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RFIDing Cows Is Okay, Texas, But Kids?

Posted on September 4, 2012 by Lina Maini

 

The Northside Independent School (NIS) District in San Antonio district apparently has such a huge issue with losing kids and therefore, money designated for eduction per student, that it has decided to insert RFID tags into its students’ IDs.

This has to be about the lamest excuse we’ve heard lately for infringing on the privacy rights of others.  (Yes, kids are people too.)

The school’s rationale is that, somehow, between the beginning of the school day and throughout, kids keep disappearing and that’s costing them money. They need to be counted each and every single day and afternoon.  And in between, if the district schools should so decide.

Beginning with two NIS District schools,  John Jay High School and Anson Jones Middle School, the district will implement its new chips at the start of the current school year.  If they can accurately monitor the whereabouts of every student in these two schools, the program will expand to include all 1,100 district schools.

“We want to harness the power of (the) technology to make schools safer, know where our students are all the time in a school, and increase revenues,” school district spokesman Pascual Gonzalez told the Express-News.

Our objections, and that of many NIS district parents are that 1. This over-the-top monitoring will accustom our young to simply acquiesce to privacy intrusions and 2. Even though the district is now stating that they will only monitor children on school grounds, we’re still reeling from the Philadelphia brouhaha where a school was sued for allegedly spying on a student off-campus, (the school settled for around $600,000).

We’ll keep you posted as to the future of this kid-chipping (via ID cards) program but it will be with quite a bit of reserve as to its necessity v. the privacy of our children, and by extension, families.

Our Operatives: Street smart, info savvy.

As always, stay safe.

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Filed under: Safety, Scientific Advancements, security, technologies | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

The Latest Top Five Spy Gadgets

Posted on March 4, 2012 by Lina Maini

We’ve had a lot of fun lately (Oh, come on. It’s not all sturm und drang out there for investigators), employing some of the coolest new/upgraded spy equipment ever invented for the public.

1. Digital Voice and Telephone Recorder. This compact and chic tool starts recording only by pushing one button. In case you suspect your spouse/mate of cheating, or want to listen to what back stabbers at work are  saying about you when you are out, this recorder gets the job done.

2.  Spy Watch Set  with Bluetooth Transmitter. This spy gadget looks and functions like standard watch, but with an  embedded Bluetooth transmitter and a wireless earpiece that enables covert communication between you and your partner.  You  can hear each other, while everyone remains oblivious to the secret transmissions.

3. Spy Glasses Set With Bluetooth Transmitter.   A completely new device out on the spy market that was created by teaming up  fashion designers with  technical engineers.  The  Spy Glasses set is compatible with any mobile phone featuring Bluetooth and comes with an ear bud to allow for covert communication with your partner.

4. Pocket-Sized Printer and Scanner.  A pocket-sized printer and scanner tool that will never fail you or have you facing the tangled wires and bulky size of previous “portable” printer/scanners.  When the situation is urgent, you need a reliable, small and effective device.  For printing and copying, this is it.

5. Spy Pen Set  We recently had to equip a client for a meeting with a would-be  extortionist.  This little audio and video pen recorder really came through.  The audio was clear and ungarbled; excessive external noise canceled.  The video is in HD and even with the pen in motion, remains focused on the subject.  This has become our favorite spy device of choice of late.

Word to the wise:  Before purchasing and using the above spy tools, take the time to consult with a covert equipment specialist.  If the situation is important enough to buy the device, get the expert’s advice.

MPI Operatives: Street smart, tech savvy.

As always, stay safe.

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Filed under: Spying Equipment, surveillance, taped recordings, Tech Tips, technologies, tracking device, video recording | Tagged: , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Your Tattletale License Plates

Posted on December 12, 2011 by Lina Maini

The Automatic License Plate Recognition (ALPR) scanning systems are one of the newest law enforcement technologies. The system consists of cameras mounted on police cars, hooked up to a computer inside the vehicle.  License plates images are scanned and matched to a real-time centralized database. This database flags vehicles that have been identified as

  • Stolen Vehicles
  • Wanted for an Amber Alerts
  • Expired Registration
  • Expired Insurance
  • Wanted as “Persons of Interest” for any investigation
  • Suspended Driver’s License
  • Outstanding Criminal Warrant
  • Outstanding Municipal Taxes or other Fines and Fees
  • Are Wanted for any other government purpose

The system is matched to the vehicle’s owner via a DMV database. So, you can just be driving along and find yourself pulled over by the police, not having committed any traffic violation.

