Gang Stalking

A upto date blog about my adventures with gangstalking. This is my way of sharing with the world what gang stalking is really like. Some helpful books. Gang Stalking Books Mobbing Books

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

The structure of our oppression?

The Structure of our oppression.

The following article will try to put into perspective some of the societal structures that are most likely responsible for the targeting some of those in the Targeted Individual community are experiencing.For years Targeted Individuals have been saying that they are being followed around, stalked, monitored while at home, and out in public. They have complained of a system that is capable of 24/7 surveillance, able to harassment at home, work, in the community, and even while traveling abroad.

For several years there has been a great deal of disbelief that such occurrences could even be possible. The follow article, will try to explain referencing sources already available and documented how this could be happening.

The following article represents the views and opinions of the GangStalkingWorld.com website and does not necessarily reflect the views of any other person, or website in the community.

It has long been a widely expressed view that the monitoring is being done by various groups of citizen informants, members of various community policing type programs. Based on recent research conducted it seems most likely that the people being used to follow Targeted Individuals around are what society and the government in some countries refer to as, "covert human intelligence sources". They can also be known as own as Citizen Informants. Another slang terms that is often used to describe these individuals is the term Snitch or Snitches.

Covert human intelligence sources

A recent article came out in the London Telegraph, saying that Children as young as 8 are being employed by the state as “Covert human intelligence sources” aka Snitches. Targeted Individuals often complain that the harassment is being perpetrated by all members of the community including children. Children are being hired and used by the government to spy on their neighbors in the Uk. and "being encouraged to photograph or video neighbors guilty of dog fouling, littering or "bin crimes" The article says there are "hundreds of Junior Streetwatchers, aged 8-10 years old, who are trained to identify and report enviro-crime issues such as graffiti and fly-tipping." The adult spies according to authorities are recruited via newspaper ads.

Quote:
"Other local authorities recruit adult volunteers through advertisements in local newspapers, with at least 4,841 people already patrolling the streets in their spare time. Some are assigned James Bond-style code numbers, which they use instead of their real names when they ring a special informer's hotline. This escalation in Britain's growing surveillance state follows an outcry about the way councils are using powers originally designed to combat terrorism and organised crime to spy on residents. In one case, a family was followed by council staff for almost three weeks after being wrongly accused of breaking rules on school catchment areas." 1

Community Oriented Policing

Though the article primarily focuses on the United Kingdom, it should be noted that other countries are setting up such community structures, via community oriented policing programs. These programs are a


Quote:
"a systemic approach to policing with the paradigm of instilling and fostering a sense of community, within a geographical neighborhood, to improve the quality of life. It achieves this through the decentralization of the police and the implementation of a synthesis of three key components: (1) strategic-oriented policing—the redistribution of traditional police resources; (2) neighborhood-oriented policing—the .interaction of police and all community members to reduce crime and the fear of crime through indigenous proactive programs; and (3) problem-oriented policing-a concerted effort to resolve the causes of crime rather than the symptoms. " 2

Fusion Centers

The ACLU has released a report on Fusion Centers. 800,000 operatives will be dispersed throughtout every American city and town. Set to report on even the most common everyday behaviors which will go into state, local and regional, linked data bases. These linked databases are not just emerging in the United States, they have already emerged in many countries around the world in the wake of implied terrorist threats.

Quote:
"We pointed out that, while diverse and often still in the early stages of formation, they often seem to be characterized by ambiguous lines of authority, excessive secrecy, troubling private-sector and military participation, and an apparent bent toward suspicionless information collection and datamining." 3

The article then goes on to point out that in a short space of many of the warning in the report had come to pass. The article talks about the fact that this apparatus is responsible for watching and recording the everyday activity of a growing number of individuals. The reports are then gathered together and then they are accessible to any law enforcement agency that is a part of these fusion centers.

