(Reuters) – Dozens of police departments nationwide are gearing up to use a tech company’s already controversial iris- and facial-scanning device that slides over an iPhone and helps identify a person or track criminal suspects.
The so-called “biometric” technology, which seems to take a page from TV shows like “MI-5” or “CSI,” could improve speed and accuracy in some routine police work in the field. However, its use has set off alarms with some who are concerned about possible civil liberties and privacy issues.
The smartphone-based scanner, named Mobile Offender Recognition and Information System, or MORIS, is made by BI2 Technologies in Plymouth, Massachusetts, and can be deployed by officers out on the beat or back at the station.
An iris scan, which detects unique patterns in a person’s eyes, can reduce to seconds the time it takes to identify a suspect in custody. This technique also is significantly more accurate than results from other fingerprinting technology long in use by police, BI2 says.
When attached to an iPhone, MORIS can photograph a person’s face and run the image through software that hunts for a match in a BI2-managed database of U.S. criminal records. Each unit costs about $3,000.
Some experts fret police may be randomly scanning the population, using potentially intrusive techniques to search for criminals, sex offenders, and illegal aliens, but the manufacturer says that would be a difficult task for officers to carry out.
Sean Mullin, BI2’s CEO, says it is difficult, if not impossible, to covertly photograph someone and obtain a clear, usable image without that person knowing about it, because the MORIS should be used close up.
“It requires a level of cooperation that makes it very overt — a person knows that you’re taking a picture for this purpose,” Mullin said.
CONCERNS
But constitutional rights advocates are concerned, in part because the device can accurately scan an individual’s face from up to four feet away, potentially without a person’s being aware of it.
Experts also say that before police administer an iris scan, they should have probable cause a crime has been committed.
“What we don’t want is for them to become a general surveillance tool, where the police start using them routinely on the general public, collecting biometric information on innocent people,” said Jay Stanley, senior policy analyst with the national ACLU in Washington, D.C.
Meanwhile, advocates see the MORIS as a way to make tools already in use on police cruiser terminals more mobile for cops on the job.
“This is (the technology) stepping out of the cruiser and riding on the officer’s belt, along with his flashlight, his handcuffs, his sidearm or the other myriad tools,” said John Birtwell, spokesman for the Plymouth County Sheriff’s Department in southeastern Massachusetts, one of the first departments to use the devices.
The technology is also employed to maintain security at Plymouth’s 1,650 inmate jail, where it is used to prevent the wrong prisoner from being released.
“There, we have everybody in orange jumpsuits, so everyone looks the same. So, quite literally, the last thing we do before you leave our facility is we compare your iris to our database,” said Birtwell.
One of the technology’s earliest uses at BI2, starting in 2005, was to help various agencies identify missing children or at-risk adults, like Alzheimer’s patients.
Since then, it has been used to combat identity fraud, and could potentially be used in traffic stops when a driver is without a license, or when people are stopped for questioning at U.S. borders.
Facial recognition technology is not without its problems, however. For example, some U.S. individuals mistakenly have had their driver’s license revoked as a potential fraud. The problem, it turns out, is that they look like another driver and so the technology mistakenly flags them as having fake identification.
Roughly 40 law enforcement units nationwide will soon be using the MORIS, including Arizona’s Pinal County Sheriff’s Office, as well as officers in Hampton City in Virginia and Calhoun County in Alabama.
The Carlyle Group, run by Frank Carlucci, was strategically placed before Sept 11th to maximize profits by controlling almost every sector of the police state’s architecture in America.
Upon looking at Matric’s structure , Alex found the following Carlyle Group members on the Board of Directors at Matrics:
Brooke Coburn: Managing Director of The Carlyle Group
Mark Ein: “Previously, he was with Washington, D.C.-based Carlyle Group for seven years where he had responsibility for many of its telecommunications investment activities including: LCC International; Telcom Ventures, a founding shareholder of Teligent; several companies that were merged into Nextel; a company that was merged into American Tower Corp.; and Prime Cable (which acquired cable systems in the Washington D.C. and Chicago markets from SBC and later formed a strategic relationship with Comcast).” (from Matric’s website — http://www.matrics.com/about/board.shtml)
Michael Arneson: (take a look at spook-man) “Michael Arneson has over 20 years of experience with the National Security Agency/Department of Defense in electronic design, development, and integration of advanced electronic security technologies. He specialized in the re-engineering applications of smart materials, sensors, software, and hybrid integrated circuitry and managed multi-million dollar government programs, from research to implementation into the commercial sector. Mike holds eight patents for commercial and classified purposes and has five patents pending.
