Saturday, July 6, 2013

Privacy World's July 2013 Newsletter Issue 1July

Sent: Friday, July 05, 2013 8:43 PM
Subject: Privacy World's July 2013 Newsletter Issue 1July


> Privacy World - The WORLD'S SHREWDEST PRIVACY NEWSLETTER
> 
> DHS built domestic surveillance tech into Predator drones
> 
> Homeland Security's specifications say drones must be able to detect
> whether a civilian is armed. Also specified: "signals interception"
> and "direction finding" for electronic surveillance.
> 
> Homeland Security required that this Predator drone, built by General
> Atomics, be capable of detecting whether a standing human at night is
> "armed or not."
> 
> Homeland Security required that this Predator drone, built by General
> Atomics, be capable of detecting whether a standing human at night is
> "armed or not."
> 
> The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has customized its Predator
> drones, originally built for overseas military operations, to carry
> out at-home surveillance tasks that have civil libertarians worried:
> identifying civilians carrying guns and tracking their cell phones,
> government documents show.
> 
> The documents provide more details about the surveillance
> capabilities of the department's unmanned Predator B drones
> </8301-13578_3-57570751-38/homeland-security-lets-be-clear-about-aerial-drone-privacy/,
> which are primarily used to patrol the United States' northern and
> southern borders but have been pressed into service on behalf of
> a growing number of law enforcement agencies including the FBI,
> the Secret Service, the Texas Rangers, and local police.
> 
> Homeland Security's specifications for its drones, built
> by San Diego-based General Atomics Aeronautical Systems
> <http://www.ga-asi.com/, say they "shall be capable of identifying
> a standing human being at night as likely armed or not," meaning
> carrying a shotgun or rifle. They also specify "signals interception"
> technology that can capture communications in the frequency ranges
> used by mobile phones, and "direction finding" technology that can
> identify the locations of mobile devices or two-way radios.
> 
> The Electronic Privacy Information
> Center obtained a partially redacted copy
> <http://epic.org/2013/02/epic-foia---us-drones-intercep.htmlof
> Homeland Security's requirements for its drone
> fleet through the Freedom of Information Act and
> published it this week. CNET unearthed an unredacted copy
> <http://politechbot.com/docs/dhs.uav.drone.specification.030113.html
> of the requirements that provides additional information about the
> aircraft's surveillance capabilities.
> 
> Homeland Security's Predator B drone can stay aloft conducting
> surveillance for 20 hours.
> 
> Concern about domestic use of drones
> </8301-31921_3-57418067-281/more-drones-take-to-the-sky-like-it-or-not/
> is growing, with federal legislation
> <http://lofgren.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=785:reps-zoe-lofgren-and-ted-poe-introduce-bipartisan-bill-to-protect-americans-privacy-rights-from-domestic-drones&catid=22:112th-news&Itemid=161
> introduced last month that would establish
> legal safeguards, in addition to parallel efforts
> <http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/16/technology/rise-of-drones-in-us-spurs-efforts-to-limit-uses.html?ref=technology&_r=0
> underway from state and local lawmakers. The
> Federal Aviation Administration recently said
> "address privacy-related data collection" by drones.
> 
> The prospect of identifying armed Americans concerns Second
> Amendment advocates, who say that technology billed as
> securing the United States' land and maritime borders
> should not be used domestically. Michael Kostelnik, the
> Homeland Security official who created the program, told Congress
> <http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CHRG-111hhrg64701/html/CHRG-111hhrg64701.htm
> that the drone fleet would be available to "respond to
> emergency missions across the country," and a Predator drone was
> dispatched to the tiny town of Lakota, N.D., to aid local police
> in a dispute that began with reimbursement for feeding six cows
> <http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2012/06/12/rodney_brossart_north_dakota_farmer_arrested_in_case_involving_predator_surveillance_drone_.html.
> The defendant, arrested with the help of Predator surveillance, lost
> <http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2012/08/02/court-upholds-domestic-drone-use-in-arrest-of-american-citizen
> a preliminary bid to dismiss the charges.
> 
> "I am very concerned that this technology will be used against
> law-abiding American firearms owners," says Alan Gottlieb, founder
> and executive vice president of the Second Amendment Foundation
> <http://www.saf.org/. "This could violate Fourth Amendment rights
> as well as Second Amendment rights."
> 
> Homeland Security's Customs and Border Protection agency declined
> to answer questions about whether direction-finding technology is
> currently in use on its drone fleet. A representative provided CNET
> with a statement about the agency's unmanned aircraft systems (UAS)
> that said signals interception capability is not currently used:
> 
> U.S. Customs and Border Protection is not deploying signals
> interception capabilities on its UAS fleet. Any potential