Quote:
"In the six months since our report, new press accounts have borne out many of our warnings. In just that short time, news accounts have reported overzealous intelligence gathering, the expansion of uncontrolled access to data on innocent people, hostility to open government laws, abusive entanglements between security agencies and the private sector, and lax protections for personally identifiableinformation.Overall, it is becoming increasingly clear that fusion centers are part of a new domestic intelligence apparatus. The elements of this nascent domestic surveillance system include:

• Watching and recording the everyday activities of an ever-growing list of individuals
• Channeling the flow of the resulting reports into a centralized security agency
• Sifting through (“data mining”) these reports and databases with computers to identify individuals for closer scrutinySuch a system, if allowed to permeate our society, would be nothing less than the creation of a total surveillance society." 3These fusion center will have the capacity to circumvent laws that are in place to limit federal vs local authorities and the access that each has to specific information.

Quote:
"Even more troubling is the fact that these centers are networked together and seamlessly exchange information with the intelligence community through the Director of National Intelligence’s Information Sharing Environment (ISE). The Washington Post report was based on a document produced from a survey of fusion centers, which shows their intent to maximize the access each of the fusion centers has to the various databases. This would allow a state fusion center that under state law or local policy is prohibited from buying credit reports, as an example, to circumvent its own restrictions by simply calling afusion center in Pennsylvania to and asking Pennsylvania authorities to access the records it wants to analyze. This “policy shopping” process guts state and local privacy protections and gives the participating agencies, including the federal intelligence community, access to information they may not legally have on their own." 3

These centers if allowed to expand will create a one way justice system. Your information, even your daily activities will be allowed to be gathered, collected, and possibly used against you. When you then request information to confirm if you are a target of surveillance, the information will be stored in a secret database and not available for you to access.

Quote:
"Even as fusion centers are positioned to learn more and more about the American public, authorities are moving to ensure that the public knows less and less about fusion centers. In particular, there appears to be an effort by the federal government to coerce states into exempting their fusion centers from state open government laws.31 For those living in Virginia, it’s already too late; the Virginia General Assembly passed a law in April 2008 exempting the state’s fusion center from the Freedom of Information Act.32

According to comments by the commander of the Virginia State Police Criminal Intelligence Division and the administrative head of the center, the federal government pressured Virginia into passing the law, with the threat of withholding classified information if it didn’t.33 Such efforts suggest there is a real dangerfusion centers will become a “one-way mirror” in which citizens are subject to ever-greater scrutiny by the authorities, even while the authorities are increasingly protected from scrutiny by the public." 3

Public Employees

The next aspect of the targeted that has been reported by the Targeted Individual community is the fact that public servants seem to be taking a part in the continuous monitoring and harassment private citizens. American Civil servants, firefighters, police officers, Corporate Employees, learning to collect data and spy. The information then goes into secret data bases. They will also communicate in code. Many targets have expressed a belief not only that they are being tracked, but that their stalkers are communicating via a one handed sign language similar to that which the Stasi used. Watch Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KU-xsQ3Xepw

Quote:
"They are entrusted with hunting for “suspicious activity,” and then they report their findings, which end up in secret government databases. What constitutes “suspicious activity,” of course, is in the eye of the beholder. But a draft Justice Department memo on the subject says that such things as “taking photos of no apparent aesthetic value” or “making notes” could constitute suspicious activity, Finley wrote. " 4Not only will this program used the civil servant already mentioned, but it will expand who is used in the program. They will have secret sources of communication available to them. The members of these programs will connect with the fusion centers. None disclosure agreement or a confidential disclosure agreements will be signed by many in these programs to ensure that the information is protected.

Quote:
"And the private sector would be involved, too. “The program would eventually be expanded to include Health Care personnel and representatives from private, critical infrastructure entities, with communication systems specifically tailored to their needs.”

In this regard, Terrorism Liaison Officers resemble InfraGard members. (See “The FBI Deputizes Business”.) This FBI-private sector liaison group now consists of more than 26,000 members, who have their own secure channels of communication and are shielded, as much as possible, from scrutiny.

Terrorism Liaison Officers connect up with so-called “Fusion Centers”: intelligence sharing among public safety agencies as well as the private sector. The Department of Justice has come up with “Fusion Center Guidelines” that discuss the role of private sector participants.

