Thursday, May 14, 2009

Are there any spies in the house? (see my list below) The Electronic Police State Has Arrived

LIFE WITH BIG BROTHER
'Electronic Police State' report cites U.S.
Ultimate Big Brother 'basics are in place'

Posted: May 10, 2009

By Bob Unruh
© 2009 WorldNetDaily

In what may be the first assessment of its kind, a private company that offers a range of privacy products for computers and other technology is ranking the United States No. 6 in the world for having the most aggressive procedures for monitoring residents electronically.

The report, called The Electronic Police State, assesses the status of governmental surveillance in 52 nations around the globe for 2008.

The document was released Cryptohippie, Inc., which was set up in 2007 through the acquisition of several little-known but highly regarded providers of privacy technologies.

Not surprisingly, China and North Korea ranked No. 1 and No. 2, with Belarus and Russia following up. But the United Kingdom (England and Wales) ranked fifth followed by the United States.

Most of us are aware that our governments monitor nearly every form of electronic communication. We are also aware of private companies doing the same. This strikes most of us as slightly troubling, but very few of us say or do much about it. There are two primary reasons for this," the report said.

"We really don't see how it is going to hurt us. Mass surveillance is certainly a new, odd, and perhaps an ominous thing, but we just don't see a complete picture or a smoking gun," the report continued. Also, "We are constantly surrounded with messages that say, 'Only crazy people complain about the government.'"

The report mapped the world, showing the most advanced electronic police states in red, orange reflecting strongly developing electronic police states and yellow showing nations that are developing, but lagging:


Red nations have the most advanced electronic police state capabilites

Company spokesman Paul Rosenberg told WND the biggest obstacle, however, is that the image of a "police state" dredges up visions of Nazi Germany's thugs breaking down doors in the middle of the night and hauling people off to blacked-out trains or Stalin's USSR rounding up "offenders" for imprisonment.

"That's how things worked during your grandfather's war – that is not how things work now," the report said. "An electronic police state is quiet, even unseen. All of its legal actions are supported by abundant evidence. It looks pristine," the report said.

To create the rankings, which also included Singapore, Israel, France and Germany in the top 10, his organization searched its worldwide sources for information, checked against a number of other published reports, and assigned a value of 1 to 5 to 17 different factors:

  1. Daily documents: How much is required day-to-day for residents to present state-issued identity documents or registration.
  2. Border issues: What is demanded for a border entry.
  3. Financial tracking: The state's ability to search and record financial transactions.
  4. Gag orders: The penalties for revealing to someone else the state is searching their records.
  5. Anti-crypto laws: Bans on cryptography.
  6. Constitutional protections: Either a lack of protections or someone overriding them.
  7. Data storage: The state's ability to record and keep what it uncovers.
  8. Data search: The processes to search through data.
  9. ISP data retention: The demand for ISPs to save customers' records.
  10. Telephone data retention: States' requirements for communications companies to record and save records.
  11. Cell phone records: The saving and using of cell phone users' records.
  12. Medical records: Demands from states that medical records retain information.
  13. Enforcement: The state's ability to use force (SWAT teams) to seize someone.
  14. Habeus corpus: Either an absence of such rights or someone overriding them.
  15. Police-Intel barrier: the absence of a barrier between police and intelligence organizations.

  16. Covert hacking: State operatives meddling in data on private computers covertly.
  17. Loose warrants: Warrants that are being issued without careful review of police claims by a truly independent judge.

The listings of China, North Korea, Belarus and Russia, all known for their repression of freedom, weren't surprising. Nor was the listing of the United Kingdom with its recent programs to copy and store virtually every telephone call, e-mail and text message within its borders.

But Rosenberg said there's more going on in the United States than many believe want to believe. (Note from Norm: See who has been checking on Storm'n Norm'n below.)

The nation's "basic system of gathering evidence and sorting it later is really dangerous," he said. "It's permanent. It's not going to go away."

It goes so far that a person's alcohol consumption actually could be tracked by government agents, if they chose, through credit card documentation, he told WND.

"In an Electronic Police State, every surveillance camera recording, every e-mail you send, every Internet site you surf, every post you make, every check you write, every credit card swipe, every cell phone ping… are all criminal evidence, and they are held in searchable databases, for a long, long time," the report said.

"Whoever holds this evidence can make you look very, very bad whenever they care enough to do so. You can be prosecuted whenever they feel like it – the evidence is already in their database," the report continued. "Perhaps you trust that your ruler will only use his evidence archives to hurt bad people. Will you also trust his successor? Do you also trust all of his subordinates, every government worker and every policeman?

