Free Republic

WASHINGTON, Sept. 19 — JetBlue Airways acknowledged publicly today that it had provided a Pentagon contractor with information on more than one million of its passengers as part of a program to track down terrorists and other "high risk" passengers. That data, which was turned over in violation of the airline's own privacy policies, was then used to identify the passengers' Social Security numbers, financial histories and occupations. JetBlue, a three-year-old discount airline, sent an e-mail message to passengers this week, conceding that it had made a mistake in providing the records last year to Torch Concepts, an Army...

OLYMPIA, Wash., Sept. 11 (AP) — The police cannot attach a Global Positioning System tracker to a suspect's vehicle without a warrant, the Washington Supreme Court said today in the first such ruling in the nation. The court refused, however, to overturn the murder conviction of the man who brought the appeal, William B. Jackson, who unknowingly led the police to the shallow grave of his 9-year-old daughter in 1999 after a G.P.S. device was attached to his vehicle. Spokane County deputies had a warrant for the tracking device used in that case, although prosecutors argued they did not need...

The popular Java Anonymous Proxy (JAP), used to anonymise one's comings and goings across the Internet, has been back-doored by court order. The service is currently logging access attempts to a particular, and unnamed, Web site and reporting the IP addys of those who attempt to contact it to the German police. We know this because the JAP operators immediately warned users that their IP traffic might be going straight to Big Brother, right? Wrong. After taking the service down for a few days with the explanation that the interruption was "due to a hardware failure", the operators then required...

In the name of fighting terrorism a new kind of government is being implemented in Washington, D.C. We are witnessing the birth of a powerful multi-billion dollar surveillance lobby consisting of an army of special interest groups, Washington lawyers, lobbyists, and high-tech firms with wares to sell. The personal rights of American citizens, protected until now by the Bill of Rights, are the farthest thing from their minds as they seek to fill their pockets while enabling government to monitor and control our lives to a degree unheard of prior to September 11, 2001. This army seeks riches as it...

Total Surveillance Equals Total Tyranny By Tom DeWeese CNSNews.com Commentary August 22, 2003 In the name of fighting terrorism, a new kind of government is being implemented in Washington, D.C. We are witnessing the birth of a powerful multi-billion dollar surveillance lobby consisting of an army of special interest groups, Washington lawyers, lobbyists, and high-tech firms with wares to sell. The personal rights of American citizens, protected until now by the Bill of Rights, are the farthest thing from their minds as they seek to fill their pockets while enabling government to monitor and control our lives to a degree...

Tampa Eliminates Face-Recognition System Tampa Police Eliminate Controversial Facial-Recognition System, Citing Two-Year Failure The Associated Press TAMPA, Fla. Aug. 20 — Tampa police have scrapped their controversial security camera system that scanned city streets for criminals, citing its failure over two years to recognize anyone wanted by authorities. The system was intended to recognize the facial characteristics of felons, sexual predators and runaway children by matching passers-by in Ybor City with a database of 30,000 mug shots. "It's just proven not to have any benefit to us," Capt. Bob Guidara, a department spokesman, said Tuesday. The cameras have led only...

Spy gadget leaves nowhere to hide By Robert Uhlig, Technology Correspondent (Filed: 19/08/2003) For unfaithful spouses and errant employees, things may never be the same again. A Swedish moose hunter has invented a matchbox-sized device that can trace just about anything that moves. Using mobile phone text messages and satellite navigation technology, the surveillance gadget can reveal its location to an accuracy of 10 ft in 140 countries. Hidden in a briefcase or under the dashboard of a car, it threatens to blow the cover of anyone who wants to keep their movements secret, giving its owner the kind of...

Beware of VICTORY Act, Privacy Group Warns By Susan Jones CNSNews.com Morning Editor August 18, 2003 (CNSNews.com) - A consumer watchdog group is sounding an alarm over legislation that hasn't even been introduced yet. The National Consumer Coalition's Privacy Group recently read a draft copy of the VICTORY Act, which "has some chilling implications for consumer privacy," the group said. VICTORY stands for Vital Interdiction of Criminal Terrorist Organizations Act of 2003. Attorney General John Ashcroft plans to promote both the VICTORY Act and the USA PATRIOT Act on his ten-day, 20-stop tour of America, which begins on Tuesday, Aug....

It's January, and I'm entering the federal courthouse in San Francisco to attend the opening hearing in the case of Gilmore v. Ashcroft, et al. John Gilmore, a computer industry multimillionaire and libertarian activist, is suing the federal government and two airline companies because the airlines demanded to see his ID before they would let him on a plane.An affable courthouse guard asks me to show him an ID. I comply automatically."Did you see the ZZ Top-looking fellow who came through earlier?" the guard at the door says to another one manning the X-ray machine. "When I asked him to...

