Beat The Chip, national ID news

5-11 Campaign wraps operations

beatthechip@gmail.com (Sheila Dean ) — Sat, 18 May 2013 23:09:00 +0000

OFFICIAL STATEMENT OF RELEASE @ 511Campaign.org

WHO: 5-11 Campaign advocacy carried over from BeatTheChip.org

WHAT: The operations and public service wraps this May after 5 years.

WHEN: May 18th, 2013

WHERE: World Wide Web

WHY: There is no viable monetary model to sustain efforts of the 5-11 Campaign going forward.

“The amount of money needed just to contend in today’s pay-to-play Capitol politics is a wall to citizens who pay into that system. The taxes aren’t enough to represent our legal interests. Yet people go to jail based on an unproven law or a policy of force to extort citizens for those taxes.

While it doesn’t seem right to deny people public service, it’s not ethical to be a cause slave, either. 5-11’s mistake, if there was one, was not developing a business plan that worked in perpetuity. We do not have what it takes to pay for our politicians.

If there’s going to be a national repeal of Real ID law, it is going to need a really well sustained financial vanguard to both equip Democratic interests with a spine and “unify” double-sided conservative politics. Otherwise, this gets recycled back to States who are going to have to maintain stronger boundaries with a federal government who increasingly jockeys piles of unconstitutional law. That is what Real ID, and all recent dataveillance initatives, reduces down to coming out of Washington.

States have the legal power to declare national ID systems a detriment to natural or human rights. Perhaps they could martial a repeal as a coaltion of interested State Governments. That level of effort, however, is above my pay grade.”

-- Sheila Dean, 5-11 spokesperson

HOW: Communications efforts downshifted this Spring to 20% operation. Existing 5-11 Campaign brand presence online will be taken down into the Summer.

BeatTheChip.org and corresponding social networking accounts are also expected to lay fallow, with minimal orginal content added after approximately mid-May. Automated feeds will still be available to the public at the sites.

###

CONTACT: Sheila Dean

c. 310-857-8257

contact@beatthechip.org

RESPONDENT PRESS: National 5-11 Campaign against REAL ID falters but Texans fight on

TWIC port card pilot program on the ropes

beatthechip@gmail.com (Sheila Dean ) — Sat, 18 May 2013 18:42:00 +0000

c/o HSToday.us

"Data collected by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) during a pilot for readers of transportation worker identification cards is so bad that Congress should ignore it and order a new security assessment of the project, congressional investigators have reported."

:::MORE HERE:::

Creative Ways to Beat the Developing Global Surveillance State

beatthechip@gmail.com (Sheila Dean ) — Fri, 17 May 2013 02:00:00 +0000

"Surveillance takes far more from the people than it gives."

BTC Commentary -- As device and mass public surveillance seems to know no bounds, we have to be the ones to recognize our own limits and create a living standard that suits our humanity.

Problem solving is a creative process that requires you to think differently and to find new ways of viewing an old problem. Here are a few suggestions on how to beat the developing global surveillance infrastructure.

Write down exactly what you see and experience

Many people keep diaries. Few people really know what a great tool they can be for personal motivation, empowerment or even self advocacy. People will revisit their writings over time. They will flip back over the pages to see what has changed and what has stayed the same. They also get an objective distance from situations, their feelings at the moment, perceptions, judgements and observations available at the time. The point of the diary is to document what life is like exactly as you see and understand it.

A public diary for instance would be more like a reporters blog, documenting daily occurrances of surveillance. Did it interrupt your day? How did nature interact with technical surveillance like cameras or audio capture devices? How did you first notice it? Who responded? How has your neighborhood changed since surveillance arrived?

Private diaries are also the audience of one. Until you’re ready to recruit the support of others, you have to be squarely on your own team. The diary gives you the loyalty of what it’s like to be on your own team. That way your views and person conflicts have the space to get resolved before your stand "goes live" with people you are working with.

Do one harmless thing every day to embarass or make fun of surveillants

Surveillance is both real and imagined at times. The psychological goal of surveillance is for the many to believe private actions are being witnessed when in fact, perhaps no one is watching or listening. The motive is to enforce a public environment of supervisory intimidation. This is why its important to embarass or shame the motive publicly.

It could be as rediculous as wearing a silly eye patch for CCTV cameras. You could stage an entire conversation in metal falsetto by a mass transit audio surveillance microphone. Play game show music or flush the toilet in the background if you hear clicking noises on your phone to let your friends know you think someone is listening. You can use the silliest ruses: pig latin, dumb codewords, flagging down threats with jazz hands. One person left a yellow balloon tied to a brick in front of CCTV camera.

The first rule of comedy is that nobody is off limits. So you can move political taunts to fully blown stagecraft, like some of the TSA sketches seen on Saturday Night Live. Take it to YouTube and don't apologize.

Be very aware of where the lines are so you can tread on them without crossing into that would-be illegal territory. Whether or not anyone is watching or listening, the most important part is that you are applying yourself to surveillance situations and providing comic relief to yourself and others. Comedy norms win the game of one upmanship.

Find or create your “surveillance free zone”

Some things are private and therefore sacred. Normally that would apply to your therapy or your doctors visits. Since the rules have changed, its time to rediscover and set your own rules and limitations in a surveillance free zone you create.

You probably don’t want to tell anyone it’s your surveillance free zone, even if that’s where you’re headed.

Make sure it’s an actually surveillance free zone. Essentially no gadgets and gizmos go there. No cellphones with batteries. No sattellite linked devices (XM, Sirius). No CCTV. No scattershot monitors. No drones or aerial surveillance. No computers. No neighbors. Seriously, leave Facebook on your iPhone and out of the zone.

Practice natural, mundane and ordinary actions in your zone. Do normal non-criminal things. Do things you can definitely do without surveillance or monitoring. The idea is to recall life without the pressure of constant monitoring or electronic supervision.

Get more education on how surveillance works

Find out as much as you can about how surveillance arrives in urban centers. Visit free legal clinics in your City. Ask about FOIA resources or methods to lodge a complaint if mass surveillance is negatively impacting your neighborhood. Read up on mass data seizures or data breaches. Read privacy and information security blogs.

University resources and libraries can frequently demonstrate how organizations come by personal information, who makes decisions on surveillance, where surveillance data goes after the authorities get it, who sees you.

