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police video surveillance of public schools; facerecog too
by Optimizzin Al-gorithym 08 Sep '02

08 Sep '02

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-fi-campus8sep08.story SANTEE, Calif. -- As Mike Brooder pulls into the student parking lot outside West Hills High School, wireless cameras record his face and license plate--doing the same to every car that follows. The cameras then track the 17-year-old senior as he walks up a concrete path, studies his schedule, scratches his chin, waves to friends and then wanders to class. Nearly every move Brooder makes--and every move of his 2,300 classmates--is captured and stored in the campus' database. Following last September's terrorist attacks and years of school shootings, West Hills High sits on the cutting edge of the emerging surveillance society. Each bathroom door is monitored. Sensors that detect the smoke of a single match send alerts to campus security. By Christmas, four more cameras will be installed, and hall monitors will carry wireless computers that can pull up a student's school picture, class schedule and attendance record. School officials are considering whether to expand the SkyWitness surveillance system by adding facial recognition software that will allow a computer to filter out who should--and who should not--be on campus. Technology, once viewed primarily as a learning tool, is building a wall of electronic security on campus. "People are saying they expected this to happen after the shootings and the terrorists last year," said Brooder, an honor student who plays on the school baseball team. "Still, it seems a little overwhelming and extreme." And perhaps likely to become far more common--not just in schools, but everywhere. Schools are among the first to embrace new technology, often because companies view campuses as perfect testing grounds before rolling products out to corporate America. For instance, one of the companies behind West Hills' system, PacketVideo Corp., predicts that demand for products like SkyWitness will grow, as people are tracked at factories, office parks, stadiums--even places such as the Third Street Promenade shopping district in Santa Monica. Companies like the fact that students enjoy fewer constitutional protections than adults and have lower expectations of privacy than their parents. For many students, such surveillance is standard, with cameras at every bank ATM and many fast-food drive-throughs. But the desire to protect has led to an erosion of individual privacy, civil liberties advocates argue. "Once privacy is gone, you can't get it back," said Dale Kelly Bankhead, a spokeswoman for the ACLU of San Diego and Imperial counties. "This is not just about schools, but about a broader social attitude." Relying on such high-tech systems is an unusual move for high schools, but is expected to become a more popular trend in the post-Sept, 11 world, said Kenneth S. Trump, president and chief executive of National School Safety and Security Services, a Cleveland-based consulting firm. At Tewksbury Memorial High School, about an hour outside Boston, the push for security has gone so far as to result in a video-surveillance system that lets both educators--and local police--watch the hallways. "Cameras are everywhere someone wants to watch over," Trump said. The technology at West Hills relies on advanced hardware, but basic, off-the-shelf technology is already used by both parents and educators to watch kids. Software programs can take snapshots of every Web page they visit and every e-mail they send. Devices such as AutoWatch can be popped into an automobile and programmed to record a car's speed, as well as times, dates and the lengths of time it is driven. Cell-phone bills list the calls a student makes and receives. "You might call it control," said Joe Schramm, head of security at West Hills. "We call it keeping the kids safe." Tucked into the scrub-brush valley of Santee, West Hills High appears to be nothing but safe. The average SAT score is nearly 1100, and 70% of last year's seniors are attending either a community college or a four-year institution this fall. But West Hills High has not gone untouched by fear. Less than three miles away, Charles "Andy" Williams went on a shooting rampage last year, killing two students and wounding 13 others at Santana High School. The community was stunned when nearly two weeks later another student launched a shooting spree at a different school in the Grossmont Union High School District. Jason Hoffman, 18, wounded five people at Granite Hills High School in El Cajon. Hoffman committed suicide while awaiting trial. Last month Williams was sentenced to prison for 50 years to life. Despite the violence, the school district was forced to cut its budget across the board; the security group lost three of its 10 employees, including two of the staff members who helped patrol the 76-acre West Hills campus. Hoping to offset the pain of the staff cuts, the district started to look at technology it already had in place on its campuses and explore how the tools could be used for security purposes, said Sue Mangiapane, education global account manager for Cisco Systems Inc. The San Jose computer giant had been hired to install the core routers, switches and servers that formed the computer brain to link campuses with the district's