Shopping malls are encouraging shoppers to use social media to spy on citizens

Strategies often employed by law enforcement agencies to prevent attacks — like metal detectors, armed guards and bag screenings — may discourage consumers from heading to the mall, during a period when malls are losing shoppers (nearly a 7 percent drop from last year at this time, according to ShopperTrak), largely to online retailers.

      

So mall operators are increasingly turning to subtler, less visible measures to keep a watchful eye on the activities of shoppers.

      

“There is that careful balance between making people feel safe and the infringement on civil liberties,” said Matthew W. Horace, chief security officer of FJC Security Services, a private security firm. “Would they rather feel safe? Or do they want to see armed guards with machine guns and berets? That’s the balance that we all face with safety.”

       

Mall operators now offer emergency evacuation training sessions for staff members. They have also added to security staffs; installed shatterproof windows and bomb-resistant trash cans; and expanded closed-circuit television security systems. Malls increasingly invite local emergency response teams to speak to their staffs and to use the facilities after hours for practice drills. Some are turning to the very shoppers they hope to protect, encouraging them to report suspicious activity on social media outlets like Twitter.

Spying on Americans has reached the postal service, postal workers, movie theaters, garbage collectors how long before it reaches supermarkets and our homes? 

Currently, DHS partners with a number of shopping centers, including the Mall of America, Walmart, Simon Property Group, and the Building Owners and Managers Association, to raise public awareness of indicators of terrorism and terrorism-related crime, and to emphasize the importance of reporting suspicious activity to the proper local law enforcement authorities.

More proof that DHS plans to spy on everyone, everywhere:

DHS provides materials and training to malls.

DHS partners with Simon malls 

DHS is coming to hotels, malls.

As DHS's Working together to keep shoppers safe webpage reveals: "Every day, malls around the country work closely with DHS, FBI and state and local law enforcement to keep shoppers safe. This year DHS, is partnering with a number of communities across the state of New Hampshire as part of our If You See Something, Say Something campaign and displaying materials encouraging shoppers to report suspicious activity to local authorities."

      

Even for malls still in development, DHS security measures are part of the planning. For example, construction is expected to begin next spring on Empire Outlets, a 340,000-square-foot retail center planned for Staten Island, yet the developer is already weighing security issues. The complex, designed by SHoP Architects, will include 125 outlet retailers, restaurants, cafes, a 200-room hotel and a 1,250-space parking garage.

      

BFC Partners, the mall’s developer, is considering ways to incorporate smartphone technology into its plan. In addition to security guards, the mall will have hundreds of security cameras monitoring the complex.

There are 115,616 retail (SPYING) centers in the country, according to CoStar, a real estate information company. Privately owned and operated, many of them have become de facto downtowns that house post offices, banks, indoor playgrounds, churches and, in some cases, a satellite city hall.

      

Civil liberties advocates worry that if American malls turn into fortresslike structures where shoppers are profiled and monitored at all times, the places that double as city centers will become tightly controlled by private businesses that would profile customers continuously.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/27/realestate/commercial/malls-work-on-their-security-but-keep-it-in-the-background.html?_r=1&

Retailers commit to working with law enforcement:

The National Retail Federation leads the retail industry’s partnership with law enforcement, working with local, state and federal agencies on developing “active shooter” guidelines with DHS.

The trade group is the world’s largest retail trade association representing retailers of all types and sizes in the United States and more than 45 countries. Retailers operate more than 3.6 million establishments in the US that support one in four US jobs -- 42 million working Americans – and contributed $2.5 trillion to annual GDP, the association said.
http://www.hstoday.us/briefings/industry-news/single-article/retailers-commit-to-working-with-law-enforcement-in-response-to-terrorist-attack/b00410f5a624d7534bca38c9c38aaa24.html

DHS installing license plate scanners at shopping malls:

Freehold Township has used a $285,000 grant from the New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness to install license plate readers on the mall’s entrance roads in order to enhance security at the regional shopping destination. (Click here to see the video)

 

The Township Committee authorized the acceptance of the grant in 2010 and officials said the funds would provide for continued safety and security in the township in conjunction with the mall.

 

The license plate readers are attached to a metal arm that hangs over the mall’s entrance roads. There are entrances from Route 9, Route 537 and Business Route 33.

 

According to a 2010 article regarding the grant, when a vehicle passes a license plate reader, its license plate will automatically be scanned by the machine and sent to a central computer.

 

A “hit” on certain license plates could elicit a response from law enforcement authorities.

Freehold Township police Lt. Dean Smith said the license plate readers will be used to enhance (SPY) mall safety and security.

http://www.app.com/article/20130808/NJNEWS/308080116/?nclick_check=1

http://nt.gmnews.com/news/2013-06-26/Front_Page/Grant_pays_for_license_plate_readers_at_Freehold_R.html

Xbox Kinect spying on users who use "profane words/phrases"

 

 

Swear too much at your Xbox One in gameplay footage though, and your account can get suspended if you upload it.

Kinect is spying on you and doesn’t like to hear you swearing. At least not in Upload Studio, the Xbox One service that lets you share gameplay clips (with non-profane voiceover!) with friends, and save those clips to your SkyDrive. If you’ve got a dirty mouth, you can run into trouble.

 

Microsoft is seemingly issuing temporary bans to users of the Skype and Upload Studio apps on Xbox One who have used profanity, according to multiple reports on the Xbox One subreddit and on the Xbox forums.

 

Users are reporting that after uploading gameplay clips in which they swear through the Upload Studio app — or even swearing in a private Skype call, according to one Twitter user — their Xbox One prevents them from using the app in question with a message that asks them to "choose something else to play" because of their "past behavior" (see photo above).

 

Skype calls on Xbox One use the Kinect camera and microphone to transmit video and audio, while the Upload Studio app sends clips to the user's personal SkyDrive account. The Xbox Live Code of Conduct prohibits members from using "profane words/phrases" in their Gamertag, profile content, Avatar action, Avatar content or in-game content." However, profanity is not explicitly prohibited from content that Xbox Live users "share/create."

 

At least a dozen Xbox Live users have posted in a thread on the Xbox forums saying they're dealing with the same issue. According to a number of them, they can upload footage of M-rated games that contain profanity, such as Battlefield 4, without any consequences.

 

A number of Xbox One users piped up over on the Xbox forums, complaining that they couldn’t use Skype or Upload Studio thanks to “past behaviour,” and now Microsoft has weighed in to explain the situation. And part of the situation is that you can’t swear too much in Upload.

