Tag: mass surveillance

[2019] US military begins testing flying surveillance balloons across the country to TRACK people’s movements

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)
Screenshot from YouTube.

US military begins testing flying surveillance balloons across the country to TRACK people’s movements

The tests were carried out by U.S. Southern Command, or Southcom, which is part of the Department of Defense and is responsible for intelligence operations, security cooperation and disaster response in Central and South America. It’s a joint effort by the U.S. Air Force, Navy, Army and other forces whose main task is finding and intercepting drug shipments that are destined for the U.S. According to the Guardian, as many as 25 unmanned solar powered balloons were launched from rural South Dakota and made their way 250 miles across the neighboring states in tests.

Related:

Worldview Stratollites are commercial high altitude balloons like Google Loon – Worldview had an explosion December 2017

Stratollites can maintain position over specific areas of interest for days, weeks, and eventually months on end. This allows for more sustained measurements and monitoring capabilities over a targeted area. Stratollites can carry a wide variety of commercial payloads (sensors, telescopes, communications arrays, etc.), launch rapidly on demand, and safely return payloads back to earth after mission completion.

Some interesting ‘coincidences’:

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Why Not Defund the Military?

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Amidst all the talk about defunding the police, notice something important: No one talks about defunding the military. That’s because the military establishment is too powerful and has come to be accepted as a permanent feature in American life. Except for libertarians, everyone treats the military as their god.

Why Not Defund the Military?

Not sure if he’s correct about military capabilities but I can get behind defunding the military!

More Mass Surveillance: FOIA Docs Reveal Illegal Snooping On US Residents’ Financial Transactions

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

If it can conceivably be considered a “third party record,” the government is going to seek warrantless access to it. The Third Party Doctrine — ushered into existence by the Supreme Court in 1979 — says there’s no expectation of privacy in information shared with third parties. That case dealt with phone records. People may prefer the government stay out of their personal conversations, but the Smith v. Maryland ruling said that if people shared this info with phone companies (an involuntary “sharing” since this information was needed to connect calls and bill phone users), the government could obtain this information without a warrant.

More Mass Surveillance: FOIA Docs Reveal Illegal Snooping On US Residents’ Financial Transactions

ADL’s penetration of the FBI & negative consequences for human rights activism

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

The ADL has been trying to liaise with the FBI by offering ADL investigators as informants, offering to exchange files to “avoid duplication of investigation” and “train” FBI and law enforcement personnel since the 1940s.

What have been the negative consequences for human rights activists?

IRmep presents findings from years of Freedom of Information Act filings at a number of relevant Washington, DC locations.

ADL files FBI “Civil Rights Threat” conflating white nationalists with pro-Palestinian charities

FOIA documents: Israel Lobby Archive

ADL’s penetration of the FBI & negative consequences for human rights activism

Cryptocurrency News: US Regulators Should ‘Maybe’ Ban Crypto + Digital Asset Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2022

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Banking Committee Chair: US Regulators Should ‘Maybe’ Ban Crypto

The senator [Sherrod Brown] also pointed to numerous incidents to back up his claims, not just the recent collapse of FTX but also issues such as “the threat to national security from Korean cyber criminals to drug trafficking and human trafficking and financing of terrorism and all the things that can come out of crypto.”

…

Senator Elizabeth Warren unveiled a new bill governing cryptocurrencies earlier this month, dubbed the Digital Asset Anti-Money Laundering Act.

Warren’s bill would look to force crypto asset providers to offer audited financial statements and impose bank-like capital requirements more in line with what is expected of traditional financial institutions. The act would also give the SEC increased powers to regulate the asset class.

Get ready for the Digital Dollar!

Related:

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