Anonymous over TrapWire

Anonymous vat samen wat TrapWire is. Zie ook hier:
In August 2012, Wikileaks revealed details about a system known as Trapwire that uses facial recognition and other techniques to track and monitor individuals captured on countless different closed-circuit cameras operated by cities and other insititutions. The software is billed as a method by which to prevent terrorism, but can of course also be used to provide unprecedented surveillance and data-mining capabilities to governments, corporations, and other insitutions, including many with a history of using new technologies to violate the rights of citizens. Trapwire is already used in New York, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Texas, DC, London, and other locales.

The ex-CIA agents who help run the firm are old friends of Stratfor vice president Fred Burton, whom they’ve briefed on their own capabilities in e-mails obtained by Anonymous hackers and provided to Wikileaks. Stratfor has engaged in at least several surveillance operations against activists, such as those advocating for victims of the Bhopal disaster, on behalf of large U.S. corporatons; Burton himelf was revealed to have advocated “bankrupting” and “ruining the life” of activists like Julian Assange in e-mails to other friends.

Trapwire can be extremely expensive to maintain, and is usually done so at taxpayer expense; Los Angeles county spent over $1.4 million dollars on the software’s use in a single three-month period of 2007.

Although most of the regions in which Trapwire operates don’t share information with each other, all of this is set to change; as Abraxas Applications president Dan Botsch told Burton via e-mail, “I think over time the different networks will begin to unite,” noting that several networks had already begun discussions on merging their information. Abraxas itself has always had the ability to “cross-network matches” from every region at their own office. By June 2011, Washington D.C. police were engaged in a pilot project under the Departent of Homeland Security that’s likely to lead to more cities using Trapwire on a more integrated basis.

Abraxas, the firm whose spin-off Abraxas Applications developed Trapwire in 2007, has long been involved in a lesser-known practice known as persona management, which involves the use of fake online “people” to gather intelligence and/or disseminate disinformation. The firm Ntrepid, created by Abraxas owner Cubic Corporation, won a 2010 CENTCOM contract to provide such capabilities for use in foreign countries; several board members of Ntrepid also sit on Abraxas.

TrapWire®

TrapWire is a unique, predictive software system designed to detect patterns indicative of terrorist attacks or criminal operations. Utilizing a proprietary, rules-based engine, TrapWire detects, analyzes and alerts on suspicious events as they are collected over periods of time and across multiple locations. Through the systematic capture of these pre-attack indicators, terrorist or criminal surveillance and pre-attack planning operations can be identified — and appropriate law enforcement counter measures employed ahead of the attack. As such, our clients are provided with the ability to prevent the terrorist or criminal event, rather than simply mitigate damage or loss of life.

TrapWire lijkt niet alleen de burgers te bespioneren zonder dat ze daarvan op de hoogte zijn, maar is ook nog eens bijzonder duur in de aanschaf. Het ligt niet voor de hand te veronderstellen dat er tijdens de huidige economische crisis geld wordt vrijgemaakt om TrapWire in Nederland aan te schaffen. Het is aan de politiek en digitale activisten om daarover zekerheid te krijgen van de regering Rutte.

Media laten Julian Assange en WikiLeaks vallen uit jaloezie

Dat de gevestigde macht Julian Assange niet lust is logisch. De onthullingen die WikiLeaks heeft geopenbaard geven een kijkje in de keuken van de macht. Macht houdt niet van transparantie. Onder het mom van staatsveiligheid wordt veel aan het democratisch toezicht onthouden. Dat media als de NY Times of de Britse The Guardian niet van WikiLeaks houden lijkt echter een raadsel. Maar is gewoon een kwestie van broodnijd.

Sinds 27 februari publiceert WikiLeaks de GIF-Files. Meer dan vijf miljoen in december 2011 gehackte emails van de in Texas gevestigde ‘global intelligence’ onderneming Stratfor. Topmannen verbergen hun weerzin niet. Vice-president Fred Burton zegt in december 2010: ‘Bankrupt the arsehole [Julian Assange] first, ruin his life. Give him 7-12 yrs for conspiracy‘. En Vice-president Bartholomew Mongoven zegt in december 2010: I’m in favor of using whatever trumped up charge is available to get this guy [Julian Assange] and his servers off the streets. And I’d feed that shit head soldier [Bradley Manning] to the first pack of wild dogs I could find.

Deze agressieve woorden tonen aan dat de zorg van Julian Assange om erin geluisd te worden niet uit de lucht komt vallen. Hij vecht niet voor niks zijn uitlevering aan Zweden aan. De NY Times eXaminer die kritisch de NY Times volgt zet het op een rijtje. En beantwoordt de vraag waarom de NY Times niets publiceert over de GIF-Files terwijl het een mediapartner is. Antwoord is dat sommige media weliswaar met WikiLeaks samenwerken maar hun ondergeschikte rol slecht verdragen. WikiLeaks heeft de gevestigde pers niet nodig. Het idee dat de ‘grijze lady’ Julian Assange en WikiLeaks uit jaloezie aanvalt is een logische hypothese.

Foto: Page One: A Year Inside the New York Times van Andrew Rossi, 2011