“The private sector can offer fusion centers a variety of resources,” it says, including “suspicious incidents and activity information.” It also recommends shielding the private sector. “To aid in sharing this sensitive information, a Non-Disclosure Agreement may be used. The NDA provides private sector entities an additional layer of security, ensuring the security of private sector proprietary information and trade secrets,” the document states." 4

Other than the United States many other countries have similar programs in place where they have requested that public servants in the course of doing their day to day activities keep an eye out on what is happening.

Stalking and Monitoring.

Though I do not in believe the family in this video are targets of Gang Stalking I will say that the example shown explains very well how someone could be stalked, monitored and spied on 24/7 as this family was. I do not believe they are targets of Gang Stalking, because Gang Stalking is often covert, what this family experienced was extremely overt and left behind lot's of verification and proof, the harassment targeted individuals experience does not often offer any overt evidence.

The stalking they believe was done primarily using their cell-phone. They were followed 24/7. Their phone conversations listened to. When the mother was in the kitchen making lemonade, the phone rang, and the caller told her, he preferred limes. When the family heard someone at their door in the middle of the night banging, they called the police, when the police arrived the invaders had already left. After the police left this happened again, the family called the police, the invaders had left, this happened a third time and finally the family stopped trying. After filing a complaint with the police, the family were sent a recording of their conversation with the police, by the stalker. They installed a camera system, the stalker called to say that he already knew the code.

The list goes on, and apparently there were a total of three families in the area that the cell phone stalking happened to. The case has received wide media attention, including the Tyra Banks show. There is technology out there designed to do this. A company which I will not name in this report, has a service for cheating spouses, where you can use a phone to know where they are and listen into their conversations. There are also programs which will allow the camera on a phone to be used to spy on the person with the camera phone.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sV_I7cgkqXc

Quote:
"The families say the calls come in at all hours of the night, threatening to kill their children, their pets and grandparents. Voice mails arrive, playing recordings of their private conversations, including one with a local police detective. "

"The caller knows, the families said, what they're wearing and what they're doing. And after months of investigating, police seem powerless to stop them. "

"It got worse. The Kuykendalls and two other Fircrest families told ABC News that they believe the callers are using their cell phones to spy on them. They say the hackers know their every move: where they are, what they're doing and what they're wearing. The callers have recorded private conversations, the families and police said, including a meeting with a local detective. " 5

Not all members of the Targeted Individual community have a cameraphone, but this example is just to show how one family could be terrorized by an encounter such as this. What we experience is ongoing, and often just as upsetting, but we often do not have the same proof that this family had, which enabled them to go to the police.

Quote:
"Recently, the stalkers have begun to come to their home in the early hours of the morning, banging on their doors. The mother said that the first time they came, she immediately called 911, but as soon as the police arrived, the stalkers had fled. The police, unable to do anything, left, and the stalkers returned right away. She said every time this happens she contacts the police, but after about the third call and then the third return, she just stops trying." 6

Regulation of Investigatory Powers

Regulation of Investigatory Powers is a United Kingdom law, which enables public bodies to carry out investigations and surveillance on individuals. Authorities can use directed surveillance or intrusive surveillance for months or years. These types of operations often employ “covert human intelligence sources’. Recently these laws were abused by using them to spy on families for anti-social behaviours and noise complaints.


Quote:
"Directed surveillance’ is covert surveillance of individuals during a specific but non-intrusive investigation’ (our emphasis). Surveillance is covert where it is carried out in such a way to ensure that those targeted are unaware that it is taking place (cl.25(8)). ‘Surveillance’ is defined as including any monitoring, observing and listening to persons, their movements, conversations or other activities or communications. It also includes any recording of such activity and surveillance by or with assistance of a device."

" Intrusive surveillance’ is defined as covert surveillance in relation to anything taking place on residential premises or a private vehicle. It may be carried out either by a person or device inside residential premises or a private vehicle or by a device placed outside" 7

Secret Databases

A new story also came out this year claiming that information is being kept on Canadians, in secret databases that they have no access to.


Quote:
"Jennifer Stoddart, the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, has released a 48-page report warning that the RCMP (Canada’s national police force) is keeping thousands of files on regular citizens in secret databases which cannot be seen by the accused.

