U.S. Internal Policy + Surveillance Society

[Demon of Undoing]

Well, first off, it's pretty reprehensible that someone goes to jail over truancy when they are old enough to quit school. That's swatting flies with sledgehammers. Second, you have someone facing jail time in a court where they have no representation. Third, the court made no contact with parents when adjudicating a minor. Those are three little bits of something they call " basic rights", ideas foreign to Texas, I know, but real nonetheless.


I'm so sick of law enforcement being used for this sort of thing. You might even be able to understand the courts doing this- you know, if you were an durian that can't think of any other way to deal with high school kids missing school than by arresting and jailing them. But even if you were stupid enough to make the laws like that- and the people of Texas are indeed that kind of stupid- you'd at least hope the judges would be decent enough to switch mental gears so that they aren't treating 17 year old honor students like Charles Bronson ( the Englishman, not the American actor).


" Missing school? Strip search her! Wha ain't yew dooin' raht bah Jeezus, you little yeller commie? Speak up afore ah git mah whip! Baliff, remove this drug addled miscreant from my sight until she is able to tell an obvious durian judge the entire circumstances of her painful life on command of strangers. This is a fuckin' TRUANCY case, boy. Jam 'er in the darkest hole we got!!!".

God bless Texas.

[Enki]

Well, first off, it's pretty reprehensible that someone goes to jail over truancy when they are old enough to quit school. That's swatting flies with sledgehammers. Second, you have someone facing jail time in a court where they have no representation. Third, the court made no contact with parents when adjudicating a minor. Those are three little bits of something they call " basic rights", ideas foreign to Texas, I know, but real nonetheless.


I'm so sick of law enforcement being used for this sort of thing. You might even be able to understand the courts doing this- you know, if you were an durian that can't think of any other way to deal with high school kids missing school than by arresting and jailing them. But even if you were stupid enough to make the laws like that- and the people of Texas are indeed that kind of stupid- you'd at least hope the judges would be decent enough to switch mental gears so that they aren't treating 17 year old honor students like Charles Bronson ( the Englishman, not the American actor).


" Missing school? Strip search her! Wha ain't yew dooin' raht bah Jeezus, you little yeller commie? Speak up afore ah git mah whip! Baliff, remove this drug addled miscreant from my sight until she is able to tell an obvious durian judge the entire circumstances of her painful life on command of strangers. This is a fuckin' TRUANCY case, boy. Jam 'er in the darkest hole we got!!!".

God bless Texas.

Republican states, whatcha gonna do?

[Endovelico]

Well, first off, it's pretty reprehensible that someone goes to jail over truancy when they are old enough to quit school. That's swatting flies with sledgehammers. Second, you have someone facing jail time in a court where they have no representation. Third, the court made no contact with parents when adjudicating a minor. Those are three little bits of something they call " basic rights", ideas foreign to Texas, I know, but real nonetheless.


I'm so sick of law enforcement being used for this sort of thing. You might even be able to understand the courts doing this- you know, if you were an durian that can't think of any other way to deal with high school kids missing school than by arresting and jailing them. But even if you were stupid enough to make the laws like that- and the people of Texas are indeed that kind of stupid- you'd at least hope the judges would be decent enough to switch mental gears so that they aren't treating 17 year old honor students like Charles Bronson ( the Englishman, not the American actor).


" Missing school? Strip search her! Wha ain't yew dooin' raht bah Jeezus, you little yeller commie? Speak up afore ah git mah whip! Baliff, remove this drug addled miscreant from my sight until she is able to tell an obvious durian judge the entire circumstances of her painful life on command of strangers. This is a fuckin' TRUANCY case, boy. Jam 'er in the darkest hole we got!!!".

God bless Texas.

In Portugal they are thinking of making parents responsible for their youngsters truancy and liable to be fined. So it seems that stupidity is not limited to Texas...

[AzariLoveIran]

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The vast profits made from drug production and trafficking are overwhelmingly reaped in rich "consuming" countries ..

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The most far-reaching and detailed analysis to date of the drug economy in any country – in this case, Colombia – shows that 2.6% of the total street value of cocaine produced remains within the country, while a staggering 97.4% of profits are reaped by criminal syndicates, and laundered by banks, in first-world consuming countries.