offices and, in turn, to the Internet. Initially, the technology had been designed for instructional use, such as creating digital lockers where students could store their electronic art projects. Then, the focus shifted toward security. At a technology conference this spring, executives from Cisco and San Diego-based PacketVideo began discussing the school shootings and tossing around ideas of how the tragedies could have been avoided. "Schools aren't a key security market for us," said James Carol, chairman and co-founder of PacketVideo, a privately owned software company that creates wireless video networks. The company, along with Cisco and Sony, donated the equipment and handled the installation of the $50,000 SkyWitness system. "This was the right thing to do for a school that's essentially in our backyard," Carol said. The project at West Hills also provided the technology companies with a test lab in which to develop and try out a security system that the firms will ultimately market to corporate America and government agencies. Already, PacketVideo's software is used by cell phone and technology firms such as NTT DoCoMo in Japan and Siemens AG in Germany, and tapped for private security projects. Tech firms such as Microsoft Corp. and Apple Computer Co. have a long history of donating software and hardware to schools. The motivation is partly the push to be a corporate good citizen and partly the desire to influence the consumer habits of future shoppers. "If you want to stress-test a technology, particularly a security system, a school is a good place," said Trump of National School Safety and Security Services. "Most often, the biggest obstacle a company must overcome is the issue of cost. If [the technology] is free, many schools will be open to it." Aiding the decision is the fact that minors have fewer rights than adults, said John Pescatore, research director for security at the industry-consulting firm Gartner. "If the system gets too intrusive, the school and the technology companies are likely to get fewer complaints and fewer legal actions filed over it" than they would elsewhere, Pescatore said. "You can do things on a school campus that you could never do in an office building." Few of the students at West Hills or their parents knew about the new surveillance system when classes began in late August. The school's football team, the Wolf Pack, and the campus cheerleaders had practiced on campus this summer and saw the cameras being installed. Rumors flew, as word of the new technology became campus gossip. Some students, carrying their bar-coded photo identification cards, grumbled about the digital devices that tracked their every step. But most wandered nonchalantly by the wireless cameras, ignoring the monitoring. "We're observed all the time," said senior Kimberly Schmidtke, 17. "It's just that they're now taping us." That such surveillance would not only be accepted but also embraced by some teenagers marks a subtle cultural shift over public monitoring. A few decades ago, students rallied against having their actions recorded by authority figures. But as camera technologies became cheaper and easier to use, they became far more widely used, said Bankhead of the ACLU. Digital cameras sit on top of home computers, peek out of mall ceilings and take snapshots at gas station pumps. Cities such as Simi Valley have approved grants to pay for cameras to catch graffiti vandals, and dozens of towns nationwide use cameras to capture drivers who speed through red lights. "It's been so incremental, we almost didn't notice such monitoring of our lives was happening," Bankhead said. "We don't even know it's there. The more it's there, the more it seems to make sense to people." In the first few days of school, only a few parents voiced complaints--not about the technology itself, but that the district had not informed them that the system would be put into use. "For something so significant, it's the district's responsibility to disclose what they're doing," said Patty Everts, 50, while waiting Monday to pick up her daughter at West Hills. "We knew there was new technology on the campus that was being upgraded. Most people assumed it was for educational purposes, not security." School officials plan to send a letter out to parents next month "as soon as we know the full potential of how we are going to use this technology," said Principal Jim Peabody. "The technology will help us keep kids safe and keep out people who shouldn't be on this campus." But the security system could not have prevented last year's school rampages, because the shooters were not people who didn't belong on campus. Reliance on such technology to attempt the creation of a protective wall horrifies privacy proponents, who insist that the West Hills system is not only invasive, but also gives parents and school officials a false sense of security. "No one's even asking the question: Is this truly going to make my child safer?" Bankhead said. To 66-year-old grandfather Jerry Parli, the answer is moot. Lingering at the entrance of West Hills, he sat patiently in the hot August afternoon, waiting to pick up his two granddaughters. "It's about time they do something like this," he said. "It's a terrible thing, but it's time to embrace Big Brother." ---- "Well, as long as everyone's videotaping everyone else, I guess justice will be done" Marge Simpson