Mike has been published in technical publications, has received the Distinguished Service Award from NSA, and has received several awards from DARPA, the Department of State, and NSA. He received the Domestic Technology Award for the transfer of advanced government technology into the commercial sector in both 1995 and 1998. He also served in the Air Force and was awarded the Presidential Citation Award, which was presented by the Vice President of the United States.” (from Matric’s website — http://www.matrics.com/about/board.shtml)
When you look closer at the website, you will notice they talk about using RFID for Homeland Security and it’s clear that they’re selling the RFID as part of Big Brother’s infrastructure.
When we first looked at the image of the RFID styled like a swastika we thought it was so in-your-face that we needed to do more research. We didn’t have to dig very deep to find the shaddowy figures behind Matrics.
This image is from RFID wireless computing technologies company Matrics, Inc.
Matrics, Inc.’s “about” page states:
“Matrics was created with a vision to revolutionize the logistics and supply chain processes by deploying breakthrough RFID systems. Today, as Matrics is delivering customer success in pursuit of their vision, Bill and Mike continue to serve the company enthusiastically as Chief Scientist and Chief Technology Officer, respectively.
Matrics provides EPC-compliant RFID systems for retail, CPG, defense, transportation and other vertical markets. Matrics´ commitment to customer success is measured by increased asset visibility and an easy route to compliance. We deliver high performance, cost-effective RFID systems scalable to our customer´s requirements.
Headquartered in the state of Maryland in the United States, Matrics is actively working with customers and partners in Europe, Asia and Latin & South America. Matrics, along with its partnership network, provides RFID solutions to many of the Fortune 1000 companies, government, as well as international businesses. Current customers include International Paper and McCarran Airport…”
Courtesy of Cryptome’s link distribution, we get a glimpse into the mind of 1952 (an era when crypto on land lines was very limited, indeed). We get to see how the US tapped and how it worked with the phone company to tap others – in the course of determining that standard US techniques for taps were not present (2-wire pair line tampering, inductive tapping of the 2-wire pair on local telephone pole, tapping of the “multiplying line” extensions).
Let’s not forget jus “how physical” was telephony, in 1952.
We also get to see the reaction to (activated) resonant cavity class of listening device – distinct from tapping lines.
One sees the resource requirements, and the basic attack plan for the new threat (and the desire not to alert the tapper, presumably so the tap could be turned to dis-information).
One notes that searchers were familiar with microphony attacks in general, though not the cavity resonant devices initially.
Earlier disclosures show that the high level FBI agent had two classes of phone – those served by the phone company and those installed by DoD (obvious from the context of the redacted material). This shows that, in the 1950s, FBI was very much sub-servient to DoD in technical countermeasures.
At the same time, we note how the FBI was viewed as a go-to agency, by others (not that there is any suggestion that there is a law enforcement rationale to such requests).
The USPS (as a giant spying agency on paper) was probably one source, and one notes how the agencies were colluding to track EACH cabinet officer (of the government) for oral cues (as to the souce of leaks about USPS policies). This all seems consistent with the general state of red-scare paranoia of the period, as folks sought to address technical information leakage on the bomb, etc. Note that its all very much a pretext (to get the FBI into the “business”), since its all about the club of executives (not line sources).
One sees also other civilian issues, including Bensons’ solid understanding of the price sensitivity (which seems a bit more coherent, and more tuned to issues of today):
Its fun to see the “most likely” sources of placement:
One sees some of the normal “art” of the searcher, used to American equipment:-
One notes a couple of references to the “countermeasure” device (which could be DoD/FBI trojan horse, of course):
An outline of its purposes follows (basically, it isolates the mic in the handset, or suppresses it own diaphragm)
One sees a side threat, too, repurposing lines:
An interesting tit bit about the secret service wanting to do their own scan, and the FBI a sole source of the equipment (which was hand made, which is telling about FBI’s “Lab Division” technical capabilities in presumably valve electronics of the day).
At the same time, evidently there is a standard design (such that it can now be ”procured”).
One see several features of a general foil, since folks rationalize that its more important to protect the channel that to prevent leaks. They really WANT to use it for reverse signaling, consistent with 1945 counter-intelligence doctrine. There is also the assumption that the Presidents Office and Cabinet Office are really not secure areas (since the cabinet officers are necessarily surveilled proto-suspects, themselves).
