April 9, 2006 9:53 AM BST
The Puzzle Palace : Inside America's Most Secret Intelligence Organization @1982 by James Bamford ISBN 0 14 00.6748 5 is a fascinating book. When you realize the technology they had available to them, back then (they hire the best and brightest theoretical minds from the best colleges in the US....and maybe elsewhere) and what they could do long before any of us dreamed of it...some of it is only now commonly known abilities...and realize how far their capabilities are ahead of what you know today is possible....it's truly frightening. In 1982 they were assessing every phone call within 30 miles of central Washington, D.C. for specific words in VOICE communications on the phone. What are they capable of today? Well, buy the sequel Body of Secrets : Anatomy of the Ultra-Secret National Security Agency @2001......figure in that technology advances logrithmically....2001 to 2006 probably equals the last 50 yrs of technological innovation.......then guess what they can really do today. I guarantee the second book didn't come close to guessing their capabilities. THE PUZZLE PALACE is why I, today, belong to a number of privacy and security websites and am quite careful about my communications. I make them work to spy on me.
Don't breathe a sigh of relief, UKers, I guarantee they are watching you too, and so are MI-5 and MI-6. Personally, AT&T is permanently off my phone/internet provider list. That kind of action by millions of customers will get the other phone/internet service provider's attention in a way no verbal protest could. The Wikipedia links below are for an easily understood explaination of the sites linked above them.
ELECTRONIC FRONTIER FOUNDATION
http://www.eff.org
http://en.wikipedia.org/w[...]ndation
PRETTY GOOD PRIVACY
http:////www.pgp.com/prod[...]ex.html
http:////en.wikipedia.org[...]Privacy
The NSA can break PGP. It probably takes a considerable use of resources to do it (like time on a supercomputer)and they need to be specifically motivated by you to do it. The more people who use....the more overwhelmed they are.
I haven't reviewed this book, yet, but I'm thinking of purchasing it:
http:////www.powells.com/[...]ch.y=10
We give much of our personal information away unknowingly and willingly. Reading books on privacy and security can make you aware of "traps".
The day is not far off when you will walk into your local supermarket, be identified by your face, be marketed to as you go through the store (instead of in the checkout stand with your store card, as they do now) and check out by simply walking out with your purchases...automatically rung up and billed to your debit card without you ever indicating who you are. If this doesn't scare you....pretend you are TG and are quietly shopping for women's items in a store that will make it clear what you are....cameras on the street and in the store will identify you, record your movements.... where you went, what you purchased, in what size and color, how you paid for it........and after you leave RFID could help detectors follow that SPECIFIC item everywhere you went near a detector. The US government is looking at RFID type transponders in license plates to track your automobile and how you operate it....speeding, failure to stop for a light or signal a turn.....they are trying to get this done NOW in the US. Of course, they can also accidentallyfind out that you drove to Angelique's Boutique for Crossdressers if they examine your movements for another reason. Put this information into a central government computer and you will have no privacy outside your home...and your fridge may be notifying Ralph's Supermarket that you just took out your last carton of milk and didn't replace it....and they will send you a nice grocery list in the mail or by email offering you coupons for milk. (not really, it's against the law to do that with milk, for some reason)
This is not science fiction. They already have the technology to do it and appliances will be communicating with the outside world over the internet..."why, yes officer, I WAS home at 1035 this morning, why do you ask?" "My refrigerator told you I was consuming food for two and my brother escaped from prison last week and you have a warrant to search." If you don't think this is possible, you haven't been paying attention to The Patriot Act the last few years.
BOYCOTT, AT&t NOW! The odds are you can talk a competitor into a better deal. Just let AT&T know why you are leaving them.......forever.
April 28, 2006 2:45 AM BST
The price of freedom is eternal vigilance. First in our thoughts and Forever in our hearts. Let no man forget the price we pay for freedom and those that would take it away----Thomas Jefferson
He also said "Information is the currency of democracy." and "There are rights which it is useless to surrender to the government and which governments have yet always found to invade. These are the rights of thinking and publishing our thoughts by speaking or writing; the right of free commerce; the right of personal freedom."
and "A right of free correspondence between citizen and citizen on their joint interests whether public or private and under whatsoever laws these interests arise (to wit: of the State, of Congress, of France, Spain, or Turkey), is a natural right; it is not the gift of any municipal law, either of England, or Virginia, or of Congress, but in common with all other natural rights, it is one of the objects for the protection of which society is formed and municipal laws established."
to James Monroe (1797) Which addresses what we do here on TW.
Finally,
"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is it's natural manure." What I think he is saying here is that "the best laid plans of mice and men gang aft aglay." At some point we let them slowly drain away our freedoms and have to pay a heavy price to get them back. America will pay that price in the future for The Patriot Act.
I better stop quoting this "subversive" literature or my government will swoop down and arrest me. I dont mind, if I can share my cell with Thomas Jefferson.
That Just proves that all of bill gates's wealth has scrambled his brain BIG-TIME. Of course he wants "electronic Houses".....cos it'll probably be Microsoft who provides all the software.
Love & xxxxxxxx Anna-Marie
" this girls not as daft as she looks"
Did Orwell have the date wrong?
House software by M$? Damn, no thanks, if I had to wait for the OS to re"boot" I'd end up late for work or going in barefoot....and no way Bill gates is controlling my toilet.
