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POPSIs Google a "Big Brother Watching Over You?" I think we're often drawn into neat web tools because new stuff is usually fun, trendy and usually offers some level of nifty use-ability and forward change. It's not until we're knee deep in it that we realize just how much of ourselves we've released into the wild yonder. Here's one example....
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POPSBREAKING: ACORN’s New Orleans Office Raided by Louisiana Attorney General
According to NOLA.com: Attorney General Buddy Caldwell has served a search warrant at the ACORN office at 2609 Canal Street, according to Tammi Arender Herring, a spokeswoman with the office. Investigators in khaki pants and polo shirts loaded several dozen computers and other electronic items into an SUV. They are also carrying records out of the building on handcarts. The large office building sits at the corner of Dorgenois and Canal. ACORN staffers were given no notice that a search would be conducted today, Herring said. From WDAM in New Orleans: Caldwell said investigators will copy records and hard drives, then return them to ACORN. He said the original allegations of embezzlement were made last year by ACORN board members who were fired after they asked for a forensic examination of the group’s books. ACORN fired the longtime director of its Louisiana chapter last month, citing a lack of accountability. by Capitol Confidential Big Governm
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POPSFBI Demands Tattoo Shops Rat On Customers It is not merely “extremist symbols.” In addition, the FBI literature instructs tattoo shops to be on the look-out for people who change hair color, style of dress, or shave beards between visits. Suspicious people also include those with missing fingers or hands, chemical burns, strange orders or bright colored stains on clothing. Read the handout below for more absurd “extremist” indicators according to the FBI.
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POPSChicago to pay Cash Bounties for Informants on Business Cheats Depending on your stance on tax cheats, this could be good or bad. On the one hand, tax cheats should be made to pay their fair share of the tax burden. But it brings up the issue on what is the ‘fair share’ when it comes to taxes, but that is for discussion another day. On the hand, this enforces the whole Big Brother climate. Do we really want to spy on our grocer or used car dealer, etc? Would you do it for money? What are your thoughts?
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POPSBig Brother Monitoring Your Clipmarks, Blogs, Tweets "Visible", a very extensive and sophisticated CIA-based monitoring program is in effect watching online forums, blogs, twitters, and likely Clipmarks (where influential clips are easily tabulated). After all, it's all in the public domain, where whatever you post you must own. In-Q-Tel says it wants Visible to keep track of foreign social media, and give spooks “early-warning detection on how issues are playing internationally ,” spokesperson Donald Tighe tells Danger Room.
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POPSWho's in Big Brother's Database? Thus it is possible that the agency scans all the e-mail of both and it may also eavesdrop on the telephone calls of both for targets on its ever-growing watch lists. According to a recent Justice Department report, "As of December 31, 2008, the consolidated terrorist watchlist contained more than 1.1 million known or suspected terrorist identities."
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POPSUK has 1% of world's population but 20% of its CCTV cameras
An old article but still pretty accurate. you cannot move in London without being seen by at least 3 cameras at any one point. It is the definition of a police state, the police also have sub-machine guns, (H&K MP5k's for anyone interested) while you can be arrested for carrying a penknife if its blade is more than an inch long, because of the laws now concerning blades and knives. as well as the other tricks like LRADs (not new) which are now common place around the world. All backed by by ignorant and dangerous attitudes of the police. Again as always don't take my word for it look it up. The report says: "It is not entirely absurd to imagine that supermarkets' loyalty card data might one day be used by the Government to identify people who ignored advice to eat healthily or who drank too much, so that they could be given a lower priority for NHS treatment". "We have supermarkets collecting data on our shopping habits and also offering life insurance services"
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POPSCrimespotting: the new way to make money on the Internet Tony Morgan, who set up the site, said: “This could turn out to be the best crime prevention weapon there’s ever been. I wanted to combine the serious business of stopping crime with the incentive of winning money. Users will be awarded one point for spotting a suspected crime and three if they see an actual crime. They can also lose points if the camera operator decides that the alert was not a crime.
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POPSDirtbag Lashs Out at Legitimate Charities and Slimes Their Good Names When news was about to break that Pike helped hide the embezzlement of nearly $1 million by the brother of ACORN’s founder, the order was “keep your yaps shut.” That would have been good advice here, rather than lashing out at legitimate charities and dragging their good names into ACORN’s sordid story.