Keep an eye out and repeat local news on surveillance on your blogs and social networks. Consider newstories, like that feature on lost government laptops with a large store of sensitive public data. Search your local news listings for public notices to attend public safety hearings, city council meetings and State legislative studies and provide reports on troubled initiatives to caring people you know.

Decide how to be more involved

This is a harder decision because negotiating how public or how private you want to be about your political actions and affiliations carries increasingly more risk, especially for the Internet native. You should be proud of your sentiments and speak your truth. However, you won’t be much good to anyone if you’re in jail or at the convenient end of a State prosecutor’s gun. The risks of political involvement are higher for people with businesses and family responsibilities.

Even modest outings with a MeetUp or adding friends on social networks are under intense levels of scrutiny by employers, family, the community without considering surveilling government tourists. Surveillance being the uninvited supervisory attention at normal events; which do not necessarily require it.

The intent behind surveillance is always twofold: intimidation and potential incrimination.

You don't need to be a lawyer to effect change, but it helps tremendously to find a few as friends to discuss options. You can mitigate risks by taking a guided tour of your local government offices. Enroll in civics classes offered by local governing bodies to learn how systems work. Use appropriate methods and approaches for input, recommendations or to document grievances. You might learn new ways to effect change or make a positive impact. This is a good way to avoid pitfalls that would compromise your freedom to get at reforms.

Above all else, find your small group of like minded people to settle in with for creative problem solving. These will be the people who tend to want to help the most when you hit the wall, need to revisit the white board or just need to keep throwing spaghetti at the wall. They just keep working on it because it is still a problem. Treat them well. Take care of them and they will take care of you.

Continue living the correct path

The Boston bombings refreshes memory on how US criminal proceedings may occur. We know the US military went door to door in search of suspects, overlooking Habeas Corpus and bending the 3rd Amendment. We know increased military presence at events may have been manipulated to forcibly guide local cooperation from authorities without due process. The press, although they are not criminal justice professionals, print who is guilty of crimes whether or not a criminal trial has occurred.

The United States, under President Obama, does abuse its power and pick on those most politically convenient to criminalize: the press, political opponents, stressed geopolitical rivals, whistleblowing civil servants, errant military intelligence officers or American citizens in the wrong place at the wrong time. You may be innocent, within your rights and the rules of law and still end up in a cage, injured, or worse, dead.

This is why anonymous speech is one of the best protections in direct actions, on the web or off.

Encourage the hearts of your friends and decent strangers to remember that in a free society The People enable themselves to adjust government practices or initiate reform. Reforms are qualified when the government injures the wellbeing of its citizens and residents.

Try to maintain spiritual courage to live by your truth, even if your hiding. The best revenge is being happy.

All governments have problems to work on. Surveillance takes far more from the people than it gives. Secret government meetings, invasive Executive Orders, an unaccountable National Security State, the Homeland Security Act, the Patriot Act, FISA, The Real ID Act, emergent Internet kill switch and copyright dragnets cast a constant shadow of accusation onto the general public. Mass surveillance is a phantom predator. It takes the blessing of a mutual trust away from The People and the government.

We still sit in the drivers seat. It is a good time to initiate positive civil liberty reforms. Change in Obama’s America can and should favor Libertines.

Louisiana Senate plies Real ID license language in Public Safety bill HB 395

beatthechip@gmail.com (Sheila Dean ) — Thu, 16 May 2013 22:06:00 +0000

c/o WLOX (AP reports)

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Louisiana driver's licenses would be used to comply with federal law requiring each state to create a national identification card for air travel, including domestic flights, under a proposal inserted Wednesday into a House bill by the Senate Transportation Committee.

Senators added that language into a separate measure by Rep. Johnny Guinn, R-Jennings. If approved by lawmakers, the provision would reverse a state stance since 2008 rejecting the added security requirement as too intrusive.

Officials with the state motor vehicles department said that if the state doesn't comply with the federal Real ID law, residents would need passports to fly starting in October.

"Whether we like it or not, we're stuck with it," said Sen. Robert Adley, R-Benton, committee chairman. "It's better to deal with it like this."

Adley and other committee members said modifying driver's license requirements would be easier and less costly to residents, with passports potentially costing $75 or more. State driver's licenses cost around $25.

Under the proposal, federally compliant driver's licenses would be stamped with a Department of Homeland Security gold star emblem and would require that residents present additional documentation, such as a birth certificate or a Social Security card, to state motor vehicle officials when applying for a license or a renewal.

That information would be entered into a national database.

Residents who don't meet the federal standards — or who opt out of supplying the additional information — would be issued licenses stamped with the words "Not for federal identification."

The Federal Real Identification Act was passed in 2005 on the recommendation of the 9/11 Commission, but several states balked at some of the measures as an invasion of privacy. Initial requirements called for an embedded chip on passports and licenses that allow for tracking.

State officials said the tracking chip won't be included on Louisiana's driver's license, although it is on passports.

Implementation of the Real ID act was set to be effective earlier this year but has been delayed several times.

The rewritten bill moves to the full Senate for debate. If approved there, it would have to go back to the House for approval of the addition.

House Bill 395 can be found at www.legis.la.gov .

"Biometric Database of All Adult Americans Hidden in Immigration Reform"

beatthechip@gmail.com (Sheila Dean ) — Fri, 10 May 2013 18:25:00 +0000

c/o WIRED

The immigration reform measure the Senate began debating yesterday would create a national biometric database of virtually every adult in the U.S., in what privacy groups fear could be the first step to a ubiquitous national identification system.

Buried in the more than 800 pages of the bipartisan legislation (.pdf) is language mandating the creation of the innocuously-named “photo tool,” a massive federal database administered by the Department of Homeland Security and containing names, ages, Social Security numbers and photographs of everyone in the country with a driver’s license or other state-issued photo ID.

Employers would be obliged to look up every new hire in the database to verify that they match their photo.

:::MORE HERE:::

Real ID still a problem for States

beatthechip@gmail.com (Sheila Dean ) — Fri, 10 May 2013 00:00:00 +0000

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, FIXING WHAT ISN'T BROKEN BY BREAKING IT

BTC - Here is what it looks like when a George Mason analyst for D.C. city politics proposes a nationalized ID system, like Real ID, would improve prospects for its municipal disadvantaged.