"The story of who makes the money from Colombian cocaine is a metaphor for the disproportionate burden placed in every way on 'producing' nations like Colombia as a result of the prohibition of drugs," said one of the authors of the study, Alejandro Gaviria, launching its English edition last week.

"Colombian society has suffered to almost no economic advantage from the drugs trade, while huge profits are made by criminal distribution networks in consuming countries, and recycled by banks which operate with nothing like the restrictions that Colombia's own banking system is subject to."

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told you guys,

"war on drugs" same as "war on terrorism" is BullShit

West makes money out of Drug trade and out of MIC


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[Enki]

Azari, ever think that the reason you often don't get a response is because you act like you are teaching us a concept we have discussed on a near daily basis for a few years now?

[AzariLoveIran]

.

Azari, ever think that the reason you often don't get a response is because you act like you are teaching us a concept we have discussed on a near daily basis for a few years now ?

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just making sure we on the same page

not teaching but learning


look,

97.4% of the money made right here in US of A .. billions $$$

those 100s of billions, every year, must enter economy orderly fashion, banks, investment and and

probably a lot of banks into this

and

authorities know this

so, why nothing happens ?

because this part of the system

America could buy all the yearly crop in Afghanistan, and burn it .. same in Colombia and everywhere else

why not doing this ?




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[YMix]

Hidden Government Scanners Will Instantly Know Everything About You From 164 Feet Away

Within the next year or two, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security will instantly know everything about your body, clothes, and luggage with a new laser-based molecular scanner fired from 164 feet (50 meters) away. From traces of drugs or gun powder on your clothes to what you had for breakfast to the adrenaline level in your body—agents will be able to get any information they want without even touching you.

And without you knowing it.

The technology is so incredibly effective that, in November 2011, its inventors were subcontracted by In-Q-Tel to work with the US Department of Homeland Security. In-Q-Tel is a company founded "in February 1999 by a group of private citizens at the request of the Director of the CIA and with the support of the U.S. Congress." According to In-Q-Tel, they are the bridge between the Agency and new technology companies.

Their plan is to install this molecular-level scanning in airports and border crossings all across the United States. The official, stated goal of this arrangement is to be able to quickly identify explosives, dangerous chemicals, or bioweapons at a distance.

The machine is ten million times faster—and one million times more sensitive—than any currently available system. That means that it can be used systematically on everyone passing through airport security, not just suspect or randomly sampled people.

Analyzing everything in real time

But the machine can sniff out a lot more than just explosives, chemicals and bioweapons. The company that invented it, Genia Photonics, says that its laser scanner technology is able to "penetrate clothing and many other organic materials and offers spectroscopic information, especially for materials that impact safety such as explosives and pharmacological substances." [PDF]

Formed in Montreal in 2009 by PhDs with specialties in lasers and fiber optics, Genia Photonics has 30 patents on this technology, claiming incredible biomedical and industrial applications—from identifying individual cancer cells in a real-time scan of a patient, to detecting trace amounts of harmful chemicals in sensitive manufacturing processes.

Meanwhile, In-Q-Tel states that "an important benefit of Genia Photonics' implementation as compared to existing solutions is that the entire synchronized laser system is comprised in a single, robust and alignment-free unit that may be easily transported for use in many environments… This compact and robust laser has the ability to rapidly sweep wavelengths in any pattern and sequence." [PDF]

So not only can they scan everyone. They would be able to do it everywhere: the subway, a traffic light, sports events... everywhere.

How does it work?

The machine is a mobile, rack-mountable system. It fires a laser to provide molecular-level feedback at distances of up to 50 meters in just picoseconds. For all intents and purposes, that means instantly.

The small, inconspicuous machine is attached to a computer running a program that will show the information in real time, from trace amounts of cocaine on your dollar bills to gunpowder residue on your shoes. Forget trying to sneak a bottle of water past security—they will be able to tell what you had for breakfast in an instant while you're walking down the hallway.

The technology is not new, it's just millions times faster and more convenient than ever before. Back in 2008, a team at George Washington University developed a similar laser spectrometer using a different process. It could sense drug metabolites in urine in less than a second, trace amounts of explosive residue on a dollar bill, and even certain chemical changes happening in a plant leaf.