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Hershey Highway.
by Matthew X 08 Sep '02

08 Sep '02

Later this month, the General Services Administration will announce the first government agencies to be cross-certified with the federal public-key infrastructure bridge, making it easier for agency users to exchange data securely. The federal PKI bridge is designed as a way to link agencies' certificate authorities (CAs), which are the central component of a PKI. A CA is the server used to generate and manage digital certificates to identify users and secure their transactions. By cross-certifying CAs certificate policies through the bridge, which acts as a trusted third party, an agency that needs to accept a certificate from another federal agency, and ultimately other non-federal entities, to conduct an electronic transaction will know that the certificate can be trusted. On Sept. 18, GSA plans to hold a cross-signing ceremony that will show certificates from the Defense Department, the Agriculture Department's National Finance Center, NASA and the Treasury Department can interoperate, said David Temoshok, acting director for identity policy at GSA's office of governmentwide policy. Those agencies' PKI domains "will be able to cross-certify through the bridge" and will be recognized by each other, Temoshok said while attending the Interagency Resources Management Conference in Hershey, Pa., this week. He added that in 2003, GSA hopes to add Illinois and Canada to that list. http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2002/0902/web-bridge-09-06-02.asp Tech keeps track of parolees Florida county using VeriTracks system, which can plots a person's location relative to crimes committed Run pugsly RUN!

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Chop Chop
by Matthew X 08 Sep '02

08 Sep '02

CC is green tobacco with added saltpetre to assist burning,its sold under the counter in au to evade huge taxes on standard coffin nails and rolling sotweed. Cigarettes smuggling is huge world wide,a run between Turkey and southern Russia had nuclear materials as a backload to NJ.When the US customs found it the CIA got shirty.Enough to attack the twin Towers? maybe... http://organizedcrime.about.com/library/weekly/aa090402a.htm A Smoking Gun Cigarette smuggling is a billion dollar industry with links to organized crime and terrorism. In the film "Goodfellas," Henry Hill's first arrest comes about because he is selling a shipment of hijacked cigarettes to factory workers. The truth of cigarette smuggling is not nearly as innocent as that scene would lead us to believe. ETC.

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Call to repeal the PATRIOT act.
by Matthew X 08 Sep '02

08 Sep '02

http://workers.labor.net.au/151/c_historicalfeature_bush.html Washington has become the first State Labor Council in the U.S. to call on the AFL-CIO to seek repeal of the USA Patriot Act and oppose the Bush Administration, reports Fred Hyde. *********** The floor of the convention at the Washington State Labor Council (WSLC) in Spokane, Washington was hushed when Gil Veyna took the mike to support "A Resolution Against the War, Attacks on Civil Liberties and Cuts in Public Services. "As a Chicano and a unionist," Veyna said resoundingly "I resent Bush's war on terrorism which is a war on working people and immigrants." Veyna, a 22-year Veterans Administration hospital employee, was at the August 19-22, 2002 convention as a delegate for the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 3197. His union is one of several which has raised objections to the governments plan to remove civil service protections and collective bargaining rights from the 170,000 federal workers in the newly formed Department of Homeland Security. In his comments, Veyna criticized the national leadership of the AFL-CIO for its unstinting support of the military actions in Afghanistan. He noted that now the administration has turned its guns on dockworkers, referring to the threat to call out troops in the name of "national security" in the eventuality of a strike by the International Longshore Workers Union. Veyna was no less critical of what he termed "federally sanctioned racial profiling following 9/11" which put immigrants under the spotlight and led to many unfairly losing their jobs. When Veyna sat down, not a single delegate of the 500 unionists representing locals throughout the state rose to speak against the resolution, and it passed overwhelmingly. Thus Washington became the first State Labor Council in the country to call on the AFL-CIO to seek repeal of the USA Patriot Act and oppose the U.S. government's war without end. MORE ON http://workers.labor.net.au/151/c_historicalfeature_bush.html