It appears as if the system is charged with the greater good of improving the lives of the poor and upending racial or social inequality by giving documents to the undocumented. Or something like that.

"But unlike current driver’s license regulations in the state of Washington and New Mexico, Gray’s proposal would create a distinct type of driver’s license that would immediately identify its holders as undocumented. The problem with this approach is that it exacerbates discrimination and endangers immigrants, and our community, even more."

The logic is self-defeating or the analysis of this legislation is spun critical to the objective of the legislation c/o The Washington Post. If you give documents to the undocumented but then coordinate a paper status that reinforces the fact that they are "undocumented", what is the point of the exercise? My first thought is that it is meant to confuse you, the reader.

A RED FLAG

Bulk legislative movements originating in Washington D.C. are untrustworthy. Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CIR), like most legislative bulk projects, gives legal form to a dysfunctional institution of hundreds of bills at once, convoluting public debate and oversight. The authors and co-authors claim ignorance of what is in them because of lobby and partisan patrols at their offices. Nothing could be father from the aim of the common good.

CIR is not necessary to give documents to the undocumented. Applying paper documentation generously would certainly disperse the air pressure from illegal or non-documentation arguments. Conflict leverage is what is required for politicking. The D.C. bulk legislative trojan has been the preferred vehicle for national ID systems in the past and today. To date, E-Verify in CIR serves as the system to deliver more of an instituted Real ID.

UPDATE 5-10-2013 @WIRED:Biometric Database of All Adult Americans Hidden in Immigration Reform
If you want the truth of equality and national IDs you need only look to poor Florida, a State fully invested in Real ID's gold starred licenses. According to an advocate's follow up at the DMV window, 80% of applicants are rejected from receiving licenses to drive in one of the biggest tourism States in the nation. It appears Real ID is anything but indescriminate. It targets denial of service and documentation to most of its residents' driving and identification needs equally.

WHAT DO YOU NEED TO OPERATE A CAR?

Real ID law is impractical and unenforceable. One case in Florida road tested the criminality of individuals divesting themselves of the nationalized DMV requirements. Real ID has proven to make US citizens practically, less legal. It equivocates those born here will never have enough documentation to satisfy Real ID requirements. Both the documented and undocumented share the same fate of being illegal residents without proper identification. This leaves immigrants and citizens in a deliberately complicated quandry. The federal government's mandate suppresses the ability for US States thrive and perform normally.

It's time to tell federal document nazis, again, to get out of your State houses. For now, first adopters of Real ID's State instituted plan have proven they will implement hardship on American residents, encumbering the local driving economy. The Immigration argument seems to scabb off as citizens confront losing their "driving privileges" and identification rights en masse.

People will to drive to their job if they have one.

RELATED NEWS:

Paul Henry Will Be Fighting REAL ID Again in the 2013 Florida Legislative Session

Fed DHS letter thanks Mo. for complying with Real ID

Texas politicians still shoveling REAL ID horse manure AND ACTION ALERT — STOP REAL ID INITIATIVE IN TEXAS

Disparate Political Factions in Maine join to Call for Real ID Repeal

DEAR TRANSHUMANISTS: Respecting Seattle's animal uprising

beatthechip@gmail.com (Sheila Dean ) — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 18:11:00 +0000

BTC - This is a letter sent to columnist Monica Guzman on The future of credentials: Will degrees and resumes make room for the badge

Monica,

I occasionally read your column in The Seattle Times.

I’ve picked up a few things about your publisher’s tolerance in giving you a community marketplace microphone. One is the Times isn’t essentially opposed to Transhumanism but accepts there is a segment of the local population who hold this value or belief system. You’re not as much anti-privacy as much as you are an information brokerage proponent, representative of a segment of their local readership.

Transhumanists can be misunderstood but they aren’t exactly innocents either. Their cultural attache is one of ideological condescension and policy charlatanism. What can you do if you believe the biotech everyone was born with becomes some sort of an inferior insult to an engineered ideal?

My brand of values of privacy, patriotism and earthy faith are not translated here. I’m not interested in rescuing the soul of Seattle from their corruptions, their compromises and their insecurities. Constitutional freedoms and human rights are not something I believe they would really miss very much because most of them are okay with being mistaken as Canadian or racists or racist Canadians who "know what's best for everyone".

So when you promote the Cub Scout leaders notion of trinkety digital badge props to reinforce advantage in an employer’s market, I’m going to let you fall into that waterless pool. When you upsell new entertainment consoles that micromonitor every whit of action in your body, every single thing you say and who you interact with in order to sell it to governments, I’m not going to stand in the way of the coming backlash.

If one survives the transformation of an animal uprising, they will be a new being. They will have a new knowledge base to use and operate technology without subverting their integrity.

Transhumanists don’t have all the answers, because they haven’t integrated or accepted the inferior as part of human greatness. That is why I will watch them self mutilate, hand over all their information power to someone else with a bigger database and demure ways to treat non-tech integrated as a lower lifeforms.

If you’re close to an evolution its not ever going to be the one you can control. That is how revolution works.

If you’re friends ask, you have heard from me.

Sheila Dean

Thanks GameRant. Just, thanks.

REDUX: E-Verify substitution bill, CISPA & More

beatthechip@gmail.com (Sheila Dean ) — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 02:48:00 +0000

House bill would replace H-2A, E-Verify programs

Immigration reforms that would replace H-2A visas with an agricultural guest worker program under the U.S. Department of Agriculture would provide growers with a stable, legal work force for the first time in decades, produce leaders say.

