So this is what it looks like in the bastion of liberalism(?):
"Caught in a dragnet; A fraud prevention system erroneously revoked his license, and now he’s suing for his hardship" July 17, 2011|By Meghan E. Irons, Globe Staff
John H. Gass hadn’t had a traffic ticket in years, so the Natick resident was surprised this spring when he received a letter from the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles informing him to cease driving because his license had been revoked.
“I was shocked,’’ Gass said in a recent interview. “As far as I was concerned, I had done nothing wrong.’’
After frantic calls and a hearing with Registry officials, Gass learned the problem: An antiterrorism computerized facial recognition system that scans a database of millions of state driver’s license images had picked his as a possible fraud.
It turned out Gass was flagged because he looks like another driver, not because his image was being used to create a fake identity. His driving privileges were returned but, he alleges in a lawsuit, only after 10 days of bureaucratic wrangling to prove he is who he says he is.
It is AmeriKa now.
Meanwhile, the same stat is bending over backwards for illegal immigrants.
And apparently, he has company. Last year, the facial recognition system picked out more than 1,000 cases that resulted in State Police investigations, officials say. And some of those people are guilty of nothing more than looking like someone else. Not all go through the long process that Gass says he endured, but each must visit the Registry with proof of their identity.
“We send out 1,500 suspension letters every day,’’ said Registrar Rachel Kaprielian, who says the system has been a powerful weapon to fight identity fraud since it was installed in 2006 but that it is not without problems. “There are mistakes that can be made.’’
I love the CAVALIER ATTITUDE!
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Massachusetts began using the software after receiving a $1.5 million grant from the US Department of Homeland Security as part of an effort to prevent terrorism, reduce fraud, and improve the reliability and accuracy of personal identification documents that states issue.
At least 34 states are using such systems. They help authorities verify a person’s claimed identity and track down people who have multiple licenses under different aliases, such as underage people wanting to buy alcohol, people with previous license suspensions, and people with criminal records trying to evade the law. Lisa Cradit, a spokeswoman for L-1 Identity Solutions, the largest developer of the software, said it can reduce fraud by 80 percent.
The system looks at each driver’s license photograph stored in the state’s computers, mapping thousands of facial data points and generating algorithms that compare the images to others in the mathematical database, said State Police spokesman David Procopio. The software then displays licenses with similar-looking photographs - those with two or more images that have a high score for being the same person. Registry analysts review the licenses and check biographical information, criminal records, and drivers’ histories, in part to rule out cases with legitimate explanations, such as drivers who are identical twins....
“The advantage of securing the identity of 4 ½ million drivers is of considerable state interest, and that is what this software does,’’ Kaprielian said....
Kaprielian said the Registry gives drivers enough time to respond to the suspension letters and that it is the individual’s “burden’’ to clear up any confusion.
Yup, YOUR GOVERNMENT at WORK FOR YOU, taxpayers! This is WHAT YOU ARE PAYING FOR!!
She added that protecting the public far outweighs any inconvenience Gass or anyone else might experience.
What a SUPREMELY FASCIST MIND-SET!
“A driver’s license is not a matter of civil rights. It’s not a right. It’s a privilege,’’ she said. “Yes, it is an inconvenience [to have to clear your name], but lots of people have their identities stolen, and that’s an inconvenience, too.’’
Again with the CAVALIER attitude!
I HOPE HERS is STOLEN SOON, 'eh?
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And they don't need to see you down at the RMV:
"New tool for police is good with faces; A mobile ID check raises privacy worries" by Stephanie Ebbert, Globe Staff / July 18, 2011
Sheriff’s departments across Massachusetts are using facial recognition technology to build a database of every suspect they book, an electronic lineup that local police could soon tap remotely with a handheld device attached to a smartphone.
The device, made by a Plymouth firm called BI2 Technologies, weighs about 12 ounces and can scan an iris, take a fingerprint, or assess a face and then immediately check someone’s identity against national and local databases.
Remember way back when it was just "terrorists" they were concerned about?
“It fits in the palm of your hand; it’s completely noninvasive,’’ said Brockton Police Chief William Conlon, whose department tested a prototype of the device and who hopes to acquire one permanently.
