iHeartChaos – For years, science fiction has used the premise that someone (Batman, the US government etc), could potentially tap into private security cameras to create a huge covert interior spy-cam network. Only TrapWire isn’t sci-fi. According to Wikileaks, it’s a real, covert US government program that’s in effect now. And as if to confirm its existence, hours after Wikileaks revealed the existence of TrapWire, the site was crippled through massive DDoS attacks from some unknown source.
Every few seconds, data picked up at surveillance points in major cities and landmarks across the United States are recorded digitally on the spot, then encrypted and instantaneously delivered to a fortified central database center at an undisclosed location to be aggregated with other intelligence. It’s part of a program called TrapWire and it’s the brainchild of the Abraxas, a Northern Virginia company staffed with elite from America’s intelligence community.
The employee roster at Arbaxas reads like a who’s who of agents once with the Pentagon, CIA and other government entities according to their public LinkedIn profiles, and the corporation’s ties are assumed to go deeper than even documented. The details on Abraxas and, to an even greater extent TrapWire, are scarce, however, and not without reason. For a program touted as a tool to thwart terrorism and monitor activity meant to be under wraps, its understandable that Abraxas would want the program’s public presence to be relatively limited. But thanks to last year’s hack of the Strategic Forecasting intelligence agency, or Stratfor, all of that is quickly changing.”
So: those spooky new “circular” dark globe cameras installed in your neighborhood park, town, or city-they aren’t just passively monitoring. They’re plugged into Trapwire and they are potentially monitoring every single person via facial recognition.
While I know we have a lot of fun here judging asses and wishing I would “fucking die so badly” because of my opinion on a fictional Olympic basketball matchup, there are more important things going on in the world. An inter-connected network of cameras that the government combines into one massive unconstitutional spy program without our knowledge or consent seems like one of those more important things.
Who the hell in the American public is okay by this? Even anti-terrorism Patriot Act supporting conservative nutjobs can’t be down with this. Those dudes are all about keeping government out of their lives, maintaining privacy, and not having to pay for expensive and needless big government bullshit. And nothing says “big government bullshit” like face recognition software used on fat dudes crossing the street to Five Guys. And on the other side, spineless liberal psychos can’t be cool with this because they hate money wasted on unnecessary defense spending and watch enough sci-fi nonsense to know exactly where this is heading. So…who is supporting this?
I know we want to act like Presidents have an impact on things, but Romney or Obama this program is going to keep going regardless. Probably regardless of what any of us think. The American people no longer control which direction this ship is going. Sad stuff.
“Pre-Attack Terrorist Detection System”? Jesus. I’d wish for a thoughtful public revolt but I guess we’re too busy arguing over birth certificates, tax returns, and which Americans “got talent” to do anything.
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