How Many License Tags Can Be Scanned?

Short answer: thousands of tags per hour.  One police car parked on the side of a road can scan just about every car in sight, including one driving in the opposite direction at 70 miles an hour.  (No, the answer is not to drive 80 mph +.)

What Happens To The Scanned Images?

Every image is time, date and location saved.  Permanently.  So now reports of your driving locations (whether you were stopped or not) have become records and collected into various databases: those of state and local law enforcement, DMVs and the FBI‘s National Crime Information Center (NCIC).

The Problem, You Ask?

As more systems go online and interconnected across local, state and federal jurisdictions,  police can easily identify the touch points of any scanned tag’s vehicle location.

You can easily imagine the knock on your door if you (probably unknowingly… I allot the benefit of the doubt), stopped in front of  a known drug dealing location, parked by a wanted person’s vehicle or passed a toll directly after a person suspected of a crime.  BTW, how many times have you attended political events.  Call the cops, they’ll let you know.

The truth is that the use this placement data can be used as circumstantial evidence against you and we’ll soon find many innocent people in court, defending their drive down Main Street.

Aren’t These License Tag Scanners Violating My Rights??

No.  According to the law, you have no expectation of privacy while out in public.  This has already been through the courts which have upheld that police officers are allowed to randomly run license tags as they pass by.

In the case of United States of America, Plaintiff-appellee, v. Charles N. Matthews, the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit held that a “license plate was in plain view on the outside of the car” and hence, is “subject to seizure” because there is no reasonable expectation of privacy.

In the case of United States of America, Plaintiff v. Curtis Ellison, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit held:

Thus, so long as the officer had a right to be in a position to observe the defendant’s license plate, any such observation and corresponding use of the information on the plate does not violate the Fourth Amendment.

These new ALRP scanning systems simply allow the scanning to be more comprehensive in the number of tags scanned and permanent. 

Bottom line.

Someone should be asking if any restrictions exist on the use of this data to check up on ordinary Joes and Janes, going about their regular business. 

BNI Operatives: A step ahead.

As always, stay safe.

 

Filed under: scanner, speed, Spying Equipment, summonses, surveillance, technologies | Tagged: , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Involuntary Human Chip Implants, Including Ones With Cyanide

Posted on August 16, 2010 by Lina Maini

It does not come as a surprise  given the micro technology now available to the medical and law enforcement fields, that humans, from birth to death,  will be implanted with bio chips .  The purpose of the implanted chip varies from containing such things as your complete medical history, your identification, and for those convicted of serious crimes,  his/her criminal record combined with a gps tracking system.  Under the new healthcare bill, microchipping of all people thereunder shall commence in 36 months. http://bit.ly/attuTd  The Saudis took the gps chip they place on criminals (for now) one step further by introducing a model with a second chamber possessing cyanide.  (See below.)

Medical record chip: 

Approved in May, 2004 by the FDA, a tiny computer patient’s arm can speed vital information about a patient’s medical history to doctors and hospitals. 

The Food and Drug Administration said that Applied Digital Solutions of Delray Beach, Fla., could market the VeriChip, an implantable computer chip about the size of a grain of rice, for medical purposes. 

With the pinch of a syringe, the microchip is inserted under the skin in a procedure that takes less than 20 minutes and leaves no stitches. Silently and invisibly, the dormant chip stores a code that releases patient-specific information when a scanner passes over it. 