One has to assume that non-FBI folks would also be testing FBI capabilities (since Hoover was such a known-deceiver). One sees how FBI is entirely compartmentalized from nuclear-level infosec/comsec (which must have irked Hoover no end).
One sees another reference to the infamous “British” equipment (which somewhat undermines the story about FBI being the sole-source of cavity mic detecting). Who operates the latter equipment is not disclosed.
we see a policy of information containment, concerning technical methods (including “acceptance” that white house could be a source of insecurity – national imperatives notwithstanding)
We see clearly how the FBI and the phone companies happily conspire to mis-inform and mid-direct the White house officials (in the hope that direct White House request be made of FBI, for an appropriate investigation, supported by technical means). It is more important to the FBI to protect this than protect the secrets being leaked!
One sees how Bell Labs is involved in subverting the signalling system, to aid tracing (suggesting that such tracing was not present, pre 1952). Having a secretary listen in to the call (and write it all up, soviet style, was deemed much more appropriate, as in White House conventions):
we also seem by 55, the emergence of ISIS, led by Treasury:
By 1955, one sees less scare about the cavity mic, and more action about compartmentalizing the Community buildings’s lines.
Folks are still obviously worried that the very proximity to the wire pairs afforded soviet tapping, of calls to friendly governments. One sees nothing about radio tapping though (where folks had the most skill.)
We also see some of the phone company responses emerging:
And, in other quotes we see the general attitude towards GSA, with phone companies wanting not to participate with GSA ‘infosec’ policies (preferring cosy relations with FBI, instead, with whom they have a working relation regarding authorized wire taps, anyways).
We see how transistors have made their mark (on size), by 1956:
One sees s little of the architectural impact on the FBIs own buildings (with reference to tie lines, etc) and “mainframe” switching:
one sees countermeasure, in 1957, to (presumably) analogue signalling for video (though we recall, they had PCM in 1942. By 1957, did they have early codecs for video?)
we see a general fishing attempt against the c ontractors of state (where FBI has no jurisdiction) – seeking to perform an intelligence review:
We see the “former agent” network subverting agency policies, with “discreet checks”, being “caused”. Cooperating with such subversion seems not to be a worry for the FBI. even absent any rationale for an “investigation”. Its just normal to engage in this type of behaviour.
One sees an interesting fact about 1945:
One sees means used to isolate those who would be independent of the FBI’s technical expertise (in wire circuits, and sound recording):
one sees the mindset of the FBI, concerning microphony (and countermeasures):
All the drivel about inspecting handsets for “tampering” is a diversion, to the microphones outside the windows measuring the window’s reactance itself! There is a fair amount of policy-based deception going on.
When you look at the endless letters, one sees folks in “power” looking for assurance that someone makes them believe that a) their equipment is not being tampered with, and (b) they indeed have something worth keeping a secret (given how important, they now are).
one sees in a 1962 memo emergence of secure phone codecs (keyed by card), with attendant overhead of security officers responsible for the keying.
Interesting facts on capabilities, costs, leased line specificity and delay:
Someone helped the FBI out, on using window material to project sound:
Updating to 1981,
Updating to 1988, we see quite a marked change in the tone. There is a lot more professionalism on display, particularly once FBI formally ceded from DIA in handling the industrial security program. Upto 1995,
DCMX Reminder: “if they are telling us about it in the mainstream media, they’ve had it for 15 years, at least.”
Pentagon-supported physicists on Wednesday said they had devised a “time cloak” that briefly makes an event undetectable.
The laboratory device manipulates the flow of light in such a way that for the merest fraction of a second an event cannot be seen, according to a paper published in the science journal Nature.
It adds to experimental work in creating next-generation camouflage – a so-called invisibility cloak in which specific colours cannot be perceived by the human eye.
“Our results represent a significant step towards obtaining a complete spatio-temporal cloaking device,” says the study, headed by Moti Fridman of Cornell University in New York.
The breakthrough exploits the fact that frequencies of light move at fractionally different speeds.
The so-called temporal cloak starts with a beam of green light that is passed down a fibre-optic cable.
The beam goes through a two-way lens that splits it into two frequencies – blueish light which travels relatively fast, and reddish light, which is slower.