 

Microsoft's statement:

 

'To be clear, the Xbox Live Policy & Enforcement team does not monitor direct peer-to-peer communications like Skype chats and calls. Also, we take Code of Conduct moderation via Upload Studio very seriously. We want a clean, safe and fun environment for all users. Excessive profanity as well as other Code of Conduct violations will be enforced upon and result in suspension of some or all privileges on Xbox Live. We remain committed to preserving and promoting a safe, secure and enjoyable experience for all of our Xbox Live members." 

 

It seems that users who are being banned from Skype have received a full Xbox Live ban in another app for non-swearing bad behavior, but swearing too much in Upload will get you what seems to be a temporary, 24 hour ban on first offense. What happens on a second offense, or what constitutes “too much swearing,” isn’t entirely clear yet. So for the time being, it might be wise to watch your mouth.

http://www.polygon.com/2013/11/25/5143542/report-xbox-one-skype-upload-studio-users-banned-for-swearing

New Facebook app will allow them to use (spy on) your smartphones' microphone or camera anytime:

Cellphone users who attempt to install the Facebook Messenger app are asked to agree to terms of service that allow the social networking giant to use the microphone on their device to record audio at any time without their permission.

Users are made to accept an agreement that allows Facebook to “record audio with the microphone….at any time without your confirmation.”

The TOS also authorizes Facebook to take videos and pictures using the phone’s camera at any time without permission, as well as directly calling numbers, again without permission, that could incur charges.

Facebook can also “read your phone’s call log” and “read data about contacts stored on your phone, including the frequency with which you’ve called, emailed or communicated in other ways with specific individuals.”
http://www.infowars.com/facebook-wants-to-listen-to-your-phone-calls/

Doctors & private companies to spy on your movement, phone calls & texting patterns

 

Your phone knows everything about you -- how much you walk, talk and what level of Candy Crush you're stuck on -- but soon it could be spilling secrets to your doctor.

More and more physicians are prescribing apps that help track their patients' illnesses through information collected by their smartphones.

"[The trend] just seems to be exploding," said Seth S. Martin, a Pollin cardiovascular prevention fellow at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. "With the widespread use now of smartphones, it's a really exciting opportunity to help people live healthier lives."

Apps like Ginger.io and those developed by the Center for Behavioral Intervention Technologies (CBITs) at Northwestern University collect data through smartphones and web activity and relay that information to healthcare providers—without the patient needing to lift a finger. This, they argue, enriches the healthcare process by integrating technology and primary care.

This is most apparent with the app Ginger.io, which is currently invite only -- it's being tested in larger hospital systems before it expands to the public -- and deals with a small number of specific diseases like diabetes and ulcerative colitis.

According to their website, Ginger.io "works in the background to collect data about your movement, call, and texting patterns. Once the application has gathered enough data to understand your behavior patterns, we will provide you with health insights and alerts."

These alerts range from condition-specific health tips to insights into the patient's own health patterns.

"It forms an automated diary of your life," said Anmol Madan, co-founder and CEO of Ginger.io. "The idea is to provide support to patients and families."

By collecting two forms of data -- nicknamed passive and active -- Ginger.io attempts to paint as full of a picture as possible from the data collected by a person's phone. The app asks patients to fill out condition- specific surveys about their symptoms and well being (this is active data) while also collecting information from the sensors in the phone regarding calling and texting patterns as well location data (this is passive data.)

This data is then sent to a patient's primary care physician. They use the collected data to monitor a patient's day-to-day behavior, flare-ups and unusual patterns in communication -- are you making longer calls? Maybe not moving around as much as normal?

 

In the deluge of health-tracking apps available, few have undergone any moderation to ensure the validity and reliability of the science behind the app, Martin said. Few studies have been conducted that analyzed the effectiveness of apps like Ginger.io that employ total integration of technology and primary care.

"Hopefully the clinic of the future will be very much app-based," Martin said. "There will be some optimal combination of app-based, home based care with actual face-to-face clinic visits. [But] right now it's way, way too early to make any definitive statements."

http://wtop.com/267/3512219/Your-phone-is-talking-behind-your-back-to-your-doc

Police offer B/S apology for their assistance in DNA roadblock 'survey'

Texas - The Fort Worth Police Dept. found itself on the receiving end of lots of criticism for its participation in a "voluntary" collection of blood and saliva samples for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA) survey.

For one thing, having a squad of police officers flag you down and route you into a nearby parking space never feels "voluntary," no matter how easy it is to opt out once you're pulled over. For another, the paperwork signed by "volunteers" contained fine print that indicated consent had been assumed for the PD to "collect" information on the driver's state of intoxication with passive alcohol sensors.

After a local news report detailed the concerns of one citizen who consented to a breathalyzer (the NHTSA paid $50 for blood and $10 for saliva -- there was no compensation for submitting to a breathalyzer) because she felt it was the quickest way out of the "voluntary" collection, the Ft. Worth PD issued the following non-apology.

We apologize if any of our drivers and citizens were offended or inconvenienced by the NHTSA National Roadside Survey.

This apology was less than useless. This "apology" lays the blame at the feet of those who "felt" offended or inconvenienced by the voluntary-in-all-but-appearance sample collection.

 Here's the much better apology it issued via its Facebook page.

TO OUR CITIZENS:

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration hired off-duty Fort Worth Police officers to assist with the Roadside Survey by providing traffic safety and security of cash used to pay survey participants. This survey was intended to be voluntary and was conducted by NHTSA personnel.

We are reviewing the approval process for this survey’s utilization of FWPD off-duty officers not only to ensure that our policies and procedures were followed, but also to ensure that any off-duty job is in the absolute best interest of our citizens. (Total B/S what part of the 4th. Amendment don't you understand?)

We realize this survey caused many of our citizens frustration and we apologize for our participation.(Frustration? Motorists felt compelled to give their blood & DNA click here.)

I agree with our citizens concerns and I apologize for our participation. Any future Federal survey of this nature, which jeopardizes the public’s trust, will not be approved for the use of Fort Worth police.”

Chief Jeffrey Halstead

It's too bad this moment of clarity didn't strike before the PD assisted the NHTSA in its voluntary DNA draws (which the agency claims is anonymized and yet volunteers had to sign a participation form?), it is good to see that it realizes how involuntary this looked to drivers who were flagged down by the assisting officers. It's also good to see the FWPD will steer clear of these questionable ventures in the future. Hopefully, this will also clue the PD in on how the imbalance of power between law enforcement and citizens often makes voluntary actions seem like anything but.

