Tag: surveillance

Drama school tells students to report “microaggressions” on QR code system

Britain’s oldest drama school Lamda encouraged students to report microaggressions through QR codes placed around the school. The anonymous reporting system has been trialed and could be fully launched in the fall.

The QR codes at Lamda allowed students to access official complaint forms to report microaggressions they have experienced or observed at the campus. The complaints are logged and monitored to determine if “patterns are emerging.”

Critics have described the system as “totalitarian surveillance,” adding that it raises concerns of “culture denunciation.”

Brain Harris of Free Speech Union, said there are growing concerns about institutions of higher education launching systems that allow “sousveillance,” surveillance conducted by people in the group being surveilled.

“This can include procedures that facilitate students telling tales on one another – even by encouraging the disclosure of private social media messages – as well as the sort of “sousveillance” reported at Lamda,” Harris said, according to The Telegraph.

“Sousveillance is particularly insidious, as it makes teaching staff beholden at any given moment to the most hyper-sensitive (or vexatious) student in the seminar room. It openly cultivates a culture of fear-induced blandness.

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Amazon expanding its surveillance capabilities: $1.7 billion iRobot deal includes interior maps of millions of homes

On Friday, iRobot accepted Amazon’s $1.7 billion offer to purchase the robot vacuum company. If the deal goes through, pending shareholder and regulatory approval, the technology giant will receive a plethora of personal data, including the floor plans of millions of users’ homes.

In 2021, iRobot reported that over 40 million Roombas had been sold worldwide since the release of its first model in 2002. The small automated vacuum uses sensors to map out each room in a home. If the Federal Trade Commission approves the deal, this stored personal data will be handed over to Amazon. The company has yet to comment on how it plans to use this data.

The purchase of iRobot is just the latest deal initiated by Amazon. In 2018, it purchased Ring, a video doorbell company. That same year, Amazon acquired the wifi router manufacturer Eero. Amazon recently offered One Medical, a health care clinic chain, an all-cash $3.49 billion deal. The purchase would provide Amazon with the health data from 188 offices around the United States.

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US Department Of Commerce Asks Gun Holster Companies For Sales Records

A startling new report via AmmoLand News outlines how the US Department of Commerce Census Bureau asked major holster manufacturers/providers for order numbers, product descriptions, and locations where the items were shipped. 

Some holster companies rejected the Department of Commerce’s request for “commodity flow surveys” related to their sold products.

“We will never turn over any information on our customers to the government no matter the cost us,” Chad Myers, President of JM4 Tactical, said. “To do so would violate our core beliefs. We need to stand up to an overbearing government. Our customers can rest assured that their information is safe with us!”

AmmoLand said, “the Census Bureau sends out the Commodity Flow Survey to random companies every year … but this seems an abnormal amount of holster companies have received the notice leading some of the holster companies to wonder if the federal government has targeted them.” 

This is alarming because the overreaching government could be attempting to create a registry of gun owners, types, and numbers of firearms owned via the information collected in the survey.  

Holster companies have reached out to Arbiter Weston Martinez of Texas, a former Texas Real Estate Commissioner under former Governor Rick Perry, to push back on the government collection of data. 

“Clearly, the Biden administration is saber rattling for the left in the wake of all the recent losses they have incurred by Supreme Court rulings,” Martinez said. “My clients and I will never back down from anyone that is trying to impugn our Constitutional and God-give rights like the Second Amendment.”

Holster companies do not have a choice and are bound by law to turn over all requested information or face fines. 

Washington Gun Law President William Kirk provides more color on the Biden administration’s use of government agencies to collect data on law-abiding citizens. He said this administration is the least trustworthy of any administration in the country’s history regarding the lawful rights of gun owners. 

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Lightfoot Wants Chicago Drivers Under Constant Surveillance, But Look at What a Camera Caught Her SUV Doing

Chicago drivers are increasingly subjected to speed limit and red-light cameras that automatically send out millions in fines every year, and if they don’t pay, they can lose their driver’s license.

Meanwhile, Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s motorcade reportedly has racked up hundreds of dollars in fines that she has refused to pay — without any consequence at all.

According to a review of public records by CWB Chicago, Lightfoot’s police-driven SUVs have been recorded exceeding the speed limit and going through red lights by the city’s traffic camera system several times in the last year — and none of the fines has been paid.

Several other cars registered to her motorcade also have had fines assessed but never paid, the report said.

CWB Chicago even found that one of the vehicles is now eligible for booting and being impounded because the fines are so far in arrears.

Worst of all, two of the speeding incidents occurred while Lightfoot’s SUVs were driving through school zones while exceeding the speed limit.

The report said none of the $658 in fines accumulated by the mayor’s motorcade since May 2021 has been paid.

But this is not just a recent habit. Her motorcade cars have a long history of breaking traffic laws, getting tickets and fines, and never paying them. It has been so bad that the city has gotten in a habit of just forgiving them because they never get paid anyway, the Chicago Tribune reported in 2020.

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Bipartisan bill aimed at protecting kids online would require Big Tech to spy on them

A US Senate panel is debating two online safety bills that pertain to children, COPPA 2.0, and the Kids Online Safety Act, the latter of which has been described by observers as a scheme that will force online platforms to spy on children.

The original Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) aims to restrict the tracking and targeting of children under 13, while its update would expand to include those under 16.

We obtained a copy of the bill for you here.

The Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) was introduced by Senators Richard Blumenthal and Marsha Blackburn, who said that it seeks to provide the solution to problems related to teenage mental health.

The way the senators envisaged this can be done is to improve children’s well-being online by requiring that social platforms provide kids and parents with “tools to help prevent the destructive impact of social media.”

The content that social sites would be tasked with preventing includes promotion of suicide, self-harm, substance abuse, eating disorders, etc., and non-compliance would make these companies legally liable.

They would also have to turn data over to researchers, introduce an age verification system, and set parental controls to the highest settings, to enable filtering or blocking.

But critics say that forcing social media companies to censor content and allowing parents to “spy” on children online is the wrong approach that doesn’t address the core problem of why children seek certain information on the web, while at the same time eroding their privacy.

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New Israeli military technology allows operators to ‘see through walls’

New Israeli military technology allows users to detect objects and people behind walls by using an AI-based tracking algorithm, according to a report.

The Xaver 1000, produced by the Israeli imaging solutions company Camero-Tech, was unveiled for the first time at the Eurosatury 2022 exhibition in Paris, France. 

It’s part of the “See Through Walls” family of products which, according to the company, provide real-time information on objects and people concealed behind walls.

Camero-Tech claims the new XAVER-1000 is an “essential system” for militaries, law enforcement, intelligence units, and search and rescue teams.

The company said it is a new tool for tactical operations, as it can detect the presence of life in rooms, the number of people and their distance from the system, target height and orientation, and the general layout of a space.

The technology can display live objects, behind walls, in such high resolution that it can detect whether a person is sitting, standing, or lying down, even if they have been motionless for a significant period. Specific body parts are also detectable, the company said.

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Police Report Proves Plainclothes Electronic Surveillance Unit Members Were Embedded Among Jan. 6 Protesters

While there is growing speculation that federal agents and Capitol Police were involved in instigating acts of violence during the Jan. 6, 2021 protests and recording responses for the purposes of entrapment, evidence now proves that “plainclothes” members of a special Electronic Surveillance Unit (ESU) were embedded among the protesters for the purposes of conducting video surveillance. Evidence also points to a day of security deficiencies and police provocation for the purpose of entrapment.

According to a report—First Amendment Demonstrations, issued Jan. 3, 2021, by Chief of Police Robert Contee of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), Homeland Security Bureau, Special Operations Division, obtained exclusively by The Epoch Times—the MPD began to activate Civil Disturbance Unit (CDU) platoons on Jan. 4, 2021. Full activation of 28 platoons was scheduled to occur on the following two days.

According to the Department of Justice website, “A CDU is composed of law enforcement officers who are trained to respond to protests, demonstrations, and civil disturbances for the purpose of preventing violence, destruction of property, and unlawful interference with persons exercising their rights under law.”

The objective of MPD was “to assist with the safe execution of any First Amendment demonstration and ensure the safety of the participants, public, and the officers.” CDU personnel and Special Operations Division  (SOD) members were to “monitor for any demonstration and/or violent activity and respond accordingly,” according to the report.

There has been speculation that federal agents and Capitol Police were involved in instigating acts of violence during the protests for the purposes of entrapment. As Red State reported in October 2021, “multiple surveillance videos show masked men opening up the doors to the U.S. Capitol Building to allow protesters to enter. In fact, one video shows them entering while Capitol Police officers simply stand around. Yet, we have no idea who those men are.”

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Days After Biden Unveils New Dystopian “Disinformation Governance Board” Newly Released Documents Confirm CDC Catalogues and Tracks Social Media Posts by Elected Officials That are Vaccine Related

Newly released internal documents from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reveal the agency has been tracking and cataloging the social media posts of elected US officials.

The records were obtained earlier this week through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request and were posted online by investigative journalist Sheryl Attkisson.

According to the documents, the social media posts, which are all CDC or vaccine-related, are logged into a database and broken down by party affiliation. The logs include information like the text of the post, the date it was sent, a link, and even notes about what was said.

Creepy.

It is unclear what the data is currently being used for, but, one thing’s clear, the so-called health ‘experts’ are awfully concerned with what’s being said about them online.

It doesn’t really seem to matter too much whether the posts include criticism or praise, as both Democrats and Republicans, like Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), can be found on the list.

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US & Ukraine Contract With Private Sector Spy Firms To Target Moscow’s Forces

The Wall Street Journal reports that the US, Ukraine, and its allies are paying companies with spy satellites to collect intelligence on Russian troop movements.

Western counties have worked with several firms that maintain hundreds of satellites making passes over Ukraine each day. While the satellites have different abilities, some can scan the entire country daily with a nine-foot resolution. Other companies collect intelligence through clouds and at night.

HawkEye 360’s fleet of satellites can actively follow Russian troop movements. John Serafini, the firm’s CEO, said it has been following Russian forces using GPS jamming equipment. 

Maxar Technologies is contracting with various media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal. The firm provides journalists with images of a broad range of Ukraine with a 12-inch resolution.

Officials have recently discussed giving Kiev more detailed intelligence as the battle moves to Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region. The US claims it assisted the Ukrainian military in downing a Russian troop transport, killing hundreds.

Senior national security officials told the outlet that the more affordable space-based technology is making it more difficult for Russia to hide its troop placements. Officials also noted that it is easier for the White House to declassify its intelligence because the data collected from private satellites is public information.

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