Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Police Department Spying and Retaliation for the Surveillance State

"...there was no division between corporate spying and government spying." ~Noam Chomsky on Jeremy Hammond's Stratfor revelations

"They're going to nationalize police departments. That's your military coup!" ~John Trudell 

The collection of data regarding all citizens of America has been revealed to be egregiously intrusive and totalitarian despite a 2013 promise by Obama that nothing of the sort is occurring.

Obama To Leno: 'There Is No Spying On Americans'

Of course, Obama has made it possible:

Obama White House had NSA limits reversed

(2011) "The Obama administration quietly got a court to undo U.S. surveillance limits on the use of intercepted phone calls and emails, The Washington Post reported."

Of course, anyone who by this time does not fully understand Obama to be a complete and utter traitor to the American people is somehow not paying actual attention. Browse this blog for more if for some reason you still don't get it.

Most recently egregious is Seattle PD's attempt to set up their own mesh net across the city, one which like the later-mentioned "Sting Ray" technology, would allow them to continuously ping the location of any citizen with a cell phone or WiFi device.

Continuous, total spying upon citizen location and movement. Stored for later use against you. Let that sink in. This is Fascism, pure and simple. This is so completely beyond acceptable it is ridiculous. I initially did not forward the stories I saw regarding it, believing it to be conspiracy theory.

Seattle police deactivate surveillance system after public outrage

"Police in Seattle, Washington have responded to a major public outcry by disabling a recently discovered law enforcement tool that critics said could be used to conduct sweeping surveillance across the city.

...The SPD told The Stranger previously that the system was not being used, but anyone with a smart phone who wandered through the jurisdiction covered by the digital nodes could still notice that their devices were being discovered by the internet-broadcasting boxes, just as a person’s iPhone or Android might attempt to connect to any network within reach. In theory, law enforcement could take the personal information transmitted as the two devices talk to each other and use that intelligence to triangulate the location of a person, even within inches. 

When the SPD was approached about the system last week, they insisted that it wasn’t even in operation yet. David Ham of Seattle’s KIRO-7 News asked, however, how come 'we could see these network names if it’s not being used?'

'Well, they couldn’t give us an explanation,' Ham said at the time." 

More:

Privacy Concerns, Black Bars, and Seattle’s Municipal Mesh Net Project

Much more:

The Stranger: You Are a Rogue Device

Much much more:

Trapwire surveillance system exposed in document leak

"Papers released by WikiLeaks show US department of homeland security paid $832,000 to deploy system in two cities." via @SeattlePrivacy

Indiana State Police tracking cellphones - but won't say how or why

"This year, the Indiana State Police paid $373,995 for a device that law enforcement personnel have described as a powerful tool in the fight against crime and terrorism.

It could allow investigators in a surveillance vehicle to park in a crowded area and track the movements of anyone nearby with a cellphone and capture the numbers of people’s incoming and outgoing calls and text messages.

...But officials at Indiana’s largest police agency aren’t saying what they do with the technology; they’re mum on whose data they’ve collected so far; and they’re not talking about what steps they take to safeguard the data."

DC, Maryland and Virginia cops spying on cell phone data

"WASHINGTON, D.C. (WUSA) -- It's not just the NSA - local cops are mining the cell phone data to reveal the location, identity and call information of hundreds of people at a time -- whether they're suspected of criminal activity or not.
 
In a joint investigation with Gannett television stations across the country and USA Today, WUSA9 obtained documents that show police in Fairfax County, Montgomery County and the Metropolitan Police in DC have purchased cell phone spy gear capable of tracking your whereabouts - even if you're not the one being investigated."


Cellphone spying technology being used throughout Northern California

"At least seven law enforcement agencies in California are using controversial technology that allows them to secretly collect data from cellphones and track people, News10 has learned."


Secret Military Device ‘Hailstorm’ Used By Michigan Police, FOIA Request By Detroit News Denied

"‘HailStorm’ is a new device obtained by the Oakland County Sheriff with monies from a U.S. Homeland Security Grant and so far, there isn’t much information available on what exactly it can and cannot do.  There were no questions asked when Oakland County commissioners unanimously approved the use of this cellphone tracking device previously used by the US military in Iraq."

Mysterious Phony Cell Towers Could Be Intercepting Your Calls

"To show what the CryptoPhone can do that less expensive competitors cannot, he points me to a map that he and his customers have created, indicating 17 different phony cell towers known as “interceptors,” detected by the CryptoPhone 500 around the United States during the month of July alone. (The map below is from August.)  Interceptors look to a typical phone like an ordinary tower.  Once the phone connects with the interceptor, a variety of 'over-the-air' attacks become possible, from eavesdropping on calls and texts to pushing spyware to the device."


LICENSE PLATE READERS are becoming standard issue equipment for PDs across the country, but there are severe down-sides in terms of collecting and correlating data on citizens:

License plate data not just for cops: Private companies are tracking your car

“'This sort of constant surveillance makes it very dangerous for us as a society,' said Michael Katz-Lacabe, a network security engineer and member of the San Leandro, Calif., school board.