 RFID Chip:   The VeriChip is a glass encapsulated Radio Frequency Identification tag that is injected into the flesh to uniquely number and identify people. The tag can be read silently and invisibly by radio waves from up to a foot or more away, right through clothing. The highly controversial device is also being marketed as a way to access secure areas, monitor those here on VISAs and serve as a payment device when associated with a credit card. 

Although the company emphasizes that its chip is strictly voluntary, recent statements suggest this could easily change. VeriChip Chairman of the Board Scott Silverman has been promoting the VeriChip as a partial solution to immigration concerns, proposing it as a way to register guest workers, verify their identities as they cross the border, and “be used for enforcement purposes at the employer level.” He told interviewers on the Fox News Channel that the company has “talked to many people in Washington about using it.” 

The company has also confirmed that the  Pentagon has approved replacing military dog tags with VeriChip implants.  

Criminal Records and GPS Chip: 

A “normal” gps chip in a parolee will simply divulge location on a released serious crimes offender, allowing police to quickly apprehend him should he recommit a crime.. The Saudis had taken this ability to the extreme.  From Tech News: 

GPS chip for crims adds in a dose of cyanide

By Julia Sagar

May 22nd 2009 

A Saudi inventor has filed a patent for a GPS-enabled “killer chip”, which, once implanted under the skin, would help authorities track “undesirables”. 

The killer hook? It would also contain a dose of cyanide to remotely kill the wearer without fuss, should authorities deem they had become a public threat. 

The chip would consist of a tiny GPS transceiver placed inside a capsule, and inserted under the person’s skin, plus a handy remote-controlled cyanide dispenser. According to the inventor, it “could be used to track terrorists, criminals, fugitives, illegal immigrants, political dissidents, domestic servants and foreigners overstaying their visas”. Nice.  

BNI Street smart: Web savvy.

As always, stay safe.

Filed under: Tech Tips, technologies | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Non Invasive Dermal Blood Alcohol Testing

Posted on September 28, 2009 by Lina Maini

Several  years ago, we brought your attention to a start up New Mexico company, Tru Touch Technologies,  busily developng a non invasive blood alcohol testing machine for use in the public (police) and private (airlines, drug testing centers… ) sectors. Tru Touch sensor operates by using infrared technology through the skin’s layers in testing for acohol and drugs in one’s system.

Update 2009:  they are operational and in use in many US and European companies/agencies.

The below, easy flow tutorial explains The Tru Touch sensor’s operating method and capabilities/uses.

http://trutouchtechnologies.com/CustomPage.aspx?page=Tech

Also, please watch  this short video, featuring Tru Touch’s CEO, my friend, Jim McNally:

A product whose time has come.

BNI Operatives: Street smart: web savvy.

As always,  be safe.

Filed under: blood, dermal testing, drunk driving, technologies, trutouch techonolgies | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Hi. Rob My House In Three Easy Steps

Posted on March 3, 2008 by Lina Maini

1. Plan a vacation or event that requires you to be away from your practice and/or home

2. Be courteous to your clients, friends and family (and ANYONE ELSE who might send you an email and/or ping you via IM) by enabling your “Out of Office” and/or “Away Message”.

3. Create a specifically worded auto-reply: “Hi – I am out of town for several days/weeks. If your message is urgent please contact my assistant, ________ @……..”

Every day, professionals, in a courteous effort, inadvertently advertise their mobility (read: away-ness), giving advance notice to friends, family, clients and criminals that they will not be protecting their fortresses. Usually by giving an exact address in the signature line of their email.

We suggest a less overly informative away message:

“Due to work responsibilities, my email is being filtered until March 23rd Please forward any email to Jane Smiley@myfirm.com” or “Due to work responsibilities, my email is being forwarded until March 23. Your email is being forwarded to my assistant, Jane Smiley and you will be contacted shortly.”

It’s a hard bit of reality to accept, but the very technologies we employ to make our personal and professional lives more efficient and convenient, also enable lapses in security we might not immediately realize.

BNI Operatives – Street Smart, Web Savvy.

Stay Safe,

Jonathan Caspian

Filed under: away message, email, law firms, practice, secure, technologies | Leave a Comment »

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