The tiny difference in speed is then accentuated by placing a transparent obstacle in front of the two beams. (more…)
Intellistreets is a wireless digital infrastructure that is designed to provide information, entertainment and safety notifications to passerby, all while controlling vehicular and pedestrian traffic, providing on-demand street lighting, and monitoring its surrounding environment. But is your privacy being threatened in the meantime?
“In each lighting fixture or each lighting pole, there is processor very much like an iPhone. And it takes inputs and outputs and talks back and forth. And the poles actually talk to each other,” Intellistreets’ inventor, Ron Harwood, told WXYZ in Farmington Hills, Mich., where the technology is made.
A time tunnel of tomorrow – what a way to commute!
The patent for a time machine has been filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office by one Dr. Marvin B. Pohlman of Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Who is Marvin B. Pohlman?
An American scientist, Marvin B. Pohlman is a man of many talents—and a very busy man.
According to his bio he’s the Director of Governance, Risk and Compliance product strategy for a major Bay area enterprise software company. Despite the demands of his career, he’s also managed to author three text books on IT governance and security. [Amazon – “Oracle Identity Management: Governance, Risk, and Compliance Architecture, Third Edition“]
In whatever spare time such a man has left, he found enough of it to invent a time machine.
By creating an artificial wormhole time travel is possible.
At first glance, such a thing might be too fantastic a notion to believe, yet Pohlman does hold a Bachelor of Science in Engineering Physics, an MBA from Lexington Business School, and a PhD in computer science from Trinity University. (more…)
Governments turn to hacking techniques for surveillance of citizens
Surveillance firms that recently attended a US conference are accused of offering their services to repressive regimes
Italy’s Hacking Team offers ‘an offensive solution for cyber investigations’
In a luxury Washington, DC, hotel last month, governments from around the world gathered to discuss surveillance technology they would rather you did not know about. The annual Intelligence Support Systems (ISS) World Americas conference is a mecca for representatives from intelligence agencies and law enforcement. But to the media or members of the public, it is strictly off limits.
Gone are the days when mere telephone wiretaps satisfied authorities’ intelligence needs. Behind the cloak of secrecy at the ISS World conference, tips are shared about the latest advanced “lawful interception” methods used to spy on citizens – computer hacking, covert bugging and GPS tracking. Smartphones, email, instant message services and free chat services such as Skype have revolutionised communication. This has been matched by the development of increasingly sophisticated surveillance technology. (more…)
Friction-less propulsion has been the wet-dream of the Military-Industrial-Complex for at least 100 years. Needless to say they figured it out and have been exploiting it for at least the last 50. Why are we only seeing this now..? We’re supposed to believe that a University discovered this before a Black Budget in the Multi-Trillions per year?
Few motifs of science fiction cinema have been more appealing to us than the subtle defiance of gravity offered by futuristic hovercraft. So every once in a while we check in to see how humanity is progressing on that front, and whether the promise of hoverboards will be delivered by 2015 as evidenced in Back to the Future Part 2. We’re not quite there yet, but we’re definitely getting off the ground, so to speak.
Get ready to hover your brain around the art of quantum levitation. (more…)
“THRIVE lifts the veil on what’s REALLY going on in our world by following the money upstream — uncovering the global consolidation of power in nearly every aspect of our lives. Weaving together breakthroughs in science, consciousness and activism, THRIVE offers real solutions, empowering us with unprecedented and bold strategies for reclaiming our lives and our future.”
Gurgaon: The country’s elite NSG has embarked on an ambitious project to prepare new-age commandos equipped with high-end weapons to undertake specialised counter- terrorism and counter-hijack operations through land, air and water.
The force, known as the ‘black cats’, will churn out close to 2,000 commandos by 2015-16. They will be completely independent to operate in a hostile environment with the help of artificial intelligence gadgets being developed for them indigenously by DRDO and other premier organisations.
“The National Security Guard is now on the verge of a quantum jump. We have set our plans to prepare a modern commando. A five-year plan has been activated. It primarily concentrates on the commando…a commando who will be independent to operate,” NSG DG R K Medhekar said.
He was talking to reporters on the occasion of NSG’s Raising Day at Manesar garrison here.
The plan has been made keeping in mind that a commando should be independent when he operates…his weapon, his body armour, communication devices, body wearable computer. Water and food should be with him on his body. Some elements in this regard are already under trial and we hope to get the first batch of such new age commandos by 2015-16, Medhekar said. (more…)
According to all United States federal government organizations, chemtrails do not exist and/or are a conspiracy theory. They claim that the white lines in the sky stretching from horizon to horizon are normal jet contrails.
