If at first you don’t succeed in implementing total state surveillance on your citizenry, try and try again. These guys are just unbelievable. From the EFF:
It’s official: The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act was reintroduced in the House of Representatives yesterday. CISPA is the contentious bill civil liberties advocates fought last year, which would provide a poorly-defined “cybersecurity” exception to existing privacy law. CISPA offers broad immunities to companies who choose to share data with government agencies (including the private communications of users) in the name of cybersecurity. It also creates avenues for companies to share data with any federal agencies, including military intelligence agencies like the National Security Agency (NSA).
As others have noted, “CISPA is deeply flawed. Under a broad cybersecurity umbrella, it permits companies to share user communications directly with the super secret NSA and permits the NSA to use that information for non-cybersecurity reasons. This risks turning the cybersecurity program into a back door intelligence surveillance program run by a military entity with little transparency or public accountability.”
The EFF sums up its most pressing concerns in the following bullet points:
1) Companies have new rights to monitor user actions and share data—including potentially sensitive user data—with the government without a warrant.
2) CISPA overrides existing privacy law, and grants broad immunities to participating companies.
3) CISPA also raises major transparency and accountability issues.
4) Users probably won’t know if their private data is compromised under CISPA, and will have little recourse.
There are now close to two-hundred billion tweets stored in databases at the library of congress in the US The government says it wants to keep a snapshot of life in the country seen through online messages.
More evidence has emerged showing that the GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) vaccine Pandemrix, which was widely administered throughout Europe during the 2009-2010 H1N1 influenza "pandemic," was responsible for causing serious and permanent side effects in many of the children that received it. At least 800 children, it turns out, many of whom live in Sweden, now have narcolepsy because of the vaccine, and some government officials are demanding answers.
As we reported back in March 2012, a study published in the journal Public Library of Science ONE found that cases of narcolepsy, an incurable sleeping disorder that can cause hallucinations, nightmares, and even paralysis, skyrocketed by about 1,700 percent in children and teenagers under the age of 17 following the widespread administration of Pandemrix. Scientists determined at the time that mass vaccination campaigns for Pandemrix were directly associated with this otherwise inexplicable spike in cases of narcolepsy.
Now, researchers have all but confirmed without a doubt that Pandemrix was, indeed, responsible for triggering the autoimmune disorder in a significantly higher percentage of the population than normal. Even Emmanuel Mignot, one of the world's leading experts on narcolepsy who is currently being funded by GSK to get to the bottom of the issue, explained to reporters that there is "no doubt in [his] mind whatsoever" that Pandemrix is directly responsible for causing the increase in narcolepsy cases among European children.
"This is a medical tragedy," added Goran Stiernstedt, a public health official from Stockholm, Sweden, about the wave of vaccine-induced narcolepsy in his country. Roughly five million Swedes were vaccinated for H1N1 during the 2009-2010 "pandemic," and yet as few as 30 people among these are estimated to have been saved from swine flu death as a result of the shot. Meanwhile, more than 200 cases of narcolepsy have since been reported and confirmed throughout the Scandinavian country. "Hundreds of young people have had their lives almost destroyed."
Following the initial release of reports linking Pandemrix to narcolepsy, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) quickly blocked the vaccine from being further administered to individuals under the age of 20. But the damage has already been done among those who have been confirmed to be vaccine-damaged as a result of Pandemrix. And unless the vaccine is completely banned among all age groups, further reports of permanent vaccine damage could emerge in the coming months and years.
Back in 2011, a GSK subsidiary pleaded guilty to marketing medicines and vaccines that were known to be contaminated with bacteria. A tip from a company whistleblower triggered a federal investigation that exposed the GSK company for deliberately contaminating products in order to cut costs, and carelessly manufacturing some of its drugs with bacteria-contaminated water.
‘Big Brother, Big Business’ is a special report wherein CNBC takes a look at the companies behind the powerful business of personal information and the people whose lives are affected by it.
