[Angry_Chimp]

"In Oceania at the present day, Science, in the old sense, has almost ceased to exist. In Newspeak there is no word for 'Science'. The empirical method of thought, on which all the scientific achievements of the past were founded, is opposed to the most fundamental principles of Ingsoc. And even technological progress only happens when its products can in some way be used for the diminution of human liberty. In all the useful arts the world is either standing still or going backwards."
~Orwell, War is Peace

http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/22072 ... server-sky
International police plan 'Server in the Sky'
New database of criminal identities going worldwide

Iain Thomson, vnunet.com 15 Jan 2008
Police in the UK, the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand have announced plans for a database of international criminals that can be shared between countries.

The new International Information Consortium, dubbed Server in the Sky, will include finger and retina prints, criminal records and known addresses of suspects.

"Server in the Sky is an FBI initiative designed to foster the advanced search and exchange of biometric information on a global scale," the FBI told The Guardian.

"While it is currently in the concept and design stages, it will eventually provide a technical forum for member nations to submit biometric search requests to other nations.

"It will maintain a core holding of the world's 'worst of the worst' individuals. Any identifications of these people will be sent as a priority message to the requesting nation."

The UK government and the Metropolitan Police told The Guardian that they are aware of the programme, but declined further comment.

The five countries already co-operate in running Echelon, the global eavesdropping service that can listen into telephone, radio and email communication.

Echelon was designed during the Cold War but has maintained and expanded its operations since the break up of the Soviet Union.

[gg3]

.
Heh, the ol' UKUSA agreement, again. This is what got NSA, GCHQ, and their related agencies in Canada, Australia, and NZ, all working together. For the most part that's a good thing so long as legal protections are in place and followed, which can't be taken for granted when the executive branch arrogates unto itself the legislative power.

I'm less concerned with servers in the sky than with private-sector spy satellites in the sky, and their little roving spy vehicles that take street-level pictures of all the buildings.

And let's not forget that the average person in England is photographed and/or videotaped 300 times each day.

Three hundred times

each

day.

[POAlex]

300 times a day? Sheesh.

Alex

[Denny]

I have a friend who works with the Canadian Border Services Agency. He says that the new passport features with the scannable i.d. inside allow the border people to get the low down on such things as a person's criminal record as well as some personal details tht allow them to verify that the person they are seeing is likely to be the passport holder's identity - things like height, etc, in the case of a passpart being altered or counterfeit.

I found this second thing more chilling. Apparently, for surface crossing the U.S. Dept of Homeland Security is working on a cross index of auto license plates to owners, in turn to link vehicle owners to criminal records, or other security information. So, lets say I had been arrested once for pot possession. (I have not by the way.) If I drive into he U.S., or return home to Canada, the border people may have my license number on some kind of enforcement list for scrutiny.

When one registers a car, I am sure what most would never think the government could be linking personal information to them. This could even be used in domestic surveillance work so the police could see a license plate and have it checked for the personal details of the owner. Who know, maybe they cold even check tax records, though I know they are supposed to be secure and not used by other government agencies. Who can say these days that they are not lying about that?

The Canadian side even has some kind of camera or OCR read of license plates now, whereas they used to type the plate number in to a computer.

I suspect that in the future, the government may know where you are at any point in time, like some kind of "big brother" from the movies. I've often wondered if cell phones can be traced that way, if the police were looking for somebody. I'd bet the cell pohones with GPS cold put out some kind of signal.