Alert – US Senate Committee on the Judiciary

by Mark Lerner (May 19, 2014)

(Oversight of the Federal Bureau of Investigation – hearing 21 May 2014)

The FBI 's NGI (Next Generation Identification) program should be front and center for freedom loving people regardless of their “politics”.  Let's take a little walk down “reality road”. 

We are so busy fighting with each other about who is more patriotic that we don't see the rug being swept out from right underneath our feet.  I get people having strong feelings about Obamacare, Common Core, smart meters, the 2^nd Amendment, our foreign policy ( being the policeman of the world), the environment, abortion, the “middle class”, social security, our mounting national debt, the poor, the disabled, and everything else Republicans and Democrats care deeply about, although most often in different ways. 

What I do not understand is while we are all in a house on fire, why are we busy blaming one another when the fact is Republicans and Democrats have been equally complicit in smothering the flame of freedom.  The FBI's NGI will ensure in large part that the flame will be extinguished.   You are still in a position to make a difference but the day is coming when I don't care who you support or what you support, you and whatever group(s) you may or may not belong to, will be standing alone.

The NGI is the FBI's desire to create the world's largest biometric (e.g. facial recognition, fingerprints, iris scans, voice recognition) database which will include the biometrics of people who are innocent of committing any crimes.   The good news is the FBI will fail in having the world's largest biometric database.  The bad news is that the FBI will fail to have the world's largest biometric database because other countries, in fact almost all countries are busy creating their own biometric databases.  China, Mexico, Iran, Russia and India and the list goes on and on.  What a great list to be part of.  You tell me what “American Exceptionalism” means. 

Does “American Exceptionalism” mean living in the country where surveillance is greater than in any other country in the history of the world?  Text messages, emails, telephone calls, financial transactions, Automatic License Plate Readers, the “smart” appliances in your home, CCTV, drones (20,000-30,000 over U.S. airspace in before a baby born today turns ten years old), hand held biometric devices (you don't even need any identification documents such as driver's license – this device is no larger than a camera and connects wirelessly to databases containing your biometrics), and so much more.

The world's largest biometric company operates globally in countries such as Russia, China, India and yes, here in the United States.  A French company, 1/3 owned by the French government, named Safran (U.S. subsidiary Morpho Trust) produces nearly every driver's license in the United States.  If you decide you want to travel outside our country you will meet Safran again.  That's because you will need an E-Passport (biometrics and RFID).  When you come back into our country you will meet Safran again as part of our U.S. VISIT program run by DHS. 

Why should you care about any of this?  You should care because biometrics is the linchpin of a surveillance state.  A person might think that after the Snowden revelations that domestic spying has been reigned in: Wrong!  

The FBI has already announced they are spending $1 billion plus on NGI.  Keep in mind that does not count what DHS will spend on their biometric database (Comprehensive Immigration Reform and/or The Legal Workforce Act).  Today biometrics (snake oil) is pitched as the answer to everything.  It's quite amazing when one considers biometrics don't establish your identity or your citizenship.

RBI (Remote Biometric Identification) is the lifeblood of a surveillance state.  The “Chilling Effect” of a surveillance state is something I wrote about in my previous article.  When you are walking down a street or anywhere in public your facial image is “captured” and then compared to facial images that are contained in a myriad of databases including the database primarily used for the “matching” of facial images, your Department of Motor Vehicle database.

Once a computer believes there is a match (30% or greater error rate) then your identity is established, not based on your biometrics but rather the breeder documents (e.g. birth certificates, social security cards) in the database.  This process allows for you to be “identified” and tracked wherever you go.  It also allows for the same thing for the people you are with.  It does not matter that you may be speaking to another person about how to get somewhere; in other words just getting or giving directions, the computer will create a permanent digital record of you associating with the other person.  You may or may not even know the other person.  That person could be a “good” guy or a “bad” guy but that doesn't change the fact a permanent digital record will exist showing you have an “association” with the other person.

The next time you apply for a driver's license ask the person you are speaking to why they need your biometrics.  When they say “So we know you are who you say you are”, ask then “Why are you asking for my birth certificate or other breeder documents?”

 We all should be saying “No” to domestic surveillance/spying.  It is not limited to the FBI.  DHS has admitted to 3 different domestic spying programs.  The NSA got caught but still has not come clean about the depth and scope of their domestic surveillance.  The NSA, CIA, and FBI working together got exposed for placing malware in 100,000 plus computers that were shipped to people from manufacturers and others.  http://www.extremetech.com/computing/173721-the-nsa-regularly-intercepts… Keep in mind an Inspector General determined that the FBI had abused their warrantless search authorization (a.k.a. NSL's (National Security Letters)).  In one three year span alone the FBI issued on average 100 of these NSL's a DAY!!!  Does anyone really believe there was just reason or probable cause to justify issuing over 100,000 NSL's in one three year period?  Were there really that many terrorist threats during that three year period? 

Come on people wakeup:  NGI is just as much or more about you than about any terrorist or criminal.  We are each a “potential domestic terrorist”.  Domestic surveillance is an equal opportunity offender. 

The Senate hearing this week is an opportunity for each of us to say “No” to domestic spying.  Call (202)224-7703 and tell the person who answers the phone you oppose the FBI's NGI program. 

If you want to live to fight another day about the issue(s) that are important to you then you must first do your part in dismantling the surveillance state and the “Chilling Effect” it has.  Regardless of what individual issues are important to you, if the chilling effect is not addressed that the surveillance state creates, you will find one day that you and/or your group will one day be standing alone.  The “Chilling Effect” is real and intimidating people, the very people you want to get engaged in the issues that are important to you.  If you have not already read the previous article “The Chilling Effect of Domestic Spying” then do so now. 

The Constitutional Alliance

God Bless these United States of America