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Randy couples to be filmed by cinema spy cameras?
Courting couples smooching in the back row at the movies could become the unwitting stars of a new genre of romantic film after the installation of Big Brother-style cameras at cinemas, the Telegraph reports today.
Odeon, the UK's largest cinema chain, has put CCTV cameras in nine cinemas across the country.
The company said the cameras are to ensure the safety and security of audience members, but human rights organisations and cinema-goers have expressed concern at the development.
Gareth Crossman, the policy of Liberty, the human rights campaigners, said: "Film-goers should be informed of the presence of the cameras so that they can go elsewhere if they are unhappy with being filmed themselves."
James Dolan, 26, a film enthusiast from Birmingham, was unhappy that the "spy" cameras could deter burgeoning romances.
"I'm not happy about it. Isn't that why going to the cinema is so fun? So you can have a kiss and a cuddle in the back row. Not only that but it is a complete infringement of my civil liberties."
Cinemas with CCTV include ones in Glasgow, Birmingham, Manchester and London.
An Odeon spokesman said the cameras had resulted in a dramatic fall of disruptive incidents.
He added: "The camera system and subsequent footage is solely for the safety and security of guests and footage recorded is automatically erased after 31 days.
Are cinemas going way overboard to prevent 'disruptive' behaviour? Did a bit of back-row fondling ever do anyone any harm? Are you guilty of any 'disruptive incidents' in the cinema with your lady or gent (or even with yourself. Though I don't want to know about them, come to think of it)? Or have you been shocked and horrified to see someone getting down and dirty in the dark? Is it high time cinemas made moves to prevent amorous couple getting it on in public?
Courting couples smooching in the back row at the movies could become the unwitting stars of a new genre of romantic film after the in... more -
Bluetooth Big Brother uses mobiles and laptops to track thousands of Britons
Thousands of Britons' movements have been covertly tracked by scanners placed in streets, pubs and offices for a technology experiment.
The Cityware project run by the University of Bath has secretly placed scanners around the Somerset city, with the first 10 installed 2006. The scanners pick up bluetooth radio signals transmitted from mobile phones and laptops.
In a scene reminiscent of the Will Smith thriller Enemy of the State, it has allowed researchers to map the journeys of individuals without their knowledge or consent.
The data is being used in a project called 'Radio City' to survey the 'mobile computing landscape'. The researchers hope it will help them understand how and why people move around urban environments.
As many as 3,000 Bluetooth devices are tracked every weekend and one recent study monitored the movements of 10,000 people around Bath.
On the Cityware website, the researchers said the survey would cover 'all phenomena associated with the carrying and use of mobile devices.'
This includes where and why users make mobile phone calls and even how people orientate their laptops in cafes.
The leaders of the £1.6million initiative claim their study looks at the city as a whole and the scanners do not have access to the identities of those they track.
'The notion that an agency would serious consider Bluetooth scanning as a surveillance technique is ludicrous,' Cityware director Eamonn O'Neill told The Guardian.
However, pedestrians are not being told their mobiles and laptops could be creating a permanent record that will be stored on a central database.
Privacy campaigners have attacked the project as a 'moronic used of technology'.
Director of pressure group Privacy International, Simon Davies, said: "For Bath University to assert that there aren't privacy implications demonstrates an astonishing disregard for consumer rights.
'If the technology is as safe as they claim, then all the technical specifications should be published and people should be informed when they are being tracked.
'This technology could well become the CCTV of the mobile industry,' he went on to The Guardian.
'It would not take much adjustment to make this system a ubiquitous surveillance infrastructure over which we have no control."
Cityware's software has since been made available on the internet sites Facebook and Second Life and there are now more than 1,000 scanners across the world. Thousands of Britons' movements have been covertly tracked by scanners placed in streets, pubs and offices for a technology experiment... more -
Micro-chipping humans no longer the stuff of science fiction novels
"Invisible tracking brings to mind science-fiction- inspired uses, or even abuses, such as unknowingly getting sprinkled with smart-tag powder for Big Brother-like monitoring,” Associated Press said. The prediction that microchips will be able to interface with nerves and implanted in the brain in the next 30 years was recently put forth by a UK government think tank. The microchips predicted would be able to give sensory input, allow a sort of mind-to-mind communication (like an implanted cell phone) and allow direct to the brain marketing. This Orwellian prediction opens the door for direct mind control in true 1984 fashion.
