ACLU: Big Brother is now a realistic possibility

by **Qutb** » Sun Oct 23, 2005 12:00 pm

<a href="http://www.aclu.org/Privacy/Privacylist.cfm?c=39" target="top">ACLU:</a> Is the U.S. Turning Into a Surveillance Society? Big Brother is now a realistic possibility The United States has now reached the point where a total “surveillance society” has become a realistic possibility, the American Civil Liberties Union warns in a new report. “Many people still do not grasp that Big Brother surveillance is no longer the stuff of books and movies,” said Barry Steinhardt, Director of the ACLU’s Technology and Liberty Program and a co-author of the report. “Given the capabilities of today’s technology, the only thing protecting us from a full-fledged surveillance society are the legal and political institutions we have inherited as Americans,” he added. “Unfortunately, the September 11 attacks have led some to embrace the fallacy that weakening the Constitution will strengthen America.” The ACLU said that its report, Bigger Monster, Weaker Chains: The Growth of an American Surveillance Society, is an attempt to step back from the daily march of stories about new surveillance programs and technologies and survey the bigger picture. The report argues that even as surveillance capacity grows like a “monster” in our midst, the legal “chains” needed to restrain that monster are being weakened. The report cites not only new technology but also erosions in protections against government spying, the increasing amount of tracking being carried out by the private sector, and the growing intersection between the two. From government watch lists to secret wiretaps – Americans are unknowingly becoming targets of government surveillance,” said Dorothy Ehrlich, executive director of the ACLU of Northern California. “It is dangerous for a democracy that government power goes unchecked and for this reason it is imperative that our government be made accountable.” A recent illustration of the danger, according to the ACLU report, is the Pentagon’s Total Information Awareness (TIA) program, which seeks to sift through a vast array of databases full of personal information in the hunt for terrorism. “Even if TIA never materializes in its current form,” Steinhardt said, “what this report shows is that the underlying trends are much bigger than any one program or any one controversial figure like John Poindexter.” Steinhardt said that Americans haven’t yet felt the full potential of the new technology for invading privacy because of latent inefficiencies in how government and businesses handle information. “Database inefficiencies can’t be expected to protect our privacy forever,” said Steinhardt. “Eventually businesses and government agencies will settle on standards for tying together information, and gain the ability to monitor many of our activities – either directly through surveillance cameras, or indirectly by analyzing the information trails we leave behind us as we go through life.” The report was authored by Steinhardt and Jay Stanley, Public Education Director of the Technology and Liberty Program. Qutb means "axis," "pole," "the center," which contains the periphery or is present in it. The qutb is a spiritual being, or function, which can reside in a human being or several human beings or a moment. It is the elusive mystery of how the divine gets delegated into the manifest world and obviously cannot be defined.

by **marykmusic** » Sun Oct 23, 2005 1:35 pm

Some foks have seen this coming for years. Thanks for posting again, Qutb. --MaryK

by **Watchful Citizen** » Sun Oct 23, 2005 3:46 pm

We've known about the ECHELON total communication monitoring system used by the US and Brits for sometime and this effectively eliminated the Fourth Amendment back in the 1970s. Washington Post investigative journalist (what? they still exist?) Robert O'Harrow wrote 'No Place to Hide' describing the data-mining industries allying with DARPA and other 'law-enforcement' institutions over the last 15 years to finalize the Big Brother Reality just in time for permanent oil wars and ignoring the US Constititution. Here's a Democracy Now interview that will horrify you. <a href="http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/02/10/1545230">www.democracynow.org/arti...10/1545230</a> And here's some more from Pravda - I mean - the Washington Post on its own reporter's book: <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A33493-2005Feb17.html">www.washingtonpost.com/wp...Feb17.html</a> Giant data-mining company Acxiom is who General W. Clark shilled for when he 'retired' because generals know that identifying everyone in a population is the first step to controlling them, just as the US military teaches Central and South American miltary people and police at the School of the Americas in Fort Benning, Georgia. Clark personally met IranContra felon Admiral Poindexter to sell info on millions of Americans for DARPA's Total Information Awareness program. Thanks, General Clark, you fascist asshole. While this is good to know in order to grasp reality and plan accordingly, I suspect that chilling is the first desired effect of letting the public know their lives are transparent to Big Brother and the 'holding company' called CIA with their 'rehearsal rooms' at Gitmo.. I say fuck'em and warn everyone one what bastards they are and take back our government asap. We so outnumber those Nazis that they should fear us more than we fear them.

