Everything Is Spying On You

Everything Is Spying On You Paul Joseph Watson Infowars.com Monday, March 26, 2012 George Orwell was merely scratching the surface with telescreens – the 21st century home as a surveillance hub will outstrip anything you read about in 1984. From dishwashers to light bulbs, so-called “smart homes” will allow industry and the government to spy ubiquitously on every aspect of your existence.

Americans Embrace Smart Gadgets Used to Spy on Them - Alex Jones (Mar 16, 2012) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y91d 4i7OaDU CIA chief David Petraeus has hailed the “Internet of things” as a transformational boon for “clandestine tradecraft”. In other words, it will soon be easier than ever before to keep tabs on the population since everything they use will be connected to the web, with total disregard for privacy considerations.

The spooks won’t have to plant a bug in your home, you will be doing it for them.

“Items of interest will be located, identified, monitored, and remotely controlled through technologies such as radio-frequency identification, sensor networks, tiny embedded servers, and energy harvesters — all connected to the nextgeneration internet using abundant, low-cost, and highpower computing,” said Petraeus.

Soon you will have to live like a reclusive luddite if you hope to escape the new panopticon of surveillance that will be gratefully lapped up by the masses as a necessary sacrifice for convenience and cutting edge technology.

- Google has announced it will use the ambient background noise of a person’s environment, via their cell phone or computer microphone, to spy on their activities in order to direct targeted advertising at them.

Microsoft X-Box Kinect games device has a video camera and a microphone that records speech.

Microsoft has stated that users “should not expect any level of privacy concerning your use of the live communication features,” and the company “may access or disclose information about you, including the content of your communications.”

- The latest range of digital televisions also have a builtin HD camera, microphones and facial and speech recognition, which are all connected to the Internet.

Companies like Samsung have failed to even craft a privacy policy that applies to the devices, meaning its open season on snooping and data harvesting.

- The modern LED “eco-friendly” light bulb is also a two-way communications device. Ceiling lights currently being installed in offices and government buildings “transmit data to specially equipped computers on desks below by flickering faster than the eye can see.”

Outside street lights are also being changed to new “smart” versions so they can be used for “homeland security applications”. These devices are fitted with surveillance cameras, can broadcast government announcements, and also have the ability to record conversations.

- Smart meters, now set to become compulsory in many areas, wirelessly communicate with utility companies details about each home’s energy consumption, as well as emitting electromagnetic radiation. Health concerns have prompted some local authorities to allow residents to opt-out, but in other areas the meters are mandatory.

- Forget the government having to implant a chip in your forehead, the modern smart phone, owned by the vast majority of the population, does just as good a job. Five years ago we warned that the first incarnation of the iPhone contained a backdoor spyware module that allowed hackers or the government to conduct secret surveillance of the user. Cell phone surveillance is now ubiquitous. Google was also recently caught tracking the surfing habits of iPhone users via a code that disables the Safari browser’s privacy settings.

- Google’s attitude towards privacy also came under scrutiny when it was discovered that the company was spying on WiFi network data in violation of the Federal Wiretap Act as it gathered images for its Streetview program.

- The most obvious example of all is the Internet itself. ISPs have announced they will keep records of websites visited for at least 12 months, along with details of private communications. This figure is constantly increasing, with the FBI now pushing for ISPs to retain such information for years.

Since most people have already taken the decision to sacrifice their privacy for convenience, all of the technologies listed above will be used to spy on individuals and harvest data which will then be sold to big corporations. The vast majority simply do not care.

They value the novelty of a fridge being able to tell you when you’re out of milk and automatically ordering more via the Internet more than they do their own privacy.

Whether they will begin to care about the fact that they are broadcasting everything about their private lives and allowing governments and corporations to harvest that data when it actually begins to blowback on them in negative ways remains to be seen. The fact that some employers are now demanding Facebook passwords from their staff is perhaps the first sign of how this could all come crumbling down.

Nineteen Eighty Four MOVIE BELOW http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5464625623984168940

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US regulators push for online “do not track� system Reuters March 26, 2012 U.S. regulators pushed Internet companies on Monday to adopt a "Do Not Track" system that would give consumers more control over their personal data online, and asked Congress to pass privacy legislation.

The Federal Trade Commission, in its 57-page final report on privacy recommendations, called for voluntary steps that look largely similar to the agency's December 2010 preliminary report.

The FTC does not have the power to write rules, and is instead leaning on Internet companies to adopt tougher internal privacy policies that ensure the security of consumer data, and limit the collection and retention of such data.

The agency can bring enforcement actions against companies that violate their own privacy policies.

The report is in response to growing consumer concern about the lack of control over the collection and trade in vast amounts of detailed information about their online activities and reallife identities.

The FTC in its report urged companies to consider consumer privacy when creating software, rather than adding privacy options later, and to be clear to consumers what data they are collecting and why.

The FTC also said it is encouraged by the progress the industry has made in developing a Do Not Track system that lets consumers click a button on their Internet browsers to ensure their data are not being collected.

The agency said it will work with Internet companies to get the system in place.

"We are confident that consumers will have an easy to use and effective Do Not Track option by the end of the year because companies are moving forward expeditiously to make it happen and because lawmakers will want to enact legislation if they don't," said FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz in a statement.

The FTC also targeted online data brokers who buy, compile, and sell personal information about consumers. It said there should be legislation that would provide consumers with access to information held by data brokers.

Further, the FTC said data brokers should explore a centralized website where consumers could get information about their practices and their options for controlling data use.

The FTC also noted multiple privacy bills moving through Congress, and urged lawmakers to consider enacting general privacy legislation, data security and breach notification legislation, and data broker legislation.

In its own privacy push last month, the White House proposed a "privacy bill of rights" that would give consumers more control over their data but relies heavily on voluntary commitments by Internet companies like Google Inc and Facebook.

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