"Radio Frequency Identification Devices (RFIDs) are finding their way into and onto humans in many ways. There are several ways government and commercial entities are looking to profit through impressive ID and Global Positioning System (GPS) technologies. Verichip Corp. successfully marketed “Hugs” Infant Protection System to hospitals in 2005. Since then, infants at many major hospitals receive ankle bracelets something like what many people on probation are currently required to use.
The ankle bracelets were marketed as a remedy for hospital infant abduction. When a child is removed from the infant care area of the hospital, an alarm sounds. About 230 infants are abducted every year from U.S. hospitals. The Hugs system saved one child in 2005. This may be a good idea, but it lays the groundwork for later RFID tagging on children and elderly for “safety reasons.” Some unverified Internet sources report that U.S. and European governments have plans to implant RFIDs in every newborn instead of using ankle bracelets.
A Rhode Island school plans to electronically track the movements of students using Radio Frequency Identification Devices (RFID). Microchips will be attached to the students’ backpacks next year. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and other civil liberties groups say the RFID chips are an invasion of privacy. “Encouraging the placement of RFIDs on young children, even in this limited and questionable context, can only have the unintended effect of acclimating them to being monitored by the government in other contexts and wherever they go, as if it were perfectly normal and appropriate,” the ACLU said.
The RFID chips will be accessed via satellites through tiny GPS systems within the chips. The school will be able to follow the children anywhere. It is likely, though, that young people will just choose to leave their backpacks at school when they do not want to be followed. School officials may then contend for further invasion of privacy, and require RFIDs to be worn on clothing, or possibly injected.
In 2007, about 200 Alzheimer’s patients were implanted with non-GPS RFIDs in a market test done by Verichip. The devices held medical information that could be scanned with a special reader. Many more Alzheimer’s patients and people suffering with dementia have been implanted since the 2007 pilot program. Soon after the market testing by Verichip, sample RFIDs were handed out at the Alzheimer’s Community Care 2007 Educational Conference. In a 2007 Fox News report Verichip offered free RFID tagging for any interested party that wanted to tag an elderly parent."
By Mike Finch "Invisible tracking brings to mind science-fiction- inspired uses, or even abuses, such as unknowingly getting sprinkled with smart-ta... more -
Odds Shorten on Big Brother Being Axed
The odds on Big Brother being axed from British screens have shortened after Australian TV chiefs pulled the plug on the reality TV show.
(Advertisement)
Big Brother has been pulled from the Australian schedules by Network Ten seven years after it began there.
The current series, which featured a surprise appearance from Pamela Anderson, will be the last when it ends later this month.
Former Baywatch star Anderson, 41, was flown into the house last week in an apparent attempt to revive the show's flagging ratings.
Ten programming head David Mott said of the decision to axe the series: "After eight successful seasons and 1,316 episodes, Ten has announced that Big Brother will not be returning in 2009. We are immensely proud of the show and the incredible success it has enjoyed. We're ending the season on a high.
The odds on Big Brother being axed from British screens have shortened after Australian TV chiefs pulled the plug on the reality TV sh... more -
Can You Hear Me Now? Bush's Expanded Wiretap Power!
Big Brother is watching- Big Brother Bush, that is!
"President Bush signed a bill into law Thursday that broadens the government's surveillance power. The move came just a day after the Senate passed the legislation, by a 69-to-28 margin, culminating months of political fireworks. The package includes a controversial clause that grants immunity to telecommunications companies that participate in National Security Agency warrantless wiretapping approved after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
The change is the most sweeping since the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) was adopted three decades ago to prevent the government from spying on people in the U.S. suspected of engaging in espionage or terrorism without court approval. The new provisions allow the U.S. Justice Department and National Security Agency (NSA) to recruit telephone companies to bug their customers' phone conversations, and prohibit lawsuits against the telecoms for privacy rights violations. The measure also protects the companies against suits for past wiretaps. That means lawsuits will likely be dropped against AT&T and Verizon that charged they had violated privacy rights by tapping their customers phone lines at the request of the NSA. (Qwest Communications, on the other hand, refused similar requests in 2001.)"