"If some leader behaves badly, will you really stand up to oppose him or her? Would you still do it if he had all the e-mails you sent when you were depressed? Or if she has records of every porn site you've ever surfed? Or if he knows every phone call you've ever made? Or if she knows everyone you've ever sent money to?" the report asks.

"This system hasn't yet reached its full shape, but all of the basics are in place and it is not far from complete in some places," the report said.

Rosenberg told WND the organization also sought input on the status of electronic surveillance around the world from organizations including the the Electronic Privacy Information Center, Reporters Without Borders, Freedom House, the Ludwig von Mises Institute and The Heritage Foundation.

Following the top 10 were: 11. Malaysia, 12. Ireland, 13. United Kingdom, Scotland, 14. Netherlands, 15. South Korea, 16. Ukraine, 17. Belgium, 18. Australia, 19. Japan, 20. New Zealand, 21. Austria, 22. Norway, 23. India, 24. Italy, 25. Taiwan, 26. Denmark, 27. Hungary, 28. Greece, 29. Canada, 30. Switzerland, 31. Slovenia, 32. Poland, 33. Finland, 34. Sweden, 35. Latvia, 36. Lithuania, 37. Cyprus, 38. Malta, 39. Estonia, 40. Czech Republic, 41. Iceland, 42. South Africa, 43. Spain, 44. Portugal, 45. Luxembourg, 46. Argentina, 47. Romania, 48. Thailand, 49. Bulgaria, 50. Brazil, 51. Mexico, 52. Philippines.

Recent visitors to this website. The list is arranged alphabetically with no added description (i.e., IP address, location, or function). Some of the names may be recognized due to their national prominence and or the titles are a dead give away (i.e. "Hospital" or "US State Dept" ). Others are law firms, private companies, NGO's and government agencies. A few commercial firms are large contractors for the National Security Agency (NSA). I should also remind you that this list is not complete. There's more! And thats what you should expect when you decide to have a website...(By the way...Have you read 1984? ...don't matter! whats going on now is worse!) - Norman E. Hooben

Adminstrative Office of the Courts Durham NC

Altoona Hospital

American Airlines Incorporated

AMERICAN CITY BUSINESS JOURNAL

Armed Forces Europe, Middle East, & Canada

Barclays Bank Plc

BlueCross BlueSheild of Illinois

Boston Scientific electricpaper.ie ? (Ireland)

Boulder Valley School District (BVSD

Brigham Young University

British Telecommunications

California Department of Corrections

California Public Employees Retirement System

CallPlus Services Limited callplus.net.nz ?

Canadian Department of Education

CANTV Servicios, Venezuela Distrito Federal

Case Western Reserve University

CC Services

Central Michigan University

CESNET, z.s.p.o utb.cz ? (Czech Republic)

Chello chello.nl ? (Netherlands)

CHILITECH INTERNET SOLUTIONS

China Network Information Center - Chongqing China

CHINANET Hunan province network

Ciba Speciialty Chemicals Basel-Stadt Switzerland

Ciber, Inc. DBA City of New Orleans

City of Boston

City of Gainesville

City of Los Angeles

City of New York - New York City Council

City of Palo Alto, Dept. of Information Resou

City of Plano, Texas

CNCGROUP Beijing Province Network

Coldwater Board of Public Utilities

College of duPage

Colleges of the Fenway

Computer Sciences Corporation District of Columbia

Computer Sciences Corporation Falls Church Virginia

Cornell University

Croatian Academic and Research Network (CARNet

cuny.edu ? (Educational)

DANGER.com

Dell Computer Corporation

Department of Veterans Affairs va.gov ?

Directorate of Automation Services army.mil ?

DIRECTORATE OF LOGISTICS army.mil ? (Military)

DOIM - army.mil ? (Military)

DuPont Merck Pharmaceutical Company

Durham University Local area network United Kingdom

E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co

Elias Group

Embarq Corporation

Emory University

Endless Journey ejourney.com ? (Commercial)

Euronet Digital Communications

Evanston Northwestern Healthcare Corp

Evanston Northwestern Healthcare Corp

Exxon Mobil Corporation

FDC Servers.net, LLC

Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco

FedEx

Florida Information Resource Network

FORT WORTH RESIDENCE INN

FOUR RIVERS PROVISIONING LC

Fujifilm Sverige AB tdcsong.se ? (Sweden)

