Is There an ID Chip in Your Future? - U.S. - CBN News

" There's a growing movement to forcibly tag or chip your animals with radio frequency identification devices. Many privacy advocates believe this could lead to a scarier level: implanting you and me. Now, there is an effort to stem the tide."...read more

Messages of the Brave New World

"Messages of the Brave New World" gives a glimpse into the not to distant future by showing that the "New World Order' and "cashless society" are right around the bend. It is a work in progress and will be updated soon. If you have any suggestions, comments or criticisms please let me know. Thanks and God bless

Why do the nations conspire . and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the LORD and against his Anointed One. "Let us break their chains," they say, "and throw off their fetters." Psalm 3:1-3

Human-animal hybrid embryos should be legal says Catholic Church -Times Online

The Roman Catholic Church has called for women to be allowed to give birth to human-animal hybrids created in the laboratory.

Embryos injected with animal cells, or chimeras, should be treated as human beings where they have a preponderance of human genes, the bishops say in a sumbission to a Government committee.

And there should be no ban on implanting such hybrid embryos in the womb of the woman who supplied the original egg, they say in their submission on the Draft Tissue and Embryos Bill.

“Such a woman is the genetic mother, or partial mother, of the embryo; should she have a change of heart and wish to carry her child to term, she should not be prevented from doing so,” the bishops say.

The Bill proposes overhauling the regulation for embryo research and fertility treatment.

At present it is illegal in Britain to create embryos using a mix of human and animal genetic material, but the government is proposing to allow scientists to create human-animal embryos for research as long as they are destroyed within two weeks.

In their submission, the bishops say that most of the procedures covered by the bill should not be licensed under any circumstances. They argue that this is because they violate human rights.

Under the proposed legislation, scientists would be allowed in principle to produce “cytoplasmic” hybrid embryos that are 99.9 per cent human and 0.1 per cent animal.

It would also give permission for human embryos to be altered by the introduction of animal DNA and would allow human-animal “chimeras” - human embryos that have been physically mixed with one or more animal cells.

In all cases it would be illegal for embryos to grow for more than 14 days - beyond the size of a pinhead - or be implanted into a womb.

The Bill would ban the creation of “true hybrids” by fusing the egg and sperm of humans and animals.

In a letter sent in with the submission, the Most Rev Peter Smith, the Archbishop of Cardiff, says the Catholic Church was opposed in principle to “destructive experimentation” on human embryos.

The government initially proposed to ban the creation of chimeras but changed its mind earlier this year under pressure from the scientific community.

The Pope today backed the use of adult stem cell research distinguishing it from the manipulation of stem cells from human embryos, which the Roman Catholic Church condemns.

Speaking at the end of his weekly general audience, the Roman Catholic leader referred to the use of adult stem cells to treat heart problems, being discussed at a global conference in Rome. “On this matter the position of the Church, supported by reason and by science, is clear,” he said, “Scientific research must be encouraged and promoted, so long as it does not harm other human beings, whose dignity is inviolable from the very first stages of existence.”

Human-animal hybrid embryos should be legal says Catholic Church -Times Online

Children must give prints for passports

By JASON LEWIS - More by this author » Last updated at 22:31pm on 24th November 2007

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Children over the age of six will have their fingerprints taken when applying for a passport to comply with new EU regulations.

The European Commission says youngsters must be fingerprinted for all new EU passports and national ID cards – even those issued in the UK.

Until now, the Government has insisted that only children over the age of 11 applying for biometric passports – which are due to be introduced in 2009 – have to be fingerprinted.

• Revealed: The sinister truth about what they do with our children's fingerprints

But under the proposals, revealed in a report by the Commission, children as young as six could be forced to attend special identity centres.

Once there, their hands would be electronically scanned and their personal details entered on an identity database.

The Commission, which is responsible for the general day-to-day running of the European Union, says the move is essential to prevent child trafficking.

But Tony Bunyan, of civil rights group Statewatch, said: 'The taking of fingerprints from all children from age six upwards is highly questionable. It is a moral and political question, not a technical one.
Children must give prints for passports | the Daily Mail

Meet the women who won't have babies - because they're not eco friendly | the Daily Mail

Had Toni Vernelli gone ahead with her pregnancy ten years ago, she would know at first hand what it is like to cradle her own baby, to have a pair of innocent eyes gazing up at her with unconditional love, to feel a little hand slipping into hers - and a voice calling her Mummy.