"Jeopardizing the public trust" is never smart, especially when the success of your work depends heavily on being perceived as trustworthy by the public. And trust isn't something that's easily earned back, not when the public perception of law enforcement as the "good guys" is steadily trending downwards.
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20131125/07500425357/ft-worth-police-department-offers-real-apology-its-assistance-nhtsas-bloodsaliva-sampling-survey.shtml

The FBI is doing much of the NSA's spying, wants it kept secret

A few folks have been trying to remind everyone that the FBI is heavily involved in all of this and, in many ways, has an equally bad if not worse record in abusing the rights of Americans. Many of the programs discussed were to retrieve information by the FBI or the NSA, and it turns out that the FBI often does much of the dirty work for the NSA, including interfacing with various companies to get access to data. We'd mentioned recently how the FBI was pushing tech companies to install "port readers" at both telco and tech companies (though, many tech firms were resisting), and also that the FBI had been ramping up their use of malware.

Shane Harris, over at Foreign Policy has a nice profile on the FBI's Data Intercept Technology Unit, or DITU, who handles most of this work. It repeats the story of the port readers, but adds how the DITU is often the unit that works with tech companies and then passes info along to the NSA -- so some companies don't even realize they're dealing with the NSA, believing it's just via the FBI (not that this would make things any better). It also notes that the DITU tends to be made up of a lot of ex-telco guys who know very specifically how the telco networks work, something that at least some people at the telcos may be uncomfortable with the government knowing (though, again, the telcos seem much more willing to open up to the government than the tech companies).

It's an interesting profile all around, but at the end it gets even more interesting, as an ex-law enforcement source that Harris talks to highlights that without investigating what the DITU is up to, Congress' exploration of what's going on will be very incomplete.

The former law enforcement official said Holder and Mueller should have offered testimony and explained how the FBI works with the NSA. He was concerned by reports that the NSA had not been adhering to its own minimization procedures, which the Justice Department and the FBI review and vouch for when submitting requests to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.

"Where they hadn't done what was represented to the court, that's unforgivable. That's where I got sick to my stomach," the former law enforcement official said. "The government's position is, we go to the court, apply the law -- it's all approved. That makes for a good story until you find out what was approved wasn't actually what was done." 
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20131125/02515925349/how-fbi-actually-does-much-nsas-spying-is-keeping-that-quiet.shtml

NSA’s ‘Reasonable Articulable Suspicion’ gives them the right to spy on anyone:

The NSA has collected our email address books from most major webmail websites. (for more info. click here.)

The Electric Frontier Foundation (EFF) has published a chart of primary source documents compiled from newspapers and the government regarding the NSA and the recent domestic spying scandals.

In these documents, there is a treasure trove of  disturbing information.

 

The NSA's top secret course on “Reasonable Articulable Suspicion” (RAS).

 

What is RAS? RAS is the standard by which the NSA deems you to be someone they can spy on because of your alleged relation or connection to someone they regard as a threat.

 

On page four of 17, the RAS is defined as follows: An identifier will meet the Reasonable Articulable Suspicion Standard if based on the factual and practical considerations of everyday life on which reasonable and prudent persons act, there are facts giving rise to a reasonable articulable suspicion that the identifier is associated with one of the specified Foreign Powers.

 

Let us address the absolutely bizarre and dubious standard. This is completely up to interpretation, which was done purposely, with the intent of legitimizing almost any search of a U.S. citizen’s electronic communications. This is a dangerous precedent that could make anyone a potential threat due to ambiguous standards and definitions.

 

In fact, on another leaked document (see page 8 here) the Office of Deputy General Counsel for the NSA describes RAS as the lowest standard of proof needed to investigate an individual.

 

Note that the standard [RAS]does not present a particularly high hurdle. The level of evidence demanded by the standard is considerably less than proof by a preponderance of the evidence, meaning that here one need not show it is likely than not that a number is associated with [REDACTED list of Foreign Powers.
http://endthelie.com/2013/11/21/the-nsas-reasonable-articulable-suspicion-legitimizes-surveillance-of-just-about-anyone/#axzz2llMCkhaT

NSA targeted Microsoft like Google and Yahoo:
http://cryptome.org/2013/11/nsa-microsoft.pdf

NSA malware infected over 50,000 computer networks worldwide:
http://www.zdnet.com/nsa-malware-infected-over-50000-computer-networks-worldwide-7000023537/#!

NSA spying on porn habits of Americans:

The National Security Agency has been gathering records of online sexual activity and evidence of visits to pornographic websites as part of a proposed plan to harm the reputations of those whom the agency believes are radicalizing others through incendiary speeches, according to a top-secret NSA document. The document, provided by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, identifies six targets, all Muslims, as “exemplars” of how “personal vulnerabilities” can be learned through electronic surveillance, and then exploited to undermine a target's credibility, reputation and authority.

The NSA has an elite "hacking unit" called Tailored Access Operations (TAO).

The NSA document, dated Oct. 3, 2012, repeatedly refers to the power of charges of hypocrisy to undermine such a messenger. “A previous SIGINT" -- or signals intelligence, the interception of communications -- "assessment report on radicalization indicated that radicalizers appear to be particularly vulnerable in the area of authority when their private and public behaviors are not consistent,” the document argues.

 

The document explained how targeting the “personal vulnerabilities” of six Muslims identified as “radicalizers” could be used to harm their authority, reputation, and credibility by exposing hypocritical behavior in contrast to their public personas.

Among the vulnerabilities listed by the NSA that can be effectively exploited are “viewing sexually explicit material online” and “using sexually explicit persuasive language when communicating with inexperienced young girls.”

 

The NSA possesses embarrassing sexually explicit information about at least two of the targets by virtue of electronic surveillance of their online activity. The report states that some of the data was gleaned through FBI surveillance programs carried out under the Foreign Intelligence and Surveillance Act. The document adds, "Information herein is based largely on Sunni extremist communications." It further states that "the SIGINT information is from primary sources with direct access and is generally considered reliable."

 

According to the document, the NSA believes that exploiting electronic surveillance to publicly reveal online sexual activities can make it harder for these “radicalizers” to maintain their credibility.

 

"Focusing on access reveals potential vulnerabilities that could be even more effectively exploited when used in combination with vulnerabilities of character or credibility, or both, of the message in order to shape the perception of the messenger as well as that of his followers," the document argues.
 