It reveals how every day technologies are being used to monitor Americans with unique scrutiny – from driving habits to workplace surveillance; shoppers and diners are observed and analyzed; internet searches are monitored and used as evidence in court, and it is the big businesses that collect most of the data. But increasingly, it’s the government that’s using it.
It gives examples of unsuspecting vulnerable citizens who get caught up in the net, such as a woman who lost her job due to mistaken identity; a man whose cell phone records were stolen by his former employer; a woman whose personal information was stolen from a company she had never heard of; a man who discovered his rental car company was tracking his every move.
The documentary also looks at how identities are being established using biometric means by the FBI, the Border Patrol, police departments and schools and also details of how an AOL division is established that works solely to satisfy the requests of law enforcement for information about AOL’s members.
Smart meters are being deployed by electric companies worldwide, replacing old, yet functioning analog meters, because it gives them a way to interact with the homes of their customers, monitor electricity consumption, and offer “smart home” control and functionality. Oh, and let’s not forget that they also save money. At least this the big sales pitch they are giving us.
By providing detailed information about the energy usage in your home, smart meters can alert you if your new smart refrigerator suddenly becomes an electricity hog and needs to be serviced, if your kids had a party when you were off on a business trip, or if you forgot to turn off your smart stove before you left for work.
Goodbye Privacy – Hello Big Brother
Depending on the functionality of the meter, the smart meter may be able to track how much electricity is used within each room of the home, as well as how much is used by the various new smart appliances in your house. Just as the smart meters can communicate wirelessly with devices such as TV sets or tablets to show you your electrical consumption, they also communicate this information with the power company, which keeps records about the volumes and patterns associated with your daily life.
Below is a video that explores the privacy implications of this data exchange.
With this information, whoever has access to the data can get a pretty clear picture of your life: how much time you spend out of the house and at what time of the day; when you watch TV the most; when you are on vacation; if it looks like you’re running a business out of your home; and so forth. The implications for personal surveillance are staggering.
Governments, law enforcement agencies, and even companies will be able to access the data housed by the electric company (which the government is already doing to enforce business licenses). The implications are even more serious considering that such intimate personal data about your daily life can be easily intercepted by hackers as it is broadcast over the radio waves.
Electromagnetic Radiation and Your Health
This short video that shows a resident measuring the radio signals sent from the smart meter using microwave radiation. This man decided to make this video because within 3-months of the installation of a new smart meter, the shrubbery around the smart meter mysteriously died, although it thrived around the old electrical meter without any problems and continues to thrive a certain distance beyond the meter.
Advocates of smart meters will tell you that the wireless radiation emitted by these devices is within “safe levels,” often referencing ‘decades of research,’ much of which has been funded by the companies that make the smart meters. Unfortunately, many are beginning to suffer with insomnia, headaches and other illnesses after the installation of a smart meter.
In May of 2011, the World Health Organization official recognized that wireless radiation such as emitted by “smart meters” is a possible carcinogen. – source
Are you going to allow the power company to install a radiation-emitting surveillance device on your home?
Here’s an interview with a woman from Illinois that refused to have one installed on her house, informed the electric company of her decision by writing, yet was eventually arrested when the police and electric company crew came once again to install the meter on her house.
Power companies will typically install these devices on your home based on “implied consent” unless you make it clear that you do not grant permission for them to switch out your old meter or add any new device to your home. Some utilities companies, for example PG&E in California, are charging “opt-out” fees of customers refusing the smart meters, in an attempt to dissuade people from opting out as well as to cover “the cost of paying workers to read the analog meters each month.” (source)
The opposition to smart meters is growing everyday as more people learn about the sinister implications of these devices.
In Texas, Republican Senator Dennis Bonnen has threatened to draft legislation that would allow all residents to opt-out from the Public Utility Commission’s smart meter’s initiative.
The first step to refusing a smart meter is informing your utilities company by certified letter that you do not grant permission for them to install a smart meter on your home due to concerns about health and privacy.
Sure, the concept of having more control over your home appliances may sound cool to some, but. Yet are you willing to throw away your privacy and jeopardize your health for just some cool smart home features that you’ve been able to live without until now?