But the very thought makes her shudder with horror....read more

Cellphone Tracking Powers on Request

Secret Warrants Granted Without Probable Cause

By Ellen Nakashima
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, November 23, 2007; A01

Federal officials are routinely asking courts to order cellphone companies to furnish real-time tracking data so they can pinpoint the whereabouts of drug traffickers, fugitives and other criminal suspects, according to judges and industry lawyers.

In some cases, judges have granted the requests without requiring the government to demonstrate that there is probable cause to believe that a crime is taking place or that the inquiry will yield evidence of a crime. Privacy advocates fear such a practice may expose average Americans to a new level of government scrutiny of their daily lives.

Such requests run counter to the Justice Department's internal recommendation that federal prosecutors seek warrants based on probable cause to obtain precise location data in private areas. The requests and orders are sealed at the government's request, so it is difficult to know how often the orders are issued or denied.

The issue is taking on greater relevance as wireless carriers are racing to offer sleek services that allow cellphone users to know with the touch of a button where their friends or families are. The companies are hoping to recoup investments they have made to meet a federal mandate to provide enhanced 911 (E911) location tracking. Sprint Nextel, for instance, boasts that its "loopt" service even sends an alert when a friend is near, "putting an end to missed connections in the mall, at the movies or around town."

With Verizon's Chaperone service, parents can set up a "geofence" around, say, a few city blocks and receive an automatic text message if their child, holding the cellphone, travels outside that area.

"Most people don't realize it, but they're carrying a tracking device in their pocket," said Kevin Bankston of the privacy advocacy group Electronic Frontier Foundation. "Cellphones can reveal very precise information about your location, and yet legal protections are very much up in the air."

In a stinging opinion this month, a federal judge in Texas denied a request by a Drug Enforcement Administration agent for data that would identify a drug trafficker's phone location by using the carrier's E911 tracking capability. E911 tracking systems read signals sent to satellites from a phone's Global Positioning System (GPS) chip or triangulated radio signals sent from phones to cell towers. Magistrate Judge Brian L. Owsley, of the Corpus Christi division of the Southern District of Texas, said the agent's affidavit failed to focus on "specifics necessary to establish probable cause, such as relevant dates, names and places."

Owsley decided to publish his opinion, which explained that the agent failed to provide "sufficient specific information to support the assertion" that the phone was being used in "criminal" activity. Instead, Owsley wrote, the agent simply alleged that the subject trafficked in narcotics and used the phone to do so. The agent stated that the DEA had " 'identified' or 'determined' certain matters," Owsley wrote, but "these identifications, determinations or revelations are not facts, but simply conclusions by the agency."

Instead of seeking warrants based on probable cause, some federal prosecutors are applying for orders based on a standard lower than probable cause derived from two statutes: the Stored Communications Act and the Pen Register Statute, according to judges and industry lawyers. The orders are typically issued by magistrate judges in U.S. district courts, who often handle applications for search warrants.

In one case last month in a southwestern state, an FBI agent obtained precise location data with a court order based on the lower standard, citing "specific and articulable facts" showing reasonable grounds to believe the data are "relevant to an ongoing criminal investigation," said Al Gidari, a partner at Perkins Coie in Seattle, who reviews data requests for carriers.

Another magistrate judge, who has denied about a dozen such requests in the past six months, said some agents attach affidavits to their applications that merely assert that the evidence offered is "consistent with the probable cause standard" of Rule 41 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. The judge spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

"Law enforcement routinely now requests carriers to continuously 'ping' wireless devices of suspects to locate them when a call is not being made . . . so law enforcement can triangulate the precise location of a device and [seek] the location of all associates communicating with a target," wrote Christopher Guttman-McCabe, vice president of regulatory affairs for CTIA -- the Wireless Association, in a July comment to the Federal Communications Commission. He said the "lack of a consistent legal standard for tracking a user's location has made it difficult for carriers to comply" with law enforcement agencies' demands.

Gidari, who also represents CTIA, said he has never seen such a request that was based on probable cause.

Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd said field attorneys should follow the department's policy. "We strongly recommend that prosecutors in the field obtain a warrant based on probable cause" to get location data "in a private area not accessible to the public," he said. "When we become aware of situations where this has not occurred, we contact the field office and discuss the matter."

The phone data can home in on a target to within about 30 feet, experts said.

