EFF's Wish List Doesn't Include PASS Act/Real ID

BTC SPECIAL PODCAST REPORT 

EFF's Lee Tien on Why the PASS Act isn't solving the Real ID Problem

::Audio Podcast::

With an upcoming hearing in Washington to evaluate the Real ID Act next week, Lee Tien articulates the standard for acceptable identity in America. Here's a hint: the Real ID Act is not part of the plan.

Federal Anti-Real ID hearing may include discussion on PASS Act

PASS Act Opponents snubbed

A BTC Exclusive

WASHINGTON -The first hearing to discuss efforts to repeal the Real ID Act is scheduled next Wednesday at 10:00 AM. Murmurs from organizers behind the scenes conclude that PASS Act proponents only will be invited to join DHS Senate Committee hearing, January 15th. According to ACLU sources, S.1261's opponents are managing their expectations about the upcoming DHS Senate committee hearing and of the PASS Act in discussions.

"It’s certainly not uncommon for opponents of legislation that a committee supports to be excluded from hearings. Though usually, they’re simply put on a second, smaller panel and are subject to much harsher questioning from members. Either way, you can usually tell how a committee feels about particular legislation by the composition and order of panels during a hearing," said Mary Bonventre. As of yesterday afternoon the ACLU has not yet received an invitation to the hearing.

Other civil liberties and privacy groups continue to express skepticism about how the hearing will be handled by DHS Chair, Joe Lieberman.


"The idea that the hearing is about re-evaluation of Real ID is the propaganda Akaka, Lieberman, DHS and everyone wants people to believe," says Stop Real ID Coalition advocate, Mark Lerner. "This is why Stewart Baker is being allowed to testify."

Baker, employed by DHS, is rumored to be skeptical himself over the PASS Act's regulations to perform national security functions. While Real ID opponent, Center for Democracy & Technology is expected to extoll the virtues of compromise presented in the PASS Act.
 
The PASS Act doesn't yet meet the standards of longtime electronic privacy advocate, Lee Tien of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) or of the Senate chairman's performance on the issue.

"Put another way, congressional hearings are staged performances. Here it is being controlled by Lieberman, and he ruined PASS ID," says Tien, who found less fault with the legislation "before Lieberman got hold of it." 


The DHS Senate Committee has neither confirmed or denied whether the PASS Act will be brought up for discussion during the hearing. The hearing was scheduled to re-evaluate the effectiveness of Real ID as a legislation.

Senate backs 700 miles of real fencing on border

c/o NoBorderWall

Associated Press
July 8, 2009
by Andrew Taylor

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate voted Wednesday to require actual fencing along 700 miles of the border with Mexico rather than vehicle barriers and high-tech equipment.

The plan by Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., won approval by a 54-44 vote as the Senate began a second day of debate on a $42.9 billion measure to fund the Department of Homeland Security for the budget year beginning Oct. 1.

DeMint said the U.S.-Mexico border "has become a battleground" as drug and weapons traffickers, along with illegal immigrants, move too freely. He said the department is spending too much on "virtual" fencing such as motion detectors. Those barriers, he said, don't work as well as a real fence designed to block people crossing the border on foot.

Border Fence Continues to Threaten Wildlife Migrations

Taragana.com/WASHINGTON - Biologists have determined that a 700-mile security wall under construction along the United States’ border with Mexico could significantly alter the movement and “connectivity” of wildlife, with the animals’ potential isolation a threat to populations of some species.

However, technology and alterations to the design could dramatically improve the potential for animals to move more freely between the two countries, the scientists added.

“The biggest concern is that this barrier will break small populations of animals into even smaller pieces that will result in fewer animals interacting,” said Clinton Epps, a wildlife biologist at Oregon State University and co-author on the study.

“A major barrier such as this could lead to significant degradation of connectivity for many different species, ultimately threatening their populations,” he added.

In their study, the authors looked at the potential effects of the security wall on two species - the pygmy owl and bighorn sheep.