by **Homeless Halo** » Sun Oct 23, 2005 10:11 pm

For surviving Big Brother. Someday the NSA will update their list to reflect my library checkouts. I am a dangerous person to know. This should get you started towards "safety" From my rec. reading list: Knowledge Management in the Intelligence Enterprise (Artech House Information Warfare Library) by Edward Waltz The New Competitor Intelligence: The Complete Resource for Finding, Analyzing, and Using Information about Your Competitors by Leonard M. Fuld Super Searchers on Competitive Intelligence: The Online and Offline Secrets of Top CI Researchers (Super Searchers series) by Jan Herring The Web Library : Building a World Class Personal Library with Free Web Resources by Steve Coffman Coward's Guide to Conflict: Empowering Solutions for Those Who Would Rather Run Than Fight by Tim Ursiny The Digital Person: Technology And Privacy In The Information Age by Daniel J. Solove Chatter : Dispatches from the Secret World of Global Eavesdropping by Patrick Radden Keefe The Naked Crowd : Reclaiming Security and Freedom in an Anxious Age by JEFFREY ROSEN Code Names : Deciphering U.S. Military Plans, Programs and Operations in the 9/11 World by William M. Arkin Perilous Times: Free Speech in Wartime: From the Sedition Act of 1798 to the War on Terrorism by Geoffrey R. Stone Democracy: The God that Failed: The Economics and Politics of Monarchy, Democracy, and Natural Order by Hans-Hermann Hoppe Against Leviathan: Government Power and a Free Society by Robert Higgs The Art of War by Sun-Tzu The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli Strategy : Second Revised Edition by Hart B. H. Liddell The Art of War by Niccolò Machiavelli Principles of War by Carl von Clausewitz On War by Karl Von Clausewitz Makers of Modern Strategy from Machiavelli to the Nuclear Age by Peter Paret On Guerrilla Warfare by Zedong Mao, Tse-Tung Mao Survival Retreat : A Total Plan For Retreat Defense by Ragnar Benson Survival: A Manual That Could Save Your Life by Chris Janowsky, Gretchen Granowsky US Army Survival Manual: FM 21-76 by Department of Defense Surviving the Desert (Davenport, Gregory J. Books for the Wilderness.) by Gregory J. Davenport Participating in Nature: Thomas J. Elpel's Field Guide to Primitive Living Skills by Thomas Elpel The Encyclopedia of Edible Plants of North America by Francois Couplan, James Duke Wilderness Evasion : A Guide To Hiding Out and Eluding Pursuit in Remote Areas by Michael Chesbro The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook by Joshua Piven, David Borgenicht Modern Identity Changer : How To Create And Use A New Identity For Privacy And Personal Freedom by Sheldon Charrett Surveillance Countermeasures : A Serious Guide To Detecting, Evading, And Eluding Threats To Personal Privacy by ACM IV Security Services Techniques in Countersurveillance : The Fine Art of Bug Extermination in the Real World of Intelligence Gatheringby Marinelli Companies (Corporate Author), Greg Hauser Spec Ops : Case Studies in Special Operations Warfare: Theory and Practice by William H. Mcraven Google Hacks: 100 Industrial-Strength Tips & Tools by Tara Calishain, Rael Dornfest Hacking Exposed: Network Security Secrets & Solutions, Fourth Edition (Hacking Exposed) by Stuart McClure, et al Gray Hat Hacking : The Ethical Hacker's Handbook by Shon Harris How to Be Invisible : A Step-By-Step Guide To Protecting Your Assets, Your Identity, And Your Life by J.J. Luna The Art of Deception: Controlling the Human Element of Security by Kevin D. Mitnick, et al Disguise Techniques : Fool All Of The People Some Of The Time by Edmond A. MacInaugh Rape of the Masses: The Psychology of Totalitarian Political Propaganda (Studies in Philosophy, No 40) by Serge Chakotin Science of Coercion: Communication Research and Psychological Warfare 1945-1960 -- by Christopher Simpson Strategic Information Warfare : A New Face of War by R. C. Molander Strategic Information Warfare Rising by Roger C Molander Information Operations: Warfare and the Hard Reality of Soft Power (Issues in Twenty-First Century Warfare) by Leigh Armistead In Athena's Camp : Preparing for Conflict in the Information Age by John Arquilla, David F. Ronfeldt Networks and Netwars : The Future of Terror, Crime, and Militancy by John Arquilla, David F. Ronfeldt The Zapatista Social Netwar in Mexico by David Ronfeldt, et al The Emergence of Noopolitik: Toward an American Information Strategy (Rand Corporation//Rand Monograph Report) by John Arquilla, et al The Art of Information Warfare: Insight into the Knowledge Warrior Philosophy by Richard Forno, Ronald Baklarz Information Warfare Principles and Operations by Edward Waltz Phantom Soldier: The Enemy's Answer to U.S. Firepower by H. John Poole, William S. Lind Anticipating Surprise: Analysis for Strategic Warning by Cynthia M. Grabo Understanding Terror Networks by Marc Sageman See No Evil: The True Story of a Ground Soldier in the CIA's War on Terrorism by Robert Baer Running A Ring Of Spies : Spycraft And Black Operations In The Real World Of Espionage by Jefferson Mack THE SAFE HOUSE by Jefferson Mack Operational Logistics: The Art and Science of Sustaining Military Operations by Moshe Kress ------------------- The full list is 37 pp long, but this should be enough to keep anyone busy for some time. Read them now, while its still legal. Cheers. Love is the Law, SHCR