:::MORE HERE:::

RELATED NEWS:

Here is second life for news that matters:

No more red light cameras can be installed in New Jersey by order of Governor Chris Christie

12 Arrested at Anti-Guantánamo Protest in New York

"Taxation without Representation"

US Supreme Court rules against use of forced blood draws in all DUI cases

Boston Marathon Coverage

PLS Retweet : #CISPA is back and some are using Boston as an excuse to pass it: #p2 http://bit.ly/120cjN7

Boston Police Chief: Facial Recognition Tech Didn't Help Find Bombing Suspects

‘Boston Strong’: Marching in Lockstep with the Police State

'They were set up, FBI followed them for years' - Tsarnaevs' mother to RT

DIY Government

TSA Accepting Public Comments on Whole Body Airport Screening

@beatthechip TSA have been fighting against public comment on body scanners for years now, countless costs > epic.org/privacy/airtra…
— Amie Stepanovich (@astepanovich) April 17, 2013

Coast Guard Begins TWIC Public Hearings on Proposed Reader Rule

Cybersecurity and Privacy

"Legislation, stealth technologies, and emerging data privacy markets are proving that the battle for our Internet privacy has only just begun" - Dan Tynan

U.S. employees set to be forced to give bosses their Facebook PASSWORDS

CISPA passes house, Internet advocates regroup

RT @paulnemitz US #consumers to become beneficiaries of EU #privacy protection rules zite.to/ZH2XG9 #eudatap #datenschutz
— Jan Philipp Albrecht (@JanAlbrecht) April 23, 2013

Invasion Of Privacy? RFID Tracking Gordon County Kids On Georgia School Buses

Floridians rebel against Obama use of spy drones

UK Surveillance Society: Met Police Spying On 57,000 People A Year

Smart Metering? FERC Proposes to Adopt New Cyber Security Standards

App, case turns iPhone into on-the-spot biometric scanner

Identity Ecosystem Steering Group (IDESG) Elects New Leadership for 2013

These are not the databases you are looking for, Joe Public.

beatthechip@gmail.com (Sheila Dean ) — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 02:05:00 +0000

BTC - The following is filed under Op-Ed, comments not published at a Seattle Times story: Lawmakers take aim at CIA's use of fake licenses from state.

At the moment, local lawmakers are trying to legalise a secret State drivers license program so that local officials can regulate it and keep the license divisions in federal business. If its regulated then the CIA and the Dept of Defense can continue to purchase fake licenses from Washington State. Due to press and lawmaking efforts, this is no longer a secret program. This would put Washington State's fake police licenses in a rather illegal class of unofficiated spending. Drivers license divisions are prone to corruption and internal fraud from time to time.

This type of black budgeting at the use and sole discretion of local police officials might be part of a larger trend to militarize police resources, allowing them secretive federal national security powers. It may even explain more about the recent rash of database adoption for Real ID use, post-NDAA FY2012.

When municipalities or State governments are given federal money for secret programs, perhaps for things like Real ID, you might suddenly witness a jedi mind trick or two. This might sound similar to Missouri Senator Nixon's "These-are-not-the-databases-you-are-looking-for," type of statements made recently. If a secret program suddenly becomes outed the public can reasonably call a halt to it because it is an unofficial tax. This leaves a lot of room open for legal debate towards State budgets when they "go black".

In the case of Washington State, the only way for DOL to keep their formerly-secret federal funding is to legitimise it with lawmaking, rule provisions or regulation.

"Can we please not legalize secret programs?"

Dear Editor,

People around the country are noticing there is a separate local culture of overpriviledged secret government officials. They [like to] pay themselves as much as federal [lawkeepers] and the federal government gets to borrow, use from local or regional resources and keep shadow governance simpatico. The bad news is that most of the rest of the country doesn't want to pay for Washington State's black budget programs.

It’s not a surprise that the CIA and Defense agencies just helped themselves to a clandestine police program at Washington’s DOL, for years on end.

This isn’t a good standard. While we have to work somewhere, it’s time to forge a moment of conscience. Irons of courage only emerge from the flames of fear.

This is a scary precedent, but it only gets scarier for everyone the more you allow clandestine favoritism to prevail. Do you want Washington State to be America’s utility closet for secret programs? Then please raise some substantial objection on legalizing corrupt governance in Olympia.

Sheila Dean
Eastside of Puget Sound

Missouri lawmaker pursues answers, investigates Real ID problems

beatthechip@gmail.com (Sheila Dean ) — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 02:00:00 +0000

c/o KOMU

JEFFERSON CITY - U.S. Representative Blaine Luetkemeyer will be talking to lawmakers Monday about how much personal data is being used by the state when Missourians apply for state identification.

:::MORE HERE:::

RELATED COMMENTARY:

Alaska REAL ID Nullification, Round Two.
Tenth Amendment Center's answer for States to Enforce Nullification Bills, w/ Michael Boldin

Washington States secret drivers license program outed over police, CIA use

beatthechip@gmail.com (Sheila Dean ) — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 17:44:00 +0000

The program within the Department of Licensing (DOL) has been operating in relative secrecy for years, without legislative approval.

(i.e. IT'S NOT LAW... YET.)

c/o Seattle Times

A Washington Department of Licensing program that supplied fake licenses for undercover officers issued the most fake IDs to the Central Intelligence Agency and Defense Department, the Kitsap Sun reported.

OLYMPIA — Lawmakers moved Tuesday to block the CIA from utilizing a Washington state program that has issued hundreds of fake driver’s licenses to government agencies.

A measure approved by the state House would give legislative approval to the program — but only for undercover law-enforcement officers. Rep. Judy Clibborn said the bill protects investigators while also making the program more accountable.

“We wanted it to be for law enforcement only,” said Clibborn, D-Mercer Island.

She said nobody from the CIA has contacted her to express concern about the change.

:::MORE HERE:::

BIG GIANT REAL ID STORY: Missouri's Concealed Carry dropped onto database

beatthechip@gmail.com (Sheila Dean ) — Sun, 14 Apr 2013 00:34:00 +0000

c/o Red State's Dana Loesch (nice job, btw)

Missouri Governor Jay Nixon has some explaining to do. Earlier today during a hearing led by state Senator Kurt Schaefer, Col. Ron Replogle of the Missouri Highway Patrol confessed that Missouri state law was violated (which I shared yesterday here) and the full list of conceal carry permit holders was sent to the federal government: :::MORE HERE:::

Welcome to the frog boil: "Non-citizen" drivers licenses & You

beatthechip@gmail.com (Sheila Dean ) — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 02:51:00 +0000

BTC Commentary- Some people are finding it tougher and tougher to just let legal people, be legal. It's a fact, if you are a legal migrant, you are permitted to drive in this country.

Why the drivers license maintains some sort of canned heat for a Republican bureaucrat is not easily explained for being the party of smaller government. It doesn't help that 4 out 5 Democrats will agree increasing drivers license accountability amplifies the role of government.