They found that the low-flying pygmy owl made three-fourths of its flights below the height of the security wall, which is approximately four meters high, and that juvenile owls had lower colonization in areas of disturbance or areas with less vegetation. ::MORE HERE::

CANADA: The Nation's Deathbed

Canada's viral documentary on the Secured Prosperity Partnership

BTC  Review- The Nation's Deathbed is one of the few documentaries out there about the SPP/NAU or the Secured Prosperity Partnership and how it affects someone other than the U.S.  In August of  2007, riots precipitated over meetings in Montebello, Canada evading common knowledge. Media manipulation obscured the challenge to national soverignty facing the North American Continent.

One of the most important is the incorporation of  vocabulary like the word "harmonize" which directly affects trade barriers; which translates to lowering Canadian standards over many things including the use of pesticides with food.

While it mimics other youthful, 9-11 Truth documentaries flooding the web and grassroots media it brings a distinct experience of Canada's open recognition of the challenges to it's sovereignty, right down to the Amero currency and a new continental identity in line with the Western Hemisphere Travel initiative.

Sprint to network Census databases

What's in it for you?

SO... What's in a census?  Harmless, right?  Just a knock at the door and a few questions, right? No big deal, right?

Well.  Then what happens to your information?  Where does it land?  Who has it and why do they have it?  Moreover, when you find out, you'll wonder why you ever volunteered your info in the first place.

Well.  Everyone has my information already. Why should I care, right?  

You should always care how accessible you are to others to whom you have no relationship. Unless you benefit directly from the information racket, you are a resigned, apathetic, lazy, reckless, socially irresponsible slob with no identity standards and are complicit to living with no rights.  You shouldn't be making decisions for the rest of us who haven't quit. 

By the way, if needlessly shoveling over your information without compensation has benefitted you; we definitely want to hear your story! Please send your stories to beathechip@gmail.com . Please include the name of your employer and what you do for a living.

You might need a gauge for what kind of information is already out there about you and how far corporations have gone to try to get a few bits of information about you without your involvement.  All that may be needed to expose your Social Security Number is your date of birth and the State you were born in.

The more you just lay there, the more The Corporation has a stationary object with no resistance to their violating behavior. They won't stop taking.  See below...

Sprint  has  role in next year’s census

By STEVE EVERLY
The Kansas City Star

The U.S. census is wrapping up preparations for making next year’s count, which will use a communications network and support provided by Sprint Nextel.

Sprint was picked in 2006 by Harris Corp., the systems integrator for the census, to be the exclusive wireless data provider and to provide both wireline and wireless support.

The resulting automated system is expected to increase the accuracy and efficiency of next year’s count, in part by using handheld devices that will transmit the collected data almost instantly to the Census Bureau over the Sprint network.

“As a result of the combined solutions and technology provided by Sprint and Harris, the 2010 decennial census is expected to be the most accurate in U.S. history,” Mike Murray, vice president of Harris Census Programs, said in a statement.

Census information was previously collected manually by workers, including relying on paper address lists and maps. But besides sending the data, the handheld devices can also verify addresses using GPS. The automated system developed for the census will for the first time make the canvassing virtually paperless.

In addition, Sprint is providing other support for the census, including security, program management and data centers that will help provide the infrastructure needed to collect the census information.

“Sprint is honored to play a critical role in this historic evolution of the decennial census program for 2010,” said Bill White, vice president for federal programs at Sprint.

The value of the Sprint contract was not disclosed.

McKinney Rerouted to Israeli Detention Center

OpEd News

At around noon on July 5, EST, a phone call, from a verifiable source, was received by a member of former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney's camp indicating that the American prisoners in Israel have been moved to a detainment facility closer to the Ben Gurion Airport.

McKinney's imprisonment has shed additional light upon the plight of Gaza – which is one of two possible results of her trip – the other one being that supplies and a little joy for the children might have actually been delivered. 

Either way, it's a step toward healing Gaza. And the Palestinians, observing the commitment of the humanitarians to delivering aid, see that some of the world cares.::MORE HERE::