And the Russians also have a similar technology: announced last April, their "laser sensor can pick up on a single molecule in a million from up to 50 meters away."

So if Genia Photonics' claims pan out, this will be an incredible leap forward in terms of speed, portability, and convenience. One with staggering implications.

Observation without limits

There has so far been no discussion about the personal rights and privacy issues involved. Which "molecular tags" will they be scanning for? Who determines them? What are the threshold levels of this scanning? If you unknowingly stepped on the butt of someone's joint and are carrying a sugar-sized grain of cannabis like that unfortunate traveler currently in jail in Dubai, will you be arrested?

And, since it's extremely portable, will this technology extend beyone the airport or border crossings and into police cars, with officers looking for people on the street with increased levels of adrenaline in their system to detain in order to prevent potential violent outbursts? And will your car be scanned at stoplights for any trace amounts of suspicious substances? Would all this information be recorded anywhere?

There are a lot of questions with no answer yet, but it's obvious that the potential level of personal invasion of this technology goes far beyond that of body scans, wiretaps, and GPS tracking.

The end of privacy coming soon

According to the undersecretary for science and technology of the Department of Homeland Security, this scanning technology will be ready within one to two years, which means you might start seeing them in airports as soon as 2013.

In other words, these portable, incredibly precise molecular-level scanning devices will be cascading lasers across your body as you walk from the bathroom to the soda machine at the airport and instantly reporting and storing a detailed breakdown of your person, in search of certain "molecular tags".

Going well beyond eavesdropping, it seems quite possible that U.S. government plans on recording molecular data on travelers without their consent, or even knowledge that it's possible—a scary thought. While the medical uses could revolutionize the way doctors diagnose illness, and any technology that could replace an aggressive pat-down is tempting, there's a potential dark side to this implementation, and we need to shine some light on it before it's implemented.

The author of this story is currently completing his PhD in renewable energy solutions, focusing on converting waste to energy in the urban environment. Even while most of this information is publicly available, he wanted to remain anonymous.

[Typhoon]

Genia Photonics

[Simple Minded]

Genia Photonics

It will be nice to get rid of the airport scanners..... and all that mark of the beast stuff.....

Sounds like a great SciFy TV series in the making.

[Typhoon]

Genia Photonics

It will be nice to get rid of the airport scanners..... and all that mark of the beast stuff.....

Sounds like a great SciFy TV series in the making.

I"m more than a little skeptical that the device currently works as claimed in the original article.

My guess is more US DHS wish list than reality.

[Simple Minded]

I"m more than a little skeptical that the device currently works as claimed in the original article.

My guess is more US DHS wish list than reality.

Me two, my feeble brain has trouble understanding magic concepts.... instanteous mass spectrometry of an infinite number of substances...... I thought profiling was a bad thang....

sounds to me like Genia Photonics are casting nets for rich suckers or government contracts...

than again last week was hotter than hell..... and if one week of above average temperatures in July will not convince someone of the validity of AGW, I don't know what it would take

[Enki]

The history of science is the history of the refinement of optics. New and better lenses are inevitable. If it isn't possible yet, it will be.

[Typhoon]

The history of science is the history of the refinement of optics. New and better lenses are inevitable. If it isn't possible yet, it will be.

Lenses are not the issue.

[Typhoon]

Federal Cameras Are Snapping Time-Stamped Pix of License Plates in 4 Border States

[Enki]

The history of science is the history of the refinement of optics. New and better lenses are inevitable. If it isn't possible yet, it will be.

Lenses are not the issue.

I was speaking metaphorically.

[Enki]

There is a big border checkpoint on I-10 east out of El Paso that bottlenecks traffic.

[Mr. Perfect]

We'd better get rid of this George Bush character.

[Typhoon]

NSA Whistleblower Drake: You're automatically suspicious until proven otherwise

Security has effectively become the State religion; you don't question it. And if you question it, then your loyalty is questioned.

qMy2ZbPkyvw

[planctom]

Now, see how things work here in the edge of the western world ( a.k.a. South America): In Argentina, the government is automatically informed if you spend more than a certain amount of money in electricity ; the same applies for credit cards.
Viva La Kirchner!!!

