michaels' article in the California Law Review, is making such companies tell the appropriate Congressional committees and inspectors general in regular reports when they transfer information about Americans to the government's spy agencies. Congress also much find a clear way to punish companies which cooperate informally and immunize those who follow legal orders.
That should make telecoms resist the kind of handshake agreements like the ones that led the nation's largest telecoms to give the government billions of phone call records and to let the nation's spooks wiretap the internet inside the United States, Michaels argues.
And the spies' reliance on private companies and organizations (Western Union, the phone companies, JetBlue and FedEx, among others) won't be ending any time soon.
Continue reading "Can Private Companies Helping the NSA Be Watchdogs, Too?" »
"Yigaquu osaniyu adanvto adadoligi nigohilvi nasquv utloyasdi nihi" Cherokee - "May the Great Spirit's blessings always be with you."
Factsheet - IMF Surveillance
IMF Surveillance
The IMF is mandated to oversee the international monetary system and monitor the economic and financial policies of its 185 member countries. This activity is known as surveillance. During this process, which takes place both at the global level and in individual countries, the IMF highlights possible risks to stability and growth and advises on needed policy adjustments. In this way, it helps the international monetary system serve its essential purpose of facilitating the exchange of goods, services, and capital among countries, thereby sustaining sound economic growth.
"Yigaquu osaniyu adanvto adadoligi nigohilvi nasquv utloyasdi nihi" Cherokee - "May the Great Spirit's blessings always be with you."
The IMF is mandated to oversee the international monetary system and monitor the economic and financial policies of its 185 member countries. This activity is known as surveillance. During this process, which takes place both at the global level and in individual countries, the IMF highlights possible risks to stability and growth and advises on needed policy adjustments. In this way, it helps the international monetary system serve its essential purpose of facilitating the exchange of goods, services, and capital among countries, thereby sustaining sound economic growth.
"Yigaquu osaniyu adanvto adadoligi nigohilvi nasquv utloyasdi nihi" Cherokee - "May the Great Spirit's blessings always be with you."
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