Tag: surveillance

Unregulated, Exploitative, and on the Rise: Vera Institute’s Report on Electronic Monitoring

Incarceration rates in the United States have long been among the highest in the world, and in response to the systemic flaws and biases unveiled by the renewed scrutiny of the criminal legal system, many advocates have championed new policies aimed at reducing sentences and improving conditions in prisons. Some have touted the use of electronic monitoring (EM) as an alternative fix to ensure that people whose cases have yet to be adjudicated are not physically detained. Unsurprisingly, those most often making these claims are the for-profit firms offering EM technology and the governmental agencies they contract with, and there is little data to back them up. In a new report, the Vera Institute of Justice provides the most detailed data yet showing that these claims don’t match reality, and outlines a number of issues with how EM is administered across the country.

Another Private Sector Wild West

According to interviews and an analysis of policies across hundreds of jurisdictions, the Vera Institute found that the use of EM was an unregulated patchwork across counties, states, and the federal government. As private firms market new products, the level of testing and quality assurance has failed to keep up with the drive to get contracts with local and state law enforcement agencies. Relying on technology produced by such a disordered industry can lead to reincarceration due to faulty equipment, significantly increased surveillance on those being monitored and their household, and onerous requirements for people under EM than when dealing with probation or parole officers.

Even the question of jurisdictional authority is a mess. The Vera Institute explains that agencies frequently rely on private firms that further subcontract out the hardware or software, and individuals in rural areas can create profitable businesses for themselves that only serve as a middleman between the criminal justice system and the hardware and software vendors. The Vera Institute suggests that this can lead to corruption, including the extortion by these small subcontractors of people held on EM, often with no oversight or public sector transparency. That presents a problem to the data collection, public records requests, and other investigative work that policymakers, advocates, and journalists rely on to find the truth and inform policy.

Further, the costs of EM are frequently passed on to the people forced to use it, sometimes regardless of if they have the means to pay, whether the EM is an obstacle to their employment, or whether they are under monitoring pre-trial (where presumption of innocence should apply) or post-sentencing (after a guilty verdict). And these costs don’t necessarily buy them greater “liberty,” as many forms of hardware or app-based software increased around-the-clock surveillance at the hands of private firms, once again with little to no oversight or ability to access data through public records requests.

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Jeffrey Epstein Had Secret ‘Panopticon’ Recording Room To Monitor ‘Guests’: Lawsuit

In late 2019, Jeffrey Epstein victim Maria Farmer alleged that the deceased pedophile had a “media room” on the first floor where high-profile johns were allegedly recorded having sex with women and children.

“So if you’re facing the house, there’s a window on the right that’s barred – that’s the room, the ‘media room’ is what he called it,” Farmer said. “And so there was a door that looked like an invisible door with all this limestone and everything and you push it and you go in and I saw all the cameras.”

Maria said: “What it was – was like old televisions basically, like stacked.“

“They were monitors inside this cabinet and there were men sitting here and I looked on the cameras and I saw toilet, toilet, bed, bed, toilet, bed.

“And I was like I’m never going to use the restroom here and I am never going to sleep here.” –The Sun

In 2020 a former jewel thief who says he had group sex with Ghislaine Maxwell but ‘drew the line at under-age girls’ claims he was forced to watch pedo videos involving ‘two high-profile US politicians’ and ‘two high society figures having a threesome with an under-age girl.’

The jewel thief, who goes by the name William Steel, claims that in the mid-1990s he met Epstein in the “upstairs room at a very high-end diamond dealer, the kind of place where only a few people are allowed in at a time.”

“I was there doing what I do. I was meeting my fence.

“I saw Jeff with a young girl who looked only about 13 or 14 and he had his hand in the back of her shorts.

“That’s what first got my attention.

“She was so young and he was much older. That’s when I knew that he was dirty.

“I had about 200,000 dollars worth of jewellery that I was getting rid of and later I struck up a conversation with him.

“He later said the girl he was with was his niece but I called bulls**t on that, telling him I saw what he was doing with her. –The Sun

Now, two women who have filed a recent lawsuit in Manhattan federal court are claiming the same. According to the Washington Times, the plaintiffs – Danielle Bensky and Jane Doe 3, say Epstein employed a sophisticated system involving constant CCTV surveillance within his New York mansion.

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American Express, Visa, Mastercard move ahead with code to track gun store purchases in California

Major credit card companies are moving to make a merchant code available for firearm and ammunition retailers in order to comply with a new California law that will allow banks to potentially track suspicious gun purchases and report them to law enforcement, CBS News has learned.

Retailers are assigned merchant codes based on the types of goods they sell, and the codes allow banks and credit card companies to detect purchase patterns. Currently gun shops are lumped in with other types of retailers, such as sporting goods stores. 

Mastercard, Visa and American Express initially agreed to implement a standalone code for firearm sellers, but later paused their work on it after receiving blowback from Second Amendment advocates concerned tracking gun purchases would infringe on the rights of legal gun owners.

