-Caveat Lector- from: http://www.aci.net/kalliste/ Click Here: <A HREF="http://www.aci.net/kalliste/">The Home Page of J. Orlin Grabbe</A> ----- Today's Lesson from An Appraisal of Technologies of Political Control 3.2 Surveillance Technologies are one of the fastest growing areas of the technology of political control and a key problem is how to deal with the torrent of information it yields The term covers a vast range of products and devices but the overall trend is towards miniaturization, more precise resolution through the adoption of digital technology and increasing automation so that the technology can be more effectively targeted. The technology also parallels political shifts in targeting so that instead of investigating crime, a reactive activity, the fastest growing trend is towards tracking certain strata, social classes and races of people living in red-lined areas before any crime is committed. Such a form of proactive policing is based on military models of gathering huge amounts of low grade intelligence. With new systems such as Memex, it is possible to quickly build up a comprehensive picture of virtually anyone by gaining electronic access to all their records, cash transactions, cars held, etc. Such pre-emptive policing means the majority are ignored and policing resources are more tightly focused on certain groups. Such powerful forms of artificial intelligence need continuous assessment. They have an important role to play in tracking criminals. The danger is that their infrastructure is essentially a massive machinery of supervision that can be retargeted fairly quickly should the political context change. Automatic fingerprint readers are now common place, and many European companies make them14 (see Fig 5). But any unique attribute of anatomy or personal style can be used to create a human identity recognition system. For example Cellmark Diagnostics(UK) can recognise genes; Mastiff Security Systems(UK) can recognise odour, Hagen Cy-Com(UK) and Eyedentify Inc.(USA) can recognise the pattern of capillaries at the back of the retina; whilst AEA Technology (UK) are capable of signature verification. Over 109 companies in Europe are known to be supplying such biometric systems. DNA fingerprinting is now a reality and Britain has set up the first DNA databank, and is already carrying out mass dawn raids of over 1000 people at targeted suspects. 15 Plans are being drawn up by at least one political party to DNA profile the nation from birth.16 The leading edge companies are racing towards developing face recognition systems which they see as being able to revolutionise crime customs and intruder detection as well as service access control. Whilst fully reliable systems are perhaps five years off, prototype systems have been developed in France17, Germany18 the UK19 and the USA20. Night vision technology developed as a result of the Vietnam war has now been adapted for police usage (See Fig.6). Particularly successful are heli-tele surveillance versions which allow cameras to track human heat signatures in total darkness. The art of bugging has been made significantly easier by a rapidly advancing technology and there is a burgeoning European market.21 Many systems described in Section 4 (below), do not even require physical entry into the home or office. For those who can secure access to their target room, there is a plethora of devices, many pre-packaged to fit into phones, look like cigarette packets or light fittings and some, like the ever popular PK 805 and PK 250, that can be tuned into from a suitable radio. However, the next generation of covert audio bugs are remotely operated, for example the multi-room monitoring system of Lorraine Electronics called DIAL (Direct Intelligent Access Listening) allows an operator to monitor several rooms from anywhere in the world without effecting an illegal entry. Up to four concealed microphones are connected to the subscribers line and these can be remotely activated by simply making a coded telephone call to the target building. Neural network bugs go one step further. Built like a small cockroach, as soon as the lights go out they can crawl to the best location for surveillance.22 In fact Japanese researchers have taken this idea one step further, controlling and manipulating real cockroaches by implanting microprocessors and electrodes in their bodies. The insects can be fitted with micro cameras and sensors to reach the places other bugs can't reach.23 P assive Millimeter Wave Imaging developed by the US Millitech corporation can scan people from up to 12 feet away and see through clothing to detect concealed items such as weapons, packages and other contraband. Variations of this through-clothing human screening under development (by companies such as the US Raytheon Co.), include systems which illuminate an individual with a low-intensity electromagnetic pulse. A three side very-low X ray system for human useage, in fixed sites such as prisons, is being developed by Nicolet Imaging Systems of San Diego. Electronic monitoring of offenders or 'tagging', where the subject wears an electronic bracelet which can detect if they have relocated from their home after certain hours etc, has entered into use in the 1990's after being developed to regulate prison populations in the