Somehow, I assume using theoretical physics, these contrails can first appear as small white lines high in the sky then, over the course of hours, expand as they float down to earth first creating small clouds and finally a haze. This is exactly what is happening.
They were spraying us something fierce today above San Francisco. They often do it before a weather front is coming in. There were lines in every direction, a big X in the sky and then the inevitable haziness.
These men have not been seen or heard from or seen since 1 yr from going on air. Their technology has not been continued by anyone else, nor has anyone come forward with any knowlege of its/their whereabouts.
Perhaps the most notorious suppressed invention is the General Motors EV1, subject of the 2006 documentary, Who Killed the Electric Car? The EV1 was the world’s first mass-produced electric car, with 800 of them up for lease from GM in the late ’90s. GM ended the EV1 line in 1999, stating that consumers weren’t happy with the limited driving range of the car’s batteries, making it unprofitable for GM to continue production. Many skeptics, however, believe GM killed the EV1 under pressure from oil companies, who stand to lose the most if high-efficiency vehicles conquer the market. It doesn’t help that GM had a policy of hunting down and destroying every last EV1, ensuring the technology would stall right then and there.
Fastwalkers, reveals the truth about UFOs and Extraterrestrials that has been suppressed and hidden for centuries.
“Fastwalker” is a code word created by NORAD (North American Air Defense Command) to classify (UFOs) unidentified flying objects which approach our Earth from space and enter our atmosphere. It has been reported that from its subterranean facility deep inside Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado, USA, the Air Force NORAD facility tracks a rough average of 500 of these “Fastwalkers” each year.
For the first time, Fastwalkers in a feature length documentary form discloses information you were never meant to know. Amazing Fastwalker UFO photos and Fastwalker footage gathered from around the world that you were never meant to see. Never before has there been such a wealth of information presented by such unbiased experts who focus on providing a “World View” of what is really happening on planet Earth, rather than what “we are told is happening.”
Smart Meters Are Surveillance Devices That Monitor The Behavior In Your Home Every Single Minute Of Every Single Day
Have you heard about the new “smart meters” that are being installed in homes all across America? Under the guise of “reducing greenhouse gas emissions” and “reducing energy bills”, utility companies all over the United States are forcing tens of millions of American families to accept sophisticated surveillance devices in their homes. Currently, approximately 9 percent of all electric meters in the U.S. have been converted over to smart meters. It is being projected that by 2012, the number of smart meters in use will rise to 52 million, and the federal government is spending a lot of money to help get these installed everywhere. Eventually the goal is to have these smart meters in all of our homes and if that ever happened there would essentially be no more privacy. Once installed, a smart meter monitors your home every single minute of every single day and it transmits very sophisticated data about your personal behavior back to the utility company.
The first section of this page was written byPhil Schneider:
Photo of United States Air Force tunnel boring machine at Little Skull Mountain, Nevada, USA, December 1982. There are many rumors of secret military tunnels in the United States. If the rumors are true, machines such as the one shown here are used to make the tunnels. (Source: U.S. Department of Energy.)
This is a $13 million tunnel boring machine (TBM) used for tunneling at the Nevada Test Site. (Remember that Area 51 is part of the test site.) Many other types of TBMs are used by many government agencies, including the ‘nuclear powered TBM’ [NTBM] that melts solid rock and leaves behind glass-like walls.
Most tunneling activity is under military installations and all information is highly restricted. Former employees of said facilities have surfaced over the years to talk of massive underground installations in places like Area 51, the Northrop facility in Antelope Valley, California (rumored to have 42 levels), and the Lockheed installation near Edwards, California.
That’s been the key question asked of Wall Street’s biggest banks since the September 2008 collapse of Lehman Brothers, which sent shock waves through the global financial system and led to the worst recession this country has seen since the Great Depression.
But, there is another firm far from the circles of Wall Street for which that same question should be asked, says William Hartung, author of the new book Prophets of War. The subtitle of his book says it all: Lockheed Martin and the Making of the Military-Industrial Complex.
With $40 billion in annual revenue, Lockheed Martin is the single largest recipient of U.S. tax dollars. The company receives about $36 billion in government contracts per year. In 2008, $29 billion of that was for U.S. military contracts – a dollar figure 25% higher than its competitors Boeing Co. and Northrop Grumman.
