Tag Archives: Technocracy

Houston passes law requiring photographs, fingerprints of gold sellers

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“Houston City Council on Wednesday passed new rules on precious metals dealers despite a lengthy attempt to water down the ordinance by Councilwoman Helena Brown, who called it ‘safety theater’ that would burden businesses and invade jewelry sellers’ privacy.  Officers in the Houston Police Department‘s precious metals unit said reputable dealers already implement many of the new rules but said the ordinance – which requires a photograph and thumbprint of each seller and mandates dealers enter transactions into an online database – will help them catch crooks and recover stolen goods.”

http://www.chron.com/default/article/Brown-calls-new-rules-on-jewelry-dealers-safety-4258168.php

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Draconian Cash Controls Are Coming To France

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“Ayrault trotted out his national plan, a 20-page document that outlined his all-out effort to go after any kind of behavior that could possibly deprive the government of those sorely needed euros. Stuffed into that 20-page national plan: prohibiting cash payments of over €1,000 per purchase. It’s urgent. He wants to get the process started soon so that ‘a decree and legislative measures’ can be finished by the end of 2013.  Two crisp 500-euro bills and a single coin: voilà, an illegal transaction.  But the limit would only apply to fiscal residents.  Fiscal residents of a country other than France would be able to pay €10,000 in cash per purchase.”

http://www.businessinsider.com/draconian-cash-controls-are-coming-to-france-2013-2

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Cyber security battle looms after Obama issues executive order

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“President Barack Obama’s order aimed at ramping up protection from cyberattacks will address only a small portion of threats and sets up a fresh battle in Congress over legislation.  Obama acted this week after two failed attempts in Congress to pass measures to protect critical infrastructure from computer attacks.  Because most of the networks in question are in private hands, officials say they must rely on voluntary reporting by industry of any cyber threats or attacks. Legislation would be needed to shield businesses from liability when they do report potential malware threats.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/02/14/cyber-security-battle-looms-after-obama-issues-directive/

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Lithuania turns Google Street View on tax cheats

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“Lithuanian tax authorities said Thursday they would use the Baltic state’s recently launched Google Street View platform to track tax cheats by identifying the real value of property holdings.  ‘It will help ascertain which property is ‘hiding’ under the entry recorded in the real-estate register and provide a preliminary assessment of whether the value corresponds to the declared value,’ Lithuanian deputy state tax inspector Arturas Klerauskas told AFP.  Google Street View was launched in Lithuania a week ago, after Google overcame initial reluctance on the part of the authorities that stemmed from privacy and security concerns.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/02/07/lithuania-turns-google-street-view-on-tax-cheats/

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Pakistan hatches biometric ID scheme to claw back unpaid taxes

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“Pakistan’s National Data Base and Registration Authority (NADRA) aims to put every Pakistani adult into one of the world’s largest multi-biometric databases. ‘We have 452 static centers where people are coming and giving this data, we have 250 mobile vans, we have a motorcycle service, and we (even) have people up in the mountains — skiers and mountaineers with man-pack units,’ says chairman Tariq Malik whose mission it is to log every potential taxpayer in Pakistan.  ‘We are going to block their ID cards, and we are going to block their bank accounts, and we are going to block their foreign travels until the either pay or file an appeal,’ says Hakeem.”

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/02/11/world/asia/pakistan-tax/index.html?hpt=hp_c4

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Raytheon secret software tracks social media and ‘predicts’ people’s future behavior

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“A video obtained by the Guardian reveals how an ‘extreme-scale analytics’ system created by Raytheon, the world’s fifth largest defence contractor, can gather vast amounts of information about people from websites including Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare.  The Massachusetts-based company has acknowledged the technology was shared with US government and industry as part of a joint research and development effort, in 2010, to help build a national security system capable of analysing ‘trillions of entities’ from cyberspace.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/02/10/rights-groups-slam-ratheyon-secret-software-that-tracks-social-media-and-predicts-peoples-future-behavior/

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FAA Releases New Drone List—Is Your Town on the Map?

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“The Federal Aviation Administration has finally released a new drone authorization list. This list, released in response to EFF’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit, includes law enforcement agencies and universities across the country, and—for the first time—an Indian tribal agency. In all, the list includes more than 20 new entities over the FAA’s original list, bringing to 81 the total number of public entities that have applied for FAA drone authorizations through October 2012.”

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/02/faa-releases-new-list-drone-authorizations-your-local-law-enforcement-agency-map

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UK deploys toy-sized spy drones in Afghanistan

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“British troops in Afghanistan are now using 10-centimeter-long 16-gram spy helicopters to survey Taliban firing spots. The UK Defense Ministry plans to buy 160 of the drones under a contract worth more than $31 million.  The remote-controlled PD-100 PRS aircraft, dubbed the Black Hornet, is produced by Norwegian designer Prox Dynamics. Each drone is equipped with a tiny tillable camera, a GPS coordinate receiver and an onboard autopilot system complete with gyros, accelerometers and pressure sensors, which keeps it stable in flight against winds as strong as 10 knots, according to reviews.”

http://rt.com/news/black-hornet-nano-drone-378/

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Post Office Refuses To Pay Traffic Camera Tickets

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“The mailman who delivers traffic camera tickets does not have to pay them, according to the US Postal Service (USPS). Postal officials refuse to pay the citations it received in the mail from American Traffic Solutions (ATS), a for-profit company based in Arizona. USPS Senior Litigation Counsel Jennifer S. Breslin was defiant in a January 22 letter to ATS, citing the establishment of post offices in the Constitution and the principle that the independent government agency works within local laws and regulations ‘when feasible.'”

http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/40/4016.asp

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Police now accompanying Smart Meter installations: Two homeowners arrested for saying NO

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“Malia ‘Kim’ Bendis, one of the two, was charged with a pair of misdemeanors, the Tribune said – attempted eavesdropping and resisting a peace officer. The other woman, Jennifer Stahl, also received two citations – interfering with police and preventing access to customer premises. Again, your home is not your home in Naperville, apparently.  Upon her release, Stahl said when she refused a smart meter for her home utility installers accompanied by cops cut a bicycle lock she had put on her fence before entering her backyard.”

http://www.naturalnews.com/038966_smart_meters_homeowners_police.html

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