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Raise the Fist at melbourne Indymedia.
by Matthew X 08 Sep '02

08 Sep '02

http://www.melbourne.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=33231&group=webcast Anarchists,Indymedia under attack. by Russell Walsh 2:44am Mon Sep 9 '02 article#33231 The Mayday of 2001 led State police violence and repression as detailed in Article,an alleged threat to police posted here eight days later has led to a court case here in Melb. Another alleged 'threat' coincided closely with the most violent and unprecedented attack on an Indymedia station.People being hospitalized and as at S11,2000 having their teeth smashed out.50 police are under investigation in Italy and some have admitted planting 'weapons' and faking 'assaults' on them. This is from raisethefist. Long Beach Anarchist Movement Under Heavy Fire by xxxxx Thu May 23 20:09:02 PDT 2002 May Day 2001, the now infamous riot in the streets of Long Beach, was just the beginning of a well organized conspiracy to destroy the growing anarchist movement in Southern California. The City of Long Beach, and it's police department, is now at the forefront of a well-organized quasilegal conspiracy, in the cahoots with Los Angeles, La Habra, Fullerton, and the orange County and Los Angeles sheriffs departments. Rest assured that the Feds are also heavily involved. Their goal is to jail a few of the most outspoken anarchists in order to intimidate the rest of the movement. We have seen this scheme played out already in Eugene with devastating results. Regardless of the harassment by the Long Beach Police Department, the activists continued to do work to better the community. Groups and programs such as 'Food Not Bombs' (an anti-military network that serves food as a protest to war and arms), 'COPWATCH' (an organization who monitors unlawful police activity), 'POWER' (an anti-authoritarian, anti-war/anti-racist group) have been created to empower the local community. On April 20, 2002, Mathew Gordon Lamont, a Long Beach Activist, who has been highly involved with the above mentioned groups and the infoshoppe along with Maxwell Lucas, a Food Not Bombs Activist, were pulled over in the city of La Habra (Orange County) after being followed by 2 Long Beach detectives. While their car was pulled over for unknown reasons, it was searched by LONG BEACH DETECTIVES (Long Beach is Los Angeles County Jurisdiction). The detectives found a gas can in the car, arrested the two men and took them into custody. Maxwell Lucas, who is a juvenile, was taken to the Orange County Juvenile Detention Center in Orange, CA. He is being charged with but not limited to the felony of possession of a destructive device. Matthew Lamont is being held in the Theo Lacy Facility in Orange, CA. and is being charged with 4 felony charges of possession of a destructive device, transporting of a destructive device, the use of a destructive device, and the possession of materials/instructions to make a destructive device. Matthew was scheduled to have his first arraignment on Tuesday April 23rd in Division 7 of the Central Court of Orange County in the city of Fullerton. During this arraignment Matthew asked for a 3-week continuance in order to obtain an attorney. Matt's bail was placed at 100,000 dollars. Tuesday May 14th, 2002, Matthew Lamont had a scheduled court date in Santa Ana's Central Court for his extended arraignment. A small demonstration had previously been called for in front of the courthouse. However, when the demonstrators arrived they were greeted by at least 100 cops in full riot gear, undercover cops, sheriff's deputies, police horses, etc. The first group of demonstrators who arrived - unmasked, unarmed, unthreatening in every way - decided to go inside to view court proceedings. They proceeded to walk up to the court and waited for a few others to show up before proceeding inside. The demonstrators were told that Matthew Lamont's hearing was held first thing in the morning before his scheduled appearance. THIS IS NOT A COINCIDENCE. It's an obvious attempt to lower his morale by making it difficult for supporters to appear in court and show support. The demonstrators then decided to wait out in front for more people to show up. Several sheriff deputies then confronted the demonstrators and said, "OK, people! I need to see your I.D's!". Only one person co-operated with them and the rest refused to show identification. The sheriffs then backed off when they realized they wouldn't be able to get any more information. Just moments later, the police started forming a line in front of the court door and strapped on their riot helmets and gear. They then surrounded the demonstrators up against a wall, and one officer read a dispersal order saying that if the group didn't disperse immediately they will all be arrested. Disappointed, the small group had no choice but to leave. As the small group proceeded to leave, two demonstrators were searched by police as they arrived to their car. When the rest arrived at the parking lot, the parking attendant told them that the police ordered him to let them into the lot to investigate for bombs. Just as the small group of demonstrators were forced to leave, another group of 8 had arrived. They stood across the street with a banner that read, "FIGHT POLITICAL REPRESSION! FREE MATT & MAX!". Police, and undercover