Federal agents used exact real-time data in October 2006 to track a serial killer in Florida who was linked to at least six murders in four states, including that of a University of Virginia graduate student, whose body was found along the Blue Ridge Parkway. The killer died in a police shooting in Florida as he was attempting to flee.

"Law enforcement has absolutely no interest in tracking the locations of law-abiding citizens. None whatsoever," Boyd said. "What we're doing is going through the courts to lawfully obtain data that will help us locate criminal targets, sometimes in cases where lives are literally hanging in the balance, such as a child abduction or serial murderer on the loose."

In many cases, orders are being issued for cell-tower site data, which are less precise than the data derived from E911 signals. While the E911 technology could possibly tell officers what building a suspect was in, cell-tower site data give an area that could range from about three to 300 square miles.

Since 2005, federal magistrate judges in at least 17 cases have denied federal requests for the less-precise cellphone tracking data absent a demonstration of probable cause that a crime is being committed. Some went out of their way to issue published opinions in these otherwise sealed cases.

"Permitting surreptitious conversion of a cellphone into a tracking device without probable cause raises serious Fourth Amendment concerns especially when the phone is in a house or other place where privacy is reasonably expected," said Judge Stephen William Smith of the Southern District of Texas, whose 2005 opinion on the matter was among the first published.

But judges in a majority of districts have ruled otherwise on this issue, Boyd said. Shortly after Smith issued his decision, a magistrate judge in the same district approved a federal request for cell-tower data without requiring probable cause. And in December 2005, Magistrate Judge Gabriel W. Gorenstein of the Southern District of New York, approving a request for cell-site data, wrote that because the government did not install the "tracking device" and the user chose to carry the phone and permit transmission of its information to a carrier, no warrant was needed.

These judges are issuing orders based on the lower standard, requiring a showing of "specific and articulable facts" showing reasonable grounds to believe the data will be "relevant and material" to a criminal investigation.

Boyd said the government believes this standard is sufficient for cell-site data. "This type of location information, which even in the best case only narrows a suspect's location to an area of several city blocks, is routinely generated, used and retained by wireless carriers in the normal course of business," he said.

The trend's secrecy is troubling, privacy advocates said. No government body tracks the number of cellphone location orders sought or obtained. Congressional oversight in this area is lacking, they said. And precise location data will be easier to get if the Federal Communication Commission adopts a Justice Department proposal to make the most detailed GPS data available automatically.

Often, Gidari said, federal agents tell a carrier they need real-time tracking data in an emergency but fail to follow up with the required court approval. Justice Department officials said to the best of their knowledge, agents are obtaining court approval unless the carriersprovide the data voluntarily.

To guard against abuse, Congress should require comprehensive reporting to the court and to Congress about how and how often the emergency authority is used, said John Morris, senior counsel for the Center for Democracy and Technology.

Staff researcher Richard Drezen contributed to this report.

Cellphone Tracking Powers on Request

The Picture Of Conformity

Don't look now. Somebody's watching.

But you knew that, didn't you? How could you not? It's been apparent for years that we're being watched and monitored as we traverse airports and train stations, as we drive, train, fly, surf the Web, e-mail, talk on the phone, get the morning coffee, visit the doctor, go to the bank, go to work, shop for groceries, shop for shoes, buy a TV, walk down the street. Cameras, electronic card readers and transponders are ubiquitous. And in that parallel virtual universe, data miners are busily and constantly culling our cyber selves.

Is anywhere safe from the watchers, the trackers? Is it impossible to just be let alone?

There, in that quintessentially public space, the Mall, came Michael Thrasher, 43, an ordinary guy, just strolling on a lovely recent day. We found him near an entrance to the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, where a tower-high surveillance camera loomed overhead.

Thrasher didn't immediately see it. But when asked his feelings about privacy and surveillance, he said, "You just feel like there's always someone looking at you."

He's a baggage handler at Reagan National Airport, so he knows that he's watched at the workplace. Since Sept. 11, 2001, transit hubs have been laden with layer upon layer of surveillance: cameras, biometrics, sensors, even a new thing called the "behavior detection officer."

And it's good, Thrasher says, that someone's watching out for the bad guys. "Look what kind of world we're in now."

But Thrasher doesn't like the way his private space is shrinking. Like surfing the Web and knowing his data trail can easily be mined: "If I'm not doing anything illegal, why is it any of their business?"

Like being on the telephone and believing it could be tapped: "In the back of my mind, I'm thinking anybody could be listening to whatever I say."
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And just going about one's daily business, walking down the street, going to the market?