An attached appendix lists the "argument" each surveillance target has made that the NSA says constitutes radicalism, as well the personal "vulnerabilities" the agency believes would leave the targets "open to credibility challenges" if exposed.

 

James Bamford, a journalist who has been covering the NSA since the early 1980s, said the use of surveillance to exploit embarrassing private behavior is precisely what led to past U.S. surveillance scandals. "The NSA's operation is eerily similar to the FBI's operations under J. Edgar Hoover in the 1960s where the bureau used wiretapping to discover vulnerabilities, such as sexual activity, to 'neutralize' their targets," he said. "Back then, the idea was developed by the longest serving FBI chief in U.S. history, today it was suggested by the longest serving NSA chief in U.S. history."

 

“Wherever you are, the NSA’s databases store information about your political views, your medical history, your intimate relationships and your activities online,” American Civil Liberties Union Deputy Legal Director Jameel Jaffer said. ”The NSA says this personal information won’t be abused, but these documents show that the NSA probably defines ‘abuse’ very narrowly.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/26/nsa-porn-muslims_n_4346128.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000003&ir=Technology

Sign the petition: Demand an end to mass surveillance
https://en.necessaryandproportionate.org/take-action/eff
 

The FBI to begin using its facial recognition or Next Generation Identification System (NGI)

Facial recognition is a key part of the FBI's ambitious $1 billion Next Generation Identification System (NGI) -- a state-of-the-art biometric identification system that also includes iris scans, DNA analysis and voice identification. The mission is to reduce terrorist and criminal activity by improving and expanding biometric identification as well as criminal history information services. (To find out more about the FBI's NGI system click these links here, here, here and here.)

Amie Stepanovich, the director of the domestic surveillance project at the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington D.C. argues that Facebook has the largest biometric database in the world, which could eventually compromise its users.

 

In an interview with NPR, Stephanovich said:

 

"No matter how much a company attempts to protect your privacy, if they're collecting information about you, that information is vulnerable to government search."

http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/25/tech/embracing-big-brother-facial-recognition/

The NSA's plans to “dominate” the world’s Internet and telecom networks

A February 2012 document called ‘SIGINT Strategy 2012-2016’ outlines exactly what the NSA plans to “dominate” the world’s Internet and telecom networks.

1. Strong commercial encryption works -- and the NSA is trying to destroy it. A major goal outlined in the blueprint is to “Counter the challenge of ubiquitous, strong, commercial network encryption.” One of the ways it plans to do so is by using human spies to influence and weaken encryption standards at tech companies. Or in NSA speak, it plans to “counter indigenous cryptographic programs by targeting their industrial bases with all available SIGINT and HUMINT capabilities.” (HUMINT means ‘human intelligence’, or spies.) NSA also intends to “influence the global commercial encryption market through commercial relationships, HUMINT, and second and third party partners.” For an agency that claims to care about cybersecurity, these efforts to harm internet security appear front and center among the agency’s goals. NSA says it must “defeat adversary cybersecurity practices in order to acquire the SIGINT data we need from anyone, anytime, anywhere.” By defeating strong commercial encryption and ensuring no one, anywhere, can have secure internet communications, NSA endangers the security of everyone’s information -- including yours, Goldman Sachs.
2. The agency has much of the world’s data -- but does it have the technological prowess to make sense of it all? The strategy document suggests it does not, but that obtaining it is its top priority through 2016. The first goal listed in the document reads: “Revolutionize analysis – fundamentally shift our analytic approach from a production to a discovery bias, enriched by innovative customer/partner engagement, radically increasing operational impact across all mission domains.”
3. NSA says it knows that its ability to obtain digital communications information worldwide “will only endure if we keep sight of the dynamic and increasingly market driven forces that continue to shape the SIGINT battle space.” In other words, the agency knows it has to have spies on the inside of technology companies in order to have the information -- and influence -- it needs to both tap into and shape communications platforms and encryption standards. Aware that its collection of vast quantities of the world’s communications data relies significantly on the cooperation of private corporations that manage and process the information, the NSA plans to “identify new access, collection, and exploitation methods by leveraging global business trends in data and communications services.” Part of this expanded collection will, the agency hopes, involve integration of “the SIGINT system into a national network of sensors which interactively sense, respond, and alert one another at machine speed.”
4. Believe it or not, the NSA thinks it needs more legal power: “The interpretation and guidelines for applying our authorities, and in some cases the authorities themselves, have not kept pace with the complexity of the technology and target environments, or the operational expectations levied on NSA’s mission.” The agency continues: “For SIGINT to be optimally effective, legal, policy, and process authorities must be as adaptive and dynamic as the technological and operational advances we seek to exploit. Nevertheless, the culture of compliance, which has allowed the American people to entrust NSA with extraordinary authorities, will not be compromised in the face of so many demands, even as we aggressively pursue legal authorities and a policy framework mapped more fully to the information age.” Congress is currently considering a range of bills that would rein in the NSA and FBI’s spy powers. The NSA, meanwhile, is plotting to expand its ‘legal’ authorities, as well as loosen the 'interpretation' of statutes to enable more collection, wider latitude for analysts, and likely also broader sharing of our communications information in and outside of government.
5. NSA is well aware that knowledge about our ‘digital traces’ equals power over us: “the traces individuals leave when they interact with the global network will define the capacity to locate, characterize and understand entities” -- by entities they mean us. Knowledge is power.
6. Even amidst a crackdown against leaks, a war on whistleblowers, and internal witch hunts in government to identify people who may harbor ‘subversive’ ideas (such as a respect for individual privacy), the NSA plans to expand -- rather than contract -- government agency access to its vast data collections. “To remain a value for the warfighter our information must be immediately available at the lowest classification level,” the document says. “Products and services from NSA will evolve into forms and across boundaries that mirror the networked and agile manner in which people interact in the information age, and we will share information, responsibly and securely, with external partners and customers.” The agency identifies “shar[ing] bulk data” as one of its primary goals for the 2012-2016 period. Can we look forward to state and local police fusion centers getting access to our bulk records? Just imagine if your local sheriff or police chief could rummage through your emails and phone records, no warrant or probable cause required.
7. If that isn’t enough, New York Times journalists James Risen and Laura Poitras describe the NSA’s plans to map the global internet, down to the device I wrote this on and the one upon which you’re reading it.