There's more, read on if you wish- but remember, just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not after you! Big Brother is watching- Big Brother Bush, that is! ... more -
Embracing Big Brother
CANDACE COHN
Counterpunch
Friday, June 27, 2008
It may be June, but Christmas came early this year for Big Brother and the telecommunications giants. Unfortunately, it is average Americans who will pay--dearly--on three separate counts.
First, precious constitutional and other legal protections against warrantless domestic surveillance have been shattered. The federal government may now secretly and legally eavesdrop on virtually any American's e-mail, cell phone and landline communications--without first getting a court-ordered warrant.
New federal legislation gives the government and phone companies sweeping new domestic surveillance powers. It allows for mass, untargeted, warrantless eavesdropping against ordinary American citizens and political activists. It sets back hard-fought free speech, civil rights and privacy protections that were won by popular pressure following the Vietnam War and Watergate era.
The second price that Americans will pay is by those who have been illegally monitored since 9/11. They will lose billions of dollars from dozens of anti-spying lawsuits pending against the likes of Sprint, AT&T and Verizon. These suits, covering the last seven years, will now be dismissed in a huge giveaway of immunity to the telecommunications lobby and big campaign donors.
The lawsuits arose from the government's secret eavesdropping on American citizens, carried out since September 11 by Verizon, AT&T and others at the behest of the Bush administration, without court-ordered warrants--which until now had been legally required.
Third, Americans will be unable to discover the extent and details of the government's post-9/11 domestic spying operation, which barely came to light three years ago. That domestic eavesdropping campaign will now continue and expand further--with legal sanction--in the dark recesses of total secrecy. The new bill is a huge and blatant cover-up. CANDACE COHN Counterpunch Friday, June 27, 2008 ... more -
Big Brother Show
Music, Politics and Drugs. Meet Royce Haas, the one man band Big Brother and his side show. After years of unsatisfying collaboration with other musicians, Royce goes solo with his unique one man band. Music, Politics and Drugs. Meet Royce Haas, the one man band Big Brother and his side show. After years of unsatisfying collaboration ... more
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Big brother gone mad: mother barred from taking own son to school
A mother from Wales has been banned from escorting her severely epileptic young son to school in a taxi provided by the local council until she has a CRB check, because "Any adult acting as an escort will, in the public gaze, be viewed as acting with the full acquiescence of the council and hence with its implied authority," according to the council, and they just can't let any parents go escorting their own children around the countryside without some kind of council stamp of approval first.
When did the local council's 'authority' over a child trump a parent's?
How has the world ended up this crazy and bureaucratic?
A mother from Wales has been banned from escorting her severely epileptic young son to school in a taxi provided by the local council ... more -
Big Brother gets the greenlight
FTC says it won't intervene to protect Internet user privacy
WASHINGTON — The Federal Trade Commission indicated Wednesday that it would leave it to data-mining Web companies and Internet marketers to decide how best to protect users' privacy.
"Self-regulation may be the preferable approach for this dynamic marketplace," Lydia Parnes, the director of the commission's Bureau of Consumer Protection, told a Senate committee.
The FTC's decision not to step in — even as Microsoft and Google representatives testified that some regulation would be helpful — means that Washington won't address the matter before a new administration and Congress take office in January.
At issue is what privacy rights consumers have when data-mining companies use their Web browsing patterns to target them for ads. It's a gold mine for online advertising and Internet marketing, but consumer and e-privacy groups say it's intrusive.
NebuAd, a media company based in Redwood City, Calif., has been in the hot seat for partnering with Internet service providers to deliver personalized ads to users' computer screens.
The company's chief executive officer, Bob Dykes, told the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee that there's no privacy lost in the process.
"NebuAd's systems are designed so that no one, not even the government, can determine the identity of our users," Dykes said.
Leslie Harris, the chief executive for the Center for Democracy and Technology, a Washington-based civil liberties group, said that NebuAd and other data-miners shouldn't be able to track browsing patterns without advance consent from computer users.