"It just feels like there's no privacy now at all when you're doing public stuff."

Suddenly, he sees the camera, his exclamation point, and throws his hands in the air.
...read more

Japan starts biometric data collection - UPI.com

TOKYO, Nov. 20 (UPI) -- Japanese immigration officials began collecting biometric data Tuesday from visitors arriving at airports and seaports as part of anti-terror legislation.

Under the new system, non-citizens at the 27 international airports and 126 coastal ports must show their passports, be photographed and have their fingerprints taken, the Kyodo news agency reported.

The Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Law was enacted last year in May in a bid to block entry of people designated by the Justice Department as terrorists.

Monday, a group of 67 rights groups released a statement condemning the screening, saying it was a highly political decision taken after almost no public discussion or policy reviews, the report said.

Japanese Justice Minister Kunio Hatoyama said the government's key concern was national security as well as respect for data security.

"We want people to bear with it for the great aim of preventing terrorism," Hatoyama said. "We will provide thorough protection of personal information."

Japan is the second country after the United States to collect biometric data from incoming non-citizens.Japan starts biometric data collection - UPI.com

Biometric ID cards planned

Standard ID card for non-EU residents is planned for all member states
Kim Thomas, IT Week, 19 Nov 2007

Biometric ID cards could be adopted throughout the European Union (EU) by 2010 if a proposed regulation goes ahead.

The regulation, scheduled for adoption before the end of this year, will introduce a standard version of the resident permit that all 27 member states issue to nationals from outside the EU. The aim is to make it easier to verify that someone is entitled to residence.

The new permit will be in the form of a smart card that stores, in encrypted form, two biometric identifiers: a facial image and two fingerprints. The technical specification is due to be published by 2008, and the new European resident permit will be rolled out within two years after that.

Known as the European Citizen Card (ECC), the cards could also be used by cardholders as a way of authenticating their identity in ecommerce transactions.

An estimated 20 million people within the EU require such a permit.
Biometric ID cards planned - 19 Nov 2007 - IT Week

First-grader suspended over drawing

EAGLE POINT — A first-grader was suspended Tuesday for drawing a stick figure shooting another in the head with a gun and allegedly threatening students.

Little Butte School officials sent 6-year-old Ryan Weathers home after receiving complaints from parents saying he threatened their children, said Douglas Weathers, the boy's father.

"He's not a violent kid," Weathers said. "He did not mean any harm."

School district officials declined to comment. State law bars them from discussing disciplinary actions against specific students.

The disciplinary report given to Weathers stated the reason for the suspension was the boy "threatened to shoot two girls in the head."

The drawing was inspired by an episode of "The Simpsons," Weathers said. In the television cartoon, a character displays a drawing of a student being shot by a gun.

Weathers said he understands the concerns other parents may have, but felt the school went too far in suspending his son for one day.

"You can't blame the parents," he said. "I told the principal that I agreed that he shouldn't have done the drawing, but suspending him seems like a policy with no intelligence behind it.

"They didn't seem to care that he's only in the first grade."

Tina Mondale, the district's school improvement director, said the issue is between the school and the parents involved.

"We can't give these details out," she said. "We deal with every discipline issue in a case-by-case basis. Our main concern is the safety of all the children in our schools."

Weathers plans to hold Ryan out of school until early next week. He wants a chance to talk to school officials before he lets his son attend class.

"I don't like him being out of school," Weathers said. "I'm not sure how this is going to affect how my kid is perceived. They may view him as a violent kid or a terrorist, or whatever."

The biggest issue Weathers had with the incident was that his son tried to blame the drawing on another kid.

"Lying is a big problem for me," Weathers said. "No matter what happens I tell him to tell the truth. I told him he was wrong for trying to lie."

Weathers said he owns a handgun, but he keeps it in a safe in a storage facility.

"I do own a .357, but my son's never even seen it," he said.

Weathers said he is looking forward to discussing the matter with Ryan's teacher during a conference Friday.

Until then, the boy's future at Little Butte School is up in the air.

"I don't know if I'm going to bring him back to that school," Weathers said.

Reach reporter Chris Conrad at 776-4471, or e-mail cconrad@mailtribune.com.MailTribune.com: First-grader suspended over drawing

Chipping People

Technology has advanced to the point where it is technologically feasible to implant advanced microchips in humans, explains analyst Matthew Sollenberger in a recently released brief—part of a series on “wildcard” events by the futurist research and consulting firm Social Technologies.

