Homeland Security tracking Americans

www.cnn.com...

Big Brother on steroids...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Without notifying the public, federal agents have assigned millions of international travelers, including Americans, computer-generated scores rating the risk they pose of being terrorists or criminals.

Without notifying the public... nice. I would point those federal agents towards a dictionary, and tell them to look up 'democracy'.

The travelers are not allowed to see or directly challenge these risk assessments. The government intends to keep the scores on file for 40 years.

Also nice. If you can't see the assessments to challenge them, how do you know they even have any kind of 'evidence' against you?

The scores are assigned to people entering and leaving the United States after computers assess their travel records, including where they are from, how they paid for tickets, their motor vehicle records, past one-way travel, seating preference and what kind of meal they ordered.

Better order the pork chops for your next in-flight meal, or they'll think you're going to blow the flight up... Also note that they are tracking people entering and leaving, which will naturally include many foreigners who likely have no idea they are being watched by Big Brother's all-seeing eye.

Privacy and civil liberties lawyers, congressional aides and even law enforcement officers said they thought this system had been applied only to cargo.

If they mistakenly thought that, I wonder why. Did someone lie to them? Was information misrepresented? I don't know, but if people trained in the law are surprised by this outcome, then the odds are good something like this did happen.

In some cases, the data may be shared with courts, Congress and even private contractors.

Private contractors? So now people's private lifestyles are for sale to the highest bidder? How interesting.

As of Thursday, all 15 public comments received opposed the system outright or criticized its redress procedures.

Really? And in other shocking news, the sky is still blue today.

Malmberg noted how hard it has been for citizens, including members of Congress, to stop being misidentified as terrorists because their names match those on anti-terrorism watch lists.

In 2004, it took Democratic Sen. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts three weeks to have his name removed from the government's secret "no-fly" list.

Officials said the error occurred because the name "T. Kennedy" had been used as an alias on the list of terrorist suspects.

Well, hopefully that's one government official who will try to shut this crap down. Imagine how long it will take if you are mistakenly put on such a list and aren't a U.S. Senator... ugh.


I'm getting really tired of reading all of these 'big brother' stories from south of the border. This kind of list is not going to stop terrorism, and is only going to piss a lot of people off, like Sen. Kennedy, not to mention the average American citizen. I mean, when is this going to end? Patriot Act... Patriot Act 2... Sometimes I wonder if these guys are just reading '1984' and implementing everything they find in there.

Oh, and the first thing I thought of when I read this article: If the department of homeland security wants to know what I last ate, I'll take a big dump on the director's desk and let him sift through that sample, because it's none of his business.

People deserve their privacy, particularly when the violation of said privacy does absolutely nothing to increase security.

Be careful what you say about that here, DHS is calling the program the "Advanced Targeting Sytem" or...

.....ATS!

Good pointing this out, I read about this on Infowars earlier, and last night got heartburn really bad after getting so pissed at the local news station for reading this story in a light-hearted way, and praising the LEOs involved.

Heh, I noticed the 'ATS' acronym too. As for watching what I say, well, if 'they' cared to know, they could find other stuff I've already said regarding this sort of thing. I don't think this is going to give me any problems, seeing as I don't plan to start any kind of 'resistance' or anything like that Heck, I'm not even American, so the odds of this 'other ATS' bothering me are really quite low, even should I actually decide to travel somewhere, which I cannot afford.

ioriginally posted by DragonsDemesne
Did someone lie to them? Was information misrepresented? I don't know, but if people trained in the law are surprised by this outcome, then the odds are good something like this did happen.

See: Bush Administration

originally posted by DragonsDemesne
If the department of homeland security wants to know what I last ate, I'll take a big dump on the director's desk and let him sift through that sample, because it's none of his business.

See:

originally posted by Nicotine1982
DHS is calling the program the "Advanced Targeting Sytem"

Memo from DHS: Please make all submissions in Triplicate.

I was doing some research today and stumbled on to this article from January 2001. While I knew that Clinton had tried to get the Omnibus Act pushed through in 1995, I did not know that an agency called "Homeland Security" which would gather under its umbrella several agencies such as the Coast Guard, FBI and FEMA and be headed by a new cabinet position was being proposed to "handle prevention, response and recovery to terrorist incidents" as early as January of 2001.

"If we have a disaster -- and we think it is quite probable in the next 20-25 years -- we're not prepared to deal with it," Rudman told CNN.

One commission member said the United States is "damn lucky not to have had more" terrorist attacks in the last few years given the "large and growing number of people wishing Americans ill around the world."

"Oklahoma City, the World Trade Center, Khobar Towers, the Africa embassies, the Cole -- these are just the beginning," the member said. "This country is woefully unprepared."

The proposed agency would take over the Border Patrol from Justice, Customs from Treasury, the Coast Guard from Transportation, the FBI counterterrorism center and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), among others.

archives.cnn.com...

Seems it was all in place before the attack...just not acted on until afterwards.

[edit on 12-2-2006 by Valhall]

Originally posted by DragonsDemesne
www.cnn.com...

Big Brother on steroids...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Without notifying the public, federal agents have assigned millions of international travelers, including Americans, computer-generated scores rating the risk they pose of being terrorists or criminals.

Without notifying the public... nice. I would point those federal agents towards a dictionary, and tell them to look up 'democracy'.

