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The Pentagon Wants a 'TiVo' to Watch You
An anonymous reader writes "Danger Room, a Wired blog, today cites a study of future electronic snooping technologies from Reuters, written by the Pentagon's Defense Science Board. More than anything, it seems these outside advisers want a surveillance system that would put Big Brother to shame, and they're looking at the commercial sector to provide it. 'The ability to record terabyte and larger databases will provide an omnipresent knowledge of the present and the past that can be used to rewind battle space observations in TiVo-like fashion and to run recorded time backwards to help identify and locate even low-level enemy forces. For example, after a car bomb detonates, one would have the ability to play high-resolution data backward in time to follows the vehicle back to the source, and then use that knowledge to focus collection and gain additional information by organizing and searching through archived data.'"
In the United States of America, government TV watches YOU!
I'm sorry, I had to.
Zhrodague.net - I do projects and stuff too.
You watch TiVos
Wouldn't it be easier to just stop:
Funding Israeli terrorism?
Manufacturing wars to establish gigantic permanent colonial military bases in other people's countries?
Supporting royal families just because we lack a modern energy policy?
In general stop being a menace to the rest of the world?
Geographically, would it be in Soviet Russia, by any chance?
...Welcome our new Hooveristic overlords.
On a serious note, since when as an analytical, scientific approach worked in catching bad guys. It's like C-3PO consistently panicking about the odds of a disaster happening while everybody else ( who isn't a robot ) uses their common sense and rationality without panicking, to get them through.
We all know that people are unpredictable. You can't apply scientific rationale to people.
Just my two cents.
The only reason this doesn't scare me is that I'm supremely confident that government red tape, massive budgetary blow outs and vendor selection based purely on campaign contributions will never result in a workable system.
Does the mindset of whoever wrote this creep you out too? It isn't about being religeous - it's about being Gods themselves and making you worship them.
Sounds like the US government allowed the Stasi into the US and gave them control of the citizen monitoring project?
So it well seems it's intended for military deployment to combat assymetric (and urban) warfare. That is to say to enable the military to seek out the offending insurgent/combatant after a martial event. When your local constable gets interested in this technology then it'll be time for you to worry. In the meantime keep an eye on the developments, but don't be alarmed just yet.
It's a shame, if they had chosen ReplayTV instead, they could automatically skip commercials.
Remind me.... who are the citizens? Are these citizens the people that love and protect liberty above all?
Engineering is the art of compromise.
For example, after a car bomb detonates, one would have the ability to play high-resolution data backward in time to follows the vehicle back to the source
Until you realise the source is in a rural area 50 miles past the first camera to see it.
"Anti-terrorism" cameras will not stop suicide bombers, nor will they even deter them. They're completely and utterly useless for their stated purpose, which means the government probably has no intention of using them for their stated purpose.
The top priority needs to be setting up these systems inside the White House and the Pentagon. Then the next time they blunder into a quagmire like this, we can scan the databases and quickly find out exactly who needs to be held accountable. Then the problem can be rectified: "It looks like we're going to have to dock your paychecks for a total of $5.0e11."
For example, after a car bomb detonates, one would have the ability to play high-resolution data backward in time to follows the vehicle back to the source, and then use that knowledge to focus collection and gain additional information by organizing and searching through archived data.
The irony being that the vast majority of car bombs reported in the media these days are in the last place these very same people "improved." Indeed they are a direct consequence of that improving.
Those that don't study history are doomed to repeat it. It's got to be even more embarassing when you created that screwed up history and prove to the world you still haven't learned.
See the word "battlespace" in the description - that's DoD-ese for "battleground." They're talking about being able to go back and rapidly review/search recordings from satellites and other sensors monitoring combat zones. It's a very good idea - if you could track a car back to a house, you can then see who went in a out, and so forth. You could backtrack a small boat coming out of a sheltered hiding spot, and so forth. It's about time someone thought of this, frankly.
This isn't domestic surveillance that they're talking about.
Jack Bauer and his pals at CTU have been Tivo'ing us for at least six seasons.
What is supposed to happen, actually? Are we going to have cameras follow every person, 24/7? That means someone to study that footage, right? And someone to study the footage of them studying the footage of you? And....on and on.
It is clear such clinical monitoring would break down under its own weight - speculative follow-thru says the most logical approach is to give every camera the autonomous ability to decide if something you've done warrants being flagged. Happen in practice? Not hardly.
