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SURVEILLANCE  TECHNOLOGY Including Weapons Usable With Hostile Surveillance Biometrics     Body Cameras        Note: This section is purposely brief and is meant to only highlight some of the technology available to watch, stalk, harass and kill people. Notice that surveillance  on a target and weapons against that person can go hand in hand.    Summary of Links on this page: Biometrics https://www.aclu.org/issues/privacy-technology/surveillance-technologies/biometrics https://demandprogress.org/ https://www.eff.org/issues/biometrics https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2015/09/little-fanfare-fbi-ramps-biometrics-programs-yet-again-part-2 Body Cameras - Police https://www.theverge.com/2017/6/12/15768920/police-body-camera-state-secret http://wkrg.com/2017/07/18/police-chief-releases-body-cam-video-to-counter-abuse-claims/ http://www.govtech.com/public-safety/Domestic-Abuse-Victims-Call-For-Police-Body-Cameras.html https://thinkprogress.org/why-body-cameras-alone-wont-solve-our-police-abuse-problem-26d098a6602e/ --- BIOMETRICS, FACIAL RECOGNITION SURVEILLANCE TECHNOLOGY, ETC. ACLU Biometrics https //www aclu org/issues/privacy-technology/surveillance-technologies/biometrics Excerpt:  A biometric is a way to identify someone based on physical characteristics: fingerprints, DNA, retinas, voice, face, or even gait, among others. These simple measurements add up to an extraordinary threat to privacy when they are collected, analyzed, and stored in readily researchable databases.  Every day, federal, state, and local law enforcement authorities add new data to the vast and growing databases of Americans’ biometrics. The FBI, for its part, calls its biometrics database the Next Generation Identification System, and the goal is clear: to allow every police officer in the country to be able to instantaneously identify any individual in their crosshairs.  From ACLU, link below: https //www aclu org/issues/privacy-technology/surveillance-technologies/biometrics Demand Progress Copy from email received July 2016 from Demand Progress  on data gathering, NGI https //demandprogress org/ Letter: Stope the FBI’s New Biometric Database The  FBI is stockpiling the fingerprints, faces, tattoos, and more from millions of people – including those not suspected of any criminal activity.  And they’re doing so with essentially NO oversight from Congress or our courts.  The FBI has repeatedly failed to tell the public even the basics about this massive database1 – called the Next Generation Identification (NGI) system.  Now it’s pushing to make the system secret and exempt from standard privacy laws.  We have the chance to stop this outrageous power grab by the FBI. The DOJ is accepting public comments until July 6th to decide whether or not to block the FBI’s request. Tell the FBI: We have a right to know what information the government collects about us!  The FBI and other law enforcement use this massive database to search for “suspects” of any crime without warrants.  But a government watchdog just found high levels of inaccuracy with the system’s facial recognition software.2 These inaccuracies have led to misidentifying innocent people as criminals, and have kept thousands from getting jobs due to faulty background checks.3And if the FBI gets its way and gets to exempt this database from standard privacy laws, it will have NO legal obligation to correct this inaccurate data.  Tell the FBI: We won’t let you make your secret database exempt from our privacy rights! An FBI expert has publicly acknowledged that the system tends to be least accurate on the groups it affects the most4 – people of color, women, and young people.  Even worse, the FBI and other law enforcement has even started using the database to track peaceful political activists instead of just criminals. The FBI has used NGI documents to track activists at Obama and Clinton political rallies,5 and the Department of Homeland Security has been tracking Black Lives Matter activists since Ferguson.6  And now the FBI wants an exemption from the exact law ­– the Privacy Act – that allows us to hold them accountable for illegally targeting us based on our First Amendment activities?  Hell no.  Tell the FBI: We won’t let you exempt your surveillance tools from our privacy protections!Thanks for standing with us. https://demandprogress.org/ EFF Biometrics - Description and Implications of Usage https://www.eff.org/issues/biometrics Excerpt:  Biometrics systems are designed to identify or verify the identity of people by using their intrinsic physical or behavioral characteristics. Biometric identifiers include fingerprints; iris, face and palm prints; gait; voice; and DNA, among others. The government insists that biometrics databases can be used effectively for border security, to verify employment, to identify criminals, and to combat terrorism. Private companies argue biometrics can enhance our lives by helping us to identify our friends more easily and by allowing us access to places, products, and services more quickly and accurately.  But the privacy risks that accompany biometrics databases are extreme.  Biometrics’ biggest risk to privacy comes from the government’s ability to use it for surveillance. As face recognition technologies become more effective and cameras are capable of recording greater and greater detail, surreptitious identification and tracking could become the norm. https://www.eff.org/issues/biometrics EFF 2015/09/18  FBI Plans to Populate its Massive Face Recognition Database with Photographs Taken in the Field.  By Jennifer Lynch. https //www eff org/deeplinks/2015/09/little-fanfare-fbi-ramps-biometrics-programs-yet-again-part-2 Excerpt:  In the last few years, the FBI has been dramatically expanding its biometrics programs, whether by adding face recognition to its vast Next Generation Identification (NGI) database or pushing out mobile biometrics capabilities for  “time-critical situations” through its Repository for Individuals of Special Concern (RISC). But two new developments—both introduced with next to no media attention—will impact far more ordinary Americans than anything the FBI has done on biometrics in the past. Read about the second development below and the first here. https //www eff org/deeplinks/2015/09/little-fanfare-fbi-ramps-biometrics-programs-yet-again-part-2 Body Cameras - Police The Verge  2017/06/12 Police body camera state secret. By Matt Stroud North Carolina, Louisiana, Kansas, and other states are writing laws to keep police videos out of public hands https //www theverge com/2017/6/12/15768920/police-body-camera-state-secret Excerpt:  This opaque state of affairs was not how body cameras were originally pitched. Body cameras have been available to police since at least 2007 when Steve Ward, a salesman for Taser International, broke off from the company, now known as Axon Enterprise. He then formed his own body camera company, Vievu. But body cameras weren’t considered a necessary police tool until the aftermath of Michael Brown’s killing by police officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014. https //www theverge com/2017/6/12/15768920/police-body-camera-state-secret Updates: 2021/02/07 PAGE STARTED sometime in past 30-60 days, moved from rivergold dot net; previous updates from rivergold dot net--Biometrics section updated 12/21/2016

Surveillance Technology

face recognition