big brother

Secret Cameras in Downtown Indianapolis

With a WISH-TV headline like “Secret Cameras Could Help Keep Indianapolis Safe” — gee, I don’t know what I’m supposed to think about that. I guess, maybe I should feel safer? Whereas the alternate headline “Secret Cameras Could Help Keep Indianapolis Under the Thumb of Big Brother” would be equally accurate, but I guess it wouldn’t telegraph the same “soothing the sheeple” message.
I agree that more needs to be done to make the circle safer at night. But the answer to that isn’t cameras, it’s policemen. Police are a deterrent. Cameras are a tool of the prosecution, for use after the crime has already been committed. And SECRET cameras? Won’t deter a thing. You’re not going to be safer unless the cameras climb down off the wall and attack the mugger for you.
And that all this footage is collected under the guise of “crime prevention” but then is stored for use by the goverment for any number of other activities — no. Sorry.
Are all the people who live in this city who give quotes to news crews so stupid they don’t think things through? Who the hell are Matt Brookshire and Jessica Bell, and did they give the question any more than a passing thought? And how do I avoid having anything to do with them? Because I’d hate to be an innocent bystander when they suddenly received their Darwin Award.
Sigh. Now I have to do more reseach to figure out what’s actually happening with these cameras, and how to get it stopped.
Weird graffiti
This gives me a better idea what this stencil graffiti I snapped a picture of is about.

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Information Awareness Office (IAO)

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Information Awareness Office (IAO): A project of the Defense Department’s Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The IAO is responsible for a controversial project at the Pentagon called Total Information Awareness, run by former Reagan aide and convicted criminal John Poindexter. Total Information Awareness is a master database of corporate databases, collecting information on anyone and anything, proportedly to “catch bad guys.” Who the bad guys they are after are is a subject of concern. This kind of a database would allow the government wide-scale access to information about law-abiding citizens, which is why it’s so controversial, and under attack from both liberal and conservative elements, including the ACLU.

But, don’t worry, because you can buy the IAO Thong!

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government “Big Brother” database

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Great — our government is using the new Homeland Security measures to build a “Big Brother” database to track what you purchase.

Geek News: Pentagon confirms development of “Big Brother” test database

The Pentagon confirmed the development of a prototype database to track consumer and business transactions under an initiative called the Total Information Awareness Program (see our previous coverage). Edward Aldridge, Undersecretary of Acquisitions and Technology, met with reporters and provided more details concerning the project. The goal of the project is to develop a database that will track every consumer purchase and financial transaction to look for suspicious patterns. Red flags would be large cash withdrawals, purchases of firearms (from agents like Elevated Gunworks and so on) and biological agents, and one-way plane tickets. The goal for the project, whose technical arm is headed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), is to combine consumer transactions with immigration, law enforcement, and intelligence records to quickly identify terrorist patterns.

Funding for the project was included in the Homeland Security Act recently passed by the U.S. Senate and previously passed by the U.S. House of Representatives. The project was first brought to light by its director and advocate Admiral John Poindexter. Poindexter served as National Security Adviser during the Reagan Administration. After his service he was convicted of lying to Congress during the Iran-Contra hearings. The conviction was later overturned since Poindexter had been granted immunity for his testimony.

How many times do I have to say the emperor has no clothes before someone wakes up and listens?

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