Back track from the scene of a car bomb explosion? How many cameras are you using? One or several? If several, where are they located in relation to the car? Points of the compass? Sure, if you know to watch the car from the beginning, in which case there is no point in following the arrow of time back to the start, right?
While THX1138 hinted at this and other B'Brother style tactics, it also tried to show why such a system simply isn't feasible. There are just too many ways of being defined as outside the box in terms of what such a system could handle. All it takes is one exception, and the system is no longer worth the time it took to draw up the prototype.
... those activities are making for those in power?
I don't either, but I bet it is a large positive number.
So, the answer is no. No, it won't be easier to just stop.
The title of this article is totally off. This is nothing more than a way to analyze battlefield intel better. It's got nothing to do with any kind of surveillance programs or anything other than being able to better catagorize threats and analyze data after a conflict.
This gives a whole new meaning to 'knee jerk reaction'.
way better than the other one
I dont see the problem, just start wearing a shirt with some text or image that you own the copyright to. Then, since any reproduction of the image (through a surveillance camera for instance) is illegally duplicating a copyrighted work, just send them a DMCA notice. Either the surveillance loses or the DMCA loses - they can't both win!
Someones been watching too much 24. I dont believe the Uk even records every camera for much time.. Lets assume you use 350mb an hour to store your video, not the best but acceptable quality.
24 X 350 = 8400 = 8.4 GB a day
1000 cameras x 8.4 GB = 8.4 TB a day
Hmm, on second thought this seems possible.
Libertarian Leaning Political Discussion Forum.
If i were trying to fight the Iraqi (or other) insurgency i sure as hell would want a tool like this.
W/o getting into a moralistic analysis, it's clear that while such monitoring is not a panacea, it would at least raise the bar for the insurgents, and increase their exposure to OPSEC fubars.
We do this already in a less-than-coordinated fashion in the US. The police regularly survey all the security camera tapes in the area of crimes, esp. murders, to try to create a gestalt of the crime scene area. Works pretty good is some cases, has bagged more than a couple of murderers and hit and run drivers.
Bon Chance.
That kind of asymmetric warfare is what citizens would do against a repressive state regime.
Inventions have long since reached their limit, and I see no hope for further development.-- Frontinus, 1st cent. AD
I'm worried about the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT having this capability. The local cops are local people with local knowledge and local families.
If this is developed for use on the battlefield, it WILL be available to monitor us. Databases don't care whether it's the USofA or not. Cameras don't understand Freedom.
The only thing that would prevent it being deployed in our country is the good will and honest nature of our politicians. They'd be testing it on us before it made it to the military.
What is supposed to happen, actually? Are we going to have cameras follow every person, 24/7? That means someone to study that footage, right? And someone to study the footage of them studying the footage of you? And....on and on.
They arent suggesting watching everyone. They want to record everything, then when something happens, rewind and then watch the given location. We obviously dont have the man power to watch everyone, but when computers can do it for us....
Libertarian Leaning Political Discussion Forum.
I mean, say what you will about big brother but this is the next logical step for satellite based intelligence. We've got some impressive satellites up there already watching "places of interest" around the world. You want them to just take stills? Or to throw away that data when they're done with it? Of course not, that would be an ineffectual intelligence mechanism (god forbid). I'm afraid this technology is inevitable. In fact, I'd be very surprised if they're not already doing it to some extent.
I've been thinking about this for a little while. It currently would only cost on the order of tens of millions of dollars to record EVERY phone call made in the United States. It is totally possible that the NSA is ALREADY recording every single call we make, which would allow them to do retroactive surveillance just like this.
A single 300 GB hard drive (like the one I bought new for $60) can record around 10 years of continuous phone conversations.
Fox invented this six freakin years ago.
Bill: Can you zoom in on this area right here?
Chloe: *clickity clickity clickity*
Jack (on cellphone): Can you send that to my PDA?
Chloe: Well you'll just have to wait. I have to go to the server room to clear a socket.
Believe it or not, this news story comes in just as I am writing an essay that poses the question: who is right about what will destroy American society, Aldous Huxley or George Orwell?
Thank you, Slashdot! Luckily, I had already picked Orwell. ;)
But all we've ascertained from satellite photos is that it's not on the roof!
Translation: "after an embarrassing story hits the headlines, one would have the ability to play high-resolution data backward in time to follow the reporter back to the source, and then use that knowledge to focus collection and gain additional information by organizing and searching through archived data."
soon i wont have any electronic left that is not spying on me, jeeeze why would the government want to watch me in the privacy of my own home, is watching me scratch my ass while i walk around in my underwear - grazing for food in the kitchen that interesting???