<p>When students in Biloxi, Miss., show up this morning for the first day of the new school year, a virtual army of digital cameras will be recording every minute of every lesson in every classroom.</p> <p>Hundreds of Internet-wired video cameras will keep rolling all year long, in the hope that they'll deter crime and general misbehavior among the district's 6,300 students -- and teachers.</p>

<p>Congress should regulate terrorist-identifying technology being developed by the Pentagon's Terrorism Information Awareness program, rather than scrap the entire effort for fear of violating Americans' civil liberties, according to a paper published yesterday by the Heritage Foundation.</p> <p>The "discovery technology" has the potential to be a valuable tool in the war on terrorism, said the conservative think tank's policy paper.</p>

Anti-Terrorism Expert Urges Bush Administration to Focus on New Technology, Not Old Security Techniques, to Make America Safer 8/4/03 2:13:00 PM -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To: National Desk Contact: Stella Harrison of Stellar Strategies, 202-431-6461 WASHINGTON, Aug. 4 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The Department of Homeland Security's annual budget is soon to reach $36.2 billion, currently at $29.4 billion. Only forty of its over 170,000 employees are assigned to Undersecretary for Science and Technology Charles McQueary with a budget of only $350 million. This represents an investment in research and development of less than one and a half percent of the total Homeland...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. NEW YORK -- The notion that we wander the planet with no more than six degrees of separation from one another is more than just urbane trivia to Antony Brydon. It's the basis for his new company. Brydon heads Visible Path Corp., a startup that mines computer networks to determine who in a company knows whom in the world, and how well. Then Visible Path's software helps Tom ask Dick to introduce him to Harry, hopefully injecting a personal touch into cold sales pitches and other awkward interactions. Visible Path and...

07/24/03 Curt Anderson Associated Press Washington - The Justice Department raised strong objections yesterday to a surprising 309-118 House vote against covert "sneak and peek" searches in criminal investigations, a move that sponsors said reflected civil liberties concerns raised by the anti-terrorism USA Patriot Act. "I think the message that 309 votes tells me is that people have the opportunity to look back and say, What have we really done?' " said Rep. C.L. "Butch" Otter, Republican of Idaho. "I think it's given unbridled authority to the federal law enforcement agencies." The Patriot Act strengthened government surveillance and law enforcement...

Duane Horton knew there was something strange about the tax-preparation software he received in the mail from H&R Block. On its face the pitch looked like one of the normal solicitations from software companies. "Here's your FREE Kiplinger TaxCut Software from H&R Block," exclaimed the lines just above Horton's address. But it wasn't the package itself that raised his suspicions so much as the address to which it had been sent. Horton did not receive the mailing at his home in Portsmouth, R.I. Instead, in 2000 he pulled it out of his postal box in the nearby city of Middletown,...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to roll back a key provision, which allows the government to conduct secret "sneak and peek" searches of private property, of a sweeping anti-terrorism law passed soon after the Sept. 11 attacks. The House voted 309-118 to attach the provision to a $37.9 billion bill funding the departments of Commerce, State and Justice. It would be the first change in the controversial USA Patriot Act since the law was enacted in October, 2001. The move would block the Justice Department from using any funds to take advantage of...

PFAW: 'Freedom to Read' Amendment Will Protect Library and Bookstore Patrons; Experts Available for Comment 7/22/03 9:39:00 AM -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To: National and Assignment Desks, Daybook Editor Contact: Tarek Rizk or Nathan Richter, 202-467-4999, both of People For the American Way; Web site: http://www.pfaw.org News Advisory: -- PFAW: 'Freedom to Read' Amendment Will Protect Library and Bookstore Patrons -- Floor Action Expected This Week on Sanders-Otter-Conyers Legislation to Rein in One Aspect of USA Patriot Act The House of Representatives is expected to consider an important amendment shielding library and bookstore patrons from one invasive part of the USA Patriot...

<p>On July 10, Jeanne Phillips, who writes the syndicated newspaper column Dear Abby, printed a letter from a staffer in an unnamed corporate technology department who, while monitoring his company's systems, has seen the savings-account balances of fellow employees, tracked their bids on auction site eBay, and noted which Web sites they frequent. He has also read their e-mail, which ranged from mundane to entertaining to graphic, complete with descriptions of the sender's personal dimensions. "I will never look at certain employees the same way again," he wrote.</p>

New Privacy Protection Legislation ISSUE: Concerned about growing encroachments on our individual rights, cloaked in a shroud of "patriotic" governmental acts? Now there's something that you can do about it. Congressman Steve Chabot (R-OH) has introduced legislation to implement stringent privacy protections for individuals. The legislation, the Defense of Privacy Act (H.R. 338), requires federal agencies to assess the privacy implications of proposed rules and regulations. "In the past several years, privacy rights have, too often, been an afterthought in the regulatory process," said Chabot. "This proposal will force agencies to open their eyes to legitimate privacy concerns." Chabot's Defense...

<p>Wal-Mart Stores Inc. will not track inventory by selling products tagged with tiny computer chips, a technology that one day could allow retailers to "follow" merchandise from the store shelf into a customer's home.</p> <p>Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, and Gillette Co., the world's largest shaving-supplies maker, had planned to conduct a "smart shelf" trial at a Wal-Mart store in Brockton, Mass., this summer.</p>