by **Gouda** » Sun Oct 23, 2005 10:14 pm

Even William Saffire (NYT) and Paul Magnusson (BusinessWeek) go to bat for O'Harrow: <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/10/books/review/10COVERSAFIRE.html">www.nytimes.com/2005/04/1...AFIRE.html</a> "Goodbye to Privacy" By WILLIAM SAFIRE & "They're Watching You" By Paul Magnusson January 24, 2005 BusinessWeek Should we take note that O'Harrow has been picked up with great interest by the establishment miss info complex? Not that he isn't correct. Even elite lapdogs have some nostaglia about privacy; they'll not want their overlords to know everything about them. ***** also this: "Big Brother Goes Global - Assembling electronic dossiers on millions of people" <a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=20050112&articleId=377">www.globalresearch.ca/ind...icleId=377</a> PS: Does anyone know if the Real ID Act has was signed into Law? <a href="http://news.com.com/FAQ%2BHow%2BReal%2BID%2Bwill%2Baffect%2Byou/2100-1028_3-5697111.html?tag=nefd.lede">news.com.com/FAQ%2BHow%2B...=nefd.lede</a> ***** If this is our future, then a) we can duck, dodge and put out massive disinfo about ourselves all the time to throw the dogs off our scent, or b) we put it all out there openly. They can't steal what we give away.

by **Gouda** » Sun Oct 23, 2005 10:26 pm

or c) we counterattack, as HH's reading list would so arm us. I like how the Zapatistas have thrown a judo move on Mexico's little control society. "Wearing Masks, We Are Visible" Is anyone familiar with the Notes From Nowhere Collective? I've got this somewhere: "Clandestinity: Resisting State Repression, Essay #5" from the book We Are Everywhere": *snip* Clandestinity can be the key to our survival, or it can be our downfall. It can bring us together or deeply divide us. Our clandestinity involves secrecy, marginality, anonymous direct action, breaking the law, hiding, escaping, going underground. It can be a gift to the movement – but it is a dangerous, double-edged gift.

by **Watchful Citizen** » Sun Oct 23, 2005 11:49 pm

I think downfall. I rented the video 'The Weather Underground' about the anti-war activists who bolted when they saw the FBI's COINTELPRO murdering activists like Fred Hampton. Not only don't I think it is as possible to go underground today as it was in 1971 but those who did admitted when the film was made a few years ago that being underground made it almost impossible to maintain their movement and adapt. When their struggle against Vietnam and Nixon fizzled out, noone could get in touch with anyone else to plan the next step and they drifted off into either overt activism or conventional lives watching everything they fought against come to pass, a police-state. No, staying visible and rousing as many allies as possible is the route to take. I do hope some manage to stay underground if push comes to shove to keep the PTB in their place, though. That is an amazing list of books above!

by **AnGlO HoMiE** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 12:57 am

It all begins with IBM and the RFID Tags and ends when we stop reporting to work to produce for our keepers. ~Anglo

by **Gouda** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 1:45 am

no reason one can not do a, b and c at the same time.

by **Homeless Halo** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 1:51 am

"no reason one can not do a, b and c at the same time." exactly. hope for the best, prepare for the worst.

by **Gouda** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 2:10 am

Furthermore. In the Democracy (in a Republic) Now's Robert O'Harrow interview, he says: “…because there are really no rules that govern how the government uses these private companies, so that even if the PATRIOT Act strips away some of their ability to get records, the private companies would be able to collect them for the government, and in a sense, the government is outsourcing security and intelligence.” It is this that reminds me of Proldic’s assertion that capitalism is the “5th column.” By the way, why is O'Harrow so giddy, yet wary, of the techno capabilities developing in the corporate 3rd Eye o'sphere? He sez: “It's really -- you know, as I said, it's something -- it's awesome to behold. It's not being used in that way now. I don't see there's a [J. Edgar] Hoover out there. In fact, as I said before, I believe that a lot of the people taking advantage of this are working in the nation's interests…” And why is this pulitzer calibre journalist so limited in his mathematics?

by **manxkat** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 3:38 am

Watchful Citizen, yes "The Weather Underground" came to mind as well when reading the above posts. I think these underground movements only work in fictional movies like "The Matrix." There's gotta be a better way -- like getting truth out in the open, or at least on some open blogs for starters.

by **Qutb** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 8:51 am

<blockquote>Quote:<hr>Giant data-mining company Acxiom is who General W. Clark shilled for when he 'retired'<hr></blockquote> I'll be damned. Thanks, I didn't know that. Qutb means "axis," "pole," "the center," which contains the periphery or is present in it. The qutb is a spiritual being, or function, which can reside in a human being or several human beings or a moment. It is the elusive mystery of how the divine gets delegated into the manifest world and obviously cannot be defined.

ACLU: Big Brother is now a realistic possibility

ACLU: Big Brother is now a realistic possibility

Re: ACLU: Big Brother is now a realistic possibility

It already happened. Read 'No Place to Hide' by R. O'Harrow

forum

Re: Choice. Point.

Re: Choice. Point.

Re: Clandestinity can be survival, or downfall.

Re: Clandestinity can be survival, or downfall.

Re: Clandestinity can be survival, or downfall.

Gouda

Re: Gouda

Re: Clandestinity can be survival, or downfall.

Re: It already happened. Read 'No Place to Hide' by R. O'Har

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