officers proceeded to surveil the peaceful demonstrators with video cameras. Realizing the enormous police presence, 3 demonstrators went to get a video camera from their car so they could tape the overwhelming police presence. As they tried to do so, they were closely followed by 3 police cars. As the 3 demonstrators left the car and proceeded back to the demo, the police stayed behind and appeared to be analyzing the vehicle. Another demonstrator went into the court house and was confronted by a LOS ANGELES SHERIFFS DEPUTY who told her that Matthew had already had his arraignment and left court. Despite this, the demonstrators still decided to continue on with the peaceful demonstration which took place on the side walk across the street from the court house. Approximately 15-20 minutes later, the riot police began to disperse and leave the area. The riot police on horses left shortly afterwards. The sheriffs, and undercover officers remained on the scene and continued to video tape the demonstrators. After about an hour and a half, Matthew was seen leaving the court in the back of a squad car. Matthew's arraignment was supposed to be scheduled at the North Court in Fullerton, but was then moved to the Central Court in Santa Ana only 2 days before the demonstration. This was an obvious attempt to disorganize the event in fears of large amounts of people coming to show support. Matthew is being charged with 4 felony counts, and is facing serious jail time. At Matthews first arraignment, Tuesday April 23rd, one if his supporters, Jeff Hendricks, yelled out in support as he was being led back out of the courtroom by the bailiff. The Judge pressed the emergency button and the bailiff immediately arrested Jeff. Jeff was arrested for two misdemeanor charges: contempt of court and communication with a prisoner. Jeff was held on 15,000 bail until his arraignment on Thursday April 25. During his arraignment Jeff had his bail lowered to 7,500. On Friday Jeff made bail and was about to be released when a Deputy ran into the release room of the jail with a hold: A new warrant from the Long Beach police department for remaining at the scene of a riot. Jeff was placed back into custody and transported to an L.A county facility. Jeff made a phone call earlier that day from jail and told friends that he was put in HIGH SECURITY after being arrested at court (on minor misdemeanor charges), and had his picture taken by the FBI, and was continuously being questioned by authorities. While in custody, Jeff's car was impounded and searched for "explosives". At 4 am Saturday morning Jeff was again bailed out. Jeff is currently out on bail and is facing his two misdemeanor charges as well as a probation violation. The probation stems from his plead of no contest to failure to disperse after his arrest in the Long Beach May Day 2001 police riot. Jeff now faces up to 2 years in jail. Political repression in Long Beach has increased outrageously since May Day 2001, where approximately 100 demonstrators were brutally attacked and arrested as they attempted to peacefully march for workers rights. It was only two minutes into the demonstration and police began swinging their batons. The march didn't last more than 15 minutes before police opened fire with riot guns, forcing half of the march to disperse down a drive-way where they were beaten to the ground. The other half dispersed up against building where they were trapped after police unloaded several hundred rounds of rubber bullets on them. With guns still drawn, one-by-one, everyone was arrested. May 1st, 2002 set the worst case of police brutality in Long Beach in 33 years. Demonstrators suffered fractured arms due to baton swings, and penetrating wounds from scatter-shot projectiles fired from 12-Gauge shot guns. Bail was set as high as $25,000 for some arrestees. Many were being charged with 6 different misdemeanor charges. Despite the enormous repression, many of those arrested still decided to take their cases to trial. After September 11th occurred, the prosecutor and judge decided to include 3 years maximum jail time if convicted, along new plea which consisted of 30 days minimum in jail time if the previous plea bargain (1 year probation) wasn't taken immediately. After this, the majority of arrestees decided to plea in fear of serving heavy jail time. This was an obvious threat which demonstrated a clear act of prejudice directed towards the arrestees because of their political beliefs. On November 15th Robert Middaugn, who was one of those arrested on mayday, was scheduled to begin his trial. Robert had been in Jail since May 1st and was charged with Felony assault against a peace officer, Felony riot, Felony conspiracy, Felony resisting arrest, and misdemeanor failure to disperse. At the time of his arrest on May 1st Ruckus was on formal probation stemming from pleading guilty to assault against a police officer at the Democratic National Convention. When supporters of Ruckus appeared in court the morning of November 15th there were 4 police sitting in the courtroom in the jury chairs. Ruckus' supporters soon learned that these police were there to testify against him for his parole violation hearing. Yes, the police court was going to have Robert's probation violation hearing before his trial; in reality you're guilty until proven innocent in the American injustice system. The