Google/Eye In The Sky/Big Brother

[Intense]

As part of the agreement, Google acknowledged that it collected and store data from private unsecured wireless networks, Jepsen said.

The data collected included website addresses, email and other "confidential and private information the network user was transmitting over the unsecured network while Google's Street View car was within range."

Connecticut is joined by 40 other US states in the probe into the collection of private wireless data by Street View cars.

Consumer Watchdog, a group which has been highly critical of Google's privacy practices, condemned the agreement to settle the issue through negotiations and called for congressional hearings on the subject.

"The details of the biggest privacy breach in history shouldn't be settled in secret," said John Simpson of Consumer Watchdog. "This makes it clear why Google CEO Eric Schmidt needs to testify under oath before Congress about Wi-Spy."

Google pledged to strengthen its privacy and security practices after its Street View cars scooped up data from unsecured wireless networks in dozens of countries.

Google has since stopped the collection of Wi-Fi data, used to provide location-based services such as driving directions in Google Maps and other products, by Street View cars.

France24 - Google won't be taken to court over data gather


Pretty fucked up.

 

[random3434]

Yep, Big Brother is watching you, but anyone that thinks ANYTHING they do on their computer is 'private' have their heads up their asses.

 

[Skull Pilot]

The police state coming to your neighborhood

AllGov - News - Coming to a Neighborhood Near You?Drones You Can?t See

Now we'll all be watched 24/7

 

[waltky]

Mexico: U.S. drones are being used...

Mexico confirms presence of U.S. drones
March 16, 2011 -- U.S. drones are flying over Mexican territory, the Mexican government says; The Mexican government says it has oversight; The drones helped follow suspects in a U.S. agent's killing

Mexico on Wednesday admitted that American unmanned drones operate over its territory, but denied that it constitutes a violation of its sovereignty. U.S. Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicles have been used to collect intelligence and track drug traffickers, but only under Mexican supervision, according to a statement by the technical secretariat for the Mexican National Security Council.

"Each of these actions is undertaken with full respect to the law," the statement says. The New York Times first reported that the Pentagon had begun flying high-altitude, unarmed drones over Mexico last month. The joint operation is designed to gather intelligence that can be acted upon by Mexican authorities.

Such flights were responsible for obtaining information that led to the capture of several suspects in the February 15 slaying of a U.S. immigration agent in Mexico, the paper reported. The flights had been kept secret "because of legal restrictions in Mexico and the heated political sensitivities there about sovereignty," The New York Times reported.

Source

See also:

National Guard troops to leave border in June
Mar. 16, 2011 WASHINGTON - Gov. Brewer decries June end to temporary deployment

National Guard troops that have helped beef up security along the southwestern border since last summer will leave as planned by the second week of June, the commander of the Arizona Guard told a House panel Tuesday. Maj. Gen. Hugo Salazar, adjutant general of the Guard in the state, said that the mission has gone well and that his troops have helped the Department of Homeland Security monitor the border and gather intelligence against the transnational crime cartels that smuggle drugs, weapons and cash across the border.

Matt Chandler, a spokesman for Homeland Security, said Tuesday that soldiers have helped seize over 14,000 pounds of drugs and apprehend 7,000 illegal immigrants. He said the southwestern border today has more enforcement manpower and technology than ever, much of which has been added while the National Guard has been assigned there. President Barack Obama's administration announced last summer that it was sending 1,200 Guard troops to the border, including 560 to Arizona, to help beef up security for about a year. Gov. Jan Brewer, who called for the National Guard deployment last summer and has sued the federal government for not enforcing immigration laws, said Tuesday that she was disappointed that the deployment was ending on schedule.

"It's inexcusable and inexplicable to consider withdrawal of National Guard troops from our southern border at a time when cartel violence continues and the security of the border region remains under threat from drug and human smugglers," she said. "Unfortunately, this appears to be further evidence that the White House is not fully committed to devoting the manpower and resources necessary to secure the border. Rather than withdrawing National Guard troops, the president ought to consider using them as a long-term tool to augment the nation's border-security strategy."

Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/news/artic...ard-leaving-border-in-june.html#ixzz1GpGdEDTZ

Related:

Obama pressed to extend National Guard's stay along Mexico border
03/15/11 - The top-ranking House Republican on border issues is pushing the Obama administration to extend the National Guard’s presence along the U.S.-Mexico border and possibly deploy the U.S. Army to help stymie violence from the drug cartels.

Rep. Candice Miller (R-Mich.), the chairwoman of the House Homeland Security subcommittee on border and maritime security, told The Hill that it would be a “serious mistake” if the White House failed to re-authorize the deployment of National Guard troops to the border region beyond their end date on June 30. “The complexion of the dynamics of what’s happening along the southern border has changed rather radically and dramatically in the last several years and you could make an analogy that it’s sort of like a warzone down there,” said Miller.

Last May, President Obama authorized 1,200 National Guardsmen to be deployed by California, New Mexico, Arizona, and Texas to provide material support for the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Operation Phalanx. Since Operation Phalanx began last July, officials have seized more than 14,000 pounds of drugs and millions of dollars in illicit currency, according to DHS records. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has trumpeted recent DHS statistics that show an increase in the number of arrests and seizures of illegal goods along the border, and a decrease in the number of illegal border crossings. She cites the increased law enforcement presence in the region.

But Miller is concerned that drug cartels may step up their attempts to funnel drugs, weapons, and cash into the U.S., if the Guardsmen are allowed to stand down, as currently scheduled, in less than four months. Instead, she said, the National Guard presence needs to be maintained and the Obama administration needs to consider sending an active duty Army unit to the region. “If we had an Army Stryker brigade there, I think the drug cartels would think twice about coming across the border,” said Miller.

MORE

 

[whitehall]

Freedom of speech doesn't extend to planning terrorist attacks against Americans.