Essex County, the first in the state to adopt the facial recognition program in booking suspects more than five years ago, has already assembled a database of more than 70,000 photos and allows detectives from around the county to use it, said Sheriff Frank G. Cousins Jr. The handheld device, known as the Mobile Offender Recognition and Information System, would tap into that database and other national collections to help police identify suspects who are offering fake identities or who are wanted on other charges.
That futuristic capability is enticing law enforcement authorities but worrying privacy rights lawyers who say that technology is outpacing policy that would protect privacy.
A number of questions are unresolved, such as how long the images of suspects will be stored, whether they will be shared with the FBI, and what happens to the images of people who are cleared of charges.
“There’s simply no good reason, in our view, to create detailed dossiers on every American resident,’’ said Kade Crockford of the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts. “And increasingly it appears as if all of these surveillance programs and technological programs are doing just that.’’
As we were WARNED THEY WERE INTENDED from the VERY BEGINNING!
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While facial recognition technology is increasingly being used on Facebook, in photo troves on private computers, and even in law enforcement, the potential for its handheld use - possibly from a distance, without the subject’s knowledge - is prompting additional concern. Is the scanning of an iris equivalent to a search that requires a warrant? Will police be permitted to search faces in crowds for wanted suspects? Who will have access to information gained through the system?
“I’m not an advocate of using facial recognition to scan a crowd looking for a convict like at a sporting event,’’ Cousins said. “I don’t think that’s necessary. I wouldn’t want to see that application used for that.’’
But whether it would be allowed remains unclear.
“Our laws have not kept up with technology,’’ said ACLU staff attorney Laura Rotolo. She added that iris scans might be legally comparable to fingerprints, but the circumstances are different because a person must be brought to a station to be fingerprinted....
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Related: Facial recognition software could reveal your social security number
And don't try flying out, either:
"Fliers face new queries at Logan; Trial program is first in country" by Katie Johnson, Globe Staff / August 2, 2011
The Transportation Security Administration plans to start testing an expanded behavior-detection security program today at Logan International Airport, the first airport in the nation to roll out the enhanced screening method.
Related: Tragic Justice – TSA Reports Agents Developing Cancer from Naked Body Scanners
F*** the fascists! They think we will feel sorry for their perverted asses?
Under the program, TSA officers will speak with every passenger passing through the Terminal A security checkpoint, asking each two or three questions, such as “Where are you traveling today?’’ or “How long have you been in town?’’ Officials said the intent is to detect suspicious behavior - such as someone sweating profusely or avoiding eye contact - a process the TSA estimates will take about 20 seconds per passenger.
I avoid eye contact as a personal idiosyncrasy; now what?
“We’re not looking for the answers necessarily; we’re instead gauging the reaction, the response to the question,’’ said George Naccara, TSA federal security director at Logan.
If a person is deemed to be a possible threat, he or she will be pulled aside for additional screening, such as a pat-down or a bag search, and in some cases the Massachusetts State Police will be alerted. Questioning will take place at a separate podium after a traveler’s documents have been checked, and those identified for more screening will be sent to a third station....
Don't fly -- ever.
In 2003, Logan became the first US airport to use behavior detection, modeling its system after those used at airports around the world. That program, called Screening of Passengers by Observation Techniques, or SPOT, is used at 160 airports nationwide to identify and question passengers who are deemed to be suspicious. That can include anything from wearing a winter coat buttoned up in the middle of the summer to providing evasive answers to basic questions.
The new 60-day trial program at Logan differs in that all travelers will face questioning, no matter what their attire or behavior.
SPOT has resulted in 2,000 arrests since it began nationwide in 2004, according to the TSA, but Naccara could not say how many were terrorist-related.
“We’ve identified people who have outstanding warrants,’’ he said. “We’ve identified people who’ve been doing surveillance in an airport. We’ve identified people who have been doing testing of our equipment in an airport.’’
Like who?
Just last week at Logan, officials said, a TSA officer pulled aside a man who seemed suspicious and found in his carry-on bag a wallet that he had stolen from a college student in Boston.
Yeah, then the tyranny is all worth it.
But the program’s validity has been questioned by some, including the Government Accountability Office. In a July 13 report, the agency reiterated what it said more than a year earlier: that the TSA decided to implement the behavior-detection program before determining whether there was a scientifically valid basis for such tactics. The GAO said it is not known whether the program, which costs hundreds of millions of dollars annually, has led to the arrest of a would-be terrorist.
