"He who sacrifices freedom for security deserves neither"
Let me give you an example of how Trapwire works;
Don't be naive. A marketing firm can purchase your data, let alone a government who has the power to request the data under s313 of the Telecommunications Act 1997 (one of several provisions).
Very broad wording indeed.
Hmmm. Some food for thought, indeed.
- Benjamin Franklin
Exactly one year ago on this day, online hacktivist group Anonymous hacked into, and retrieved, a large cache of emails from Stratfor. This was part of a combined effort with LulzSec for Operation AntiSec, an initiative to expose the legitimate and illegitimate workings of government bodies under the rationale of transparency.
Now, Stratfor is a global intelligence firm, and what makes this incident even juicier is that they were a CIA contractor, so many of those emails were between CIA officials and analysts.
In February 2012, these documents were handed over to Wikileaks, who began uploading these emails for public consumption.
That's right, confidential emails that could be accessed by every journalist, student, housewife and Daily Quotite out there.
One of the most interesting emails concerned the use of a piece of software called Trapwire.
Trapwire is one of those things that conspiracy theorists rant on about, but that you trust your government will be transparent about. Or perhaps you'll hear about it in the news, and all these other people will go into an uproar and democracy will save the day.
No.
Trapwire is a program that consolidates your stored biometric data and uses every public CCTV camera to identify who is where. They then use this data to form links, connect dots, and essentially predict if a crime or conspiracy is going to occur.
So pretty much, they use facial recognition technology obtained via either your passport or driver's license to identify you via the CCTV camera. Then, they can identify whether certain suspicious people are meeting up, or simply follow someone's movements in public places.
Haven't you given thought as to why you're not allowed to smile when you take a photo for a license?
A blank face gives a far more accurate facial reading than a smiling one.
The moral of the story, kids, is that if you plan on committing a crime, make sure you're smiling when you do it.
When this information went public, Australian media started digging. The AFP denied using Trapwire, and Fairfax media discovered that the parent company of Trapwire Inc. was recently contracted for etags in Queensland and the new Cityrail barriers in NSW.
The story in SMH can be found here. Yep.
Now, Stratfor is a global intelligence firm, and what makes this incident even juicier is that they were a CIA contractor, so many of those emails were between CIA officials and analysts.
In February 2012, these documents were handed over to Wikileaks, who began uploading these emails for public consumption.
That's right, confidential emails that could be accessed by every journalist, student, housewife and Daily Quotite out there.
One of the most interesting emails concerned the use of a piece of software called Trapwire.
Trapwire is one of those things that conspiracy theorists rant on about, but that you trust your government will be transparent about. Or perhaps you'll hear about it in the news, and all these other people will go into an uproar and democracy will save the day.
No.
Trapwire is a program that consolidates your stored biometric data and uses every public CCTV camera to identify who is where. They then use this data to form links, connect dots, and essentially predict if a crime or conspiracy is going to occur.
So pretty much, they use facial recognition technology obtained via either your passport or driver's license to identify you via the CCTV camera. Then, they can identify whether certain suspicious people are meeting up, or simply follow someone's movements in public places.
Haven't you given thought as to why you're not allowed to smile when you take a photo for a license?
A blank face gives a far more accurate facial reading than a smiling one.
The moral of the story, kids, is that if you plan on committing a crime, make sure you're smiling when you do it.
When this information went public, Australian media started digging. The AFP denied using Trapwire, and Fairfax media discovered that the parent company of Trapwire Inc. was recently contracted for etags in Queensland and the new Cityrail barriers in NSW.The story in SMH can be found here. Yep.
Let me give you an example of how Trapwire works;
Person A, B and C walk into the Sydney QVB at 7.15pm on a Tuesday night.Let me give you another example of how Trapwire works, except this time, we will assume the government has far more information on you via Facebook, Google, Instagram, etc etc.
Person A is a convicted drug trafficker with a criminal record.
Person B is a law student with a bit of cash and a pompous comb-over.
Person C is also a law student, studying on a student Visa and coming home from a cafe job.
Trapwire will detect A from his existing mugshot, B from his driver's license photo, and C from his international passport. Trapwire will make a log of these interactions, make sure A is not breaching his parole, make sure B does not have any outstanding criminal charges, make sure C's Visa is still valid.
Happy Days.
Don't be naive. A marketing firm can purchase your data, let alone a government who has the power to request the data under s313 of the Telecommunications Act 1997 (one of several provisions).
Very broad wording indeed.
Person A, B and C walk into the Sydney QVB at 7.15pm on a Tuesday night.
Person A is a convicted drug trafficker with a criminal record. His AFP file also shows he is suspected of arms trafficking. The tattoo on his neck means he is still able to be identified despite wearing sunglasses and a beanie. His Gmail account contains email conversations with known Nomads arms dealers and his Visa Debit card contains recent purchases of measuring apparatus from Bunning's.
Person B is a law student with a bit of cash and a pompous comb-over. His Google Chrome browser history shows attempts to access websites that are part of Interpol's blacklist. His ISP has been issued a notice to retain his IP address for 18 months. Earlier CCTV footage had pinpointed his presence at several rallies and demonstrations, including the Occupy Sydney movement in Martin Place. His Facebook profile contains a high propensity of the word 'corrupt', 'illuminati' and 'police'. He also 'likes' Wikileaks on Facebook, and is subscribed to their Twitter feed. He is the president of the Uni Law Society, as so has an existing ASIO record.
Person C is also a law student. He goes to the same university as Person B, a passive member of the Uni Law Society. He is on a student Visa from Pakistan, and he attends Belmore Mosque every second day at 7pm. Except today. He has been under close inspection by ASIO after he was the recipient of several SMS messages which invited him to violently protest the release of a video that mocked Mohammed. His alias on jihadi chat rooms is the same as that of his Call of Duty: Modern Warfare avatar. His IP address is also being logged by his ISP as per the request of authorities.
Trapwire has now picked up on a suspected arms dealer, a proactive contrarian and a Pakistani student with possible links to overseas terror networks. They are in the same area, and they are moving out of routine.Call a squad car around. Thank you, Trapwire. Happy Days.
Hmmm. Some food for thought, indeed.
You've definitely exceeded your Daily Quota today.
May the force be with you all.
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