Forwarded from DISASTER X (Maximilian Forte)
‘Beyond Chilling’: Homeland Security Seeks to Share Biometric Databanks With Foreign Countries
“The ramifications of a government — any government — having this much unregulated, unaccountable power to target, track, round up and detain its citizens is beyond chilling,” John Whitehead, attorney and author told The Defender.
EXTRACTS:
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is promoting “Enhanced Border Security Agreements” by offering access to the department’s vast biometric databanks to foreign states that agree to reciprocate, according to a July 22 Statewatch report.
A DHS document, “DHS International Biometric Information Sharing (IBIS) Program,” is effectively a “sales pitch” to potential “foreign partners,” Statewatch said.
According to the document, the IBIS Program provides “a scalable, reliable, and rapid bilateral biometric and biographic information sharing capability to support border security and immigration vetting.”
Biometric technologies work by identifying unique features in the biological traits of a person and comparing them with stored information to see if a person is who they say they are.
According to DHS, these traits — which could be physical, such as a fingerprint or iris pattern, or behavioral, such as voice patterns — are used for “automated recognition” of individuals.
Some human rights and civil liberties advocates raised concerns about the collection of people’s biometric information by the DHS, foreign governments and corporations.
“It’s not just the surveillance and the buying and selling of your data that is worrisome,“ John Whitehead, a civil liberties attorney and author told The Defender.
“The ramifications of a government — any government — having this much unregulated, unaccountable power to target, track, round up and detain its citizens is beyond chilling,” he said.
The soaring use of biometric technologies is about money and profits, Whitehead said....
The extensive surveillance of U.S. citizens — first revealed by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden in 2013, and the subject of a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) — still operates with no judicial and limited congressional oversight, according to a June 2021 report in The Washington Post.
While the NSA’s continued surveillance of citizens is problematic, Whitehead said he’s more concerned about today’s genetic “panopticon” — a digital prison of constant surveillance — in which “we’re all suspects in a DNA lineup, waiting to be matched with a crime.”
“In an age of overcriminalization, round-the-clock surveillance, and a police state eager to flex its muscles in a show of power, we are all guilty of some transgression or other,” Whitehead co-wrote in a July 27 article for the Rutherford Institute.
Corporations and governments around the world are rapidly investing in new technologies for identifying and tracking people, according to Global Newswire, which in June estimated the market to be worth just north of $49 billion in 2022 — and projected it will more than double, to $102 billion, by 2027....
According to Whitehead, a current for-profit surveillance capitalism scheme that threatens people’s privacy is made possible with individuals’ cooperation.
“All those disclaimers you scroll through without reading them, the ones written in minute font, only to quickly click on the ‘Agree’ button at the end so you can get to the next step — downloading software, opening up a social media account, adding a new app to your phone or computer — those signify your written consent to having your activities monitored, recorded and shared,” Whitehead said....
CONTINUE HERE:
https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/homeland-security-share-biometric-databanks-foreign-countries/
#digitalID #WEF #surveillance #DHS #dictatorship #totalitarianism #capital #polecon
“The ramifications of a government — any government — having this much unregulated, unaccountable power to target, track, round up and detain its citizens is beyond chilling,” John Whitehead, attorney and author told The Defender.
EXTRACTS:
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is promoting “Enhanced Border Security Agreements” by offering access to the department’s vast biometric databanks to foreign states that agree to reciprocate, according to a July 22 Statewatch report.
A DHS document, “DHS International Biometric Information Sharing (IBIS) Program,” is effectively a “sales pitch” to potential “foreign partners,” Statewatch said.
According to the document, the IBIS Program provides “a scalable, reliable, and rapid bilateral biometric and biographic information sharing capability to support border security and immigration vetting.”
Biometric technologies work by identifying unique features in the biological traits of a person and comparing them with stored information to see if a person is who they say they are.
According to DHS, these traits — which could be physical, such as a fingerprint or iris pattern, or behavioral, such as voice patterns — are used for “automated recognition” of individuals.
Some human rights and civil liberties advocates raised concerns about the collection of people’s biometric information by the DHS, foreign governments and corporations.
“It’s not just the surveillance and the buying and selling of your data that is worrisome,“ John Whitehead, a civil liberties attorney and author told The Defender.
“The ramifications of a government — any government — having this much unregulated, unaccountable power to target, track, round up and detain its citizens is beyond chilling,” he said.
The soaring use of biometric technologies is about money and profits, Whitehead said....
The extensive surveillance of U.S. citizens — first revealed by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden in 2013, and the subject of a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) — still operates with no judicial and limited congressional oversight, according to a June 2021 report in The Washington Post.
While the NSA’s continued surveillance of citizens is problematic, Whitehead said he’s more concerned about today’s genetic “panopticon” — a digital prison of constant surveillance — in which “we’re all suspects in a DNA lineup, waiting to be matched with a crime.”
“In an age of overcriminalization, round-the-clock surveillance, and a police state eager to flex its muscles in a show of power, we are all guilty of some transgression or other,” Whitehead co-wrote in a July 27 article for the Rutherford Institute.
Corporations and governments around the world are rapidly investing in new technologies for identifying and tracking people, according to Global Newswire, which in June estimated the market to be worth just north of $49 billion in 2022 — and projected it will more than double, to $102 billion, by 2027....
According to Whitehead, a current for-profit surveillance capitalism scheme that threatens people’s privacy is made possible with individuals’ cooperation.
“All those disclaimers you scroll through without reading them, the ones written in minute font, only to quickly click on the ‘Agree’ button at the end so you can get to the next step — downloading software, opening up a social media account, adding a new app to your phone or computer — those signify your written consent to having your activities monitored, recorded and shared,” Whitehead said....
CONTINUE HERE:
https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/homeland-security-share-biometric-databanks-foreign-countries/
#digitalID #WEF #surveillance #DHS #dictatorship #totalitarianism #capital #polecon
Children's Health Defense
‘Beyond Chilling’: Homeland Security Seeks to Share Biometric Databanks With Foreign Countries
“The ramifications of a government — any government — having this much unregulated, unaccountable power to target, track, round up and detain its citizens is beyond chilling,” John Whitehead, attorney and author told The Defender.