Actually, the United States is a Republic, which is ran under a democracy... instead of sending them the dictionary, we should all sign and forward a copy of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought it was illegal for the Government to spy/track the general populous?

Originally posted by DragonsDemesne

The travelers are not allowed to see or directly challenge these risk assessments. The government intends to keep the scores on file for 40 years.

Also nice. If you can't see the assessments to challenge them, how do you know they even have any kind of 'evidence' against you?

Sounds like they are seriously hiding behind the Military Commissions Act of 2006, which works in conjunction with the USA Patriot Act.

Originally posted by DragonsDemesne

Privacy and civil liberties lawyers, congressional aides and even law enforcement officers said they thought this system had been applied only to cargo.

If they mistakenly thought that, I wonder why. Did someone lie to them? Was information misrepresented? I don't know, but if people trained in the law are surprised by this outcome, then the odds are good something like this did happen.

Funny - This video should sum it up for the big brother society. Enjoy

Originally posted by DragonsDemesne

As of Thursday, all 15 public comments received opposed the system outright or criticized its redress procedures.

Really? And in other shocking news, the sky is still blue today.

no!?

Originally posted by DragonsDemesne

Malmberg noted how hard it has been for citizens, including members of Congress, to stop being misidentified as terrorists because their names match those on anti-terrorism watch lists.

In 2004, it took Democratic Sen. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts three weeks to have his name removed from the government's secret "no-fly" list.

Officials said the error occurred because the name "T. Kennedy" had been used as an alias on the list of terrorist suspects.

Well, hopefully that's one government official who will try to shut this crap down. Imagine how long it will take if you are mistakenly put on such a list and aren't a U.S. Senator... ugh.

I thought we couldn't see these records? Oh wait, that's different for congress-people, huh?


I agree with you double D... the big brother society that is around now, is way out of control.

[edit on 12/2/2006 by Infoholic]

Originally posted by Valhall
I was doing some research today and stumbled on to this article from January 2001. While I knew that Clinton had tried to get the Omnibus Act pushed through in 1995, I did not know that an agency called "Homeland Security" which would gather under its umbrella several agencies such as the Coast Guard, FBI and FEMA and be headed by a new cabinet position was being proposed to "handle prevention, response and recovery to terrorist incidents" as early as January of 2001.

"If we have a disaster -- and we think it is quite probable in the next 20-25 years -- we're not prepared to deal with it," Rudman told CNN.

One commission member said the United States is "damn lucky not to have had more" terrorist attacks in the last few years given the "large and growing number of people wishing Americans ill around the world."

"Oklahoma City, the World Trade Center, Khobar Towers, the Africa embassies, the Cole -- these are just the beginning," the member said. "This country is woefully unprepared."

The proposed agency would take over the Border Patrol from Justice, Customs from Treasury, the Coast Guard from Transportation, the FBI counterterrorism center and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), among others.

archives.cnn.com...

Seems it was all in place before the attack...just not acted on until afterwards.

[edit on 12-2-2006 by Valhall]

Beautiful find Valhall

Paranoia to the max...

People who think this is not happening (all over the world) need to get with the program.. We have all been tracked for years...they even know what colour our underwear is.

George Orwell (1984) was SOOOO on the ball



In Peace Always
resi

Originally posted by resistancia
Paranoia to the max...

People who think this is not happening (all over the world) need to get with the program.. We have all been tracked for years...they even know what colour our underwear is.

George Orwell (1984) was SOOOO on the ball



In Peace Always
resi

I agree, Orwell's 1984 was right on the money. Paranoia or not.

Unfortunately, there are swarms of people that don't believe the truth. Even more so unfortunately, it will probably be too late for some, if not most.

I for one will keep trudging along, sharing the facts, the truth, and hope.

God Bless,


Info.

Originally posted by Infoholic
sharing the facts

Sharing the facts is exactly what is going to happen. Here's what can be 'gathered';

ATS--P (Automated Targeting System--Passenger), a component of ATS,
maintains the PNR information obtained from commercial carriers for
purposes of assessing the risk of international travelers. PNR may
include such items as:
PNR record locator code,
Date of reservation,
Date(s) of intended travel,
Name,
Other names on PNR,
Number of travelers on PNR,
Seat information,
Address,
All forms of payment information,
Billing address,
Contact telephone numbers,
All travel itinerary for specific PNR,
Frequent flyer information,
Travel agency,
Travel agent,
Code share PNR information,
Travel status of passenger,
Split/Divided PNR information,
Identifiers for free tickets,
One-way tickets,
E-mail address,
Ticketing field information,
Automated Ticketing Fare Quote (ATFQ) fields,
General remarks,
Ticket number,
Seat number,
Date of ticket issuance,
Any collected APIS information,
No show history,
Number of bags,
Bag tag numbers,
Go show information,
Number of bags on each segment,
Other Supplementary information (OSI),
Special Services information (SSI),
Special Services Request (SSR),
Voluntary/involuntary upgrades,
Received from information, and
All historical changes to the PNR
Not all carriers maintain the same sets of information for PNR.

Have a quick browse through this official DHS document...lists 'A' thru 'O'.

The retention period for data specifically maintained in ATS will
not exceed forty years at which time it will be deleted from ATS.

40 years of file sharing your personal information

[edit on 2/12/06 by masqua]

[edit on 2/12/06 by masqua]