It's typically smaller government conservatives who have good things to say about decreasing the use of drivers licenses for EVERYTHING YOU DO NORMALLY. Unless of course, you are Sen. Rand Paul, whose recent declarations at Howard University leeches the salt right out of claims to lessening the role of government. Republicans love to smack an identity condition on anything considered a Human Right, like voting, using ye olde drivers license. The only people who have right to deny the endless grasping of the two partisan brothels, commonly known as "Congress" - are The People.

This is an imagined appropriations conversation between DHS Statespeople.

REPUBLICAN: "Just stick it on the drivers license and it will make everyone safer and keep the little people wary!"

DEMOCRAT to Aide: "Go get my purse." *Clicks pen*

Unfortunately, drivers license challengers get thrown into the Gladiator ring right away, drawn against immigration and voting rights. The Established drag out that wretched old bag of worms where racism gets trotted around on a cart as an excuse to polarize voters. Sometimes it works.

Letting a drivers license run your life is midnight conjuring by today's beltway corporatist warlocks. They do it for themselves.

Most of us know we do not actually *need* any more identity. Conditioning mandate of identity is going to fast become a first world Human Rights conflict due to the direction drivers licenses and passports are headed in digital doctrine.

The misfortune comes when governments become the actors standing between what should be legal, accessible and normal for every human being. It just so happens in our society they will often allow corporations be the indirect dispatch for dehumanizing practice. Otherwise it becomes cause for an institutional indictment that won't drive pro-government voters into the arms of the State.

Will it be enough to wait until they are out of borrowed money?

Read this story from Colorado on the future of "non-citizen" drivers licenses and choose your own adventure. Will you suddenly be a non-citizen if you don't have a REAL ID: Old Lady, Enchanting Foreign Person with an Accent, Veteran or Refugee?

Does it bother you that one day a person making under $75,000 a year with a terrible haircut, a GS badge and bad breath is going to try to decide whether you get to stay a person with "adult priviledges" at the DMV? While it's an insult to my humanity, but it is fast becoming the American way of life.

The enduring question I have for readers is do you trust this government with your private information?

Something happens every time I open my inbox. I discover at least 4 more new initiatives that make me wonder if my private letters and communications are filled with federal boring data weevils. The bad news is holding up the 4th Amendment and the Constitution is not enough to ward off these meddlesome "need to" creatures of The Agency.

It's not like you can simply, light up an old newspaper and smoke them out like normal pests. You can't call an Exterminator. You can't deny them resources (taxes) because then they come down on you like the mafia. You're forced to feed them.

E-Verify provokes hunger strike in San Diego

beatthechip@gmail.com (Sheila Dean ) — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 02:33:00 +0000

c/o Un!te Here

Hotel workers have spent the last year trying to organize a union at the Hilton Mission Valley and suddenly in late March when a new management company took over, the hotel began using E-verify.

Hotel managers told the nine employees they had until Monday, April 8 or Tuesday, April 9 to fix problems with paperwork or face termination. That's why hotel workers, clergy and community activists are on the hunger strike. They are calling the hotel’s plan to fire the nine long-time hotel employees who the system flagged unfair.

"We can't stand by as immigrant workers face firing after being subjected to the flawed and unfair E-Verify system." said Brigette Browning, President of UNITE HERE Local 30. "This hunger strike highlights that these workers and their families deserve the same opportunities to work and the same respect as all of San Diego's working families, and the community stands with them and all immigrant workers who face unfair treatment."

:::MORE HERE:::

RELATED NEWS:

Rubio Says Immigration Bill Still Has a Way to Go

Congress Loves E-Verify: Grants $111 Million Funding, Conducts Research Study

Americans Oppose eVerify If Costs Are Considered

Federal biometrics program, NextGen Identity, gets served in an EPIC way

beatthechip@gmail.com (Sheila Dean ) — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 02:14:00 +0000

c/o PC World

A privacy watchdog has filed a lawsuit contending the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation has failed to provide requested technical information about a biometric identification database expected to be the largest in the world.

"Through the date of this pleading, the FBI has not contacted EPIC again regarding the status of either of EPIC's two FOIA requests," EPIC said in its suit.

The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), a nonprofit organization based in Washington, alleges the FBI failed to disclose documents after it filed two Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests in September 2012.

EPIC sought information on the FBI's "Next Generation Identification" program, which will amass biometric information on mostly U.S. citizens from local, state and federal law enforcement agencies, including palm prints and iris scans. New York City's police department began collecting iris scans in 2010 of people who were arrested.
According to the FBI, a multi-million dollar contract was awarded to Lockheed Martin Transportation and Security Solutions to develop the system. When completed, it is expected to be the largest biometric database in the world, according to EPIC's lawsuit.

EPIC said it filed a FOIA request asking for the contracts of companies working on the project, which also include IBM, Accenture, BAE Systems Information Technology, Global Science and Technology, Innovative Management and Technology Services, Platinum Solutions and the National Center for State Courts. In a second FOIA request, EPIC asked for technical specifications related to the program.

The FBI contacted EPIC in October 2012 and asked the group to narrow its scope for the second FOIA request. EPIC said it has not heard back from the FBI since. Agencies are generally required to respond to a FOIA request within a month, but the deadline may be extended if an agency believes the FOIA request is not specific enough.
"Through the date of this pleading, the FBI has not contacted EPIC again regarding the status of either of EPIC's two FOIA requests," EPIC said in its suit.

:::MORE HERE:::

iDoctor "Your body under surveillance by your cellphone"

beatthechip@gmail.com (Sheila Dean ) — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 02:10:00 +0000

BTC - "The new medicine is plugged into you," according to smart phone health data advocate Dr. Topol. "You can make it a lab on a chip."

While it is amazing science, our forecast is that patients struggling with privacy and government run healthcare are not going to want their urine and STD tests broadcasted from the comfort of their cellphones.

Tennessee court rejects student ID bill

beatthechip@gmail.com (Sheila Dean ) — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 02:00:00 +0000

c/o CR80 News

A proposed bill that would enable student IDs issued by Tennessee state colleges and universities to double at voting credentials has failed to pass.

According to a report from TriCities.com, the House’s version of the bill — which does not allow the student IDs to double as voting credentials — was supported by a count of 23 to 7. Murfreesboro Republican Senator Bill Ketron, a proponent of the bill, has not given up hope and in fact plans to press on with the idea.