Politics is Treachery, Religion is Brainwashing
Why doesn't the USA just launch 5100 satellites that orbit the Earth just above the USA. Roughly 100 satellites per State - is that enough to record everything going on 24/7 when the weather is good? Then beam the info in real time to at least 2 data centres per State wherein the NSA/Homeland security ties in and can play back anything on their 'little' Tivo network.
Remind me to buy some stock in Seagate if this thing ever goes through.
Adeptus.
No trees were killed in the making of this post; however, many trillions of electrons were horribly inconvenienced.
It's not the existence of weapons and methodologies that are cause for alarm, it's the application and usage and the willingness to make use of them in non-martial times.
For example, after a car bomb detonates, one would have the ability to play high-resolution data backward in time to follows the vehicle back to the source, and then use that knowledge to focus collection
Such reliance on automated intelligence, and the false sense of security, is shown in the above quote. There are any number of ways to use the system against the government. Leave the car in a location for a different random locations over a number of weeks. Find the blind spot in the system and switch cars. Perhaps you make it appear that the car came from an embassy. It would not be so hard to do. Homeland security would be running around chasing false leads while the real terrorist are free to plan another event.
Sometimes I hear good thing from the Bush administration, things like the importance of humint, but then I hear something like this and my faith falls back to zero.
"She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
Total tyranny , total control.
Thats what they want,
the people who want to own the world and
want everyone to be their slaves.
I think I am having a Deja Vu moment here. Anyone else get the same feeling?
\
I have a special on tin foil hats. Buy two and I'll throw in a free government conspiracy guide free. Buy four and you'll get the government conspiracy guide, AND the book "UFO's Exist" for the low, low price of $19.95 plus shipping and handling. In other news, Bush finally figured out what a pentagon was.
it seems these outside advisers want a surveillance system that would put Big Brother to shame
Huh? Why would it put them to shame? This is what they want.
Have you read my journal today?
...there is no need for all this. Simply do like MS sales reps do in times of crisis - place GPS trackers on all cars operating in the US and have several 500 pund managers whose sole focus is assimilating this wealth of data.
At least now we know that TiVo has a business model that works... ...secret government contracts!
After the Oklahoma City atrocity, there was enough density of business security camera coverage to reconstruct the route of the Ryder truck.
Making the same sort of thing centralized, and cheap enough to do routinely, is worth worrying about. As Stalin allegedly said, "Quantity has a quality all its own".
IIRC, TiVo is a subscription-based service; the customers pay a fee, and are granted access.
Does this mean that users are paying the state to snoop on them???
For example, after a car bomb detonates, one would have the ability to play high-resolution data backward in time to follows the vehicle back to the source, and then use that knowledge to focus collection and gain additional information by organizing and searching through archived data.'"
What does this have to have a negative spin... Let them film us... They will see the truth that we all pick our noses at readlights, scratch asses getting out of cars, and fondle ourselves in the drive through... (at least thats what we saw on the tape with you...) Why does it have to be negative? If it brings down some car bombers or some such terror group, fine... If I'm not mistaken, isn't this how they did it after the subway/bus bombings in England.
Unless your up to no good, whats the problem?
No, this is not the "nothing to hide argument..." I hide lots of stuff in my HOUSE on MY property, not in a blowing up car...etc.
--- Relax, that mass muderer is just trying to reduce our carbon footprint, one fetus at a time...
Those spooks don't even know the difference between Sunnis and Shiites.
They're not fighting the Terror War (on terrorists, anyway). They're spying on Americans for political and financial control. Fascists. Meanwhile, there is real terrorism and other threats to security that these fools are neither competent or interested in handling.
--
make install -not war
I'd be amazed if they do not already have this capability. It is the one featured in a couple of 007 movies (one in Afghanistan and one in Mexico IIRC, you know they always "put it on the big screen"). Move a satellite (or a space shuttle) into position over a battlefield or terrorist take-down. Relay real-time video. The idea that nobody is recording that video stream is just dumb.
Perhaps if I read the article I would have a better idea of what other domestic or military applications they are talking about. I'm definitely against it domestically of course, then there'd be no more freedom just one big amorphous "radar trap". You could certainly do very interesting project capturing a lightfield over time using synthetic apertures from hundreds of lightweight flying (urban or not) battlefield drones. They fly into place and find somewhere to sit in the shadow, or float in a line between the sun and the battlefield. Stereo views is nothing, you could have views from above and behind too, allowing you to build navigable 3d models that you can roll back and forth in time.