> deployment of such technology in the future would be implemented
> in full consideration of civil rights, civil liberties, and privacy
> interests and in a manner consistent with the law and long-standing
> law enforcement practices.
> 
> CBP's UAS program is a vital border security asset. Equipped
> with state-of-the-art sensors and day-and-night cameras, the UAS
> provides real-time images to frontline agents to more effectively
> and efficiently secure the nation's borders. As a force multiplier,
> the UAS operates for extended periods of time and allows CBP to
> safely conduct missions over tough-to-reach terrain. The UAS also
> provides agents on the ground with added situational awareness to
> more safely resolve dangerous situations.
> 
> During his appearance before the House Homeland Security committee,
> Kostelnik, a retired Air Force major general who recently left the
> agency, testified that the drones' direction-finding ability is part
> of a set of "DOD capabilities that are being tested or adopted by
> CBP to enhance UAS performance for homeland security." CBP currently
> has 10 Predator drones and is considering buying up to 14 more
> 
> If the Predator drones were used only to identify
> smugglers or illegal immigrants crossing the
> Mexican and Canadian borders, or for disaster relief
> <http://www.acc.af.mil/media/archives/story.asp?storyID=123024134,
> they might not be especially controversial. But
> their use domestically by other government agencies
> has become routine enough -- and expensive enough --
> that Homeland Security's inspector general said (PDF
> <http://www.oig.dhs.gov/assets/Mgmt/2012/OIG_12-85_May12.pdf)
> last year that CBP needs to sign agreements "for reimbursement of
> expenses incurred fulfilling mission requests."
> 
> "The documents clearly evidence that the Department of Homeland
> Security is developing drones with signals interception technology
> and the capability to identify people on the ground," says Ginger
> McCall, director of the Open Government Project at the Electronic
> Privacy Information Center <http://www.epic.org/. "This allows
> for invasive surveillance, including potential communications
> surveillance, that could run afoul of federal privacy laws."
> 
> A Homeland Security official, who did not want to be identified by
> name, said the drones are able to identify whether movement on the
> ground comes from a human or an animal, but that they do not perform
> facial recognition. The official also said that because the unarmed
> drones have a long anticipated life span, the department tries to
> plan ahead for future uses to support its border security mission,
> and that aerial surveillance would comply with the Electronic
> Communications Privacy Act and other applicable federal laws.
> 
> The documents show that CBP specified
> that the "tracking accuracy should be
> sufficient to allow target designation," and the agency notes
> <http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/border_security/am/operations/oam_vessels/aircraft/uas/uas_archive/predator_arcrft.xml
> on its Web site that its Predator B series is capable
> of "targeting and weapons delivery" (the military
> version carries multiple 100-pound Hellfire missiles
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AGM-114_Hellfire). CBP says, however,
> that its Predator aircraft are unarmed.
> 
> Gene Hoffman, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur who's the chairman
> of the Calguns Foundation <http://www.calgunsfoundation.org/,
> said CBP "needs to be very careful with attempts to identify armed
> individuals in the border area" when aerial surveillance touches
> on a constitutional right.
> 
> "In the border area of California and Arizona, it may be actively
> dangerous for the law-abiding to not carry firearms precisely due
> to the illegal flow of drugs and immigrants across the border in
> those areas," Hoffman says.
> 
> CBP's specifications say that signals interception and
> direction-finding technology must work from 30MHz to 3GHz in the
> radio spectrum. That sweeps in the GSM and CDMA frequencies used
> by mobile phones, which are in the 300MHz to 2.7GHz range, as well
> as many two-way radios.
> 
> The specifications say: "The system shall provide automatic
> and manual DF of multiple signals simultaneously. Automatic
> DF should be able to separate out individual communication
> links." Automated direction-finding for cell phones has
> become an off-the-shelf technology: one company sells a unit
> <http://www.rohde-schwarz.com/en/product/ddf0xe-productstartpage_63493-9482.html
> that its literature says is "capable of taking the bearing of every
> mobile phone active in a channel."
> 
> Although CBP's unmanned Predator aircraft are
> commonly called drones, they're remotely piloted
> <http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/border_security/am/oam_faq.xmlby
> FAA-licensed operators on the ground. They can fly for up to 20
> hours and carry a payload of about 500 lbs.
> 
> The above article by Declan McCullagh
> 
> Until next issue, stay cool and remain low profile!
> 
> Privacy World
> 
> PS - Need help with a second passport with a name change plus a whole
> lot of other flexible options from NON American sources?
> 
> Just email and place "2nd Chance" in your subject heading.
> 
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