prosecution put the 'deal' of offering Ruckus 3 years in State Prison and 3 years formal probation upon release. In order to coerce Ruckus into taking the plea the judge informed Ruckus that he would be facing 4 years just for his probation violation not to mention a possible 13 more if found guilty of the other charges. Ruckus was threatened with 17 years in prison. After taking the plea for 3 years in state prison, Ruckus found himself possibly facing a 3rd strike on a new charge that will give him another 20 years to life. The repression didn't end here. In fact it only got worse. On Feburary 24th, another mayday arrestee, Sherman Austin, was raided by 25 heavily armed FBI agents and Secret Service for running a Los Angeles based anarchist web site, Raisethefist.com. Raisethefist.com was an alternative media site conversing a diversity of subjects including anarchism, activism, and current events not reported by mainstream media or even what passes as alternative media were reported and commented on in an open publishing format available to the public. Heavily armed with shot guns and machine guns, the FBI, Secret Service, LAPD and LASD surrounded Sherman in his home before pulling him outside and storming his house. FBI agents confiscated his computer equipment, along with his political literature and shut down the site along with the newly opened, laanrchists.org (Los Angeles Anarchist Collective) site that he also recently created. Despite the raid, Sherman still decided to protest the World Economic Forum in New York that month. After being targeted by authorities, he was then arrested by New York police, interrogated by the FBI and Secret Service for several hours, released, and then re-arrested minutes later by 6 FBI agents on charges from the new "Patriot Act". Sherman was called a terrorist in the court room and was denied bail as the judge rendered him a "threat to the community". After spending nearly 2 weeks in Maximum Security Federal Prison on 2 bogus felony counts that served a maximum 30 years jail sentence, Sherman's charges were mysteriously dropped and he was released "pending further investigation". The FBI to this day still remains in possession his computer equipment and political literature. The new "Patriot Act" gives law enforcements a new excuse to raid, surveil, follow, detain, incarcerate and deport anyone who even remotely sees to challenge the oppressive, brutal policies of the U.S injustice system. Hasan Hasan, a math instructor at Cerritos college and member of the Long Beach Peace Network, was illegally detained by the INS. Without being given any reason Hasan Hasan was both fired from his job and arrested within a matter of minutes. This was an obvious setup to target Hasan for his political beliefs. Hasan now faces deportation charges. A year had gone by since May Day '01, and in the first verdicts to come out of the violent police riot which erupted from a would-be peaceful march, jurors on Tuesday, May 21st acquitted two people of failure to disperse and convicted a third of unlawful assembly and wearing a mask with the "intent to commit a crime". Sarah Roberts, 26, the only one convicted, was handcuffed and taken into sheriff's custody after the verdicts were read. Over the strong objection of her attorney, Roberts was also ordered held on $100,000 bail until her sentencing. At Roberts sentencing on May 23rd, she was sentenced to 6 months in LA County and given $1,000.00 fine. Excessive surveillance, profiling, arrests and harassment has been experience by many local activists, especially those associated with the Long Beach Infoshoppe. There isn't one hour that the LBPD doesn't pass the Infoshoppe at least once. Their almost subtle monitoring consist of silver cars parked in front of the Infoshoppe, following local activists to and from events, videotaping, and harassing activists and community supporters. Political repression continues to intensify in Long Beach around the anarchist movement. The Long Beach Police Department are at forefront of a well-organized quasilegal conspiracy, in the cahoots with Los Angeles, La Habra, Fullerton, and the orange County and Los Angeles sheriffs departments and FBI. Their goal is to destroy the growing anarchist movement in Southern California. We've seen this happen in Eugene, and in the 60's with devastating results. We must not let it happen again! We must take immediate action to resist the repression and to free all political prisoners. We must take action now, otherwise it will be too late! For more information please contact the Long Beach Infoshoppe at 562-434-6934. 684 Redondo Ave Long Beach, CA Police share high quality and high cost communications,is it simply co-incidence that certain events are so tightly linked? Remember the kidnapping of jaggi Singh? First they came for the ELF and ALF suspects and I said nothing because I eat meat and pull down a great wage at the woodchip factory,then they came for the anarchists and IMCista's and I thought,I don't need reminding about a lot of depressing BS,then they came for everyone in the union and co-op,good riddance,no more dues and friggin' string bags.Then they started dissapearing people at random like what happened in Stalins Russia...the odds are they wont pick me...I hope.I do love big bother and we have always been at war with Oceania bin Laden.Right? add your own comments