She also fears that privacy will be lost as more companies enter the field and their techniques become more sophisticated.
"Self-regulation is a piece, but self-regulation alone is not enough to protect privacy, and we need to have some baseline legislation in place," Harris said.
Microsoft and Google representatives said they supported a privacy protection scheme that included advance consent, encryption of identities and clear notification of what information was being collected.
Federal regulation would be easier for Internet companies to live by than inconsistent state and local regulations.
"There's just this emerging patchwork of federal and state privacy laws," said Michael Hintze, associate general counsel for Microsoft.
FTC says it won't intervene to protect Internet user privacy ... more -
Big Brother, alive and well in Sweden.
June 18, 2008 the Swedish Government passed a law which will enable the National Defence Radio Establishment (FRA) to tap all cross border email, cell phone and text messages. This will not only affect people living in Sweden but people all over the world since some internet servers are located abroad and FRA would need to check all emails to determine whether they have crossed the border. This especially concerning when you realize that 85 percent of Europe's broadband customers are connected in some way to the Swedish-Finnish telecom giant TeliaSonera whom owns one of the world's largest fiber-optic cable networks. This new law has been met with heavy opposition and protests by the Swedish people.
June 18, 2008 the Swedish Government passed a law which will enable the National Defence Radio Establishment (FRA) to tap all cross bo... more -
Pamela enters Australian BB house
Former Baywatch star Pamela Anderson has entered Australia's Big Brother house, surprising its six housemates. Read more...
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Bomb scare in Big brother house
The Big Brother house was evacuated on Sunday morning after a security threat, Channel 4 has confirmed. A man contacted the show's base at Elstree Studios, Hertfordshire, claiming a bomb was nearby.
Programme makers cut the live feed and the 15 contestants were woken at 0240 BST and moved to a safe location. A spokesman said: "After the necessary checks were made, housemates returned to the house without incident and streaming was resumed."
Hertfordshire police said its officers searched the area and found the call was a hoax. The Big Brother house was evacuated on Sunday morning after a security threat, Channel 4 has confirmed. A man contacted the show's bas... more -
Judge orders YouTube to give all user histories to Viacom
Google will have to turn over every record of every video watched by YouTube users, including users' names and IP addresses, to Viacom, which is suing Google for allowing clips of its copyright videos to appear on YouTube, a judge ruled Wednesday.
Viacom wants the data to prove that infringing material is more popular than user-created videos, which could be used to increase Google's liability if it is found guilty of contributory infringement.
Viacom filed suit against Google in March 2007, seeking more than $1 billion in damages for allowing users to upload clips of Viacom's copyright material. Google argues that the law provides a safe harbor for online services so long as they comply with copyright takedown requests.
Although Google argued that turning over the data would invade its users' privacy, the judge's ruling (.pdf) described that argument as "speculative" and ordered Google to turn over the logs on a set of four tera-byte hard drives.
The judge also turned Google's own defense of its data retention policies -- that IP addresses of computers aren't personally revealing in and of themselves, against it to justify the log dump.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation has already reacted, calling the order a violation of the Video Privacy Protection act that "threatens to expose deeply private information."
The order also requires Google to turn over copies of all videos that it has taken down for any reason.
Viacom also requested YouTube's source code, the code for identifying repeat copyright infringement uploads, copies of all videos marked private, and Google's advertising database schema.
Those requests were denied in whole, except that Google will have to turn over data about how often each private video has been watched and by how many persons. Google will have to turn over every record of every video watched by YouTube users, including users' names and IP addresses, to Viaco... more -
Martial law is coming?
You are free, to submit to authority.
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AT&T whistleblower says spy bill creates "infrastructure for a police state"
Mark Klein, the engineer who discovered and publicized the secret NSA program to tap much of the Internet when he worked at AT&T, speaks out against the bill currently before congress that would reform the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).
The bill, known as the FISA Amendments Act would grant legal immunity to AT&T and others for their cooperation in the spying programs. It would also, Klein says, provide "the physical apparatus for the government to collect and store a huge database on virtually the entire population, available for data mining whenever the government wants to target its political opponents at any given moment—all in the hands of an unrestrained executive power. It is the infrastructure for a police state."
