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DHS Sought To Assign Social Credit Style “Risk Scores” To Social Media Users

June 9, 2023

DHS Sought To Assign Social Credit Style “Risk Scores” To Social Media Users

In a sharp spotlight on the interplay between national security and individual privacy, newly disclosed documents have unveiled that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) entered into a contract with the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) in 2018 to develop a project, dubbed “Night Fury,” designed to analyze and assign “risk scores” to social media accounts.

The Brennan Center for Justice procured these documents through a public records request, and Motherboard was the first to report on them. Project Night Fury aimed at utilizing automation to detect and evaluate social media accounts for connections to terrorism, illegal opioid distribution, but also disinformation campaigns.

The DHS document stated, “The Contractor shall develop these attributes to create a methodology for developing a ranking, or ‘Risk Score,’ associated with the identified accounts.”

source: Motherboard

Project Night Fury had also planned on incorporating involvement from Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Transportation Security Administration (TSA), and US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to provide “cross-mission operational context,” according to one of the documents.

Experts had warned DHS about the inherent difficulties and biases involved in automated judgment for these matters, citing that characteristics like being “pro-terrorist” have no concrete definition.

Notably, DHS terminated Project Night Fury in 2019.

However, it underscores the agency’s continued interest in social media as a resource for analysis.

This comes in the wake of earlier reports of CBP utilizing an AI-powered tool, Babel X, for analyzing travelers’ social media at US borders.

While Night Fury’s focus was initially on “counter-terrorism, illegal opioid supply chain, transnational crime, and understanding/characterizing/identifying the spread of disinformation by foreign entities,” the documents indicate that UAB’s work was intended to “scale to other DHS domains” and “build next generation capabilities.”

Leaked Docs Reveal Shocking Extent Of DHS “Disinfo” Collusion With Twitter, Facebook

October 31, 2022

Leaked Docs Reveal Shocking Extent Of DHS “Disinfo” Collusion With Twitter, Facebook

In August, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg admitted on the Joe Rogan podcast that the FBI approached the company warning of “Russian propaganda” shortly before the Hunter Biden laptop story broke at the NY Post.

“Basically, the background here is the FBI, I think, basically came to us– some folks on our team and was like, ‘Hey, just so you know, like, you should be on high alert…  We thought that there was a lot of Russian propaganda in the 2016 election. We have it on notice that, basically, there’s about to be some kind of dump of that’s similar to that. So just be vigilant,” Zuckerberg told Rogan.

Now, leaked documents provided to The Intercept reveal that government collusion with big tech goes much deeper.

The effort began in 2018, after former President Donald Trump signed the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Act in the wake of several high-profile hacking incidents, forming a new wing of DHS devoted to protecting critical national infrastructure.

The Department of Homeland Security is quietly broadening its efforts to curb speech it considers dangerous, an investigation by The Intercept has found. Years of internal DHS memos, emails, and documents — obtained via leaks and an ongoing lawsuit, as well as public documents — illustrate an expansive effort by the agency to influence tech platforms.

The work, much of which remains unknown to the American public, came into clearer view earlier this year when DHS announced a new “Disinformation Governance Board”: a panel designed to police misinformation (false information spread unintentionally), disinformation (false information spread intentionally), and malinformation (factual information shared, typically out of context, with harmful intent) that allegedly threatens U.S. interests…

…click on the above link to read the rest…

The People Behind DHS’s Orwellian “Disinformation Governance Board”

May 2, 2022

The People Behind DHS’s Orwellian “Disinformation Governance Board”

A “Disinformation Governance Board” has just been created and is going to be run by the Department of Homeland Security. Their primary goal is going to be to “police” what is deemed to be “misinformation” or “disinformation.”

No clarification has been given as of yet as to what this policing will mean, but it has been pointed out that the creation of this new Disinformation Governance Board is going to have the full strength of the DHS behind it.

DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said, “the goal is to bring the resources of (DHS) together to address this threat.”

Nina Jankowicz has been chosen to head up the new disinformation office as the executive director.

Nina Jankowicz

Disinformation Governance Board
Nina Jankowicz

Jankowicz received her MA in Russian, Eurasian, and East European Studies from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. A full list of the staff at the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University can be found here.

Some of the current faculty/staff members within the Walsh School of Foreign Service are:

Jankowicz also spent time previously working with the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (also called the Wilson Institute) in the past as a disinformation fellow. A full listing of their staff can be found here.