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Get that old criminal record expunged,NOW!
by Matthew X 08 Sep '02

08 Sep '02

Two in five face job vetting in drive to detect offenders 'The new Criminal Records Bureau predicts that within three years it will be making more than 11 million checks on past offenders, out of a working-age population of 29 million [in the UK]. The police previously made about one million criminal record checks a year ... The government drive means that a Criminal Record Certificate could soon become as essential for a job interview as a curriculum vitae and a suit ... Of the 11,627,595 checks predicted to be made each year from 2005, only 3.2 million will be on those who work with children. The other eight million or so certificates will be requested by people seeking to apply for work in a wide variety of other roles and professions. To reach these targets - which the bureau must hit if it is to become a self-funding body - employers will have to be encouraged to demand the £12 certificates from applicants' ( Independent ) The CRB has received a great deal of coverage in the UK media over the last two weeks, after it failed to clear a huge backlog of checks on school staff in time for the start of term. As the CRB is nominally a Home Office agency, the public has been given the impression that this was a civil service cock-up. In fact, the work of the CRB is performed by Capita, a private firm with a long record of botching government contracts See also this Telegraph article, and this Guardian article LINKS? http://www.hullocentral.demon.co.uk/site/anfin.htm Funny attempt to smear your friendly professor...Professor rat,to many people he is a businessman, funnyman, philanthropist, entrepreneur and patron of the arts,but to one anonymous coward... http://www.melbourne.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=33154&group=webcast The devil went down to Kyneton.

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Still Dreaming,still Schnewsing.
by Matthew X 08 Sep '02

08 Sep '02

http://www.ainfos.ca/ainfos12924.html WAKE UP! IT'S YER ALWAYS AFTER SUMMIT... SchNEWS APOCALYPSE SOON? "It should now be crystal clear that the South African government is hell-bent on smashing legitimate dissent by whatever means they deem appropriate, including attacking peaceful marchers and terrorising children. The ghosts of the South African past are returning with a vengeance." Johannesburg demonstrator, outside the Earth Summit, this week. Tanks in townships, tooled up riot cops firing teargas and stun grenades into crowds of people, mass arrests, threats of deportation, laws against group assembly, the secret police spying on people...South Africa ten years ago?? Try South Africa this week MORE ON. http://www.ainfos.ca/ainfos12924.html

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Victims out killers online.
by Matthew X 08 Sep '02