Incidentally the tech is not so hard. They just need to get high res cameras and delivery cheap enough (maybe it already is) and they need to make sure it transmits upwards and not scattering towards the enemy.
Incidentally Muse 2000, visualization software used for oil and aerospace data mining (I did marketing for them at one time) was able to do navigation through multidimensional data, putting you into a "ufo" with data on the walls and go into orbit around a planet for example, even had voice control and this was 10 years ago. Maybe they want the money so they can drop cheap sensors from planes? Better than cluster bombs anyway and ought to save lives.
Another poster mentioned this link . Interestingly the article was written back in 2003. The fact that we've lost so many soldiers with little means for a substantive response, suggests that this effort was an utter failure- at least for any military application. Used against a civilian population (which is probably the ultimate intent), may yield something more positive (but that depends on which side of the fence you happen to be standing).
Now, they just have more bullshit to fish through. Has it ever occurred to these chuckleheads that developing human intel source BEFORE an attack occurs might be a better approach?
I scream. You scream. I assume that means we're both acquainted with the problem. We proceed.
They're also listening to you as well.
The one watching may not be human.
"The problem is that all technologies, without exception, get their "usage ranges" expanded. "
Shhh! Don't anyone tell the RIAA/MPAA about P2P.
... someone in washington goes to watch "Déjà vu" one too many times...
Did nobody read it?!?! (aside from the government, that is...)
Go right ahead, however your recordings will not be viable in a court of law, my actions are protected by Digital Joebert Management.
Wanna fight ? Bend over, stick your head up your ass, and fight for air.
The government allready has this technology. Don't you guys watch "24"?
Nothing to see here (no pun intended). Move along.
SIG: TAKE OFF EVERY 'CAPTAIN'!!
... to find the culprets after a car bomb goes off. One is smeared to on the wreckage, the other is in the Whitehouse.
Because you can - or because you should?
I have a better idea. Just rig up a RSS feed of the latest Gallup poll, a choke chain, a small free-running servomotor, and a pulse oximeter. Set up a feedback loop so that the politician's blood-oxygen level is kept, via the servo and choke-chain, at the same level as their job-approval rating. (Okay, I suppose we could plant a chip in their head, if that's easier. But I really think that the choke chain would make more compelling TV. And please, they're politicians -- it's not like they have souls, or feelings. I don't think they even feel pain; they're really more like plants.)
To be fair, I'd give them the option of retiring from office anytime they felt like it.
I certainly doubt that many of our illustrious leaders would have the same commitment to their ideals, were they the ones dying as a result of it.
Plus, aren't governments supposed to be afraid of their people?
"Ladies and gentlemen, my killbot features Lotus Notes and a machine gun. It is the finest available."
"I'm no fan of Bush or his policies, but despite their idiocy, they aren't nearly as stupid as appeasement."
Except they weren't the terrorists, they weren't attacking you, the evidence was fake, it was only voices in your head telling you they were a threat.
So what are you appeasing? The voices in your head?
Look, just because someone isn't helping you, doesn't mean they are attacking you.
*Not* attacking people that are *not* attacking you is PERFECTLY NORMAL BEHAVIOR, it's not appeasement.
So why the hell don't you go after Bin Laden? Remember him?
If you analyse what you actually do when you "join the FON community" it's quite an audacious intelligence grab. You are given "for free" a wireless access point that offers a public as well as a "private" segment.
Only, it isn't really for free and it's not really all that private either.
It's not for free because you are serving your own (paid) bandwidth up to people who pass by, in exchange for the ability to do so elsewhere (in other words, you run the potential to offer bandwidth for many in order to get some bandwidth elsewhere). I'm OK with the communal idea of that. However, you don't get a penny from the profit the alleged "community" collectively makes for the company running it by enabling their global calling plan.
It's not exactly private either, for two reasons. First, the access point has an exact geographic location. Fair enough, rather hard to make this idea work otherwise and you can ask them to make the location a but less precise. But the map also shows activity, which implies a highly active feedback loop between the device and FON. Secondly, you have little opportunity to adjust the device. Although Linux inside, it's locked down and can be updated at any time by FON without your permission or knowledge of what the device actually does. Given the article above and the current staggering damage to privacy, it is really so inconceivable to see the US part of FON get a visit of a nice man in a dark suit with a briefcase asking them to give them access to a worldwide WiFi version of Echelon?