Other N.S.A. documents offer hints of how the agency is trying to do just that. One program, code-named Treasure Map, provides what a secret N.S.A. PowerPoint presentation describes as “a near real-time, interactive map of the global Internet.” According to the undated PowerPoint presentation, disclosed by Mr. Snowden, Treasure Map gives the N.S.A. “a 300,000 foot view of the Internet.”  

Relying on Internet routing data, commercial and Sigint information, Treasure Map is a sophisticated tool, one that the PowerPoint presentation describes as a “massive Internet mapping, analysis and exploration engine.” It collects Wi-Fi network and geolocation data, and between 30 million and 50 million unique Internet provider addresses — code that can reveal the location and owner of a computer, mobile device or router — are represented each day on Treasure Map, according to the document. It boasts that the program can map “any device, anywhere, all the time.” 

The NSA says that this “Treasure Map” isn’t used for surveillance, but only to understand the global internet. That obviously makes no sense. What’s the difference between surreptitiously gathering non-public information to understand systems on the one hand, and surveillance on the other? And isn’t the NSA’s number one job to spy on the world, anyway? As the NSA itself said: "the traces individuals leave when they interact with the global network will define the capacity to locate, characterize and understand entities." 

 

The NSA’s blueprint for unlimited power shows that the agency, if left to its own devices, will continue barreling full speed ahead towards the absolute destruction of meaningful anonymity, privacy, and digital security for all people in the 21st century. A year and change before the Snowden revelations shook the world, it argued that its legal authorities must be expanded, citing the American public's 'trust' in its capable hands. In the wake of Snowden's truth telling, after having learned about what the agency actually does with our money, congress and the public are moving in the opposite direction. 

 

An important first step is to pass the USA Freedom Act, which would outlaw the bulk collection of our phone records. Given the expansive and chilling plans laid out in the NSA strategy document, that might seem like a half-measure that will have no real effect on the government’s out of control surveillance state. But if you don’t think outlawing bulk collection is important, consider what your life would look like if -- as the NSA appears to want to do -- the three letter agencies started opening up those data troves to our state and local police. 
http://privacysos.org/node/1243

http://privacysos.org/sites/all/files/nsa-sigint-strategy-2012-2016.pdf

A new map reveals the NSA's massive worldwide malware operations:

A new map details how many companies across the world have been infected by malware by the National Security Agency's team of hackers, and where the companies are located.

Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad reports the NSA uses malware to infect, infiltrate and steal information from over 50,000 computer networks around the globe. This new, previously unreported scope of the NSA's hacking operation comes from another PowerPoint slide showing a detailed map of every infection leaked by former contractor Edward Snowden.

The practice is called "Computer Network Exploitation," or CNE for short, and it's carried out by the NSA's Tailored Access Operations team. A yellow dot on the map signifies a CNE infection. The NSA plants malware within a network that can flipped on or off at any time. Once a network is infected, the malware gives the NSA unfiltered access to the network's information whenever it's most convenient. The Washington Post previously profiled the team of "elite hackers" who make up the NSA's TAO division.  

 

The British intelligence service liked this strategy too, NRC Handelsblad reports, because they successfully duped a Belgium telecom company with a fake LinkedIn account. A strip at the bottom says the map is relative to relative to the U.K., Australia, New Zealand, and Canada, the "Five Eyes" nations that share intelligence. 

 

The bulk of CNE operations take place in Europe, South American and Asia. Some are speculating CNE operations focus on Internet service providers, telecom giants and other similar companies to better facilitate massive information collection. 

 

Where the NSA's team of hackers fit into the organization's greater intelligence gathering structure is presently unclear. But another new document, a February 2012 memo leaked to The New York Times about the NSA's goals for the future, shows exactly how extensive the NSA thought its intelligence gathering would become. They wanted everything:

 

Intent on unlocking the secrets of adversaries, the paper underscores the agency’s long-term goal of being able to collect virtually everything available in the digital world. To achieve that objective, the paper suggests that the N.S.A. plans to gain greater access, in a variety of ways, to the infrastructure of the world’s telecommunications networks. 

http://www.thewire.com/national/2013/11/map-shows-nsas-massive-worldwide-malware-operations/355453/#ixzz2lZt4xJj0

NSA might have illegally broken into telecommunication companies fiber optic cables to spy on Americans:

People knowledgeable about Google and Yahoo’s infrastructure say they believe that government spies bypassed the big Internet companies and hit them at a weak spot — the fiber-optic cables that connect data centers around the world that are owned by companies like Verizon Communications, the BT Group, the Vodafone Group and Level 3 Communications. In particular, fingers have been pointed at Level 3, the world’s largest so-called Internet backbone provider, whose cables are used by Google and Yahoo.
      

The Internet companies’ data centers are locked down with full-time security and state-of-the-art surveillance, including heat sensors and iris scanners. But between the data centers — on Level 3’s fiber-optic cables that connected those massive computer farms — information was unencrypted and an easier target for government intercept efforts, according to three people with knowledge of Google’s and Yahoo’s systems who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

      

It is impossible to say for certain how the N.S.A. managed to get Google and Yahoo’s data without the companies’ knowledge. But both companies, in response to concerns over those vulnerabilities, recently said they were now encrypting data that runs on the cables between their data centers. Microsoft is considering a similar move.

      

“Everyone was so focused on the N.S.A. secretly getting access to the front door that there was an assumption they weren’t going behind the companies’ backs and tapping data through the back door, too,” said Kevin Werbach, an associate professor at the Wharton School.

 

Level 3 is not a household name in Colorado like Verizon or AT&T, but in terms of its ability to carry traffic, it is bigger than the other two carriers combined. Its networking equipment is found in 200 data centers in the United States, more than 100 centers in Europe and 14 in Latin America.

      

Level 3 did not directly respond to an inquiry about whether it had given the N.S.A., or the agency’s foreign intelligence partners, access to Google and Yahoo’s data. In a statement, Level 3 said: “It is our policy and our practice to comply with laws in every country where we operate, and to provide government agencies access to customer data only when we are compelled to do so by the laws in the country where the data is located.”

      

Also, in a financial filing, Level 3 noted that, “We are party to an agreement with the U.S. Departments of Homeland Security, Justice and Defense addressing the U.S. government’s national security and law enforcement concerns. This agreement imposes significant requirements on us related to information storage and management; traffic management; physical, logical and network security arrangements; personnel screening and training; and other matters.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/26/technology/a-peephole-for-the-nsa.html?_r=1&

DHS grants are making police departments across the country subordinate to them

Using “grants” and other economic incentives, DHS is paying police departments to become subordinate outposts of the increasingly militarized federal agency.