08 Sep '02

http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,5052161%255E2862,… A VICTIM'S lobby group plans to use the Internet to out two Victorian teenage killers. People Against Lenient Sentencing president Steve Medcraft said he planned to pass on the names of the two teenage boys convicted of killing Seaford grandmother Marie Greening Zidan for publication on a US-based site. The group also plans to publish their addresses when released from jail. A civil liberties organisation has accused the group of taking the law into their own hands. The action came as Mrs Greening Zidan's daughter, Janine Bramley, gathered signatures on a petition calling for a change to the Children and Young Person's Act to enable children who murder, rape or viciously assault to be publicly named. Mrs Greening Zidan, 73, was killed in her home on October 15, 2000. Two local boys, then aged 15 and 16, pleaded guilty to manslaughter. They were sentenced to nine years' jail, with a minimum of six. Mrs Bramley said the Act was meant to protect children who scrawled graffiti or stole a car -- not those who raped or murdered. The petition also calls for sentencing for juveniles "more in line with community expectations". Mr Medcraft said he had legal advice suggesting that if the names of the boys were forwarded to the website's operators and then placed on the site, his organisation could escape prosecution. "The system will not guarantee these guys won't re-offend so if the system can't guarantee it we will at least give people an equal chance," Mr Medcraft said. He will seek further legal advice and hopes to have the names listed within six months. "If it means that I'm going to be put up in court on this issue I'm prepared to wear the flak so that the community can have access to what is their right to protection and free speech." Victorian Council for Civil Liberties vice-president Greg Connellan said placing the names on the website would be irresponsible. "They are acting unlawfully and it's incredibly arrogant for them to assume that they have the right to act unlawfully with impunity and other people don't," he said. Mr Connellan com mended Mrs Bramley for trying to get her point across through a petition. Mrs Bramley and Mr Medcraft met with Opposition corrections spokesman Kim Wells on Friday to raise concerns about justice, including offenders being imprisoned in juvenile detention centres after the age of 18, and lack of compensation for victims of crime. Mr Wells said he planned to table Mrs Bramley's petition in Parliament and will also present a letter Mrs Bramley has written to Parliament. In Victoria, the name of an offender cannot be published if under 17 when the crime was committed and under 18 when reaching court. A spokesman for Attorney-General Rob Hulls said: "In Victoria, the president of the Children's Court can give permission for the publication of a child's name, but the general principle is that they should not be published because the sentencing emphasis for children is on rehabilitation and giving them a chance to reintegrate and reach their full capacity in adult life."

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Hang Cheney
by Matthew X 08 Sep '02

08 Sep '02

He was in charge and could have saved the pentagon... http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_390.shtml Time of 1st strike 8.46,time of pentagon strike 9.38.Time to scramble jet and shoot down plane/missile...aprox 5-10 minutes. http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/worldtrade010911.html Background on the groundhog http://www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex/Documents/WATCheney.htm Everyone is witness. Everyone is a journalist.

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Ace of spades.
by Matthew X 08 Sep '02

08 Sep '02

How fate, and Stalin, finally dealt the 'ace of spies' a losing hand The order to kill Sidney Reilly - the "ace of spies" whose exploits supposedly provided inspiration for James Bond - came directly from Stalin, according to the author of a new biography of the MI6 agent.....( Guardian Unlimited, 6 Sep 02) "To the best of my knowledge Reilly never killed anyone in the course of his spying. The only killings he carried out were with a view to lining his own pocket. He was a good spy but also a criminal who perfected confidence stings. He was a scoundrel who spoke seven languages and exactly the type of person SIS needed." --Andrew Cook, author of the new book, On His Majesty's Secret Service - Sidney Reilly ST1 Subject of teleseries a decade or so ago starring Sam Neil. Zambia's ex-spy boss arrested - again Zambia's former intelligence boss Xavier Chungu has been arrested for the fourth time in three months, and charged with stealing a motor bike, police said on Friday....(SAPA/AFP, 6 Sep 02) One of au's ASIS chief's was assaulted twice during his term of office.SEE Oyster,by brian Toohey. http://www.cicentre.com/

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