Maybe it's simply better to pay for an Internet cafe (using TOR).
In cash..
Insert
That kind of asymmetric warfare is what citizens would do against a repressive state regime.
That kind of asymmetric warfare is what people have used in attempts to overthrow a (democratic) government and install a (fascist|communist|islamist theocratic) dictatorship.
The quickie mart camera is a private business watching its own private lot. ( though i agree it is hard to restrict to JUST the lot, the intent is there at least )
What we are discussing here is government funded cameras wastching public areas 'Just beacuse something *might* happen, someday.... this is a far different thing.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
The military have been doing this (in a more limited fashion) for years. AFAIK it started with analogue VCRs being coupled to JSTARS radar output. With the VCR, they could track radar contacts (vehicles) over a longer period of time (hours).
For this sort of surveillance to be useful, you'd have to have 24/7 overhead coverage, either radar or optical. That's not something they're going to be able to sneak into a non-battlefield area (i.e. the US). Also, JSTARS coverage of the entire US would be prohibitively expensive.
This system already exists and has already been demonstrated in numerous locations. It is called Project Angelfire and was developed by the Air Force Research Lab at Wright Patterson AFB. In its final incarnation, in consists of 24 8-megapixel video cameras staring out the back side of a C-130 in a 5-10 mile circular orbit around an urban area (i.e. insert your messed up Middle Eastern city here). The live video from the cameras is stitched together and geo-rectified in real time and the resulting video is downlinked by a high capacity microwave link to users on the ground. Users in the field have the ability to rewind video back in time and zoom in for sub-1 foot resolution anywhere in the area of coverage.
It was developed expressly to discover the sources of IEDs and trace back in time discover when they were planted and by whom. There IS a practical real-time aspect to the system in that it allows ground forces to see any location in the city in near real time, but the system is far from being able to be used as a predictive solution. It is mostly a way to look around corners and on rooftops for snipers.
FON just resell some of your spare bandwidth as a free WiFi point, your internet is not routed through their servers. So thats just FUD.
I've been TiVoing Jack Bauer and his pals at CTU for six seasons!
Actually he points out that the Pentagon Comptroller in charge while $3 trillion has disappeared holds joint Israeli/US citizenship, is a Rabbi and is one of the authors of the 'the new American project' and credited with getting F15/F16s declared obsolete so they could be sold at knock down prices to Israel.
He's criticizing this particular person, not the whole Jewish religion. (The instance not the class).
Aren't you just trying the 'criticize Israel and I'll label you as anti-semitic' argument?
EVERYBODY needs to watch this program.
have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
And, a at least one case you should be familiar with if you were born in the US, vice versa...
If this system was open to everybody than it wouldnt be so bad. We could keep tabs on the people running the show and make sure they are doing what they say they are doing it. Remember The government is SUPOSED to answer to us, not the other way around. We NEED to stand up and our only way is to vote or use our second amendment rights, form a militia (before this tivo recording begins) and its revolution time!
This system could be exploited by terrorists themselves.
M$ is spending millions on creating "unhackable" systems, and people successfully hack these systems anyway.
This reminds me of the (mythical) NASA space pen, which says the government spent 1.5 million to invent a pen that would work in zero gravity while the russian solution was a common lead pencil. The story isn't quite accurate but I see it as analogous to the Pentagon wanting to see everything. There are at least two solutions here, one is very costly, the other is cheap as dirt.
:P
1. They can spend a gazillion dollars of money YOU don't have (as a country) to rewind car bomb events, but that means the bomb still has to blow up and kill people before the process even begins, and then you just storm in and shoot a few wackos.. big whoop
2. They can figure out why everyone on the planet hates the USA and fix the problem at the source. Heck many of your own citizens hate the system they live in, and I don't mean "I hate the IRS" kind of hate, I mean "I'm gonna kill everything" kind of hate. That's pretty damned sad. I don't see Al-Qaeda blowing up the Eiffel tower or Tokyo Disney... does that mean the arrogant french and the repressive japanese are less hated than the warmongering americans ? Why is that ? Every nation has its cultural frictions, so figure out what makes yours more abrasive and sand it down 'til it's nice and smooth! Or maybe it's because the USA is so huge that the rest of the world sees you as a threat. That's wouldn't be a good thing.