Some of the current staff members, faculty, and associates at the Wilson Institute include:

  • Cynthia Arnson – Director of the Latin American Program
  • Shihoko Goto – Director for Geoeconomics and Indo-Pacific Enterprise/Deputy Director of the Asia Program
  • Duncan Wood – VP for Strategy and New Initiatives; Senior Advisor to the Mexico Instituted; Interim Director of the Global Europe Program
  • Lonnie Bunch III – Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

“The Threat Is With Us Today”: US Powerless Against Weaponized Drone Attacks, DHS Warns

September 27, 2018

“The Threat Is With Us Today”: US Powerless Against Weaponized Drone Attacks, DHS Warns

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is asking Congress for more powers to combat against malicious drones that could threaten the US. Top intelligence officials are increasingly concerned about the use of transporting narcotics via drones by drug cartels and weaponized drones by terrorists.

CBS News correspondent Jeff Pegues was granted rare access and observed government surveillance drones in action at a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) facility in Tucson, Arizona. Pegues saw behind the scenes of what it takes to operate a drone unit that frequently surveils the Mexico–US border searching for illegal activity.

He met with DHS’ top intelligence official David Glawe and CBP Chief Rodolfo Karisch to discuss the threat of drones.

“If you want to move people, narcotics, God forbid weapons of mass destruction or anything else over the border, you have a surveillance location that can be now automated with drones at a very inexpensive cost by organizations outside of the United States,” Glawe said.

Countless videos over the last several years have shown ISIS using commercial grade drones for precision bombing strikes on their enemies.

Last month, two drones packed with high explosives reportedly flew toward Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in what the Venezuelan government has described as a failed assassination attempt. “Any time drones are used for an attack, what appears to have been an assassination attempt, it’s gravely concerning,” Glawe said.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

The Government Wants Airlines to Delay Your Flight So They Can Scan Your Face

September 26, 2018

Photo: Bill O’Leary/The Washington Post via Getty Images

THE GOVERNMENT WANTS AIRLINES TO DELAY YOUR FLIGHT SO THEY CAN SCAN YOUR FACE

OMNIPRESENT FACIAL RECOGNITION has become a golden goose for law enforcement agencies around the world. In the United States, few are as eager as the Department of Homeland Security. American airports are currently being used as laboratories for a new tool that would automatically scan your face — and confirm your identity with U.S. Customs and Border Protection — as you prepare to board a flight, despite the near-unanimous objections from privacy advocates and civil libertarians, who call such scans invasive and pointless.

According to a new report on the Biometric Entry-Exit Program by DHS itself, we can add another objection: Your flight could be late.

Although the new report, published by Homeland Security’s Office of the Inspector General, is overwhelmingly supportive in its evaluation of airport-based biometric surveillance — the practice of a computer detecting your face and pairing it with everything else in the system — the agency notes some hurdles from a recent test code-named “Sprint 8.” Among them, the report notes with palpable frustration, was that airlines insist on letting their passengers depart on time, rather than subjecting them to a Homeland Security surveillance prototype plagued by technical issues and slowdowns:

Demanding flight departure schedules posed other operational problems that significantly hampered biometric matching of passengers during the pilot in 2017. Typically, when incoming flights arrived behind schedule, the time allotted for boarding departing flights was reduced. In these cases, CBP allowed airlines to bypass biometric processing in order to save time. As such, passengers could proceed with presenting their boarding passes to gate agents without being photographed and biometrically matched by CBP first. We observed this scenario at the Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport when an airline suspended the biometric matching process early to avoid a flight delay. This resulted in approximately 120 passengers boarding the flight without biometric confirmation.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

RED FLAG: Homeland Security Hiring “Media Monitoring Services” to Compile Journalist and Media Influencer Database

April 7, 2018

RED FLAG: Homeland Security Hiring “Media Monitoring Services” to Compile Journalist and Media Influencer Database

On April 3rd the Department of Homeland Security posted an ad to FedBizOpps.gov (Federal Business Opportunities). That is the government’s website where they post contractor work.

DHS is looking for “Media Monitoring Services.”

They want a database with built-in search and alert features. The DHS is looking for something that they can search to see which publications, journalists, and social media influencers are talking about the DHS, and what they are saying.

0.2 SCOPE

The contractor shall provide NPPD/OUS with traditional and social media monitoring and communications solutions.

0.3 OBJECTIVE

Services shall enable NPPD/OUS to monitor traditional news sources as well as social media, identify any and all media coverage related to the Department of Homeland Security or a particular event. Services shall provide media comparison tools, design and rebranding tools, communication tools, and the ability to identify top media influencers.