PS: DoU, in lavender hits the fan up there in America, don't come to Argentina; Chile is a much safer bet!

[Demon of Undoing]

I daresay that's a more serious item than a whole slew of code violations.

Planc, if I leave America, I leave civilization altogether. I'll be so far gone up a river that the natives didn't even bother to name that it won't be comprehensible to the modern mind. Ain't quite there yet. Still, going to make some short-term bank, just in case.

[Enki]

http://boingboing.net/2012/07/19/judge- ... e-you.html

Federal Judge rules that its ok to impersonate you using your phone to entrap your friends.

[Endovelico]

http://boingboing.net/2012/07/19/judge- ... e-you.html

Federal Judge rules that its ok to impersonate you using your phone to entrap your friends.

Remind me of not setting foot again in the US until civil rights have been restored.

[monster_gardener]

http://boingboing.net/2012/07/19/judge- ... e-you.html

Federal Judge rules that its ok to impersonate you using your phone to entrap your friends.

Thank you VERY MUCH for your post, Tinker.

Good to know......... Don't trust text or email seems to be one rule.......... Also put good security on your phone........... Not just the police who might do this.......

[AzariLoveIran]

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NSA whistleblowers : Government spying on every single American

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Former NSA staffers even say that theirs old agency has actually been spying on the entire country — all in the name of national security.

On an interview carried on Current TV’s Viewpoint program on Monday, former NSA Technical Director William Binney commented on the state of blanketing surveillance along with colleagues Thomas Drake and Kirk Wiebe, the agency's former senior official and senior analyst, respectively. The broadcast comes on the heels of a series of speeches given by Binney, who has quickly become more known for his whistle-blowing than his work with the NSA. In their latest appearance this week, though, all three former staffers corroborated on earlier accounts by suggesting that America’s spy program is really more dangerous that others deem it to be.

Speaking to Viewpoint host Eliot Spitzer, Drake said there was a “key decision made shortly after 9/11, which began to rapidly turn the United States of America into the equivalent of a foreign nation for dragnet blanket electronic surveillance.”

Although this accusation has been supported by claims that it is for national security, says that it doesn’t stop there. In fact, warns the former NSA official, the government is giving themselves the power to put intel on every American aside for potential future crimes.

“When you open up the Pandora’s Box of just getting access to incredible amounts of data, for people that have no reason to be put under suspicion, no reason to have done anything wrong, and just collect all that for potential future use or even current use, it opens up a real danger — and to what else what they could use that data for, particularly when it’s all being hidden behind the mantle of national security,” Drake said.

Although Drake’s accusations seem astounding, they corroborate allegations launched by Binney only a week earlier. Speaking at the Hackers On Planet Earth conference in New York City earlier in the month, Binney addressed a room of thousands by speaking about the NSA’s domestic spying. But in a candid interview with journalist Geoff Shively during HOPE, the ex-agency official admitted that things really are rather scary.

“Domestically, they're pulling together all the data about virtually every U.S. citizen in the country and assembling that information, building communities that you have relationships with, and knowledge about you; what your activities are; what you're doing. So the government is accumulating that kind of information about every individual person and it's a very dangerous process,” Binney claims.

Both statements from the former NSA official come on the heels of a revelation that law enforcement officers collected the cell phone records of 1.3 million Americans in 2011 alone. By carrying out this and similar requests under provisions in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and using National Security Letters, though, news articles are emerging everyday suggesting that the surveillance of Americans — off the radar and under wraps — is becoming occurring more and more exponentially by the minute.
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look, folks .. everybody armed, gun sales sky rocket, and now this

how did things come to that ?

scarey


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[Hoosiernorm]

If you understood the incredible amount of both capital and human assets it requires to conduct a single operation involving the separation of 35 individuals from a population of 60000 the possibility of spying on the entire US population is almost an impossibility. It takes years to establish a known hierarchy and command breakdown of a simple organization. You have to pay five people just to maintain, edit, and manage that one data file. The reports required on activities of low level members is another three person team that reports to a cell team every other morning with status and danger assessments.

It is a great idea for a jobs program though.