Gun control activists hope the code, approved by an international organization in 2022, can be used as a tool to help identify suspect purchases and, consequently, stop gun crime, including mass shootings. Proponents say a code for firearms merchants would allow banks and credit unions to alert law enforcement of potentially suspicious purchasing patterns in the same way they already flag other types of transactions, such as those that suggest identity theft or terrorist financing. 

While a merchant code for standalone firearm and ammunition sellers would yield data that shows a transaction was made at a gun store, the credit card companies say the code would not provide details about the customer or insight into individual items that were purchased.

At least seven Republican-controlled state legislatures have banned the code while nine other legislatures are considering similar legislation. However, deep blue California passed a law requiring retailers that primarily sell firearms to adopt it by May 2025.  

Last month, executives from Mastercard, Visa and American Express each wrote to congressional Democrats assuring them the code would be available to retailers in California by that deadline, according to documents obtained by CBS News. 

“The applicable standalone merchants in California primarily engaged in the sale of firearms will be required to utilize the code,” wrote Mastercard executive Tucker Foote.

The letters from credit card executives reflect the tricky political waters the companies find themselves in. 

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Security Cameras Suddenly Pan Away as Bomb Squad Responds to Jan. 6 Pipe Bomb

Two key U.S. Capitol Police security cameras that were pointed at the Democratic National Committee’s (DNC) offices during the Jan. 6, 2021, pipe bomb incident were remotely redirected by police and didn’t record or broadcast critical portions of the police response, The Epoch Times has learned.

A review of yet-unreleased security video footage by The Epoch Times shows Capitol Police Camera 3173—located directly across the street from where the DNC bomb sat—was remotely directed away from the scene at 1:29 p.m. on Jan. 6, 2021, before the bomb squad arrived.

The Epoch Times discovered that Camera 8020—located high on the nearby Fairchild Building—had been zoomed in showing the bomb squad assembling along E Street Southeast, until the Capitol Police Command Center redirected the camera at 1:44 p.m., just as a bomb robot begins traveling toward the DNC.

A source familiar with the U.S. Capitol Police camera system and response procedures told The Epoch Times that the redirection of key cameras during that type of active event is “really odd.”

For the rest of the day, Camera 3173 pointed at a small park area on South Capitol Street Southeast. For the next 2 1/2 hours, Camera 8020 pointed at distant railroad tracks and a highway overpass.

The Epoch Times’ video review revealed that none of the Capitol Police security cameras that cover the DNC show the Secret Service conducting a security sweep of the property just before 11:25 a.m., in preparation for a visit by Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. A dog and its handler were seen on video two hours earlier searching the same area in which the bomb was later found.

Capitol Police video also doesn’t show the discovery of the DNC pipe bomb by an undercover police officer at 1:05 p.m. that day.

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More on the Secret Binder That Could Expose Officials in Russia Collusion Hoax

I reported earlier about the bombshell report that blew apart the “official” account of the start of the Russia collusion hoax and explained that it was started by the Obama CIA. 

The report – written by Michael Shellenberger, Matt Taibbi, and Alex Gutentag – details how the Obama administration CIA allegedly and improperly called on foreign allies from the “Five Eyes Nations” (the U.S., UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand) to surveil 26 Trump aides as “targets for collection and misinformation.” The journalists got this information from sources close to a House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HSPCI) investigation.

That’s big news. Shellenberger told Fox News that it was both illegal and election interference. 

Some of the information on this is in a binder, Shellenberger said. There has been a rumor about the binder and speculation that Mar-a-Lago was raided because of information that former President Donald Trump may have had on Crossfire Hurricane. 

Shellenberger is now talking about his and fellow journalist’s new report that gives more information about the secret binder. 

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In Lawsuit Against Spying On Assange Visitors, CIA Will Invoke ‘State Secrets Privilege’

The CIA plans to invoke the “state secrets privilege” to block a lawsuit against the agency for allegedly spying on Americans, who visited WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange while he was living under political asylum in Ecuador’s London embassy.

In December, United States Judge John Koeltl dismissed multiple claims brought by four American attorneys and journalists against the CIA. But Koeltl also determined that the Americans had grounds to sue the CIA for violating their “reasonable expectation of privacy” under the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution.

The Americans alleged that the CIA and CIA Director Mike Pompeo directed UC Global, a Spanish security company, to carry out a spying operation against Assange. The security company copied the contents of their electronic devices and provided the data to the CIA.

On February 8, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jean-David Barnea notified the court [PDF] that the CIA would assert the state secrets privilege.

“After the court’s recent decision on the government’s motion to dismiss, the sole remaining claim in this case is the plaintiff’s allegation that, at the CIA’s request, the Spanish defendants illegally downloaded the contents of the plaintiffs’ electronic devices when they visited Julian Assange at the Ecuadorian embassy in London and transmitted these materials to the CIA.”

The government continued, “Any factual inquiry into these allegations—whether they are true or not—would implicate classified information, as it would require the CIA to reveal what intelligence-gathering activities it did or did not engage in, among other things.”