One of the many disturbing facets of Stoddart's report are the examples she cites of information for these secret files coming from citizen informants. In one case a man was put into the secret database because a resident of his daughter's school neighborhood saw him entering a rooming house and—believing drugs were involved—called the police. The police investigation concluded that the man had only stepped out of his car to have a cigarette, but the file was still in the national security databank seven years later.

Another incident cited in the Stoddart report involved a neighbour who saw two men carrying "something that resembled a large drum, wrapped in canvas" into their house. Police were called to investigate but found nothing resembling the reported item, yet the data was still sitting in a top secret databank five years later. As Stoddart points out in the CBC story on the report, this is potentially disastrous for the individuals named in the files, because it "could potentially affect someone trying to obtain an employment security clearance, or impede an individual's ability to cross the border." 8

References:

1. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/2689996/Children-aged-eight-enlisted-as-c%20ouncil-snoopers.html

2. http://www.amazon.ca/Community-Oriented-Policing-Systemic-Approach/dp/0130141100

3. http://www.aclu.org/pdfs/privacy/fusion_update_20080729.pdf

4. http://www.progressive.org/mag/mc070208

5. http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/Story?id=3312813&page=1

6. hs.riverdale.k12.or.us/maverick/?q=node&page=18

7. http://www.fipr.org/rip/JRP2HRA.html

8. http://www.corbettreport.com/articles/20080214_snitch_state.htm


Other Sources:

1. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/2696031/Anti-terrorism-laws-used-to-spy-on-noisy-children.html.

2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sV_I7cgkqXc

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Monday, September 15, 2008

Serious Surveillance used on local citizens

I found a really interesting article after I finished blogging yesterday.

The anti-terrorism laws that have been put in place to protect society are being used to harm society, or at the very least they are being misused.

As I mentioned before the structures that we are looking at is federal programs with local appendages. The community council programs in the UK are some of the best examples right now, because the outcome is so much more clear than anywhere else. The UK really has in my opinion become a surveillance society, not just because of the CCTV cameras no, but because of the civilian spying as well.

[quote]An investigation by The Sunday Telegraph found that three quarters of local authorities have used the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) 2000 over the past year.
The Act gives councils the right to place residents and businesses under surveillance, trace telephone and email accounts and even send staff on undercover missions.

The findings alarmed civil liberties campaigners. Shami Chakrabarti, the director of Liberty, said: "Councils do a grave disservice to professional policing by using serious surveillance against litterbugs instead of terrorists."

The RIPA was introduced to help fight terrorism and crime. But a series of extensions, first authorised by David Blunkett in 2003, mean that Britain's 474 councils can use the law to tackle minor misdemeanours.

Councils are using the Act to tackle dog fouling, the unauthorised sale of pizzas and the abuse of the blue badge scheme for disabled drivers.

Among 115 councils that responded to a Freedom of Information request, 89 admitted that they had instigated investigations under the Act. The 82 councils that provided figures said that they authorised or carried out a total of 867 RIPA investigations during the year to August
[/quote]

The RIPA act is obviously being misused in these instances and it's helping people to do all sorts of bad things.

[quote]Surveillance operations aimed at individual homes and businesses can last for months. Calderdale council in West Yorkshire began "direct covert surveillance" targeting one business in May that is still going on.

Local authorities including Bassetlaw, Easington, Bolsover and Darlington have placed houses under video or photographic surveillance to tackle problems such as anti-social behaviour, unauthorised entry into gardens and benefit fraud. Others admitted using council staff to follow residents to determine whether they were working while claiming benefits. [/quote]

If they will misuse these laws for simple things such as anti-social behaviour, benefit fraud, etc what else would they use these laws to do?

[quote]He added: "Councils do not use these powers to mount fishing expeditions. First and foremost it is about protecting the public, not intruding on privacy. Crime-busting powers are targeted at suspected criminals and used only when absolutely necessary."

Smokers, drivers and even emails are being monitored * Newcastle City Council used the Act to monitor noise levels from smoking shelters at two different licensed premises. The council has twice used the legislation to monitor noise from a vet’s practice following a complaint about barking.

* Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council used it to deal with 16 complaints about barking dogs.
* Derby Council made sound recordings at a property following a complaint about noisy children.
* Peterborough Council investigated the operation of the blue badge scheme for disabled drivers.
* Poole Council used it to detect illegal fishing in Poole Harbour.
* Basingstoke Council used photographic surveillance against one of its own refuse collectors
after allegations he was charging residents for a service that should be free. The operation was dropped when it was decided the allegation was false.
* Aberdeenshire Council admitted using the Scottish version of the Act to request the name and address of a mobile phone user as part of an investigation into offences under the Weights and Measures Act.
* Easington council put a resident’s garden under camera surveillance after a complaint from neighbours about noise.
* Canterbury City Council used CCTV surveillance and an officer’s observations to monitor illegal street trading.
* Brighton and Hove council launched four operations against graffiti artists
* Torbay Council accessed an employee’s emails after an allegation that suspect material had been sent. A second employee was investigated over the “use of council vehicle for personal gain”.
* Westminster City Council covertly filmed a locksmith following allegations of fraud.
* Durham County Council obtained authorisation to monitor car boot sales during an investigation into the sale of counterfeit goods.
Power in the hands of local authorities [/quote]

The list of misuses continued. In the hands of the wrong powers and authorities these laws are clearly being abused.

Since the government put the power into the hands of the people, which I think is a good thing if done right, in these instances they are clearly misusing these powers, but no one is monitoring it and no one will say anything about it.

[quote]The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act allows for the interception of communications, acquisition and disclosure of data relating to communications, carrying-out of surveillance, use of covert intelligence sources and access to encrypted or password-protected data.

It can be evoked by public servants on the grounds of national security, and for the purposes of preventing or detecting crime, preventing disorder, public safety, protecting public health, or in the interests of the UK’s economic well-being. Councils were first granted use of the legislation in 2003. [/quote]

Public servants can evoke these laws and they have been using them very liberally. As you will see in the second article.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/2696035/Anti-terrorism-laws-Snoops-persec ute-minor-offenders-as-crooks-avoid-justice.html

[quote]Councils are using anti-terrorism laws to spy on residents and tackle barking dogs and noisy children. [/quote]

It's not what the law was intended for, but without proper monitoring it's all apparently being done.

[quote]The Act gives councils the right to place residents and businesses under surveillance, trace telephone and email accounts and even send staff on undercover missions.

The findings alarmed civil liberties campaigners. Shami Chakrabarti, the director of Liberty, said: "Councils do a grave disservice to professional policing by using serious surveillance against litterbugs instead of terrorists."

The RIPA was introduced to help fight terrorism and crime. But a series of extensions, first authorised by David Blunkett in 2003, mean that Britain's 474 councils can use the law to tackle minor misdemeanours. [/quote]

This is alarming, think about what this means. Serious Surveillance against litter bugs? What about people that they think are crazy or a bit off? What about that outspoken activist? What about that homeschooling mum, surly she must have something to hide? Do you see the endless possibilities and scenarios?

[quote]Surveillance operations aimed at individual homes and businesses can last for months. Calderdale council in West Yorkshire began "direct covert surveillance" targeting one business in May that is still going on.

Local authorities including Bassetlaw, Easington, Bolsover and Darlington have placed houses under video or photographic surveillance to tackle problems such as anti-social behaviour, unauthorised entry into gardens and benefit fraud. Others admitted using council staff to follow residents to determine whether they were working while claiming benefits. [/quote]

These surveillance operations aimed at individual homes can go on for months? really? Who puts limits on time lines?

[quote]Councils have used the RIPA to recruit children for surveillance operations. Dudley and County Durham exploited the Act to send children into shops with secret video and audio equipment to see whether they could buy cigarettes and alcohol. Officials in Durham have mounted 60 RIPA investigations against these kinds of businesses in the past 12 months. [/quote]

They are using RIPA laws to recruit children for surveillance operations, not surprised but disgusted.

I hope after reading these two articles, you begin to see how such laws could be abused and more importantly could apply to our own circumstances?

It's power in the hands of the people, but if there is no way to monitor it, or report these offences when they happen then that represents a serious failing on the part of the authorities that put
the power there in the first place.

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