The DHS wants the ultimate surveillance dashboard where they can know real time anything anyone is saying about them around the world.

Ability to track global online sources for coverage relevant to Washington and the six media hubs:

  • Ability to track > 290,000 global news sources
  • Ability to track online, print, broadcast, cable, radio, trade and industry publications, local sources, national/international outlets, traditional news sources, and social media

They want to monitor worldwide media that has any mention of the Department of Homeland Security, or any specific event that they are interested in.

They make repeated mention of social media. This is not just journalists the DHS will monitor, it is any conversation on social media which mentions the DHS.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

U.S. Tourists Will Be Required To Turn Over Their Social Media History

March 30, 2018

U.S. Tourists Will Be Required To Turn Over Their Social Media History 

The State Department will unveil new rules on Friday requiring most visitors or immigrants to the United States to turn over their recent social media histories, in accordance with one of President Trump’s key national security enhancements contained in his “extreme vetting” executive order.

In addition, travelers would be required to provide previous phone numbers, email addresses and a history of international travel from the preceding five years – as well as disclose any immigration problems they’ve had anywhere in the world, or any potential family ties to terrorism, according to the Washington Times.

Moreover, people from countries where female genital mutilation is common practice would be directed to a website to ensure that they know the practice is illegal in the United States.

The Friday publication will begin a “comment period” before the government finalizes the policies.

“This upgrade to visa vetting is long overdue, and it’s appropriate to apply it to everyone seeking entry, because terrorism is a worldwide problem. The aim is to try to weed out people with radical or dangerous views,” said Jessica Vaughan, the director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies – who called the effort to discourage female genital mutilation “innovative.”

“The message needs to be sent that ‘we don’t do that here,’ ” she said.

Vaughan also says the State Department should also request information on whether female travelers intend to enter the United States in order to give birth – a practice known as “birth tourism” in which women visit the U.S. so that their child born on American soil is a U.S. citizen.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has entertained plans to track the social media accounts of immigrants entering the country, however the State Department’s Friday proposal would apply to tourists and others entering the country on temporary visas. In all, some 14 million people would be affected by the request for information, according to the department.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

 

DHS Announces Program to ILLEGALLY Scan Our Faces—And They’re Forcing Us to Pay For It

December 29, 2017

DHS Announces Program to ILLEGALLY Scan Our Faces—And They’re Forcing Us to Pay For It

Both Congress and the Department of Homeland Security have never justified the biometric scanners at airports that could cost Americans $1 billion in 2018.

scan

As TSA agents continue to prove their incompetence in the “War on Terror,” the Department of Homeland Security is now allocating $1 billion in taxpayer funding to create a facial recognition program that will illegally scan Americans’ faces.

A study conducted by Georgetown Law’s Center for Privacy and Technology looked at the biometric scanners that are creating an inventory of the faces of individuals leaving the country at airports across the United States. While they are only at certain major airports right now, the full implementation of these scanners could cost Americans up to $1 billion.

The study noted that while the “9/11 Response and Biometric Exit Account” created by Congress has the funds for the program, “neither Congress nor DHS has ever justified the need for the program.”

In addition to the fact that Congress has never provided a reason why the system is needed in the U.S., the study claimed that DHS has “repeatedly questioned ‘the additional value biometric air exit would provide’ compared with the status quo and the ‘overall value and cost of a biometric air exit capability,’ even as it has worked to build it.”

Not only is a government agency pouring $1 billion into a program to increase the country’s security measures even though it lacks full confidence, and has no evidence that the program it is implementing will do so, there is also the fact that the program requires Americans to give up their civil liberties, and it has never been explicitly authorized by the government. As the researchers from Georgetown Law noted:

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Are You Ready to Die?

October 2, 2017

Are You Ready to Die?

Glenn Greenwald of The Intercept exposes the fake news put out by the US Department of Homeland Security (an euphemistic name for a Big Brother operation that spies on US citizens) that Russia hacked 21 US state elections, news that was instantly spread around the world by the presstitute media. The propagandists running Homeland Security were contradicted by the state governments, forcing Homeland Security to retract its fake news claims. https://theintercept.com/2017/09/28/yet-another-major-russia-story-falls-apart-is-skepticism-permissible-yet/

The unasked/unanswered question is why did Homeland Security put out a FAKE NEWS story?