Others question whether the program makes it more likely that passengers’ rights will be violated based on their appearance or their inability to respond to TSA employees’ questions in a particular way.
“The notion that TSA screeners will have the scientific training and nuance to make determinations as millions and millions of passengers go through airports is nothing more than security theater,’’ said Carol Rose, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts. “It has yet to catch a single terrorist in seven years and does threaten to both be a hassle for every traveler and opens the door to more racial profiling.’’
And that right there alerts you to the FALSE FLAG, PATSY PLOT, FRAME-UPS that pass as "terrorist" attacks.
About 80 Logan TSA officers are going through training for the beefed-up behavior-detection program, and on-the-job training begins today at Terminal A, home of Delta Air Lines. The test program officially begins in mid-August, after which the TSA will determine whether to expand it to other airports.
The new Logan procedures are similar to behavioral analysis techniques that have long been used at Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv, where every passenger is interviewed before being allowed to board an airplane....
The USraeli Empire!!
Logan’s security system came under scrutiny after Sept. 11, 2001, when terrorists hijacked two planes that took off from Logan and slammed them into the World Trade Center....
How sad is it that since the AmeriKan media says that is what happened I begin to doubt what I saw on television that fateful day?
Btw, Muslims didn't do 9/11; Israel did.
Behavioral techniques are effective in identifying potential threats because it is nearly impossible to suppress the stress caused by lying, said Lillian Glass, an expert in nonverbal communications who is writing a book with an FBI agent called “See Something, Say Something: Spotting the Body Language of Terrorists.’’
It SURE SEEMS EASY for GOVERNMENT, POLITICIANS, and NEWSPAPERS!!
Oh, WRITING a $elf-$erving BOOK, is $he?
“The body doesn’t lie,’’ Glass said, adding that people trying to hide something may take short breaths, pulse their jaw muscles, and speak in a staccato style. “The emotions which cause physical actions are deep in your brain and can’t be controlled.’’
Sally Taylor, 63, a self-professed “nervous Nellie’’ flier on her way home to Bradenton, Fla., from Boston yesterday, said she would not object to being questioned in the security line. But Taylor said she does not like the full-body scanner.
Now bend over.
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And once inside the airport?
"Retailers find shoppers at airports; Captive audience has certain appeal" by Stephanie Clifford, New York Times / August 2, 2011
NEW YORK - After visits to malls plummeted during the recession - they have yet to bounce back - many mass-market retailers stepped up their search for other locations to lure shoppers.
Places where people might be bored. And unable to leave. One time-tested answer: airports....
“Airports are becoming, really, a service facility, like a shopping mall,’’ said Jose Gomez, senior vice president for business development for Mango, the fashion retailer....
Where YOU CAN BE SEXUALLY-MOLESTED and RADIATED with CANCER!
The draw of the airport location is simple: an attentive clientele.
“After security, you’re locked up,’’ Gomez said.
Domestic travelers spend more than an hour, on average, waiting in airports once they have passed through security, said Gerry Cecci, vice president for airport management at Westfield Group, the mall company, which manages retail sites at airports including those in Boston, Newark, and Miami.
“Someone may have a street concept or a mall concept that’s very successful, and bringing it to the airport environment, you capitalize on the captive audience and on the dwell time,’’ Cecci said....
Related: Americans Feeling the Touch of Fascism When Flying
“Though there is a dressing room where you can try on dresses, maybe people are not so much inclined to try on, because they don’t have a lot of time,’’ Gomez said.
You have GO TO BE KIDDING?
The retail push has been welcomed by most airports as they try to build revenue not dependent on airlines.
“The relationship between the airport and the airline has changed dramatically, in that the airport can’t just put its costs on the airlines,’’ said Paul McGinn, president of MarketPlace Development, which manages and leases retail space at Philadelphia International Airport and LaGuardia. “Airports have to be self-sustaining,’’ he said, and retail “has become a valuable source of revenue.’’
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Is it just me, or is there SOMETHING SICK about this BUSINESS PITCH after the fascist feel-up?
Related: Early Morning Flight
I'm going to call and cancel.