The version of the bill that passed Thursday states that library cards — also included in the initial bill — would be eliminated as valid voter IDs as well.

The library card is perhaps the more contentious of the two proposed credentials as the city of Memphis, along with two of its residents, sued the state of Tennessee last year after election officials refused to accept the residents’ city-issued photo library card as voter identification.

The Tennessee Court of Appeals has since upheld the state voter ID law as constitutional but has made accommodations for Memphis residents, allowing them to use the photo library card as a voting credential until a final decision is made. The Supreme Court also ruled last year that the library cards could be used while the court was hearing the case.

The library card case is still pending in Tennessee’s highest court.

Proponents of the library card and student ID bill maintain that the photo ID has nothing to do with voter registration, rather the photo IDs are meant to validate that a voter is who they are registered to be. #

PLEASE ADD COMMENT: DO STUDENT IDs NEED TO DOUBLE AS VOTER ID?

Real ID's schizophrenic justification surfaces in Missouri

beatthechip@gmail.com (Sheila Dean ) — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 19:28:00 +0000

c/o Missourinet The Blog

Let’s see if we can summarize and overly-simplify the events leading up to today. For purposes of over-simplification, we’re skipping some things.

Congress passed the Real ID Act in 2005. It went into effect in May, 2008. It was enacted when there was much concern about illegal immigration and the possibility that terrorists might be getting into this country too easily. Bush II was still in office. Our troops were in Iraq. Homeland Security was telling us the terrorist level was at yellow or red. TSA people at airports every day started confiscating thousands of little Swiss Army pocket knives that had toothpicks, tweezers and little bitty scissors in them.

There are many words that can describe the Real ID Act and its implementation. Many of you probably have your favorites. Please do not tell us what they are in the “comments” section of this entry. This is a family publication.

:::MORE HERE:::

RELATED NEWS & OPINON:

Mo. GOP pans Real ID passed by GOP in Washington

Real ID is ... A back door man.

Why Real ID is about to happen to you

beatthechip@gmail.com (Sheila Dean ) — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 03:26:00 +0000

FROM THE EDITOR

"In a database state, citizens are targeted for political oppression and institutional sanctions by their government."

BTC -- Some years ago there was a massive national revolt to regulating US drivers licenses on a universal or international standard. The revolt was very successful. Over 25 states pledged fealty they would not nationalize drivers license documentation, presenting Americans with an option to live without a national ID card. There was even a hearing to consider repealing Real ID for reasons that the program standards were most invasive to privacy, were fiscally irresponsible and the regulations burdensome for most US States.

Flash forward to 2013, Fusion Centers have become national repositories of unintelligible junk that stays on for federal appropriations, as waste, just like Real ID. It has become a monument of an intimate borderless totalitarian infrastructure. National Intelligence agencies seek to hand local police surveillance jurisdiction for everything in mobile phones, but they keep getting blocked. DHS and other National Security agencies want to scrape anything in your cloud services. Until there is a solid rule or law in place they will do what they can until they face criminal charges or a class action civil lawsuit.

So what is their advantage? It appears Americans are being suckered into voluntarily populating their own digital dossier in the private sector. The fight is catastrophically unfair to people who desire privacy, but who rely on first world digital conventions in daily life.

Today’s database state is: Trapwire, Next Gen Identity, NSTIC's digital biometric authentication standards for drivers licenses and passports, continued “cooperations” between corporations like Facebook, Microsoft and the FBI to mine mail programs, a massive National Counter Terrorism Center in the wilds of Utah, StingRay, and live traffic feeds capturing motorists' habits using automatic license plate readers (ALPR). At the end of the day, this is the menace we all truly feared would assault us. Real ID was the gate to a database state where everything you do is tracked and all unique information leveraged against you by a stranger.

Identity will be demanded from you at every interaction because a faceless digital administrator needs to know you're "not a dog" or a terrorist. More accurately, data miners and brokers cannot successfully collate the little details in your global file under one ID when a national security agency calls for it unless you voluntarily admit it really is you. Or they will bypass it altogether by coordinating your GPS signal to the nearest CCTV feed at the intersection if you're walking around. Either way, they know it's you, Shonda. Nice pants, they go well with your biometric record.

The list becomes longer as the US government defines it’s one fiscal priority, national security. DHS and other federal agencies reach for the printed dollar on loan from the Federal Reserve. It becomes a bribe. Surveillance equipment suddenly equates supplemental income or “free money” for local governments living above their means.

Now Anonymous hackers are in jail. US “cyberwar” started with Stuxnet. Bradley Manning and Julian Assange are political prisoners. Aaron Swartz is dead.

Pop culture writers are barely informed of the role national ID data registries played in US genocides. That’s okay. They can go back to trolling tramp stamp pics on Facebook. They’ll probably do whatever they are told when Big Brother takes their phones and laptops at the border or puts their hands down their pants at the airport. They are not dissidents or any kind of threat to Obama’s evolving digital dictatorship. However, any note of dimmed acknowledgement means some patriot evangelist got through the recreational haze. They are clearly uninformed in what is going on all around them.

Are there bigger privacy threats? Sure. The paramilitary dispatch of drones by police is a great new threat level gauge.

So what happened to Real ID? 48 out of 56 American territories are being claimed for a national database and breeder document registry using drivers licenses, according to CIS. Virtually no one noticed, except for the tireless lobbyists seeking to nationalize drivers license standards and those who oppose it.

There won’t be a really good answer why you may be asked to provide a national ID when your State passed a law limiting any regulatory compliance to Real ID years earlier. There won’t be any answer that satisfies why you’re going to pay for it.

The answer I can give is the one where I can puncture a pinhole in a very large dark piece of paper, meant to block everyone’s view of a big picture. I can blame the press for obscuring or marginalizing news of national identity systems. I could blame myself but it wouldn’t be useful. I am one of perhaps 10 -15 people in the nation who worked to expose the public interest conflicts of national ID and the role it will play. In a database state, citizens are targeted for political oppression and institutional sanctions by their government.

So here is our answer: the federal government will fund anything that gives them the right to overpower you and cooperate with astronomically rich lobbies who wish away your natural rights to lower the North American population count, increase economic scarcity and debt. Yes, even the mighty US government has a boss. That boss is someone who will manufacture economic scarcity based on a seemingly impossible level of insecurity.

