Tag Archives: Technocracy

Experts Increasingly Contemplate End Of Smoking

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“A confluence of changes has recently prompted public health leaders to start throwing around phrases like ‘endgame’ and ‘tobacco-free generation.’  Acting U.S. Surgeon General Boris Lushniak last month released a 980-page report on smoking that pushed for stepped-up tobacco-control measures. His news conference was an unusually animated showing of anti-smoking bravado, with Lushniak nearly yelling, repeatedly, ‘Enough is enough!’  ‘I can’t accept that we’re just allowing these numbers to trickle down,’ he said, in a recent interview with the AP. ‘We believe we have the public health tools to get us to the zero level.'”

http://miami.cbslocal.com/2014/02/09/experts-increasingly-contemplate-end-of-smoking/

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Massachusetts prodded by feds on REAL ID with security restrictions

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“Starting in April, Massachusetts residents will be prevented from using their licenses to gain access to some federal buildings — unless, of course, state officials give in and quickly adopt the Homeland Security ‘Real ID’ verification program.  Then, as soon as 2016, the punishment will get more serious: Massachusetts residents will be prevented from boarding commercial aircraft if they do not provide another identity document to security screeners.  It is all part of an effort by Homeland Security to prod states to follow the requirements of the 2005 law that stiffened requirements on driver’s licenses.  In states following Real ID requirements, driver’s licenses feature a star.”

http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2014/02/07/massachusetts-other-states-defy-federal-rules-with-looming-consequences-for-residents/KUYDtWTQXHx0E0I2OmQTWJ/story.html

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California company builds 5-foot android robocops

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“Weighing in at 300 pounds, the five-foot K5 can patrol a neighborhood and uses a built-in laser to form a 3D map of the surrounding area in 270-degree sweeps. Four built-in cameras, meanwhile, are capable of scanning up to 1,500 license plates a minute.  ‘Data collected through these sensors is processed through our predictive analytics engine, combined with existing business, government and crowdsourced social data sets, and subsequently assigned an alert level that determines when the community and the authorities should be notified of a concern,’ the company’s website states.”

http://rt.com/usa/california-company-android-robocops-knightscope-645/

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Meet the Mega Cops: High-Tech Crime Gear Transforms Police Work

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“A police cruiser now typically is equipped with at least one laptop, giving instant access to national criminal databases, as well as portable fingerprint scanners, Breathalyzer units and automatic license-plate-reader technology that can identify stolen cars while cruising down the street, even at a high speeds. And while not department issued, personal smart phones and, specifically, policing-related apps are expanding officers’ one-stop data search capabilities.  They also are toting far more firepower, typically high-caliber semi-automatic pistols and rifles with assorted magazine clips, as well as less-lethal beanbag shotguns and tasers.”

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/investigations/meet-mega-cops-high-tech-crime-gear-transforms-police-work-n23841

the common thread in U.S. policing as recently as a generation ago: the expectation that the typical patrol officer best protected and served his community by guarding his piece of turf and busting, intimidating or expelling any bad guy who entered it.

But experts and veteran law enforcement officials say that straight-forward mission is rapidly giving way to a more complex and nuanced form of policing. It’s a world in which technology and instant communication help that beat cop serve and protect, while simultaneously demanding new levels of training and accountability and raising serious civil liberties concerns.

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New surveillance technology tracks everyone in an area for hours

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“As Americans have grown increasingly comfortable with traditional surveillance cameras, a new, far more powerful generation is being quietly deployed that can track every vehicle and person across an area the size of a small city, for several hours at a time. Although these cameras can’t read license plates or see faces, they provide such a wealth of data that police, businesses and even private individuals can use them to help identify people and track their movements.  Defense contractors are developing similar technology for the military, but its potential for civilian use is raising novel civil liberties concerns.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/new-surveillance-technology-can-track-everyone-in-an-area-for-several-hours-at-a-time/2014/02/05/82f1556e-876f-11e3-a5bd-844629433ba3_story.html

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Feds May Require Cars to ‘Talk’ to Each Other

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“After years of study, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Monday it will begin taking steps that could eventually require all new cars and trucks to be equipped with so-called vehicle-to-vehicle, or V2V, technology, calling it a key to saving lives while also improving traffic flow in major urban areas.  At its most advanced, V2V technology could become critical to the development of the autonomous vehicles that many automotive manufacturers hope to put into production by the beginning of the next decade.  The feds plan to release a more complete report on the research program later this month and will announce proposed rules before the end of the Obama administration.”

http://www.nbcnews.com/business/autos/feds-may-require-cars-talk-each-other-n21351

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Bankers balk as Postal Service plans payday loans, digital currency

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“Payday loans, check cashing and digital currency exchanges were among the possibilities outlined in the Jan. 27 report.  The 27-page document also notes that as the country moves toward a cashless economy, the Postal Service could also provide simple ways for underserved consumers to ‘convert their cash to digital currency’ or other electronic payment methods like prepaid cards, mobile payments and wire transfers.  Two days after the paper came out, the IG held an invitation-only seminar in Virginia to discuss virtual currencies such as Bitcoin, as well as the potential benefits and disruptive effects they may have on traditional payment networks.”

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/02/06/bankers-balk-as-postal-service-floats-plan-for-payday-loans-digital-currency/

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Washington State Edges Closer to Taxing Drivers by the Mile

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“Lawmakers in Washington state are edging closer to implementing a new system that would monitor and tax drivers based on miles driven, under a proposal supposedly centered around transportation funding sustainability.  In a dizzying twist of logic, the Commission and DOT blame the prevalence of fuel-efficient cars as the reason the state now needs a per-mile tax, arguing that ‘the move to cleaner, smarter vehicles must be accompanied by a change in the way we pay for our roads.’  Last week, a committee set up by the Transportation Commission, after concluding a $1.4 million study, reported the fee could generate upwards of $3 billion.”

http://www.prisonplanet.com/washington-state-edges-closer-to-taxing-drivers-by-the-mile.html

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‘Welcome to the United States of paranoia’

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“‘This is not some far-out Orwellian scenario,’ wrote the late William Safire of The New York Times in 2002, in the panicky aftermath of 9/11. ‘Here is what will happen to you: Every purchase you make with a credit card, every magazine subscription you buy and medical prescription you fill, every Web site you visit and e-mail you send or receive . . . will go into what the Defense Department describes as ‘a virtual, centralized grand database.’ ’  Twelve years on, this is the world we live in, but worse. Through a combination of fear, cowardice, political opportunism and bureaucratic metastasis, the erstwhile land of the free has been transformed into a nation of closely watched subjects.”

http://nypost.com/2014/02/01/welcome-to-the-united-states-of-paranoia/

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EU has secret plan for police to ‘remote stop’ cars

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“The European Union is secretly developing a ‘remote stopping’ device to be fitted to all cars that would allow the police to disable vehicles at the flick of a switch from a control room. Confidential documents from a committee of senior EU police officers, who hold their meetings in secret, have set out a plan entitled ‘remote stopping vehicles’ as part of wider law enforcement surveillance and tracking measures. The devices, which could be in all new cars by the end of the decade, would be activated by a police officer working from a computer screen in a central headquarters.  The engine of a car used by a fugitive or other suspect would stop, the supply of fuel would be cut and the ignition switched off.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/eu/10605328/EU-has-secret-plan-for-police-to-remote-stop-cars.html

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