“Because the CIA cannot publicly reveal the very facts over which it is seeking authorization to assert the state secrets privilege,” the government indicated that it would not respond to the Americans’ discovery requests or any allegations in the complaint. 

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Treasury Department’s Janet Yellen Dodges Questions on Financial Surveillance of “MAGA,” “Trump”

A wave of backlash for the Biden administration has been triggered following a probe into a surveillance mission by the Treasury Department targeting Americans. Republicans have been seeking answers about the initiative, which involved surveilling bank records of Americans for “extremist” activities post-January 6.

Recent reports revealed a controversial directive from the Treasury Department regarding the monitoring of financial transactions. Under this directive, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) asked financial institutions to investigate their clients’ transaction data for terms such as “MAGA” and “Trump.” This sparked an outcry from Republicans who questioned the government’s monitoring strategies.

This comes following a revelation of the specific sectors and demographic being targeted — Trump supporters, patrons of outdoor stores like Cabela’s, Dick’s Sporting Goods and Bass Pro Shops, and individuals who bought religious texts. Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen encountered numerous questions about these retrieval requests during her appearances on Capitol Hill this week.

However, these intense inquiries were deflected by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who responded that the matter was under investigation and that she didn’t have extensive knowledge about the situation.

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Disturbing ‘Columbine’ Inspired Plot Uncovered in Student’s Manifesto at Chippewa Falls School District — Targets Included Christians, Jocks, and Preppy Girls — School District Silent for Over Three Months

A disturbing plot inspired by the infamous Columbine High School massacre, which resulted in 13 deaths and 20 others being injured before turning their guns on themselves and committing suicide, was uncovered at Chippewa Middle School.

An exclusive report, obtained by Steven Crowder’s Louder with Crowder’s MugClub Undercover unit, which previously disclosed the manifesto of Nashville school transgender shooter Audrey Hale, reveals that the school district did not disclose information for more than three months regarding a student’s manifesto that described a “terrorist” threat against their peers.”

The threat targeted specific groups, including Christians, “jocks,” and “preppy” girls.

The discovery was made possible through the vigilance of school administration and the utilization of the “Aristotle alert system,” a digital monitoring tool designed to flag concerning content typed into school Chromebooks.

The investigation began at approximately 12:30 PM when Officer Downey was alerted by Dean of Students, Corey Hahn, about multiple Aristotle alerts linked to a single user’s account. These alerts were triggered by searches for content ranging from the Columbine High School massacre to instructions on manufacturing explosives.

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New Documents Provide More Insights on Moderna’s Online Speech Monitoring Efforts

Controversies originating from those who gained the most from the pandemic – most visibly, Big Pharma – refuses to go away.

One of the leading (and among the earliest) producers of Covid vaccines was US-based Moderna. We know for sure that the vaccine worked for Moderna – turning it from the verge of collapse into a $100 billion company, Defender reports.

But in large part due to the unusual speed with which vaccines were put through trials and then to market, many people – from regular citizens to public figures to medical professionals and scientists – felt skepticism about their efficacy and safety.

Expressing that openly, though, tended to get those people canceled or at least monitored and/or censored, and now new documents reveal Moderna’s role. Among them were journalists Alex Berenson, Stanford Health Policy professor Jay Bhattacharya, and actor Russell Brand.

In one instance, they “flagged a Russell Brand video in which he raised concerns about former British health official Jonathan Van-Tam, who was instrumental in COVID-19 policymaking and then took a high-level job at Moderna,” writes Defender.

Despite the billions in revenues raked in by Big Pharma, this obviously wasn’t enough, especially once the Covid panic started to subside and vaccine sales stalled.

And so Moderna sought out online media surveillance partners, and found one in the Public Goods Projects non-profit (otherwise receiving funds from Big Pharma), which was then useful in getting Covid vaccine skeptics silenced or censored on Twitter – Moderna and its partner, of course, called this combating “medical information.”

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Supreme Court Declines To Hear X’s Challenge to FBI Surveillance Gag Orders

The social network formerly known as Twitter has been undergoing more than just “superficial” branding transformations as of late, going from a reliable ally of state-driven censorship, to a platform that became the first major one to try to shed light on the mechanisms and practices of deep censorship.

The Twitter Files disclose more than just a private company exercising the right to be wrong in suppressing users’ free speech: they also implicated the US federal government with damning proof of serious transgressions, such as (explicitly unconstitutional) state collusion in censorship.

However, the US Supreme Court has now refused to consider X’s request to be able to publish some relevant numbers.

The original filing dates all the way back to 2014, in the wake of the revelations by whistleblower Edward Snowden, that sent shock waves both among citizens and politicians.

But those behind the company/platform, now called X, seem well-aware that this story by no means ended with some government concessions (regarding disclosure) made after the Snowden revelations, or with the Twitter Files.

And so, possibly as a defense tactic going forward, X tried to be granted the right to reveal the number of times federal law enforcement “gets in touch” to get information, framed as pertaining to national security.

The Supreme Court decision came after X appealed when a lower instance court said that the FBI had every right to constrain X in sharing the information about the “national security investigations requests” number with the public.

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