Wednesday, November 18, 2020
Tuesday, November 17, 2020
"Observing Moving Pixels" > Aerial Investigative Research and/or Persistent Surveillance Systems
A not-so-clear fine line - with more than one recurring fact brought to light:
The entire system was paid for by a private donor, allowing the PD to sidestep its transparency obligations to the public
"The Baltimore PD can still use its flying spies, says the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. The aerial surveillance program -- first "introduced" on accident in 2016 -- allows the PD to track the movement of people across the entire city, thanks to high-powered cameras mounted on airplanes. The surveillance system (created by Persistent Surveillance Systems) can capture 32-square miles. People and vehicles are reduced to pixels despite the power of the 192-million-megapixel cameras, but combining this footage with street-level surveillance allows the PD to deanonymize moving pixels observed near crime scenes.
The entire system was paid for by a private donor, allowing the PD to sidestep its transparency obligations to the public. After the initial run ended, the PD resurrected it -- this time following the proper processes for introducing new surveillance systems to the city.
Earlier this year, a federal court rejected requests for an injunction, stating that the observations of moving pixels didn't amount to a Constitutional violation. Even though these pixels could be identified using ground-based surveillance, the court didn't see anything in the system that amounted to persistent, intrusive surveillance with Fourth Amendment implications
Appeals Court Says Baltimore PD's Aerial Surveillance Program Doesn't Violate The Constitution
from the long-term-tracking-of-people-is-fine...-as-long-as-it's-only-12-hours-a-day dept
All-seeing 24/7 video surveillance technology, first developed for use in war, is now affordable enough to be used domestically to fight crime and terrorism. Some lawmakers are wary.
After a shooting in West Baltimore, Persistent Surveillance Systems technology mapped the path of cars nearby.
Photo: Persistent Surveillance Systems
Snagged by Tedchdirt: Mucking-Up Content Moderation...The Mercers Market Proganda Using Their Own Social Network
Parlez vous? Let's catch up with Mike Masnick writing a report yesterday about Parler: "Since the election, Parler has found renewed life among Trump supporters who feel that... [checks notes] being fact-checked, or limited for sharing debunked and dangerous conspiracy theories, is somehow an attack on... something (reality: it's an attack on their delusions). And as Parler has gotten a new round of attention, some questions were raised about the funding behind it. After all, there was no big VC or known investor behind the company, so it wasn't entirely clear how it was surviving. . .
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BLOGGER NOTE: Keep an eye on Mercer's using the names of American heros like Benjamin Franklin + allusions to such things as 'guiding principles of founding fathers"
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NOW WE KNOW . . But then, on Friday, the Wall Street Journal revealed that Parler was being funded by the Mercer family, the same family who funded a bunch of pro-Trump projects, including Cambridge Analytica, Breitbart, and, well, Trump's own presidential campaign. Over the weekend, Rebekah Mercer took it up a further notch by claiming that she was the co-founder of the company along with CEO John Matze.
That's a post from Rebekah Mercer saying:
John and I started Parler to provide a neutral platform for free speech, as our founders intended, and also to create a social media environment that would protect data privacy. Benjamin Franklin warned us: "Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech." The ever increasing tyranny and hubris of our tech overlords demands that someone lead the fight against data mining, and for the protection of free speech online. That someone is Parler, a beacon to all who value their liberty, free speech, and personal privacy.
That's... information that is brand new. Prior to this weekend, it was always claimed that the company was founded by Matze and a friend, Jared Thomson. In the past they had claimed that they founded it together, and had some support from a "small group of close friends and employees." But they never mentioned the Mercers. That's some "friends."
Also, Rebekah Mercer's claims are pretty ridiculous when you pick them apart. Despite claiming that they're setting up "a neutral platform for free speech" we know perfectly well that's utter garbage. As we've seen, they've got no problem banning people they dislike for ideological reasons. In fact, despite claiming on the website that they would only take down content if it violated the 1st Amendment, the company quickly realized that it would have to ban a lot more than that. . .