An Associated Press investigation of the Defense Department military surplus program this year found that a disproportionate share of the $4.2 billion worth of property distributed since 1990 — everything from blankets to bayonets and Humvees — has been obtained by police and sheriff's departments in rural areas with few officers and little crime.

 

The New American has chronicled this dangerous trend for years and we’ve begun to notice the acceleration of the pace of DHS consolidation of control of local police departments and sheriffs offices around the country.

 

Financial grants earmarked for “improving homeland security” aren’t the only DHS carrot enticing cash-strapped police departments to subject themselves to federal management. DHS also uses the establishment of “buffer zones” and fusion centers to accomplish its surreptitious seizure of police forces.

 

It’s not enough, however, for Homeland Security to merely take control of local police. A primary focus of the plan is to enlarge the surveillance net by equipping squad cars and precincts with technology enabling them to target and track citizens whether at home or on the road.

 

From license plate readers to facial recognition software, from surveillance cameras to cellphone signal trackers, the Department of Homeland Security is providing police with all the gadgets, hardware, and software necessary to keep everybody under surveillance, without the targeted public ever realizing that it’s the Capitol, not the cops, that are behind the monitoring.

 

Local police who participate in the program will have access to a shockingly broad array of personal information of citizens. Facial recognition technology, license plate readers, and stop light camera video feeds will all be funneled to a Regional Operations Intelligence Center where FBI, police, and DHS agents can watch the live feeds.

 

Here are a few notices of the success of the plan as reported by local media:

 

This from the Long Beach (California) Press-Telegram:

 

The Police Department will receive a $40,954 grant from the Department of Homeland Security as reimbursement for the purchase of various law enforcement equipment over the past three years.

 

About $23,619 will be used on automated vehicle license plate readers, which can be portable or positioned on a squad car.

 

The readers scan license plates on passing vehicles and check the information against local, regional and state criminal databases. Each plate is also compared with plate numbers associated with auto thefts, felony warrants, parking violations and Amber alerts.

 

The Police Department has two automated readers but hasn’t decided how many new pieces of equipment to purchase, Police Chief Michael Langston said. 

A total of $12,500 will be used to upgrade the security camera system at Hilltop Park, 2351 Dawson Ave., and Discovery Well, 2200 Temple Ave., the two parks in the city with a security camera system.

 

A disturbing article from the Times-Tribune in Corbin, Kentucky:

 

During the regular monthly meeting of the Barbourville City Council, BPD Detective Steve Owens told council members that their department was tapped by the federal Office of Homeland Security.

 

“Basically, Homeland Security came to the Barbourville Police Department requesting an officer (to be a part of their) task force,” Owens said.

 

Council members were required to approve a resolution that included a “memorandum of understanding” that established the partnership between the BPD and Homeland Security.

 

Owens added that the designated officer would have federal investigative powers. Owens explained that if the city’s police department uncovers a crime that would lead to federal charges, that officer would be able to assist.

 

Owens also told council members that the city would receive a portion of any monies or property seized during the course of an investigation that leads to federal charges and/or convictions.

Police getting leftover Iraqi trucks in New York:

Queensbury N.Y. — Coming soon to your local sheriff: 18-ton, armor-protected military fighting vehicles with gun turrets and bulletproof glass that were once the U.S. answer to roadside bombs during the Iraq war.

The hulking vehicles, built for about $500,000 each at the height of the war, are among the biggest pieces of equipment that the Defense Department is giving to law enforcement agencies under a national military surplus program.

For police and sheriff’s departments, which have scooped up 165 of the mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicles, or MRAPS, since they became available this summer, the price and the ability to deliver shock and awe while serving warrants or dealing with hostage standoffs was just too good to pass up.

“It’s armored. It’s heavy. It’s intimidating. And it’s free,” said Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple, among five county sheriff’s departments and three other police agencies in New York that have taken delivery of an MRAP.

But the trucks have limits. They are too big to travel on some bridges and roads and have a tendency to be tippy on uneven ground. And then there’s some cost of retrofitting them for civilian use and fueling the 36,000-pound behemoths that get about 5 miles to the gallon.

The American Civil Liberties Union is criticizing what it sees as the increasing militarization of the nation’s police. ACLU affiliates have been collecting 2012 records to determine the extent of military hardware and tactics acquired by police, planning to issue a report early next year.

“One of our concerns with this is it has a tendency to escalate violence,” said ACLU Center for Justice senior counsel Kara Dansky.

An Associated Press investigation of the Defense Department military surplus program this year found that a disproportionate share of the $4.2 billion worth of property distributed since 1990 — everything from blankets to bayonets and Humvees — has been obtained by police and sheriff’s departments in rural areas with few officers and little crime.

After the initial 165 of the MRAP trucks were distributed this year, military officials say police have requests in for 731 more, but none are available.

QUEENSBURY, N.Y. — Coming soon to your local sheriff: 18-ton, armor-protected military fighting vehicles with gun turrets and bulletproof glass that were once the U.S. answer to roadside bombs during the Iraq war.

The hulking vehicles, built for about $500,000 each at the height of the war, are among the biggest pieces of equipment that the Defense Department is giving to law enforcement agencies under a national military surplus program.

For police and sheriff’s departments, which have scooped up 165 of the mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicles, or MRAPS, since they became available this summer, the price and the ability to deliver shock and awe while serving warrants or dealing with hostage standoffs was just too good to pass up.

“It’s armored. It’s heavy. It’s intimidating. And it’s free,” said Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple, among five county sheriff’s departments and three other police agencies in New York that have taken delivery of an MRAP.

But the trucks have limits. They are too big to travel on some bridges and roads and have a tendency to be tippy on uneven ground. And then there’s some cost of retrofitting them for civilian use and fueling the 36,000-pound behemoths that get about 5 miles to the gallon.

The American Civil Liberties Union is criticizing what it sees as the increasing militarization of the nation’s police. ACLU affiliates have been collecting 2012 records to determine the extent of military hardware and tactics acquired by police, planning to issue a report early next year.

“One of our concerns with this is it has a tendency to escalate violence,” said ACLU Center for Justice senior counsel Kara Dansky.

An Associated Press investigation of the Defense Department military surplus program this year found that a disproportionate share of the $4.2 billion worth of property distributed since 1990 — everything from blankets to bayonets and Humvees — has been obtained by police and sheriff’s departments in rural areas with few officers and little crime.

