Big Brother IS watching . . .

ACCORDING TO WIKILEAKS, the organs of state security have started wiring all the CCTV surveillance cameras in areas of interest. So says David Seaman at BUSINESS INSIDER, in his article, "WIKILEAKS: Surveillance Cameras Around The Country Are Being Used In A Huge Spy Network".

"Former senior intelligence officials have created a detailed surveillance system more accurate than modern facial recognition technology—and have installed it across the U.S. under the radar of most Americans, according to emails hacked by Anonymous.

Every few seconds, data picked up at surveillance points in major cities and landmarks across the United States are recorded digitally on the spot, then encrypted and instantaneously delivered to a fortified central database center at an undisclosed location to be aggregated with other intelligence. It’s part of a program called TrapWire and it's the brainchild of the Abraxas, a Northern Virginia company staffed with elite from America’s intelligence community.

What to do? My advice is, "sheep, look up". What do you see? CCTV cameras? Take a roll of electrical tape or even some PostIt notes and cover the lens. That way, it's useless, but you have not destroyed property, and Candid Camera is thwarted. Then there's disguises, and useful items like reversible coats and hats and all that Lon Chaney stuff. Nothing like a good gorilla mask to keep 'em wondering who it is that enjoys target practice on CCTV cameras . . . high-quality .177 air pistols are so delightfully accurate, and they're not firearms.

Now, what are the chances that Big Vickie's Gestapo is either already part of this, or is about to put Canada under Big Brother's surveillance?

This is NOT Google Earth

Personally, I think it's time we performed a coordinated national "moon". That would give the analysts at the US National Reconnaissance Office something different and entertaining to look at.

And, oh, by the way, since there's a chance that there is a terraist in your back yard, the eye in the sky is now watching you.

The U.S.'s top intelligence official has greatly expanded the range of federal and local authorities who can get access to information from the nation's vast network of spy satellites in the U.S.

The decision, made three months ago by Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell, places for the first time some of the U.S.'s most powerful intelligence-gathering tools at the disposal of domestic security officials. The move was authorized in a May 25 memo sent to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff asking his department to facilitate access to the spy network on behalf of civilian agencies and law enforcement.

Well, there's no chance they'll abuse that capability, is there.

George W Bush's America. Land of the surveilled; Home of the terrified.

So, you decide to set up a little profile on MySpace. You have a sense of humour so you play around with it a little bit. Then you get a little off the wall with quotes from Back To The Future.

And then the FBI comes for you.

Sound preposterous? Not if you're Chiniqua.

Yesterday around lunchtime the boyfriend calls me at work. “Chica,” he says, “you should listen to this message.” He plays a message from an NYPD detective asking me to call him. I was confused, but assumed it was some sort of fundraising request. A couple of hours later I the detective and left a message. His voicemail said he was a part of the NYPD-FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force. [As background, almost 10 years ago I worked as an investigator at the New York Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB), the agency that investigates complaints against the police department. It was an interesting job and a lot of fun (all of the investigators were just out of school, which made it a little more party-like than you would think. Or perhaps a lot more). I eventually quit and went on to work on a couple of movies before going to grad school. About a month ago I got a myspace friend request from some group called ‘CCRB Underground’ and said yes. It was a collection of current or former CCRB investigators making fun of the place. I remember looking at it and trying to figure out if I knew any of them, but I didn’t. I couldn’t for the life of me figure out how they knew who I was until I realized I had CCRB listed as one of the places I’d worked on my profile.] So it did occur to me that this might have something to do with the CCRB, but I couldn’t imagine what. After a little phone tag I finally spoke with the detective. He wanted to meet up with me and ask a few questions relating to CCRB but about a current case. He was willing to come to my work or home, but wanted to do it that day. I’m not too big on having the police in my house, so I suggested the Starbucks by work. The detective said they could drive me home if I was in a hurry, and that they didn’t want to inconvenience me. None of this made any sense, but I wasn’t especially concerned. Maybe some old investigator had some issue with the cops? There was one guy who did a lot of street theatre stuff, and another girl who had been pretty heavily involved in protesting the RNC back in ’04, and I know that the Joint Task Force was involved in that. More worried were all of my coworkers, who were horrified at the idea that I might just get into a car with strangers. I went and met the detective. He and his partner showed me their IDs. One was indeed an NYPD Detective and the other an FBI agent. They were very friendly and asked where I wanted to talk. I said on the way home was great. We got into their car (a big one with DC plates) and the detective sat in the back with me while the g-man drove. They already knew my address. Why? Because they’d been to my house three times already. In fact, they hadn’t ever called me, they had been ringing my buzzer (which runs through the phone line and which my machine eventually picks up). Here’s where it gets crazy.

Read the good part here.

Hat tip Brilliant at Breakfast