Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Stephen Harper Has No Allegiance To Canada Or Canadians, Harper`s Only Allegiance Is To Multi-National Energy Companies

   

Harper government's extensive spying on anti-oilsands groups revealed in FOIs

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

You are a one man wrecking crew, do we even live in Canada anymore?
Thanks so much for reporting on these scandals.

Anonymous said...

"Stephen Harper Has No Allegiance To Canada Or Canadians, Harper`s Only Allegiance Is To An Independent and Separate Western Canada"

There, fixed that for you.

Anonymous said...

Sad though it is; we're better to face it if we're going to have a chance against it.

This is the twilight of the democracies. The darkness draws near and the fascists are looming in the shadows waiting to seize total control.

The lines are being drawn more clearly everyday.

The Panopticon Is Upon Us said...

Not only are big brother states surveilling us, there are also myriad private parties capable of watching our every move and keystroke, too.

From The Guardian:
Private firms selling mass surveillance systems around world, documents show.
One Dubai-based firm offers DIY system similar to GCHQ's Tempora programme, which taps fibre-optic cables.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/18/private-firms-mass-surveillance-technologies/print

Private firms are selling spying tools and mass surveillance technologies to developing countries with promises that "off the shelf" equipment will allow them to snoop on millions of emails, text messages and phone calls, according to a cache of documents published on Monday.

The papers show how firms, including dozens from Britain, tout the capabilities at private trade fairs aimed at offering nations in Africa, Asia and the Middle East the kind of powerful capabilities that are usually associated with government agencies such as GCHQ and its US counterpart, the National Security Agency.

The market has raised concerns among human rights groups and ministers, who are poised to announce new rules about the sale of such equipment from Britain.

"The government agrees that further regulation is necessary," a spokesman for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills said. "These products have legitimate uses … but we recognise that they may also be used to conduct espionage."

The documents are included in an online database compiled by the research watchdog Privacy International, which has spent four years gathering 1,203 brochures and sales pitches used at conventions in Dubai, Prague, Brasilia, Washington, Kuala Lumpur, Paris and London. Analysts posed as potential buyers to gain access to the private fairs.

The database, called the Surveillance Industry Index, shows how firms from the UK, Israel, Germany, France and the US offer governments a range of systems that allow them to secretly hack into internet cables carrying email and phone traffic.

The index has details from 338 companies, including 77 from the UK, offering a total of 97 different technologies.

One firm says its "massive passive monitoring" equipment can "capture up to 1bn intercepts a day". Some offer cameras hidden in cola cans, bricks or children's carseats, while one manufacturer turns cars or vans into surveillance control centres.

There is nothing illegal about selling such equipment, and the companies say the new technologies are there to help governments defeat terrorism and crime.

One Man's Terrorist? said...

More from above:

"Another firm selling similar equipment is VASTech, based in South Africa, which has a system called Zebra. Potential buyers are told it has been designed to help "government security agencies face huge challenges in their combat against crime and terrorism".

VASTech says Zebra offers "access to high volumes of information generated via telecommunication services for the purposes of analysis and investigation".

It has been designed to "intercept all content and metadata of voice, SMS, email and fax communications on the connected network, creating a rich repository of information".

A spokesman for the company said: "VASTech produces products for governmental law enforcement agencies. These products have the primary goal of reducing specifically cross-border crimes such as child pornography, human trafficking, drug smuggling, weapon smuggling, money laundering, corruption and terrorist activities. We compete internationally and openly against several suppliers of similar systems.

"We only supply legal governments, which are not subjected to international sanctions. Should their status change in this regard, we hold the right to withdraw our supplies and support unilaterally.""

Total Spectrum Dominance said...

What's on offer.

Some companies offer a range of spy equipment that would not look out of place in a James Bond film

Spy vans

Ordinary vans, cars and motorbikes can be customised to offer everything a spy could need. Tiny cameras and microphones are hidden in wing mirrors, headlights and even the makers' logo. Vehicles can also be fitted with the latest mass surveillance technology, allowing them to intercept, assess and store a range of digital communications from the surrounding area.

