Page 79 - CDM Cyber Warnings February 2014

administered by the FBI, the list, according to an ACLU estimate, �Spooky Business � shows that many leading U.S. corporations
consists of 1 million names and is continually expanding. In a are retaining the services of former federal security personnel to
parallel universe, the DHS maintains the Automated Biometric wage campaigns to subvert Constitutionally protected citizen
Identification System (IDENT) that has the fingerprints, rights. It details the practices of Bank of America, BP, Brown &
photographs and biographical information 126 million people. Williamson, Burger King, the Chamber of Commerce, Chevron
Coca-Cola, Dow Chemical, Kraft, McDonald�s, Monsanto, Shell
https://www.aclu.org/technology-and-liberty/terror-watch-list- and Wal-Mart. Going further, it argues that to pull this off, these
counter-million-plus
companies hire former employees of the CIA, FBI, NSA, Secret
Service, the military and local law-enforcement. As Ruskin
#2. State and local law enforcement
shows, these �security officials� are linked to infiltration,
espionage, surveillance and other tactics that are intended to
In 2012, the New York Police Department and Microsoft
undermine ostensible threats posed by nonprofit organizations,
announced the deployment of the Domain Awareness System
activists and whistleblowers.
(DAS). It was jointly developed as a commercial partnership at
an estimated cost of $30 to $40 million. With DAS, investigators
http://www.corporatepolicy.org/2013/11/20/spooky-business/
can track individuals or incidents (e.g., a suspicious package)
through the live video feeds from some 3,000 CCTV cameras #4. Web sites, apps & data aggregators
and 2,600 radiation substance detectors. This data is easily
integrated into crime reports and cross-checked against all Web companies increasingly track one�s every keystroke, every
information about a suspected criminal and/or terrorist subject. order and bill payment one makes, every word and/or phrase in
Microsoft and the NYPD plan to market DAS to law- one�s emails, even one�s every mobile movement through GPS
enforcement and other entities throughout the world. tracking. Data capture involves everything from your personal
Social Security number, phone calls, arrest record, credit card
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2012/08/nypd-domain-awareness- transactions and online viewing preferences as well as your
system-microsoft-is-watching-you.html
medical and insurance records, even your prescriptions.
A similar system dubbed �"Domain Awareness Center" (DAC)
is being put in place in Oakland, CA. Private sector tracking can be divided between three types of
companies. One consists of the ostensible banks and credit card
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/07/oakland-accepts-federal-funds- companies like Visa or PayPal that facilitate noncash commercial
for-controversial-vast-surveillance-setup/
transactions. A second consists of the ad agencies (most notably
Google) that capture personal data through �click-throughs �
One area in which local government and private interests come
and �cookies.� Finally, private data aggregators like
together involves automatic license plate recognition. In New
ChoicePoint, Intelius, Lexis Nexis and US Search Profile that
York and other cities through the country, CCTV cameras are
collect personal data, repackage it and offers it for sale.
being mounted on lampposts, bridges and police patrol cars to
capture images of license plates. These photos are shared with
In addition, according to a 2012 study by Lookout, more than
the National Insurance Crime Bureau that represents hundreds
half of the free apps distributed for mobile devices are embedded
of insurance companies. Thus, private location data of U.S.
with advertising and tracking software. It estimates that 5
citizens are being acquired and shared with commercial entities
percent of all smartphone apps (representing 80 million
without a person� s knowledge or consent.
downloads) are embedded with "aggressive" ad networks that
can change bookmark settings and deliver ads outside the app
#3. Corporate, private police
they are embedded in. Games, and especially Google Play, had
the highest rate of ad placements. The data from all these apps
On November 20, 2013, the Center for Corporate Policy, a
are being collected, analyzed and exploited for commercial gain.
Washington, DC, good-government group, issued a revealing
study, �Spooky Business: A New Report on Corporate Espionage
https://blog.lookout.com
Against Non-profits.� Written by Gary Ruskin, it confirms one�s
worst suspicions about the ever-expanding two-headed U.S.
security state.

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