USA. (Schmidt, 1988). Satellite tracking of VIPs, vehicles, etc., is now facilitated by the once military Global-Positioning System(GPS) which is now available for commercial uses. Vehicle recognition technologies are discussed in Section 4 below. ===== Two for One White House Angry Over Divorce Story Hillary was so upset she hurled a lamp across the room. AS Hillary Clinton steps up her campaign to become a New York senator, White House officials say they are outraged by a report in the National Enquirer that she plans to divorce the President once he leaves office. Quoting unnamed White House, family and legal sources, the Enquirer claims that Mrs Clinton's plans to stand for the Senate have infuriated her husband, but she is forcing him to go along by threatening a divorce. On their recent trip to Turkey, the magazine reports, the Clintons had a furious row after Mrs Clinton told her husband that it was his turn to act the loyal political spouse after so many years of forgiving his indiscretions. Mr Clinton is reported to hate the prospect. One source says the atmosphere at the White House is so frosty that "there are icicles hanging in the First Lady's office". The magazine says that a senior White House official called this week to complain about the story. But Mrs Clinton's Washington and New York offices refused to comment. A similar prediction that the Clintons would divorce was made recently by Gail Sheehy, an American author and journalist, who has just published a biography of Mrs Clinton. The London Telegraph, December 3, 1999 Single Currency Euro Falls Below the Dollar How art the mighty fallen! FRANKFURT - The euro became worth less than a dollar for a brief moment Thursday in a symbolic blow to the single currency that was meant to challenge the dollar's dominance. Although the 11-nation European currency rebounded feebly after the latest leg of its yearlong devaluation, the plunge below parity highlights the persistent weakness of a fledgling currency that has tumbled more than 16 percent since it traded over $1.18 on its first day in the markets The one-to-one level has become an unofficial but irrefutable benchmark of weakness for the symbol of Europe's future as a political and economic bloc. The breach of dollar parity follows an eruption of tensions between the European Central Bank and Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder of Germany, whose latest economic policy moves contributed to the euro's latest declines. Departing from the typically circumspect language of central bankers, Wim Duisenberg, the ECB president, criticized the ''fallout to the image of Europe'' in the wake of Mr. Schroeder's government-led bailout of Philipp Holzmann AG, Germany's second-largest construction group. A succession of protectionist actions by the Berlin government have left investors unsure of Germany's commitment to free-market economics. ''All I want to say about the recent intervention in Germany,'' Mr. Duisenberg said, ''is that it does not enhance the image that we want to have of being an increasingly market-driven economy across the euro area.'' As Mr. Duisenberg spoke, the euro was falling to a record low. Late in New York, the currency traded at 99.95 U.S. cents, down from $1.0083 on Wednesday, before rebounding to $1.0020. Parity between the euro and the dollar has become a widely recognized target in the wake of the actions by Mr. Schroeder, who also recently warned against the hostile takeover of Mannesmann AG. The ECB also has been consistent in its criticism of the slow pace of economic reform in Germany and other nations. On Thursday, Mr. Duisenberg said growth in the 11-nation euro zone would be higher if euro-area governments adhered to a path of deregulation and liberalization. Many Germans openly oppose the central bank's appeals for structural change in their welfare systems. At home, Mr. Schroeder garnered applause from his Social Democratic Party's core labor-wing constituents. One German newspaper called the Holzmann rescue a ''German fairy tale.'' Mr. Duisenberg delivered his assessment of Mr. Schroeder's actions after a meeting of the central bank's governing council. Banking sources in Frankfurt said the 17-member council had almost certainly discussed Mr. Schroeder's policies. Europe might have to live with a weak euro a while longer before the single currency recovers, Mr. Duisenberg said. ''These things always take time,'' he said. Markets have put the euro under pressure in part because the central bank has not yet threatened to resist the slide of the currency. On Thursday, Mr. Duisenberg repeated his view that the euro is set to post gains. He would become ''concerned,'' he said, only if those gains failed to materialize. The currency ''will be watched closely,'' Mr. Duisenberg said. The European Union's competition commissioner, Mario Monti, directly linked Mr. Schroeder to the euro's slump. ''I was struck by the coincidence between certain declarations from the German chancellor on Vodafone's hostile bid for the German telephone group Mannesmann'' and the fall of the euro, Mr. Monti told the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera of Milan. In economic terms, whether the euro changes hands for $1.01 or 99 cents makes virtually no difference. But in terms of public