Privacy Matters

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• In the face recognition and mass movements department, today we have a reminder that truth is stranger than fiction. Or maybe it's that life imitates art? From IEEE's Spectrum, an article about face recognition software and its use to identify people in the streets during the London riots. You are reading this correctly. The man's name is Orwell.

A little comparison for you. Dystopia in film:

And spider robots in real life. I wonder what kinds of surveillance purposes these cheap, relatively disposable, fast, agile and dependable robots will be put to.

• Senators Rockefeller and Machin, both Democrats of West Virginia, spoke at a biometrics industry conference "geared toward bringing new business to West Virginia." The Senators urged biometrics firms to consider a move to West Virginia, given the state's close proximity to the CIA, NSA and FBI, as well as the biometrics degrees offered by West Virginia University and Marshall university. 

According to Alternet's Sarah Jaffe, Occupy is having a pretty serious impact on policing and security at the nation's major banking institutions. The people have the bankers scared, and perhaps unsurprisingly the bankers are turning to the security industrial complex for help. It appears that the 1% is mighty terrified of the wrath of the 99% visiting them in their fancy offices and homes.

All Massachusetts residents, but particularly activists, should be aware that the Commonwealth Fusion Center (CFC), the state's spy-hub founded with DHS cash, allows its undercover agents to do a whole range of unsavory things while investigating First Amendment protected activities. The following paragraph in the CFC's "Guidelines for Investigations Involving First Amendment Activity" spells out how undercovers are allowed to "adopt a false persona" and engage with the group as a purported member:

The Department of Justice released a CD containing a bunch of documents about so-called less than lethal munitions. The documents are worth reading. They are as follows:

It's another troubling week for freedom, y'all. Check the facts.

• Troubling news from the Senate. Senator Leahy (D-VT) has proposed that the FBI be granted broader access to stored communications records through the secretive National Security Letter regime. NSLs allow the FBI access to your private communications data without any court oversight.