Time: Sun Sep 14 12:21:26 1997 by primenet.com (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id MAA00661; Sun, 14 Sep 1997 12:17:39 -0700 (MST) by usr04.primenet.com (8.8.5/8.8.5) with SMTP id MAA00497; Sun, 14 Sep 1997 12:17:14 -0700 (MST) Date: Sun, 14 Sep 1997 12:17:02 -0700 To: (Recipient list suppressed) From: Paul Andrew Mitchell [address in tool bar] Subject: SLS: Will We Be Under Total Surveillance? (fwd) <snip> > > REAL AMERICANS DONT WEAR UN BLUE > >Read it and weep, folks. Like the song says I decided long ago NOT to >walk in anyones shadow especially big brothers. Take back America now. > > >WILL WE BE UNDER TOTAL SURVEILLANCE? >by Charles Ostman > >Imagine a world in which every aspect of your life, past and present, is >encrypted on a personal ID card and stored on a nationwide data base. >Where virtually all communications media-soon to be 100% digital-are >automatically monitored by computerized phone taps and satellites from >control centers thousands of miles away. Where self-training neural net >and artificial intelligence data search systems scan for undesirable >lifestyles and target you for automatic monitoring. > >Personal privacy was once considered the most sacred of our constitu- >tional rights; agencies were severely limited by law. All that's about >to change drastically thanks to a deadly combination of extremely >sophisticated surveillance technology, ubiquitous digital information >collection, and centralized interagency data exchange. > >Until recently the "supersecret" National Reconnaissance Organization >did not exist-even though it has the largest budget of any intelligence >agency. They are responsible for the design, development and procure- >ment of all US reconnaissance satellites and their continued management >once in orbit. Recently photos have surfaced in the press of its huge new >complex being completed in Chantilly, Virginia. (Senator John Warner- >Liz Taylor's ex- has described the one million square foot complex as a >"Taj Mahal.") The NRO is eagerly implementing such technologies as >ultra-high storage capacity holographic films (allowing huge amounts of >personal information to be present on your ID card) and self-training >artificial intelligence software that tracks your personal data without >human intervention. A new era of ubiquitous surveillance is dawning. > >A struggling military-industrial complex searching for new markets >for their technologies has merged forces with a government obsessed >with ever tighter control over the activities of the general public. > >Congresswoman Barbara Jordan has proposed a "National Employment >Verification Card" that will be required for all employment in the U.S. >The card will, of course, have a magnetic data strip, and altering of >counterfeiting the card will be a federal felony offense. > >There is a dedicated and aggressive effort underway to chart various >genetic features as part of one's personal information set. The fed's goal >is to have the ability to screen individuals for everything from behavioral >characteristics to sexual orientation, based on genetic information >embedded in your personal (and required) national ID card. > >Biometric signature technologies have been developing apace. There is >even a technique available to translate human DNA into bar codes for >efficient digital transmission between agencies. > >Are these science fiction story lines or the ravings of a paranoid lunatic? >I wish they were. As a former research engineer at Lawrence Livermore >Labs and other government labs, I watched some of these mad schemes >being hatched. This technology is on the street today or about to leave >the labs and believe me, it goes way beyond Orwell's worst nightmares. >Listen up and hunker down. > >A fundamental shift in the legal definition of personal privacy is occurring >right now. A court-issued warrant used to be a universal requirement for >personal surveillance, such as phone tapping, observing physical papers, >and probing financial or medical records. Now, in this new age of AI- >driven monitoring and data tracking systems, there are no pesky people >in the loop.A computer doesn't need to seek a court warrant to monitor >every aspect of your private life. A self-training automated surveillance >system doesn't need permission to observe your movements or >communications. > >Total data tracking is already commonplace for financial institutions and >private security operations. Tomorrow, it will be commonplace for all of >us. The technical elements of a massive surveillance engine are in place. >It's just a matter of turning the key to fire it up. Let's examine these >elements and why you should be concerned. > >Universal Encryption Chip > >Is sounds logical. The feds want to preserve privacy, so their story goes, >so they've announced that an encryption chip will go into all phones >and computers that they buy. But what do they really want in the long >run? > >How about a government-issue encryption chip in all personal >computers and communication devices? That way, the