Greenwald explains that the US media is so conditioned by the National Security State to see Russian President Putin lurking behind and masterminding attacks on America that it is “now religious dogma”—a requirement—to find Russian perfidy everywhere. The result Greenwald correctly says is that “an incredibly reckless, anything-goes climate prevails when it comes to claims about Russia. Media outlets will publish literally any official assertion as Truth without the slightest regard for evidentiary standards.”

In other words, the United States no longer has a media. It has a propaganda ministry for the military/security complex, the neoconservatives, and the Israel Lobby. And the idiot Americans sit in front of the TV and absorb the propaganda, and they read the New York Times and think that they are sophisticated and in the know.

What Greenwald doesn’t address is the effect of the massive amount of fake news on Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea. Russia knows that Washington knows that the accusations against Russia are false. So why is Washington making false accusations against Russia?

This is a serious question, not only for Russia but for the entire world. All previous false accusations from the Clinton regime criminals, the Bush/Cheney regime criminals, and the Obama regime criminals ended in miiltary attacks on the falsely demonized targets.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Meet Vigilant Solutions – The Private Company Storing 2.2 Billion License Plate Photos & Selling the Data

January 29, 2016

Meet Vigilant Solutions – The Private Company Storing 2.2 Billion License Plate Photos & Selling the Data

Screen Shot 2016-01-28 at 1.34.52 PM

Vigilant Solutions is a company that will be familiar to longtime Liberty Blitzkrieg readers. It was first highlighted in the early 2014 post, Department of Homeland Security Moves to Install National License Plate Tracking System, in which we learned the following:

The Department of Homeland Security wants a private company to provide a national license-plate tracking system that would give the agency access to vast amounts of information from commercial and law enforcement tag readers, according to a government proposal that does not specify what privacy safeguards would be put in place.

The national license-plate recognition database, which would draw data from readers that scan the tags of every vehicle crossing their paths, would help catch fugitive illegal immigrants, according to a DHS solicitation. But the database could easily contain more than 1 billion records and could be shared with other law enforcement agencies, raising concerns that the movements of ordinary citizens who are under no criminal suspicion could be scrutinized.

The agency said the length of time the data is retained would be up to the winning vendor. Vigilant Solutions, for instance, one of the leading providers of tag-reader data, keeps its records indefinitely.

Fast forward two years, and “could easily contain 1 billion records” sounds trite compared to the reality. According to a recent article in The Atlantic, Vigilant Solutions has already has taken 2.2 billion license plate photos, and is adding more at a clip of 80 million per month.

From the Atlantic:

Throughout the United States—outside private houses, apartment complexes, shopping centers, and businesses with large employee parking lots—a private corporation, Vigilant Solutions, is taking photos of cars and trucks with its vast network of unobtrusive cameras. It retains location data on each of those pictures, and sells it.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

California Mayor Forced to Hand Over Electronics and Passwords at Airport – Compares U.S. to Nazi Germany

October 6, 2015

California Mayor Forced to Hand Over Electronics and Passwords at Airport – Compares U.S. to Nazi Germany

Screen Shot 2015-10-05 at 11.03.23 AM

“I think the American people should be extremely concerned about their personal rights and privacy. As I was being searched at the airport, there was a Latino couple to my left, and an Asian couple to my right also being aggressively searched. I briefly had to remind myself that this was not North Korea or Nazi Germany. This is the land of the Free.

– Anthony Silva, Mayor of Stockton, California

Just in case you’re still under the infantile illusion that you reside in a free country.

From ArsTechnica:

Stockton, California Mayor Anthony R. Silva attended a recent mayor’s conference in China, but his return trip took a bit longer than usual. At the San Francisco International Airport (SFO) this week, agents with the Department of Homeland Security detained Silva and confiscated his personal cell phone among other electronics. According to comments from the mayor, that may not even be the most alarming part.

“Unfortunately, they were not willing or able to produce a search warrant or any court documents suggesting they had a legal right to take my property,” Silva told SFGate. “In addition, they were persistent about requiring my passwords for all devices.”

The mayor’s attorney, Mark Reichel, told SFGate that Silva was not allowed to leave the airport without forfeiting his passwords. Reichel was not present for Silva’s interaction with the DHS agents, either. The mayor was told he had “no right for a lawyer to be present” and that being a US citizen did not “entitle me to rights that I probably thought,” according to the paper.

Evidently, Silva was well aware of the situation and only had his concerns heightened by first-hand experience. Talking to SFGate, he briefly compared the government battle on privacy to notorious dictatorships worldwide.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

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