Oppression // Current TV

The Hot Dog Stand: How Much Would You Charge?

by Amaterasu Solar Let Us presume a world where free energy is available to all.... more

Amaterasu
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20 days ago
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What's a Liberal?

Progresshiv talks about what it means to be a liberal.

Progresshiv
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1 month ago
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251 comments

V for Vendetta — A Consciousness Message

You cannot grant me freedom, it's what I am! I am freedom!... more

JRBarilla
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CAUCUS INVOCATION: Thank God we live in a country free of oppression?

This just past Saturday (3/10/2012) this author attended the Wright County MN BPU... more

DMashak
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1 month ago
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The National Organization for Marriage: Rotten to the Core and In Bed With the GOP « Revolutionary Radar

Secret documents reveal how the National Organization for Marriage plans t pit one... more

DebEquality
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2 months ago
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1 comment

Obama signs "Police State" legislation

You thought the NDAA was bad, you ain't seen nothin' yet. Read on:... more

R3zn8D
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2 months ago
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6 comments

Black Riders / Oct 22 coalition protest police terrorism

The Oct 22 coalition held a rally against police and government oppression in Los... more

Hassan
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3 months ago
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Video Comment: Occupy Liberty!

This is a pivotal time in U.S history to stand up for liberty and posterity!

JanforGore
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8 months ago
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50 comments

Tina Fey calls her own bluff

In the past, the author has been annoyed by Tina Fey's offensive jabs against the... more

transreporter
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10 months ago
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Unveiling the paradoxes

As a trans-woman myself, it never fails to boggle my mind how many trans-women... more

transreporter
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10 months ago
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NOW, It's Illegal To Say NO To Oppression !

Now, the corporations and banks have us by the throat and are going coming in for the... more

COMMONSENSEFORCOMMONGOOD_COM
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10 months ago
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40 comments

Jews Protect Turf with US help

Another example of Lieberman's power to make America dance to the fiddler.

Frosty46
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11 months ago
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4 comments

'Obedient Wives Club' spreads across Asia

JAKARTA/KUALA LUMPUR - INDONESIAN Gina Puspita traded a career in aircraft engineering... more

wanderingmissy
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11 months ago
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2 comments

FBI using Patriot Act to Squash Peaceful Activists

The FBI and other law enforcement agencies are now using the Patriot Act as legal... more

tomretterbush
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1 year ago
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Child Slain in Syrian Protest

ecurity forces shot dead at least 34 people including a child as pro-democracy... more

joeeddy
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1 year ago
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Repressive Governments Days Are Numbered

World in the Throes of a Human Rights Revolution, Says Amnesty

joeeddy
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1 year ago
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Who Caused the Destruction of Honduran Education?

This bloggers points out that it was IMF, the INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND that forced... more

fernweher
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1 year ago
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2 comments

In Op-Ed, President Obama Advocates For ‘Common Sense’ Gun Control

On a smaller platform than some may have hoped, President Obama wrote an op-ed in... more

TimALoftis
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1 year ago
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15 comments

Feds to Deploy Full-Vehicle Scan Technology to US Streets, Preforming DRIVE-BY X-RAY Scans of Public Vehicles.

Full-Body Scan Technology Deployed to US Streets in Roving Vans

As the privacy controversy around full-body security scans begins to simmer, it’s worth noting that courthouses and airport security checkpoints aren’t the only places where backscatter x-ray vision is being deployed. The same technology, capable of seeing through clothes and walls, has also been rolling out on U.S. streets.

American Science & Engineering, a company based in Billerica, Massachusetts, has sold U.S. and foreign government agencies more than 500 backscatter x-ray scanners mounted in vans that can be driven past neighboring vehicles to see their contents, Joe Reiss, a vice president of marketing at the company told me in an interview. While the biggest buyer of AS&E’s machines over the last seven years has been the Department of Defense operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, Reiss says law enforcement agencies have also deployed the vans to search for vehicle-based bombs in the U.S.
“This product is now the largest selling cargo and vehicle inspection system ever,” says Reiss.

The Z Backscatter Vans, or ZBVs, as the company calls them, bounce a narrow stream of x-rays off and through nearby objects, and read which ones come back. Absorbed rays indicate dense material such as steel. Scattered rays indicate less-dense objects that can include explosives, drugs, or human bodies. That capability makes them powerful tools for security, law enforcement, and border control.

It would also seem to make the vans mobile versions of the same scanning technique that’s riled privacy advocates as it’s been deployed in airports around the country. The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) is currently suing the DHS to stop airport deployments of the backscatter scanners, which can reveal detailed images of human bodies. (Just how much detail became clear last May, when TSA employee Rolando Negrin was charged with assaulting a coworker who made jokes about the size of Negrin’s genitalia after Negrin received a full-body scan.)

“It’s no surprise that governments and vendors are very enthusiastic about [the vans],” says Marc Rotenberg, executive director of EPIC. “But from a privacy perspective, it’s one of the most intrusive technologies conceivable.”

AS&E’s Reiss counters privacy critics by pointing out that the ZBV scans don’t capture nearly as much detail of human bodies as their airport counterparts. The company’s marketing materials say that its “primary purpose is to image vehicles and their contents,” and that “the system cannot be used to identify an individual, or the race, sex or age of the person.”

Though Reiss admits that the systems “to a large degree will penetrate clothing,” he points to the lack of features in images of humans like the one shown at right, far less detail than is obtained from the airport scans. “From a privacy standpoint, I’m hard-pressed to see what the concern or objection could be,” he says.
But EPIC’s Rotenberg says that the scans, like those in the airport, potentially violate the fourth amendment. “Without a warrant, the government doesn’t have a right to peer beneath your clothes without probable cause,” he says. Even airport scans are typically used only as a secondary security measure, he points out. “If the scans can only be used in exceptional cases in airports, the idea that they can be used routinely on city streets is a very hard argument to make.”

The TSA’s official policy dictates that full-body scans must be viewed in a separate room from any guards dealing directly with subjects of the scans, and that the scanners won’t save any images. Just what sort of safeguards might be in place for AS&E’s scanning vans isn’t clear, given that the company won’t reveal just which law enforcement agencies, organizations within the DHS, or foreign governments have purchased the equipment. Reiss says AS&E has customers on “all continents except Antarctica.”

Reiss adds that the vans do have the capability of storing images. “Sometimes customers need to save images for evidentiary reasons,” he says. “We do what our customers need.”

GO TO STORY:
http://yourdaddy.net/2010/09/27/feds-to-deploy-full-body-scan-technology-to-us-streets-in-roving-vans/Full-Body Scan Technology Deployed to US Streets in Roving Vans As the privacy... more

gerardange
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1 year ago
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6 comments

Save Planned Parenthood Today

To protect the basic human rights of women and LGBTQ individuals, do your part to... more

transreporter
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1 year ago
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0 comments

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