Hidden cameras

The range of objects that can hide high-quality cameras and recording equipment appears almost limitless; from a box of tissues giving a 360-degree view of the room, to a child's car seat, a brick and a key fob. Remote controls allow cameras to follow targets as they move around a room and have a powerful zoom to give high definition close-ups.

Recorders

As with cameras recording equipment is getting more sophisticated and more ubiquitous. From cigarette lighters to pens their are limitless ways to listen in on other people's conversations. One firm offers a special strap microphone that straps to the wearer's would be spies' back and records conversations going on directly behind them. According to the brochure: "[This] is ideal because people in a crowd think that someone with their back turned can't hear their conversation.. Operatives can work much closer to their target."

Handheld 'biometric cameras'

This system, made by a UK firm, is currently being used by British forces in Afghanistan to help troops identify potential terrorists. The brochure for the Mobile Biometric Platform says: "Innocent civilian or Insurgent? Not Certain? Our systems are." It adds: "The MBP is tailored for military use and enables biometric enrolment and identification of finger, face and iris against on board watchlists in real time from live or forensic data."

Mobile phone locators

It is now possible, from a single laptop computer, to locate where a mobile phone is calling from anywhere in the world, with an accuracy of between 200 metres and a mile. This is not done by attaching probes, and it is not limited to the area where the laptop is working from. The "cross border" system means it is now theoretically possible to locate a mobile phone call from a town abroad from a laptop in London

In Occult Circles This Is Known As 'Revealing the Method.' said...

The article from the Guardian is based almost entirely on Wikileaks' publication of the Spy Files (# 1 and 2 back in December 2011, SpyFiles#3 in September this year):
http://wikileaks.org/spyfiles3

When we fail to stop it, they take it as consent; which gives them even greater power to rule over us.

Grant G said...

Spying works both ways..

The time has come for people to follow our politicians everywhere they go, at their home, when they are on vacation, in restaurants, in the bathroom, outside their office, follow their car, there are no laws against that type of activity..

Maybe then they will learn..

As for that freak Stephen Harper..

Jason Kenny and few other big-time Conservatives are taking Harper out of the picture..

They realize now that Harper has been caught and can`t get his agenda through..

Don`t be fooled by this gambit..

Jason Kenny is just as evil if not more..

Stephen Harper has no more clothes, he stands naked and exposed, and it`s not a pretty sight.


Thanks for that data

Danneau said...

A succession of fine posts. Thank you, Gtant. Sad that all this is going on, but good that you're highlighting it.

Anonymous said...

http://www.theprovince.com/news/Harper+spies+monitoring+anti+pipeline+groups/9186311/story.html

The Province reporting this? Wow. The games continue with our politicians and the "media".

The governments are disgusting spying on their own citizens. Where are we? China?
When are people going to wake up to the corruption of all levels of our governments?


Anonymous said...

A comment from another site:
Former scribbler
• 15 minutes ago








Yesterday, I referred to an interview with Grand Chief Stewart Phillip in which he portrayed First Nations as the Thin Red Line standing between ordinary Canadians and rapacious multinationals. But the bigger thrust of our talk was his belief that the Harper govt is setting itself up to call a snap election on the issue of pipelines, fracking, etc., as in : Are you for the economy or against it? He believes, as I do, that the strategy would catch the Liberals and NDP flat-footed. The anti-union activity as cited above would further serve the surprise election call. Phillip believes the trigger would be the deepening of the Senate scandal and other external factors, such as the Rob Ford scandal, drawing the Conservatives into disrepute. By 2015, the legal and political fallout could kill their re-election chances. A Hail Mary pass early in the New Year could short-circuit the Opposition. Something to think about.

Yes, something to think about. More research to do.

Anonymous said...

YOU ROCK GRANT!!

Great posts, right-wing blogger readers like me are sitting on the edge of our seats in anticipation of more thrilling Free for all weekend posts!

Later Gater

Watchmen

Anonymous said...

From Twitter


Warren Kinsella ‏@kinsellawarren 5h

Just did @SunNewsNetwork hit. Harper has achieved the impossible: he's knocked Crackhead Mayor from the headlines. Amazing.#cdnpoli #TOpoli