After the initial 165 of the MRAP trucks were distributed this year, military officials say police have requests in for 731 more, but none are available.

Read more at http://www.toledoblade.com/Nation/2013/11/24/Spoils-of-war-Police-getting-leftover-Iraq-trucks.html#3GxcBZrkyC8lw0eQ.99

QUEENSBURY, N.Y. — Coming soon to your local sheriff: 18-ton, armor-protected military fighting vehicles with gun turrets and bulletproof glass that were once the U.S. answer to roadside bombs during the Iraq war.

The hulking vehicles, built for about $500,000 each at the height of the war, are among the biggest pieces of equipment that the Defense Department is giving to law enforcement agencies under a national military surplus program.

For police and sheriff’s departments, which have scooped up 165 of the mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicles, or MRAPS, since they became available this summer, the price and the ability to deliver shock and awe while serving warrants or dealing with hostage standoffs was just too good to pass up.

“It’s armored. It’s heavy. It’s intimidating. And it’s free,” said Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple, among five county sheriff’s departments and three other police agencies in New York that have taken delivery of an MRAP.

But the trucks have limits. They are too big to travel on some bridges and roads and have a tendency to be tippy on uneven ground. And then there’s some cost of retrofitting them for civilian use and fueling the 36,000-pound behemoths that get about 5 miles to the gallon.

The American Civil Liberties Union is criticizing what it sees as the increasing militarization of the nation’s police. ACLU affiliates have been collecting 2012 records to determine the extent of military hardware and tactics acquired by police, planning to issue a report early next year.

“One of our concerns with this is it has a tendency to escalate violence,” said ACLU Center for Justice senior counsel Kara Dansky.

An Associated Press investigation of the Defense Department military surplus program this year found that a disproportionate share of the $4.2 billion worth of property distributed since 1990 — everything from blankets to bayonets and Humvees — has been obtained by police and sheriff’s departments in rural areas with few officers and little crime.

After the initial 165 of the MRAP trucks were distributed this year, military officials say police have requests in for 731 more, but none are available.

Read more at http://www.toledoblade.com/Nation/2013/11/24/Spoils-of-war-Police-getting-leftover-Iraq-trucks.html#3GxcBZrkyC8lw0eQ.99

Still more evidence of the unconstitutional bribery of local law enforcement is found in this story published by WBOC-TV in Salisbury, Maryland:

 

Keeping you safe through the eyes of a police car. New cameras have been added to some police cars in Salisbury.

 

Sgt. Scott Elliott of the Salisbury Police Department said that nine cars, including a K-9 and an unmarked patrol vehicle, are now equipped with small but powerful cameras.

 

"If you're searching for a suspect in the area or someone that fled from you then in a low light situation the infrared camera will actually pick up body heat," he said.

 

Elliott said, the entire system including hardware and installation cost about $65,000. He said that money comes from various grants including the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

 

Another report of a formerly independent local police department taking DHS grant money to improve its ability to “keep residents safe” by keeping them under constant federally-funded surveillance. This time, a story published earlier this month in the Deerfield Valley News in southern Vermont reports on the purchase (thanks to DHS money) of automatic license plate readers (ALPR).
 

One municipality that uses an ALPR system is Wilmington, VT. According to town manager Scott Murphy, the ALPR was acquired nearly two years ago when police chief Joe Szarejko took advantage of a DHS grant that paid for the system. While Szarejko could not be reached for comment, Murphy explained that the device only makes the community safer. “We’ve picked up suspected felons, or stopped people speeding through town or who were speeding through another town,” said Murphy. “It’s a safety-related issue and regular police work, and we’ve done a good job of protecting residents and visitors who want to live and shop in a safe location.”

Radley Balko, the author of "The Rise of the Warrior Cop," argues that the police mind set in the country is to be like a soldier.

 

"Instead of bringing soldiers in to do domestic law enforcement, we have allowed, and even encouraged, police officers to basically be armed like, police like, use the tactics of, be dressed like and adopt the mind set of these soldiers," he said at a CSPAN forum last summer. "And the outcome is just as troubling, I think, as if the military were actually doing domestic police themselves."

 

Whether police commanders across the country realize it or not, when they accept federal gadgets and grants, they are surrendering their independence and our civil liberties.

http://thenewamerican.com/usnews/crime/item/17023-from-coast-to-coast-dhs-is-taking-over-local-police

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/11/26/defense-department-gives-local-police-equipment-designed-for-warzone/

TSA spent $900 million on 'Behavior Detection' officers who didn't detect a single terrorist

USA - Federal contractors have been setting up roadblocks in cities across the
country with the purpose of collecting DNA samples from passing
motorists. The multi-million dollar federal program has been disturbing
drivers and alarming civil libertarians.

The roadblocks were part of a study orchestrated by the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration (NHTSA). The agency contracted the Pacific Institute for
Research and Evaluation, based in Calverton, MD, to perform the
roadblocks. The program costs taxpayers $7.9 million over 3 years,
according to NBC News Dallas-Fort Worth.

The agency confirmed that the operation is currently being launched in 30 different U.S. cities.


For an example of how this is done, skip to (1:40) of the video for a news report depicting a citizen's account:
Drivers in North Ft. Worth, Texas, are being pulled over at a police roadblock and asked for
saliva, blood and breath samples. They are offered $10 for a cheek-swab
DNA sample, $50 for a blood sample, and nothing for a breath sample —
since passive alcohol sensors gather that information the moment the
driver is pulled over.NBC5 Dallas-Fort Worth found that contractors for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration are stopping people as part of a $7.9 million voluntary survey on
drunken or impaired drivers that is taking place over three years in 30 cities.
Read more at http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=862_1385297162#Hd2x8oDObjTLEWFA.99

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) spent approximately $900 million over the last 5 years for behavior detection officers to identify high-risk passengers but, so far, according to the General Accountability Office (GAO), only 0.59% of the passengers flagged were arrested and among those not one was charged with terrorism – zero.

In 2003, the TSA started testing its Screening of Passengers by Observation Technique (SPOT) program, which was then fully deployed in 2007. About 3,000 behavior detection officers (BDO) “had been deployed to 176 of the more than 450 TSA-regulated airports in the United States” by fiscal year 2012 (Oct. 1, 2011 – Sept. 30, 2012), according to the GAO.