feds can deal >with drug smugglers, terrorists, kiddie porn merchants, and other >miscreants who use encoded messages. > >Of course, they'd have to prevent tampering with the chip. In fact, the >technology to do just that has already been developed at Sandia >National Laboratory. Scientists there have developed an optical sensor >that uses a powdered silicon optical absorption layer in an optical >waveguide embedded in a chip. A micro photodetector detects even >the slightest intrusion into the chip package by measuring a slight change >in the photonic conduction through the waveguide. It can then send an >alert via modem to a central monitoring system to notify an interested >party that the device has been tampered with. Sandia is also developing >a microchemical intrusion detector that would be sensitive to the >chemical signature of human fingertips. > >Is this all part of some master plan, or what? > >In fact, in the near future, all encryption hardware and software will be >subject to federal registration/authorization. Possession of unauthorized >encryption/decryption capability will be punishable as a federal felony. >In other words, if it doesn't have a handy back door for NSA snoops, it >ain't legal. > >We can further speculate that the feds will embed chips in all equipment >sold for use in data transmission, digital phone calls and all other >frequencies. Note: all new phone systems wired and wireless will be d >igital in the next three years. > >Intelligent Video > >Nor would you know what's watching you. Security cameras are >becoming standard in corporate and government facilities. They may >soon even be required. Why? Ostensibly because they want to recover >losses in cases of theft, keep insurance premiums down, monitor >petulant employees and keep intruders out. > >But the new genre of video cameras now coming out of the labs do a >lot more than that. They're intelligent. They can recognize faces, >motion, and other interesting characteristics. In fact, they behave a lot >like a human eye, with intelligent preprocessor abilities. > >Intelligent cameras are needed because a security guard or cop can't >monitor the dozens or hundreds of video cameras in a large facility (or >dozens of satellite video surveillance channels). Intelligent cameras use >artificial intelligence-based object and motion recognition. They scan for >what a trained security guard looks for: certain motions, clothing, faces; >the presence of people in off-limits places. Instead of watching 100 >cameras, only a few at any time send pictures. A single guard or a >computer can deal with that. > >In fact, a steady data stream from multiple intelligent cameras can be >uploaded to computerized monitoring facilities anywhere, coupled with >other automated observation systems. > >The next big thing in intelligent cameras will be "content-addressable" >imagery. That means they'll automatically detect the content of >sophisticated patterns, like a specific person's face, by matching it >against a digital "wanted" poster, say. New software that can even run >on cheap personal computers makes that possible. MatchMaker from >Iterated Systems (Norcross, GA), for example, uses a fractal algorithm >that converts image data into mathematical form, automatically >recognizing and categorizing realtime "targets"-untouched by human >hands and tied into a centralized monitoring facility! > >A related technology called focal plane array sensors (FPA) discrim- >inates objects at just about any distance. FPA makes it possible to use >neuromorphic sensors, modeled biologically on the human eye, which >are built into a camera to recognize a person or object by "associative >cognition." > >Carver Mead at Cal Tech has designed a broad-spectrum "human-eye" >sensor using FPAs and 3D artificial neural network processors. To prove >the viability of such concepts, Raytheon, under contract with the Guided >Interceptor Branch of the Air Force at Elgin AFB, has developed "smart >eyes" using FPAs for recognizing objects in flight, thus relieving the >pilot of visual target recognition tasks while in a high-pressure combat >situation. > >This technology is inexpensive, easily reproducible, and will be part of >standard equipment for fully automated, on-site visual and infrared >surveillance in the near future. > >Langley Research Center (Hampton, VA) in conjunction with Telerobotics >International (Knoxville, TN) is taking a step further. They're developing >an advanced surveillance camera system that's even more intelligent: it >uses self-aiming and analyzes motion or other parameters. A fisheye >spherical lens views a very wide field of vision while a self-contained >image processing subsystem tracks several moving targets at once in >real time. Video for suspect targets can be transmitted in real time to a >security center. > >These smart cameras are also getting incredibly tiny and low cost. The >Imputer from VLSI Vision Ltd. (Edinburgh, Scotland) is a credit card- >sized device that fits in the palm of your hand. It consists of a complete >CCD video camera mounted on a circuit board plus an on-board DSP >(digital signal processing) coprocessor for realtime image enhancement, >feature detection, correlation and convolution (for fast analysis on the >fly), and even an optional library of pre-stored feature data so that the >camera can independently recognize a specific face or other security- >oriented data. It can also download its captured visual data via >telephone line to a data collection and processing facility. > >With everything on a few chips, intelligent cameras can now be mass- >manufactured like pocket radios. No need for security personnel-they >can be linked to a computer surveillance monitoring and data base >system. > >This is where it gets really insidious. When the technology becomes >so cheap, tiny, and powerful, and no guards are needed, they can >sprinkle these things around like corn chips...secretly putting them on >every street corner, in every waiting room, office, wherever. > > Keep smiling, because you'll never know when - > "You're on Candid Camera" > And Hey! Relax - they've just captured your surfaces. > >Where it really starts to get hairy is when we enter the brave new >world of Biometrics. Biometrics is the process of gathering biological >information and converting it into data that can be uploaded into >automated systems for identifying you. > >They can use your fingerprint (via automated fingerprint identification >systems), retinal scan, voice or other personal signatures. Miros of >Wellesley, MA has recently introduced a system called Face-to-Face, >using neural nets, that is particularly insidious. Unlike fingerprint or >palm recognition, it identifies your face "non-intrusively" (that's techno- >speak for surreptitiously) with 99% recognition. It can even identify your >face when you add glasses or change your hairstyle. > >There are biometric service bureaus like TRW that provide immediate >access to personal dossier information to prisons, banks, military bases, >research facilities, pharmaceutical companies, etc. The client simply >installs a retinal scanner or other device and transmits your image to >a service bureau, which sends back your complete dossier. This is big >business for these service bureaus. We're talking billions in government >and corporate contracts. > >What's next? We can expect intelligent scanning systems will be >installed in supermarket checkout lines, lobbies, airports, stores, ATM >sites, and so on in the near future. Known shoplifters will be tracked >from the time they walk into the store. There'll be a cordon sanitaire >around playgrounds and day care centers. > >What happens when the FBI ties its fingerprint verification system at >its National Criminal Information Center, with its library of over 250,000 >fingerprints, into the national health care card system, employment ID >card, IRS, and just about everything else? > >Resources > >Who Owns Information? From Privacy to Public Access, Anne Wells > Branscomb, Basic Books, 1994. >Deep Black: Space Espionage and National Security, William E. > Burrows, Random House, New Yourk, 1986. >The Electronic Eye-The Rise of Surveillance Society, David Lyon, > University of Minnesota Press, 1994. >Tuning In to Scanning-From Police to Satellite Bands, Bob Kay, > TAB Books, 1994. (How to listen in on cordless telephones, military, > FBI, Secret Service, and NASA communications). >Undercover: Police Surveillance in America, Gary T. Marx, University > of California Press, 1988. >Privacy for Sale: How Computerization Has Made Everyone's Private > Life an Open Secret, Jeffrey Rothfeder, Simon and Schuster, 1992. >America's Secret Eyes in Space: The U.S. Keyhole Spy Satellite > Program, Jeffrey T. Richelson, Harper & Row, 1990 >Hobbyist's Guide to COMINT Collection and Analysis, Tom Roach, 1330 > Copper Peak Lane, San Jose, CA 95120-4271; DIY dirty NSA-style tricks. >Electronic Surveillance Manual, U.S. Dept. of Justice, Criminal Division, > Office of Enforcement Operations, 1991. > >This article was originally published in the magazine Mondo 2000, and >has been reprinted with their kind permission. > <snip> ======================================================================== Paul Andrew Mitchell : Counselor at Law, federal witness B.A., Political Science, UCLA; M.S., Public Administration, U.C. Irvine tel: (520) 320-1514: machine; fax: (520) 320-1256: 24-hour/day-night email: [address in tool bar] : using Eudora Pro 3.0.3 on 586 CPU website: http://www.supremelaw.com : visit the Supreme Law Library now ship to: c/o 2509 N. Campbell, #1776 : this is free speech, at its best Tucson, Arizona state : state zone, not the federal zone Postal Zone 85719/tdc : USPS delays first class w/o this As agents of the Most High, we came here to establish justice. We shall not leave, until our mission is accomplished and justice reigns eternal. ======================================================================== [This text formatted on-screen in Courier 11, non-proportional spacing.]
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