psychology, the exchange rate has come to symbolize a clash between two forms of capitalism: the state-heavy Continental approach and the free-market, deregulated Anglo-American approach. ''The drop in the euro against the dollar is a sign of market mistrust in the strength and dynamism of the economy that the euro represents,'' the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung wrote this week on its front page. For months, dollar parity served as an unofficial but irrefutable benchmark of weakness for the currency that serves as an emblem of Europe's future as a political and economic bloc. Parity would draw attention to the way the euro has lost value almost continuously since it was introduced Jan. 1, losing more than 15 percent since it traded at more than $1.18 on its first day in the markets. Dollar parity also would be an embarrassment to finance ministers and central bankers who argued for months that the euro was bound to appreciate. International Herald Tribune, December 3, 1999 Cocoa Market Keeping Farmers Sweet in the Ivory Coast Give us more government to support the price. Cocoa buyers in Ivory Coast resumed bean purchases this week after farmers ended nine days of protests that paralysed up-country marketing and fuelled a jump in world prices. For exporters and processors, whose warehouses were running empty, this will come as a relief. But traders were unconvinced that the end of the protests meant the end of the turmoil that has gripped the world's leading cocoa producer since the government privatised marketing last August. Protests erupted last week, with farmers' associations using strong-arm tactics to blockade the fledgling private marketing network. They complain that the combination of liberalisation and the low world price has exposed them to farmgate prices that do not cover the cost of maintaining their trees. The dispute gathered pace with threats that the farmers would burn part of this season's expected crop of more than 1.1m tonnes. As a result, the benchmark March contract for cocoa on the London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange leapt over two weeks, in sharp contrast to the prevailing trend this year, which has seen prices halve since January amid increasing output and weak consumption in Russia. However, concerns about supply are not expected to support prices for long, and the hundreds of thousands of Ivorians and immigrant Burkinabes who farm cocoa in Ivory Coast may soon grow frustrated again. "Naturally there has been a fair amount of buying as the situation has deteriorated at source. But I don't think the market believes reports that farmers have burned 20,000 tonnes," one trader said. "That's an awful lot of cocoa, and beans don't burn very well." Analysts and traders were also suspicious of this week's announcement by the Ivorian Interprofessional Cocoa and Coffee Council that it would introduce a stabilisation system, with a buffer stock of 150,000 tonnes and a system of forward sales. "The real question is whether the government can afford to finance this," said one. "As for forward sales, it's difficult to see how they could be made at the moment, as buyers seem unwilling to commit to buying ahead." Experience, too, has shown buffer stocks do not always achieve their aim. During a price slump in 1989, Ivory Coast stocked mountains of cocoa. Indonesian producers stepped in to profit, and the ban on exports crumbled before having a significant impact. The government finally relinquished control of farmgate prices, profit margins and transport fares in August, but the reforms were poorly timed, coinciding as they did with collapsing world prices. One specialist in Abidjan said he believed government officials might have helped to instigate the recent protests, as part of plans to claw back some control of a sector which traditionally provided opportunities for patronage and has huge political significance as the country runs into a tense election year. However, the government cannot afford a full reversal of the liberalisation policy, so farmers hoping it will prop up the price, which was more than twice as much before liberalisation, are likely to be disappointed. A proposed World Bank price insurance scheme to protect poor farmers from volatile markets could provide succour if it takes off, Meanwhile, neighbouring Ghana, the world's number two producer, has been watching events unfold with keen interest. The government there is under the same pressure to relax its control of cocoa exports but has taken a more gradual approach. This year it propped up the price at great cost to protect farmers and ensure production continues to rise in line with a target of 500,000 tonnes by 2004. But the policy has prompted Ivorian farmers to smuggle across the border. For Ghana this is not good news. The Ghanaians value the premium paid on their better-quality cocoa. If prices remain low and efforts to force them up again fail, analysts say Ivorian farmers may soon start thinking of abandoning their cocoa trees. The Financial Times, December 3, 1999 ----- Aloha, He'Ping, Om, Shalom, Salaam. Em Hotep, Peace Be, Omnia Bona Bonis, All My Relations. Adieu, Adios, Aloha. Amen. Roads End DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! 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