GCI Communications

GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY

General Motors Corporation

Georgia Institute of Technology

Glendale CCD California State University Network

GMAC Mortgage Corp

Google google.com ? (Commercial)

HAWKER BEECHCRAFT CORP

Headquarters, USAAISC army.mil ? (Military)

Hickory Ridge Corporation

HOLIDAY INN FORT SMITH

HOTCHKISS SCHOOL

HQ US Army Medical Research and Development Comman

HUGHES NETWORK SYSTEMS

HYUNDAI COMMUNICATIONS & NETWORK

IAC Search Media

Indiana University

Info Avenue Internet Services

Information Systems, U.S. House of Representatives

Institute for Women's Health - Admin Office

Inter-American Development Bank

Intermountain Health Care

John Jay College of Criminal Justice

JP Morgan Chase & Co

Keesler Air Force Base

Kentucky Department of Education

Lake Erie Educational Computer Association

LBiSat, LLC American Samoa

Liberty Cablevision of Puerto Rico

Lockheed Martin Corporation

Louisiana Board of Pharmacy

LSG Strategies

Mackenzie Financial Corp - Canada

Maine Libraries/Dept. of Education

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Massey University massey.ac.nz ? (New Zealand)

Mediatti Communications,Inc

Memorial Health University Medical Center

MessageLabs

Miami-Dade County Public Schools

Michigan Legislative Council mi.gov ?

Microsoft Corp microsoft.com ? (Commercial)

MINDSHIFT TECHNOLOGIES

Mississippi, Department of Information Technology

Montgomery County Public Schools Maryland

Multikabel quicknet.nl ? (Netherlands)

Nantong University 163data.com.cn ? (China)

NATIONAL COMMUNITY REINVESTMENT COALITION

National Institutes of Health

Naval Ocean Systems Center jfcom.mil ? (Military)

Navy Network Information Center (NNIC

NEW PLACES CONSULTING

New York City Public Schools

NEWS CORPORATION

North Carolina Research and Education Network

Northern Arizona University

Norwich University

Ocean State Higher Education and Administration Ne

PANGAEA INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES

Pembroke State University

PHH Corporation

Phoenix Newspapers

Plano Independent School District

PT. Telecomunikasi Indonesia

Quick Technologies

Qwest Communications

R.R. Donnelley & Sons

RAY ELLIOTT FORD LEASING

Raytheon Company, Executive Office

Research Machines plc United Kingdom

Rice University

ROBISON, CURPHY OCON

Rockefeller Group Technology Solutions

Russian Central Telegraph, Moscow

Sacramento County Sheriff's Dept.

SAVE THE CHILDREN

SBC Internet Services

SEMO TANK BAKER EQUIPMENT COMPA

Seneca College senecac.on.ca ? (Canada)

Service Provider Corporation

SIA Lattelekom microlink.lv ? (Latvia)

Southwest Ohio Computer Association

Stargate Industries, LLC

State of Connecticut Dept of InformationTechnology

State of Colorado DOT

STATE OF DELAWARE

State of Georgia (DOAS-CSD)

State of Missouri Office of Administration

State of Ohio Network

State of Tennessee

STEPTOE & JOHNSON

Stillman College Alabama Supercomputer Network

Teale Data Center ca.gov ? (U.S. Government)

Telecom Italia Net

Telesector Resources Group

TelstraClear Christchurch Cable Customers

Texas A&M System Health Science Center

Texas Legislative Council

Texas Mutual Insurance Company

The Home Depot

THE BOEING COMPANY

The Connecticut Hospital and Affiliates

THE DAVID PROJECT

The Pentagon af.mil ? (Military)

THE SPECTRUM GROUP

U.S. Department of State

U.S. Government Printing Office

U.S. Senate Sergeant at Arms senate.gov ? (U.S. Government)

UNITED PARCEL SERVICE

Unity College

University of California, Office of the President

University College London

University of Alaska

University of Florida

UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA

University of Missouri-St. Louis

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA

University of Southern Mississippi

University of Texas at Dallas

University of Virginia

US Dept of Justice

US DOI Bureau of Land Management

US Office of Personnel Management

USAMITC army.mil ? (Military)

Utah Educational Network

VISP Technologies

WACHOVIA CORP

Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz

Wharf T&T Limited Hong Kong Central District

WV Department of Education

York University yorku.ca ? (Canada)

ZAO MTU-Intel mtu-net.ru ? (Russian Fed.)

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