The reason why you are paying for the U.S. national database state is brought to you in part by a mechanical, analytic force seeking to disconnect the economy from all risk they cannot control as financiers and bankers. There are heated academic justifications for mass analysis, global data coveting as a risk hedge for digital investors jump off start ups to make it look cool. However, without basic freedoms and human rights these institutions believe they can limit Black Swans or a certain ingenuity coming from educated plebeans. The free radical has the power to end their insulated, overprotected and very, very fragile economic system.

As the public notices and cares about the way the government handles their private digital exchanges, how it can be a force of brutality, they have more choices. For now, this atmosphere of choice is obscured by a huge cloud of mental intimidation, government sponsored hacking, militarized police, and divisive messaging through very careful coordinated PR campaigning to impair your idea of national distinction.

As national ID initiatives continue to emerge as digital mass surveillance, I feel less and less connected to my own national identity. I consider myself a patriot. Someone who loves their country enough to feel grief that we have become the very thing we sought to expose and free others from when I was growing up during the Cold War. However, that’s a child’s view of our national character.

Our nation is an emotionally insecure one trying to delay a karmic reckoning for gleefully and mistakenly sliding down corporatism’s slippery slope. Our history comes from Old World Europe. The United States merely modernized government sanctioned pillaging of towns, collecting and importing slaves who later became workers, ushered in a system of both declared property by force and debt leverages to the advantage of people far away, whom we will never see, with taxes to fund wars and torture.

Notions surrounding US national identity or my own citizenship are corrected. The most important way for me to resist the developing surveillance state is to continue to educate citizens of methods for them to govern the government and to prosper. I will do this in spite of failed attempts to lead a legal efficacy and promote awareness using a poorly assembled and financially demotivated national coalition. I join others who could not compete with the amount of dollars required to buy or lawyer my way into truly protecting my own eroding identity rights.

Since we know the cavalry isn’t coming, I admonish you: if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.

Use your dissatisfaction to motivate you to the fullest extent of your personal power to get the results you want during the sunset of America’s free society.

Remember the Alamo. Congratulations. You get to die fighting.

REDUX: NSTIC national driver license database anchors in VA

beatthechip@gmail.com (Sheila Dean ) — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 18:52:00 +0000

"The DMV has entered the implementation stage of a multi-year identity management plan that starts with sharing authentication data across agencies so that citizens can log in once and access services across many agencies.

In fact, the Virginia DMV efforts are a focal point of a $1.6 million NSTIC grant given to the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA) in September 2012 to work on a pilot.

In addition, the program is targeted at gluing together state agencies, along with the Virginia Personal Identity Verification program for federal employees and contractors. And in alignment with the standards-based principles of NSTIC, the program will help support a trust framework with AAMVA, integration with other states via the State Identity and Credential Access Management (SICAM) architecture, and with agencies in Canada."

:::MORE HERE:::

RELATED: Next Generation Identification program could spot faces in a crowded street

Here is second life for news that matters:

CALL OFF THE DOGs - Sniffing not allowed at homes without a warrant, ruled unconstitutional

BAD NEWS: UK Privacy Watchdog - At least for now, says "Right to be forgotten is unworkable"

BTC - Part of contingency planning is accepting reality, what you do on the web has a record. Depending on who gets it and what's done with it, you're probably oversharing right now.

Microsoft admits caving to unconstitutional National Security Letters issued by FBI

Budget Cuts Hit E-Verify

"Free" National ID cards for returning South Sudanese

UAE "softens" national ID approach to include women in their dragnets

Missouri DOR Took DHS $ for Illegal Implementation of REAL ID Act How About Your State?

VICE Magazine expands it's snark attack to Real ID's "Mark of The Beast" constituency.
[BTC - Umm... not to "put your light under a bushel" but THANK GOD for VICE magazine. Perhaps it would be possible for Real ID, for once, to get coverage outside of the PTL crowd. It's literally been impossible to work on this without getting the YES GAWD cheese on you. The other news animals run from the scent.]

DIY Government

Tell Congress You Know They're Lying About Iran

GOT 2 PENNIES? Good.. Comment on TSA Strip-Search Machine Policy—And Attend CATO Event April 2nd

Tell Rep. Smith: Not another war with Iran

TRY SOMETHING NEW: Mayor Bloomberg is promoting policies that are bad for domestic privacy rights concerning drones. His attitude is "Meh. Surveillance has happened. Get used to it." What does it matter that the Mayor of New York City doesn't care about his constituents privacy? Mayors talk to each other. New Yorkers who don't want drone surveillance have the same uphill climb as everyone else in the United States. So why not try something new?

In states heavily attached and attracted to government increases like coastal cities, it's best to work with some regulatory infrastructure to try to import societal values which are being surpressed. If there is a gathering of inspired vocal locals, constituents can manage typically passive-aggressive public safety committees enough to drive a vote on privacy, you have something to work with. If not, you can still make strides in talks with local Councilmembers by watching out for key committee hearings.

TRY THIS: Suggest to your local City Management and public safety committee officials that they conduct a moratorium on drone implementation until federal privacy impact assessments are concluded and public safety privacy guidance is issued.

Most drone programs are federally funded. Unfortunately, the federal government hasn't considered the evolving impacts of privacy on constituents before presenting drone proposal projects. Since drone privacy guidance is currently being discussed and reconciled in the Senate, it may be awhile before new privacy considerations are available. This will buy you some time to draft better privacy guidelines to protect your city.

If the federal standards are inferior and will not protect constituents' privacy, locals have set a standard they can abritate on better terms for the "highest good".

More student claims of illness due to RFID badges

beatthechip@gmail.com (Sheila Dean ) — Sun, 24 Mar 2013 02:17:00 +0000

BTC - Andrea Hernandez, a student expelled for refusing to wear an RFID badge, recently submitted comment at public hearing on a bill to ban RFID in Texas schools [HB 101] claiming the technology made her sick. San Antonio press commenters ridiculed Hernandez for these claims of illness; which have been left out of conventional press coverage, until now.

During this forum, a student complained of chest problems and sickness attributed to his badge along with privacy concern. He added guidance to other students on how to break the badge without calling
up the attention of NISD authorities.

REDUX: Real ID, NSTIC passes sequester cuts, E-Verify

beatthechip@gmail.com (Sheila Dean ) — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 04:04:00 +0000

First what *sounds* like an apology from the State of Missouri for taking Real ID $$$ ....