As we said, they've sort of speed-run the content moderation learning curve that every website goes through when they claim to support free speech. They insist they'll allow anything. Then they start banning spammers. Then trolls. And, that's the same damn thing Twitter does, and even here they're admitting that they're banning "leftist trolls." In fact, over the past week or so we keep having people showing up on our article from the summer about Parler banning users it doesn't like and screaming at us about how it's okay because they're just banning trolls. But, that's the point. That's what Twitter is doing too. Except that Twitter isn't complaining about ideological trolls.
It's only Parler that seems to be staking out an ideological claim, trying to ban "leftist" trolls after being cofounded by one of the most extreme partisans around, who laughably claims that Parler will be neutral.
The other incredibly ridiculous claim is that Parler is a response to "the ever increasing tyranny and hubris of our tech overlords" and that it is trying to "lead the fight against data mining." Or that Parler is "a beacon to all those who value their liberty, free speech, and personal privacy." We already covered how its views on free speech are not very different from other social media platforms, but the privacy claims are ridiculous as well.
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RELATED CONTENT FROM EARLIER POSTS ON THIS BLOG - REBEKAH MERCER
03 April 2017
FINANCIAL DISCLOSURES: Millionaire$$$$$$ In The White House
These are important disclosures from the people who have the president’s ear and shape national policy.
They lay out all sorts of details, including information on ownership of stocks, real estate and companies, and make possible conflicts of interest public.
Since the White House wasn’t going to post the documents publicly, we did.
We teamed up with The New York Times and The Associated Press, requested docs for every staffer we know and put them in this public Google Drive folder.
We’re continuing to look through them.
And we want your help:
If you see anything that merits a closer look, comment on the thread below or fill out our Google Form.
Among the things we’ve learned already:
- Steve Bannon, President Trump’s hand-picked chief strategist, earned more than $500,000 last year through businesses connected to Republican donors Robert Mercer and his daughter, Rebekah. The companies include the conservative website Breitbart News Network; the data-crunching firm Cambridge Analytica; the conservative nonprofit Government Accountability Institute; and the entertainment production company Glittering Steel. (Per an agreement with White House ethics attorneys, Bannon is selling his stakes in Cambridge Analytica and Glittering Steel. He made somewhere between $1.3 million and $2.3 million last year, according to the filings.)
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18 January 2017
Independent Journalist Jeremy Scahill Blows The Cover Off Shadow Trump Advisor Eric Prince
Story January 18, 2017Blackwater Founder Erik Prince, the Brother of Betsy DeVos, Is Secretly Advising Trump
GUEST: Jeremy Swahili co-founder of The Intercept and author of the new article "Notorious Mercenary Erik Prince Is Advising Trump from the Shadows."
JEREMY SCAHILL: Right, well, Robert Mercer, the billionaire hedge funder, his daughter Rebekah ran one of the most important super PACs to Trump, Make America Number 1 super PAC. And Trump—and Erik Prince and his mother, Elsa, were two of the largest contributors to one of the most significant super PACs that supported Donald Trump. Erik Prince is very close to Robert Mercer. Prince was also at the "Heroes and Villains" party that Mercer threw in Long Island after the election. And, in fact, there’s a picture that Peter Thiel, the right-wing billionaire who destroyed Gawker—a picture of Peter Thiel, Donald Trump and Erik Prince, that Peter Thiel says is not safe for the internet. But it’s clear that Erik Prince, through Betsy DeVos, through Robert Mercer and through his very right-wing paramilitary crowd, has the ear of President-elect Donald Trump. And our understanding, from a very well-placed source, is that Prince has even been advising Trump on his selections for the staffing of the Defense Department and the State Department . . .
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Flash News: Ukraine Intercepts Russian Kh-59 Cruise Missile Using US VAMPIRE Air Defense System Mounted on Boat. Ukrainian forces have made ...