Mark Klein, the engineer who discovered and publicized the secret NSA program to tap much of the Internet when he worked at AT&T, ... more -
David Davis to fight Miss G.B, Mad Cow-Girl, Militant Elvis and David Icke
A total of 26 candidates - half of them independents - will contest the by-election sparked by the resignation of senior Tory David Davis as an MP.
The ex-shadow home secretary quit to generate a debate on civil liberties, especially the government's 42-day detention limit for terror suspects. Neither Labour nor the Liberal Democrats will field a candidate in Haltemprice and Howden on 10 July.
At the 2005 general election, Mr Davis won with a majority of 5,116. It is thought to be the highest number of candidates ever to stand at a by-election in recent times. A total of 26 candidates - half of them independents - will contest the by-election sparked by the resignation of senior Tory David Da... more -
Welcome back to the United States, now let's see what's on your laptop
"U.S. Courts have ruled, as recently as this spring in a case stemming from a search at LAX, that there's no need for warrants or suspicions when a person is seeking to enter the country because any "routine search" is reasonable under the Fourth Amendment. In effect, it's like luggage: anything and everything in your laptop, cellphone, BlackBerry or digital camera can be examined and copied by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents."
Really, what will come next? At what point will we stand up and stop this? "U.S. Courts have ruled, as recently as this spring in a case stemming from a search at LAX, that there's no need for warrants or susp... more -
cameras 'taught to listen'
from the article...
"CCTV cameras which use artificial intelligence software are being developed to "hear" sounds like windows smashing, researchers have revealed.
University of Portsmouth scientists are working on adapting the software so it can also react to crowd noise.
Crimes would be captured on camera faster and response times improved.
The news comes after the BBC learned councils in southern England routinely used powers brought in to fight terrorism and crime to spy on people.
Figures obtained by BBC South showed the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (Ripa) was used more than 750 times by the councils in 2007/08.
If in a car park someone smashes a window, the camera would turn to look at them and the camera operator would be alerted
Dr David Brown
The new three-year surveillance study is being funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).
The existing software is sophisticated enough to identify minor visual cues such as whether a car aerial is up or more complex activity such as violent behaviour, researchers said.
Dr David Brown, from the University of Portsmouth, said: "The visual-recognition software will be able to identify visual patterns but for the next stage we want to get the camera to pivot if it hears a certain type of sound.
"So, if in a car park someone smashes a window, the camera would turn to look at them and the camera operator would be alerted." from the article... ... more -
U.K. to begin microchipping prisoners
The British government is developing a plan to track current and former prisoners by means of microchips implanted under the skin, drawing intense criticism from probation officers and civil rights groups.
As a way to reduce prison crowding, many British prisoners are currently released under electronic monitoring, carried out by means of an ankle bracelet that transmits signals like those used by mobile phones.
Now the Ministry of Justice is exploring the possibility of injecting prisoners in the back of the arm with a radio frequency identification (RFID) chip that contains information about their name, address and criminal record. Such chips, which contain a built-in antenna, could be scanned by special readers. The implantation of RFID chips in luggage, pets and livestock has become increasingly popular in recent years.
In addition to monitoring incarcerated prisoners, the ministry hopes to use the chips on those who are on probation or other conditional release. By including a satellite uplink system in the chip, police would be able to use global positioning system (GPS) technology to track subjects' exact locations at all times. According to advocates of such a measure, this could help keep sex offenders away from "forbidden" zones like schools.
Harry Fletcher, assistant general secretary of the National Association of Probation Officers, blasted the measure as degrading to the people chipped and of no benefit to probation officers.
"Knowing where offenders like pedophiles are does not mean you know what they are doing," Fletcher said. "Treating people like pieces of meat does not seem to represent an improvement in the system to me."
Shami Chakrabarti of the civil rights group Liberty had even stronger words:
"If the Home Office doesn't understand why implanting a chip in someone is worse than an ankle bracelet, they don't need a human-rights lawyer; they need a common-sense bypass."
by: David Gutierrez
The British government is developing a plan to track current and former prisoners by means of microchips implanted under the skin, dra... more
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