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DHS To Share Spy Satellite Data Over the US

Posted by kdawson on from the if-you-can-read-this dept.

An anonymous reader sends us to the Wall Street Journal for the news that later this year the US Department of Homeland Security will begin sharing US spy satallite data with law enforcement and other customers. From the article: "...one of [DHS]'s first objectives will be to use the network to enhance border security, determine how best to secure critical infrastructure and help emergency responders after natural disasters. Sometime next year, officials will examine how the satellites can aid federal and local law-enforcement agencies, covering both criminal and civil law... DHS officials say the program has been granted a budget by Congress and has the approval of the relevant committees in both chambers... Unlike electronic eavesdropping, which is subject to legislative and some judicial control, this use of spy satellites is largely uncharted territory... [A CDT spokesman said] 'Not only is the surveillance they are contemplating intrusive and omnipresent, it's also invisible. And that's what makes this so dangerous.'"

5 of 161 comments (clear)

  1. Re:I for one welcome our new Homeland Overlords by veganboyjosh · · Score: 2, Funny

    and look forward to their snappy brown uniforms and leather boots.

    That's UPS, not DHL.

    Oh, wait...

  2. Have fun with it. by kiick · · Score: 2, Funny

    Everyone should paint messages on their roof.

    "He went that way ->"
    "Are you looking at ME?"
    "Bite me"
    "Nothing to see here, move along"
    "I have a telescope and I'm looking right back atcha"
    "No WMDs here either"
    "I'm hairy and nude - you still wanna look?"
    "Area 52"

    See? Mess with their heads.

    1. Re:Have fun with it. by JamesRose · · Score: 2, Funny

      If you really want to mess with them, either paint white noise or put transluccent plastic 4 foot over your roof all the way across your premisses- either way it looks like they have a malfunction

  3. Re:free to citizens too? by The+Angry+Mick · · Score: 2, Funny

    Hmm...so, should this info be made freely available to the US citizens, so we can monitor how well our govt. is doing things like protecting our border...

    ...and keeping an eye on that super hot, nubile young terrorist type that likes to sunbathe in the nude on the roof of our building...

    --

    I'm not tense. I'm just terribly, terribly, alert.

  4. Civil Cases too? by nurb432 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Great. Will they be reading what is on the screen of your ipod and send you a demand for proof of purchase of the song?

    --
    ---- Booth was a patriot ----