"Some of my constituents have inquired about a lawsuit that was filed this week in Stoddard County in Southeast Missouri that addresses the alleged over-stepping of the Missouri Department of Revenue (DOR) regarding concealed carry documentation. It is believed that since the first of the year, the DOR has been collecting and scanning documents of individuals who were seeking to renew their concealed carry permits.

State statutes are very clear to say the DOR is not to retain or collect documents on Missouri citizens. These state statutes prohibit the state from complying with the federal Real ID Act — an act passed by Congress in 2005 in the aftermath of 9/11 that says states are to collect and store documents that can be used by federal agencies. The act was to pave the way for a national ID card. Documents required for the card are a birth certificate, social security number, and proof of residence.

Many believe that the Missouri Department of Revenue may have received a federal grant of between $3 and $5 million to begin putting such an ID system in place. The lawsuit alleges that the information collected may have been sent to a company in Georgia —Morpho Trust USA. According to this company's website, they specialize in the partnership of different government agencies to collect and provide individual identification information. Some are questioning if it is possible that the DOR is trying to implement the federal Real ID Act, though Missouri law strictly forbids it. This has raised concerns about individual privacy, especially for concealed carry holders who do not want their identity or their address known. I need to reaffirm that these are allegations made in a lawsuit. Hopefully, the complete story will come out in court hearings. There has been no comment on this issue from the Missouri Department of Revenue."

SO SAYS BILL REIBOLTDT...

In other Missouri News, Bill Slantz campaigners say,"REPEAL THE PATRIOT ACT, REAL ID, AND THE NDAA. GROUND THE DRONES"

Here is second life for news that matters:

The National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace is moving ahead with current plans to establish more pilots and programs this year.

Daon biometric passport pilot for smartphones goes live

UK RFID firm tries their wares at SXSW

Immigration Reform News 2013: Senators Move Forward with National E-Verify Employee Database, Scrap Biometric ID Law

Commission to use E-Verify in new bid

Comes with a warning...

"Many employers mistakenly believe that if they volunteer to participate in E-Verify they will be immune from scrutiny by the government regarding their pre-employment practices. This misconception can prove to be quite costly, " says InsideCounsel

Heritage claims 19 States materially compliant with Real ID... [We challenge the logic.]

REAL ID is not an unfunded mandate, [if the States take DHS' bribery for a nationalised ID.]
REAL ID does not create a national ID card or federal database, and [It does create a national ID card and STILL calls for a nationalised database. DHS administraive rulings doesn't make anyone comfortable. 25 States ruled against it because they really don't/didn't trust the direction the country was/is headed. ]
REAL ID does reduce fraud and identity theft. [It's tough to say, since people think the premise behind the law really isn't that trustworthy to begin with. Do you believe everything that DHS says? Remember what happened to those elderly Floridians from the ex-wives club? They can't drive now. How about this guy? Do you doubt he's an American?]

IN OTHER NEWS....

"Seattle police and other city agencies would have to get approval before buying surveillance equipment, under legislation the City Council is considering."

UK Surveillance in busses could breach privacy laws

Americans forced to quarter military drone mechanics in their homes

REDUX: E-Verify, Brainware tattoos & Texas news

beatthechip@gmail.com (Sheila Dean ) — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 06:06:00 +0000

Truthout TV With David Bacon on E-Verify and Sexual Harassment

Here is second life for news that matters:

David Sarasohn: On surveillance, what you don't know can hurt you

Neural Electronic Microchip externalizes therapies, RFID placed on skin tattoo

Texas Surveillance Bill Would Curb Warrantless Cellphone Tracking

DHS (Jul 2006) - "Privacy Impact Assessment for the Automated Biometric Identification System (IDENT)": 1.usa.gov/13zXh3Y #trackingcon
— EFF-Austin (@EFFaustin) March 3, 2013

DHS working on cost-effective biometric exit system

Does HIPAA guarantee privacy for my medical information?

DHS built domestic surveillance tech into Predator drones

DIY GOVERNMENT: The FAA Wants to Hear From You About Privacy and Domestic Drones

"The massive surveillance system built up over the last 10 years is the domestic companion of overseas drone killings."

Real ID, real trouble

OFF THE BEATEN PATH

FEMA ... FEMA ... FEMA ... twitter.com/EvillySexyBitc…
— @EvillySexyBitch◾❤◾ (@EvillySexyBitch) March 6, 2013

Missouri Lt Gov outs DMV use of Real ID database

beatthechip@gmail.com (Sheila Dean ) — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 04:09:00 +0000

Database funnelling information to DHS, increased inquiry of gun owners

BTC - According to the Lt. Gov Peter Kinder, a Missouri local applying to renew a license filed a complaint with the State Attorney general over a DMV request for information to forward to an external DHS database. Missouri has a history opposing the Real ID Act.

Missouri has been one State among a recent spate of States confronted with more compliance on Real ID. Previous reports cite 25 State's laws or statutes issuing policy bans to certifying licenses for federal purposes. CSDL, a Real ID regulation lobby, report compromises from State's who have refused to comply with the Real ID Act, like Alaska. If true, at least some the situation appears to be a move independent from State government by DMVagencies fielding recommendations made by DHS and AAMVA.

[Special thanks to Tom Tisken, Twitter tipster @kd4wov]

IN OTHER NEWS:
National ID, By Itself, Violates Liberty

EVVE - "Closing the Gap on REAL ID: 48 of 56 Jurisdictions Have Digitized Vital Records" @ Center for Immigration Studies

Economic justice starts at the office

beatthechip@gmail.com (Sheila Dean ) — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 21:11:00 +0000

ATTN: Readers

We are making some production shifts to welcome better returns on our investments.

BeatTheChip is scaling back the amount of hours to produce content online. This move supports the fiscal interests of those who work to bring you the news.

Starting today, March 3rd, 2013 we will be producing the following limited schedule which includes Twitter social media shifts on Pacific Standard Time.

Tues - 7:00 - 10:30 PM
Thurs - 7:00 - 10:30 PM
One weekend day every other weekend.

We will continue to bring you news, it just won’t be as frequent. If anyone has any further questions, please contact us.

Sincerely,

Sheila Dean for BeatTheChip.org