Katz-Lacabe has first-hand experience with the reach of LPR data – police cameras in San Leandro captured his two vehicles more than 100 times over two years, which he discovered from a public records request in 2010. In one of the images, he and his daughters are stepping out of the family’s Toyota Prius in their driveway."

130717-license-plate-10p.photoblog600

More:

Privacy’s worst nightmare: company advertises over one billion license plate records

Boston police halt license tracking system as media probe points to privacy violations

Homeland Security is seeking a national license plate tracking system

 

Los Angeles Cops Argue All Cars in LA Are Under Investigation

 


SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITY REPORTS AND 'STING RAY'

Bringing the argument home about domestic spying

By Dan Bluemel, laactivist.com

"Since March 2008, LAPD officers have been reporting on behavior they believe to have a nexus to terrorism. In what are called suspicious activity reports, or SARs, officers report on what the department considers suspicious behavior. Through another police program, called iWatch, civilians too can report on suspicious behavior.

The behavior being reported by police may be as innocuous — and legal — as taking photographs of buildings or inquiring about its hours of operation. The reports garnered from these two programs are sent to fusion centers where they are shared with local, state and national law enforcement agencies across the nation.

...Besides the SARs and iWatch programs, the LAPD also has several cameras positioned around the city that use TrapWire technology, a predictive software that can allegedly detect suspicious behavior in connection with terrorism.

Another technology employed by the LAPD is a suitcase-sized device called StingRay. It mimics a cell phone tower, tricking every cell phone in a neighborhood into connecting to it. Once connected, police can grab information from everyone’s phone in the area, not just the suspects.

StingRay was purchased with Dept. of Homeland Security Funds. It was meant for counterterrorism, but according to documents obtained by LA Weekly, in 2012, the LAPD used StingRay 21 times within four-months in burglary, drug and murder investigations."

Photographers beware! Big Brother is watching you


"Photographers, both amateur and professional, as well as tourists, artists, college students, contractors, engineers, journalists, activists and others, have been secretly reported to the FBI by Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies for nothing more than taking pictures, according to documents obtained from a public records request filed by the ACLU of Southern California."


Complete breaches of the Fourth Amendment

DNA samples taken at police checkpoint ‘gross abuse of power,’ say PA drivers


"A Pennsylvania community is asking questions after a government contractor, with help from the local police, pulled drivers off the road and into a parking lot to ask about their driving and – most notably – pressure them into providing a DNA sample."
 
Now they have our DNA as well. Another list upon which they want all of us to be. Total information awareness against the people of this country.

Note the wording of the Fourth Amendment:

"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

Not any more:

Texas judge: Search warrants can be obtained based on predictions of future crimes

"Police in Texas may now obtain a search warrant based on 'a prediction of a future crime,' according to a dissenting judge on the state’s criminal appeals court." 

Police to Begin Inspecting Homes For “Illegal Tenants”

 "The community of Westbury, NY has announced the creation of a new police task force to inspect people’s homes unannounced in search of 'illegal tenants.' The town of 15,000 will hire two new police officers and recently held a town meeting about the new 'zero tolerance policy' against renting rooms illegally. The task force – aptly named the Housing Enforcement Unit – is calling these tenants 'unpermitted guests.' And by 'illegal' they don’t mean immigrants – they mean anyone not on the mortgage or lease agreement."  

Boston Transit Police Conducts Warrantless Searches on All Bus, Subway Riders
Read more at http://thefreethoughtproject.com/boston-transit-police-conducts-warrantless-searches-bus-subway-riders/#RJPByxvlx9GAF4to.99

Boston transit police conducts warrantless searches on all bus, subway riders

Supreme Court: Pennsylvania cops no longer need a warrant to search citizens’ vehicles

Boston Transit Police Conducts Warrantless Searches on All Bus, Subway Riders
Read more at http://thefreethoughtproject.com/boston-transit-police-conducts-warrantless-searches-bus-subway-riders/#RJPByxvlx9GAF4to.99
Boston Transit Police Conducts Warrantless Searches on All Bus, Subway Riders
Read more at http://thefreethoughtproject.com/boston-transit-police-conducts-warrantless-searches-bus-subway-riders/#RJPByxvlx9GAF4to.99

 
POLICE INTIMIDATION AND RETALIATION


If police (and through them, the Feds and the corporations and money interests controlling the Feds) do not like you, they may use surveillance data to cause you suffering and harm...especially if you are protesting the trade show promoting the deadly militarization of police:

"Last Friday, the City Corporation of Oakland hosted a four day ‘Urban Shield‘ conference in which SWAT teams and other militarized police troops from around the globe came together to trade best practices on fighting terrorism, first response training, and of course protest suppression techniques.