“GPS, medical implant technology, and radio frequency identification (RFID) chips could be used for a variety of functions, from surveillance to identification,” Sollenberger says. “Chipping people would be simple, and could assist with child and elder safety, debit and credit payment, and personal medical records. But consumer opinion is sharply divided on the merits of human microchip implants.”

Drivers
• Cheap implantable devices and quick, low-cost implantation have made chipping easy and affordable. It takes about 20 minutes, and doesn’t require stitches.
• Chip tracking and scanning is reliable, thanks to wireless, GPS, and RFID scanning networks.
• Parents are increasingly looking to technology to provide child safety solutions. In fact, 75% of parents in the UK say they would buy a child tracking device.
Obstacles
• The idea of implanting a chip with tracking functions in the body tends to evoke strong feelings—especially considering that RFID implants are considered highly vulnerable to hacking, and the long-term health effects are unknown.
• Privacy advocates warn that human chipping would let “Big Brother” run rampant.
• Consumer and legislative moves to restrict the use of human RFID implants are already in motion, and several states already have laws prohibiting implantation of chips.

Business implications

“Ubiquitous RFID implants could reshape many aspects of consumer society, for instance by enabling new ways to personalize advertising and shopping,” Sollenberger suggests. “Kids could have implants that inform vendors of parentally approved purchases, and personalized health implants could help consumers choose what foods to eat.”

It’s quite possible that a culture of constant monitoring could actually increase demand for new security products, he offers.

“As consumers become accustomed to continuous tracking and expect to be able to monitor their valuables—from cars to children—they may begin to insist that everything be trackable.”

Additionally, the spread of human chipping and support networks could provide the groundwork for a major expansion of location-based services (LBS), such as marketing for new location-based games, targeting reward programs to a consumer’s location, or optimizing the flow of fast-moving consumer goods based on aggregate consumer-implant data.

What’s the probability of human chipping coming to fruition?

“The necessary technology is essentially in place—the outcome will hinge on what users want. There is at least a low probability of chipping becoming widespread within 10 years,” Sollenberger concludes.

Hope Katz Gibbs (hope.gibbs@socialtechnologies.com)
Leader, Corporate Communications
Social Technologies
1776 Massachusetts Ave. N.W. #815
Washington, DC 20036-1907
Phone : 202-223-2801 ext. 210
Fax : 202-223-2802
Chipping People

Sign Of Times: NJ School Cameras Fed Live To Cops

Surveillance cameras rolling inside our local schools is nothing new, but what's taking place inside Demarest's public schools is truly cutting edge: a live feed from more than two dozen cameras with a direct connection to the police.

It's an expensive, but effective tool that could be a sign of the times with an increase in school shootings over the years.

The system, which cost about $28,000, can even track movement in a crowded room.

"When they arrive, they can pull up the school's live feed and do a sweep instantly," Demarest Police Chief James Powderley tells CBS 2.... wcbstv.com - Sign Of Times: NJ School Cameras Fed Live To Cops

We are sleepwalking as our freedoms are eroded

We have become a nation of sleepwalkers and our rulers are the soundest sleepers of all.

The latest and greatest danger to the freedoms for which the English fought - from Magna Carta in 1215, through the Glorious Revolution of 1688 to the libertarian reforms of the 1960s that permitted people their sexual privacy - is the DNA database that, every hour, adds to a police computer file around 150 genetic fingerprints of the guilty, the suspected and mostly the innocent.

No other country in the world has such a large DNA database on its people and among the 4.5million already recorded are 150,000 under-16s.

The question is, do we care? During ten years of Labour government our liberties have been stamped on repeatedly, and yet there is little public outcry. We are sleepwalking as our freedoms are eroded | the Daily Mail

Credit card kiosk boosts giving

Tithing just entered the 21st century.

"You use your debit card at the gas station, you use your debit card at the grocery store," Noel said. "Why are we afraid to use the technology in church?

"Biblically speaking, they used to bring grains and fruits and animals as offering. Then they brought coins."

The desktop kiosk, which looks a lot like the cash register at any random Subway franchise — complete with card swipe — is merely the next step in tithing evolution.

Seems to make sense, too.

For many young people, carrying cash is about as practical as tithing every 10th head of oxen.

"I believe our society is moving to a cashless society," Noel said.