I don't know about you guys, but I have yet to hear someone yell "I hate you canadians and your easygoing attitude". I live within a mile of several dozen embassies, including yours. I have yet to hear of any bombing attempt in my neighborhood, and while the embassies do cause some local tension, it's more about their lousy driving and diplomatic immunity plates, than their ethnicity and political views. There's nothing scarier (within canada) than watching a Lexus with red plates casually drift into your front fender, oblivious to the laws of physics (and the cost of insurance). Sure, our government likes to squander money like there's no tomorrow, but at least they're not throwing darts a world map to choose their next bitch.
-Billco, Fnarg.com
Come on, you're stretching credibility a wee bit when you insinuate that Rummy managed to squirrel away 100 Microsofts worth of cash without anyone noticing there was an economic black hole eating up the equivalent of 1/2 of the American GDP or about 10% of the value of all goods and services produced on EARTH in any given year. Then again, your source is also stretching credibility a wee bit when they claim that the airplanes which hit the WTC were actually being remotely operated at the time by, who else, the Jooooooooooooooooooos. (Hey mods? Anyone actually READ the contents of those links? Typing in A HREF doesn't make it true, ya dolts!)
Help poke pirates in the eyepatch, arr.
Finally someone gets it on Slashdot, or at least something close to it. You must've RTFA and noticed the article was written by someone looking for a cheap/shocking headline, not someone using logic (though, in her defense, the Republic Party has badly twisted what logic means in the DoD...)
If they aren't already doing this with off the shelf UAV technology, UAV officer people should be tried for allowing soldiers to die!
"$3 trillion = 5 years of Pentagon budget"
n ews/main325985.shtml
Current 2008 budget for the Pentagon is $2.9 trillion a year, it represents just 1 years budget.
"hole eating up the equivalent of 1/2 of the American GDP"
USA GDP is $13 trillion, and over the 5 years that he mislaid the money it represents 5% of GDP not half.
A quote from Rumsfeld himself:
According to some estimates we cannot track $2.3 trillion in transactions," Rumsfeld admitted.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/01/29/evening
This concept was described in Red Storm Rising by Tom Clancy in 1987. They used a VCR to record radar ground information, then ran the VCR backwards to find where fuel trucks were coming from. Substituting Tivo for a VCR just took the military a little extra time.
The world is made by those who show up for the job.
Depending on how they use it - it could be a really good idea. If the military wants to use it to record movement around a North Korean (or Iranian) nuclear site and store it for later playback and analysis great. If they want to use it to record some geek picking his nose outside a StarBucks in Seattle, not so much. I suspect the military is a lot more interested in the former, than the later.
UAV's like the Predator and Global Hawk are capable of transmitting a lot of real time video. Why not store it for later analysis, or study given that cheap storage technology is easily available.
[Insert pithy quote here]
rewind battle space observations in TiVo-like fashion
Language like this reveals the outrageous presumptions that motivate this exercise. There is no specific threat or condition which entails these musings. Substitute *everyday* for *battle space*.
Twits.
illegitimii non ingravare
This is a great plan. After a suicide bombing, we can trace the suicide bomber back to their home and arrest them recursively.
I feel safer now.
I don't have a problem with it. In fact, we should start a trial run right now. Have all politicians, police, armed forces, secret service, defense contractors and all management and major shareholders of any company supplying anything to the government monitored 24/7 for five years or so, and make all the video and audio feeds available to the general citizenry in real-time.
After all, they can't object unless they have something to hide, right? They trust the people who elected them, right?
With global warming and increasing greenhouse gases, satellite coverage is going to become more difficult. I guess predator drones could do it, but then, terror will always strike on rainy days . . . See the (somewhat lame) movie "The End Of Violence" for another take on surveillence. Wim Wenders . . .
Ask Me About... The 80's!
Has the absence of a powerful totalitarian threat in the world helped the violations of civil rights become more acceptable? I most often here the erosion of rights as related to the threat, real or not, of terrorism.
I put forward another cause. When agencies such as the KGB and the Stasi were threatening, citizens of the free countries could define their freedom, at least in part, in opposition to such governments. We saw the direction things could head, and we fought harder against moving in that direction. Now, people are forgetting how horrible it would be to live in such a society. Are we moving toward more surveillance because that balancing reference point is gone?
too many Denzel Washington movies. Can we please stop having technology RFP's generated by Hollywood scriptwriters?
you really expect me to be able to express my opinion of what's so fucked up in this world in 120 characters or less?