FBI goes full-Stasi: “Setting up ‘Responsibility Communities’ in NJ to stop terrorism”

Nothing to see here, this is all fine folks, Just move along. 

FedGov is now openly programming thought monitoring and neighbor-snitching.  And, better yet, we also see once again that the mental health industry is merely one tentacle of state power.  (Dr. Szaz where are you?).  Same for your clergy  it seems.

JERSEY CITY, N.J. (CBSNewYork) — The Federal Bureau of Investigation is setting up shared responsibility committees in New Jersey to help stop home-grown terrorism.WCBS 880’s Mike Smeltz reported this partnership between communities and the FBI looks to use identification and mental health counseling as tools to those who might head down a path of extremism. The committees would include community leaders, clergy members and mental health professionals whose goal would be to identify those who might support terrorist activities and stopping it before ideas turn into plans.This would be someone who’s expressed support for a terrorist group, either in a community meeting or online.The Record reported that some in the Muslim community in New Jersey are worried that this program will effectively turn community members into government informants.The FBI said this initiative is about heading off extremism before law enforcement gets involved.  Source: FBI Setting Up Responsibility Communities In NJ To Stop Terrorism

Got 3%?

 

NJ TRANSIT defends recording conversations, video on trains

The director of NJ TRANSIT on Tuesday defended the use of audio surveillance systems on some of its trains Tuesday, as some questioned the monitoring’s legal and ethical underpinnings.Audio and video recording currently is in use on the River Line between Trenton and Camden and will be in use on similar light rail trains in Newark and in Hudson County, NJ TRANSIT said Tuesday. … the agency is using whatever tools at its disposal to “deter criminal activity” and keep passengers safe, citing global terror attacks.

“In light of terrorist attacks on mass transit facilities around the world, New Jersey Transit is availing itself of the latest technology to deter that, always keeping in mind the privacy rights of our customers,”

Source: NJ TRANSIT Defends Recording Conversations On Light Rail

This Dog Can Send You to Jail | Reason.com

“… He asked me would I mind if he searched my vehicle, and I said, ‘Well, yes, I would mind if you searched my vehicle.’ ”

But thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court, the deputy did not have to take no for an answer. In the 2005 case Illinois v. Caballes, the Court declared that “the use of a well-trained narcotics-detection dog…during a lawful traffic stop generally does not implicate legitimate privacy interests.” So the deputy was free to walk his dog around Burns’ truck. “He got out with this dog and went around the car, two or three times,” Burns says. “He came back and said the dog had ‘passively alerted’ on my vehicle.”  via This Dog Can Send You to Jail – Reason.com.

Your Cellphone Is Spying on You: How the surveillance state co-opted personal technology | Reason.com

…There are 331 million cellphone subscriptions—about 20 million more than there are residents—in the United States. Nearly 90 percent of adult Americans carry at least one phone. The phones communicate via a nationwide network of nearly 300,000 cell towers and 600,000 micro sites, which perform the same function as towers. When they are turned on, they ping these nodes once every seven seconds or so, registering their locations, usually within a radius of 150 feet. By 2018 new Federal Communications Commission regulations will require that cellphone location information be even more precise: within 50 feet. Newer cellphones also are equipped with GPS technology, which uses satellites to locate the user more precisely than tower signals can. Cellphone companies retain location data for at least a year. AT&T has information going all the way back to 2008.