...In an effort to either silence a vocal activist or just plain out fuck with his life, Oakland police secretly photographed one protester’s vehicle and sent the photos, along with one of the protester himself, to his employer. According to @Anon4justice on Twitter, OPD falsely accused him of being involved in a hit-and-run accident, which contributed to the dissident losing his job. (Side note; Anon4justice called in sick that day to be able to join his comrades in the streets.)"

¤ProletarianDissent¤ @Anon4justice 


They found out the garage I parked in and got pics of my truck. Also got me at the rally.

"Nine-foot tall, 55,000 pound, Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) armored-fighting vehicles rolling through the streets of America.
Millions of dollars’ worth of military gear being distributed to local police forces on an annual basis.
Drones, M-16s and so many other hand-me-downs from over a decade of war making their way from US forces abroad to a local police force near you."














More:

DHS Spy Files on the Occupy Movement Part 2


ACTUAL DOMESTIC TERRORISM

The FBI and the "patriot act" define "domestic terrorism" as:


"A person engages in domestic terrorism if they do an act...if the act appears to be intended to: 

(i) intimidate or coerce a civilian population..."

How the USA PATRIOT Act redefines "Domestic Terrorism"

How then are the Federal and local police department actions against Occupy and Anon4justice not domestic terrorism? How is tracking every citizen's every minute location and documenting it photographically not intended to intimidate and coerce, to play upon fear and paranoia? To get us to SHUT UP AND GO HOME AND STAY THERE and allow the powers that be to continue their path without checks or balances?

If there is a price to be paid for voicing your 1st Amendment rights, if there is an obvious risk in so doing, something may be terribly wrong.


Occupy_Protests_Anniversary_0c8f5

occupy-phoenix

riot police guard BofA during occupy la march

occupy portland Steve Dipaola Reuters

Occupy Denver AP Photo Leah Millis

Police brutality at Occupy Philly

OWS Chase-Police-State
Complete breaches of the Fourth Amendment

Occupy Denver, Craig F. Walker, The Denver Post

Democratic National Convention

PD Tanks





Toledo Police Tank


Toledo, Ohio


Jefferson CO tank


Jefferson County, Colorado


AP exclusive finds 165 MRAP vehicles used in Iraq handed to local police departments


"These are not the first armored military vehicles given to U.S. police departments. A little-known 1033 program, originating from the National Defense Authorization Act of 1997, allows the Department of Defense to donate what it considers surplus military equipment to police and sheriff departments, Michael Shank and Elizabeth Beavers wrote in The Guardian. A total of $4.2 billion in such equipment, including tanks and grenade launchers, has been donated so far."


NH legislator introduces bill to stop small-town cops from buying tanks



Iowa town given 49,000 pound MRAP


More:

How the Los Angeles Police Department are made into tentacles of Homeland Security.

ACLU Launches Nationwide Police Militarization Investigation

10 000 cops ordered on to Sofia streets to contain anti-government protests

Stop LAPD Spying! 

Forget the NSA, the LAPD Spies on Millions of Innocent Folks 


Yes, Virginia, there is a police state

Utah considers law to increase SWAT raid transparency
















No Man's Air: Military And Police Drones Proliferate In Latin America

Hedges: Jeremy Hammond Exposed State's Plan to Criminalize Democratic Dissent 

"JAY: So, quickly, for people--most of our viewers must know this, but quickly, just what is it that Jeremy exposed?

HEDGES: He broke into the private security firm known as Stratfor, which does work for a variety of intelligence agencies--for the Marine Corps and the Defense Department, the Pentagon, but also for corporations, including Raytheon, Dow Chemical, and others. And he turned over 3 million emails, email exchanges within the company to Rolling Stone, WikiLeaks, and other publications. Now, this was quite a significant dump, because it illustrated two or three very chilling things about the security and surveillance state, first of all that there was no division between corporate spying and government spying. It was seamless, including the same people going back and forth. It was from that dump that we realized the extent to which the Occupy movement was being spied upon and infiltrated and monitored and followed. And we also found from those email exchanges that there was a concerted attempt on the part of security officials, both inside the government and within the private security contracting agency, to link, falsely, nonviolent dissident groups with terrorist groups so that they could apply terrorism laws against these groups.

And when I sued Barack Obama over Section 1021 of the National National Defense Authorization Act, which permits the U.S. military, overturning 150 years of domestic law, to seize U.S. citizens who 'substantially' support--that is not a legal term, it's not material support, it's an amorphous term--'substantially' support al-Qaeda, the Taliban, or something called associated forces--again another nebulous term--hold those citizens in military facilities without due process indefinitely, part of the email exchanges were entered as evidence in my case. And those email exchanges showed that this private security firm, along with government officials, was attempting to link a group called U.S. Day of Rage, founded by a journalist and activist named Alexa O'Brien, who was one of my coplaintiffs, with al-Qaeda. And why were they trying to link that group with al-Qaeda? So that they could employ the draconian terrorism laws against nonviolent democratic dissidents. That all came out from Hammond."

---

"They're going to nationalize police departments. That's your military coup!"