 

Those BDO officers are trained to “identify passenger behaviors indicative of stress, fear, or deception and refer passengers” and their baggage for additional screening, reported the GAO in its Nov. 8, 2013 report, Aviation Security: TSA Should Limit Future Funding for Behavior Detection Activities.

 

Since 2007, the TSA has spent approximately $900 million on the SPOT program, said the GAO.

 

During the SPOT screening, the TSA’s behavior detection officers are supposed to look for and identify “high-risk passengers based on behavioral indicators that indicate mal-intent,” said the GAO.  The BDOs can refer the passengers to a law enforcement officer (LEO) for further investigation. From there, if warranted, a passenger (or passengers) can be arrested.

In a statement for the Subcommittee on Transportation Security, Stephen M. Lord, the director of homeland security and justice issues at the GAO, said that in fiscal years 2011 and 2012, for the 49 airports the GAO analyzed, there were 61,000 SPOT referrals, meaning that many passengers apparently displayed “behavioral indicators that indicate mal-intent.”

 

From that number, 8,700 (13.6%) were referred to a LEO. And from those LEO referrals, 365 (4%) “resulted in an arrest,” said the GAO.

 

That 4% of 61,000 SPOT referrals is 0.59%. In other words, for the SPOT referrals, 99.41% were not arrested. For the 0.59%, none were arrested for “terrorism.”

 

For that 0.59% arrested, the GAO stated the following in a footnote: “The SPOT database identifies six reasons for arrest, including (1) fraudulent documents, (2) illegal alien, (3) other, (4) outstanding warrants, (5) suspected drugs, and (6) undeclared currency.”

CNSNews.com asked Director Lord if it were accurate to report that of those 365 persons arrested, not one was arrested for “terrorism”?   Lord answered by e-mail: “This is accurate for the arrests but please see footnote 98 and 99 on page 45 of the full report (GAO-14-159)  as TSA believes that some of these referrals to law enforcement might be related to terrorism but has no supporting documentation or system to track the basis for these referrals.”

 

Footnote 98 says: “TSA was unable to provide documentation to support the number of  referrals that were forwarded to law enforcement for further  investigation for potential ties to terrorism.”

 

In his statement, Director Lord said, as explained in the November 2013 report, “TSA cannot demonstrate the effectiveness of its behavior detection activities, and available evidence does not support whether behavioral indicators can be used to identify threats to aviation security.”

 

The report concluded by recommending that “TSA limit future funding for its behavior detection activities,” but “DHS did not concur with our recommendation.”

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/michael-w-chapman/tsa-spent-900-million-behavior-detection-officers-who-detected-0

TSA latest B/S claim: ‘Exploding boobs’ are the #1 terrorist threat in our airports:
http://www.guns.com/2013/11/25/funny-die-exploding-boobs-tsas-number-one-terrorist-threat-video/#!

The San Francisco Bay Area Regional Interoperable Communications Systems Authority (BayRICS) Facial Recognition Presentation

The presentation lists license plate readers, facial recognition and field fingerprint scanning as potential uses of the Bay Area Regional Interoperable Communications System Authority (BayRICS) network.

The East Bay Regional Communications System Authority (EBRCSA) was officially created on September 11, 2007 with the formation of a Joint Powers Authority (JPA).  In California State Statute, a JPA is viewed as an independent governmental agency with the same powers that accrue to one of the member agencies. Currently there are 43 member agencies consisting of both counties, 30 cities, 6 special districts, 3 Colleges, Dublin-San Ramon Services District and the California Department of Transportation serving a population of over 2.5 million people.  The Board of Directors is made up of 23 representatives consisting of Elected Officials, Police Chiefs, Fire Chiefs, and City Managers who will be responsible for the overall development, operations and funding of the system. 

Representatives from both counties have been working together for over 6 years using Homeland Security grants funds from the Bay Area Security Initiative (UASI), State Homeland Security (SHSGP) grant programs, and COPS grant funds to fund infrastructure build out while the JPA formation process moved forward.  CTA Communications completed a detailed system design and operational cost model, the system is estimated to cost approximately $70 million.  To date, the EBRCSA has secured close to $51 million in Federal Homeland Security grants to build out the infrastructure. 

http://info.publicintelligence.net/BAYRICS-Overview.pdf

The Electronic Frontier Foundation claims DHS's domestic surveillance drone information shouldn't be kept secret:

DHS should identify counties where it conducts surveillance drone flights over U.S. soil, a digital privacy rights group urged a federal judge.
     
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) sued the agency late last year for information on, among other things, the policies that the department and its component Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) had in place for domestic surveillance by unmanned aircraft.
     
Litigation has since won the digital civil liberties group three years of redacted "daily reports" revealing that the department arranged more than 500 flights for dozens of law-enforcement organizations, and that more than a fifth of these flights helped Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the EFF says.
     
The FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. Coast Guard, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and several branches of the military also received drone assistance as well as several County Sheriff's Offices, the locations of which were redacted.
 
Both parties have filed motions for summary judgment.
 
The government argues that the release of specific information about drone flights "might create a risk of circumvention of the law because persons could target their illegal activity in those areas where CBP is not authorized to fly, thus impeding ongoing enforcement activities."
 
But the EFF says the government has failed to produce evidence to substantiate its fears.
 
"Despite admitting that numerous investigative techniques related to Predator drone surveillance are publicly known or routine, the government asserts that there are details related to these techniques that still remain secret," its reply brief filed Tuesday states. "Yet, the government fails to provide substantial evidence of the alleged secrecy of these details or any basis for this Court to assess whether the additional disclosure of such details would result in a reasonable risk of circumvention."
 
The nonprofit noted that the average county size along the U.S.-Mexico border, where most of the drone activity occurs, is 7,573 square miles.
 
Such sizes make it highly unlikely the release of county-location information would let a particular suspected criminal link drone surveillance to his activity, the EFF claimed.
 
"Defendant has not rebutted plaintiff's argument that counties in areas where CBP flies are so large, and criminal behavior so prevalent, that it wouldn't affect criminal behavior to release locations of operations and maps related to Predator drone flights or the names of various county sheriffs' departments," the EFF's reply brief states. "As such, this information should be released."
 
Even if the court finds some of this information should remain confidential, the nonprofit said that the government has not segregated exempt from nonexempt information, as many pages of the government's release contain large blocks of redacted text.
 
If the court has any doubts about ordering the documents' release, "EFF suggests that in camera inspection of some of all of the records at issue would be appropriate."
http://www.courthousenews.com/2013/11/20/eff%20reply.pdf