low budget terror

[crippled_avenger]

Unlike rogue nuclear bombers, who so far exist only in action movies, there is ample precedent for snipers terrorizing entire metropolitan areas, in recent times, in the United States, and in the not so distant past, one need look back only the John F. Kennedy. Consider men like Ohio freeway sniper Charles McCoy, who was sentenced to twenty-seven years in prison last summer, in exchange for dropping an insanity defense that left a first jury hung, fired on a dozen people over five months, killing one woman, leaving greater Columbus, Ohio is fear for the duration. And, greater Washington DC will not soon forget the Beltway Sniper Attacks over three weeks of October in 2002, that killed ten and injured three more people, committed by John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo with a semi-automatic rifle fired through a hole in the trunk of a Chevy Caprice (and I'm sure they didn't pay full MSRP for a new one).


Real terrorists, for the most part,
don't have multi-million budgets.



The 9-11 attacks, the largest scale,
more elaborate successful terrorist attack in U.S. history
cost less than $770,000,
a budget that wouldn't buy a single ballistic missile
(the going rate is $29 million each), even at a dramatic discount.

The London subway bombings
cost less than $15,000 to mount.



Federal prosecutors in the Timothy McVeigh trial
estimated that the cost of mounting that attack
was about $5,000
and the training was provided at U.S. government expense
by the United States Army.


The era of drone missiles that began when the first Predator reconnaissance UAV was outfitted with a Hellfire missile and used to blow up a car full of alleged terrorist in Yemen on November 4, 2002, has not limited itself to sovereign military forces for long.

Armed militant groups have already tried to use unmanned aircraft, according to a number of studies by institutions including the Center for Nonproliferation studies in Monterey, California, and the Center for Arms Control, Energy and Environmental Studies in Moscow.

In August 2002, for example, the Colombian military reported finding nine small remote-controlled planes at a base it had taken from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

On April 11, 2005 the Lebanese Shiite militia group, Hezbollah, flew a pilotless drone over Israeli territory, on what it called a "surveillance" mission.

[crippled_avenger]

Veliki Brat posmatra Britance

Prema nekim istraživanjima, Britanija je danas najnadziranija zemlja na svetu. U upotrebi je niz bespilotnih letilica, a širom zemlje je instalirano 4,2 miliona kamera - po jedna na svakih 14 ljudi.

Otuda nije čudo što se u zemlji sve češće vodi debata o tome da li se nalazimo pred rađanjem jednog doslovno orvelovskog sveta, u kome  "Veliki Brat" sve posmatra.

Nadzor je toliko sveoubuhvatan da prosečni stavnovnik Londona ima verovatnoću da ga fotografišu čak 300 puta dnevno samo zato što se kreće po gradu, kažu pripadnici udruženja Liberti koje se bori za očuvanje građanskih sloboda.

Za policiju, snimanje i kamere su način da lakše uhvate kriminalce, ali čak i neki policijski funkcioneri, smatraju da preterani nadzor uznemirava inače mirne rezidencijalne zone.

Zamenik šefa policije Hempšira, zelene oblasti zapadno od Londona, izjavio je da strahuje da Britanija postaje orvelovsko društvo s obrzrom da su nekada mirna sela sada puna kablova od kamera.

Sveprisutnost kamera, uz planove vlade da narednih godina uvede digitalne lične karte za sve građane i proširi bazu DNA podataka, dovelo je do zahteva da se čitav proces uspori dok se bolje ne prouče posledice ovakvih planova.

U izveštaju objavljenom pre par meseci, Kraljevska akademija za inženjering upozorila je na opasnost da povećani nadzor nad društvom, dovede do gubljenja poverenja pojedinaca u državu i tako u perspektivi izazove više štete nego koristi.



"Država treba da ostane glavni zaštitnik
prava građana na privatnost
a ne da sebi daje nova ovlašćenja
da narušava privatnost ili povećava nadzor
bez jakog opravdanja" - kaže se u oprezno sročenoj studiji.

Problem je utoliko složeniji što građani nemaju jasan stav o kamerama i nadzoru. Mnogi ne žele da lično budu pod nadzorom, ali im ne smeta da se oslanjaju na interne kamere kada im je to potrebno.

Neki eksperti su čak došli do zaključka da -
nadzor nije nužno koristan.


Premda je kriminal u pojedinim delovima zemlje opao,
studije pokazuju da su interne kamere
retko odgovorne za smanjenje zločina.

Naprotiv, čak ima dokaza da -
kamere mogu da podstaknu porast kriminala.




"Ukoliko ljudi budu osećali da su stalno pod nadzorom,
to osećanje može da podstakne
upravo ono ponašanje koje bi trebalo da spreči" -


izjavila je Kristi Bol, ekspert za posledice nadzora na društvo
i profesor na Fakultetu za biznis Otvorenog univerziteta.


"Kada jednom osetite da su pojačali kontrolu,
da se svaki vaš potez prati,
počinjete da tražite načine da zaobiđete sistem" -  izjavila je Bol.

Kristi Bol smatra i da gubljenje poverenja između pojedinaca i države zbog preteranog nadzora dugoročno može da bude najveći problem i da se, kako je objasnila, pretvori u neku vrstu "samoubistva društva".

Ironija je i to što većina ljudi ne želi da ih vlasti prate i nadziru na svakom koraku, ali mnogi su spremni da otkriju svašta o sebi na internet sajtu ili u televizijskim emisijama tipa, gde im zadiranje u lični život prija, umesto da ih nervira.

Dragana Aleksić.

Tanjug.

[otaku]

Rights group criticises 'Asbo TV'

BBC | January 10 2006

Comment: This combined with the government's encouragement for Londoners to report their neighbors for suspicious activity, of which potential signs of terrorism include owning a vehicle, living in a house or getting a refund on a credit card, fuse the infrastructure of a classic total surveillance state, with civilian tattle-tale squads forming the modern say Stasi.

Civil rights campaigners have voiced concern about a new channel allowing households in east London to monitor local CCTV cameras, dubbed "Asbo TV".

The project will enable Shoreditch residents to compare suspicious characters with an on-screen "rogue's gallery" from their living-room.

Viewers can then alert police to anyone in breach of an anti-social behaviour order (Asbo) or committing a crime.

Asbo Concern said the scheme was a "gimmick" and would be open to abuse.

Fear of crime

The CCTV channel is part of a £12m online community network project being set up in the area under a 10-year government-funded regeneration programme in one of the country's most deprived areas.

About 1,000 residents in the Haberdasher and Charles Square estates will pilot the scheme from March before it is rolled out to more than 20,000 households across Shoreditch, giving viewers access to some 400 cameras.

They will be asked to pay about £3.50 a week for the full service, which includes cheap local calls, a free set-top box providing digital TV, public service channels and high-speed internet access.

Atul Hatwal, strategy director of the Shoreditch Digital Bridge, said while crime in the area has fallen, the community safety channel will address the fear of crime.

"The scheme aims to empower members of the local community to support police in tackling crime and supporting each other in making Shoreditch a safer place," he said.

But Matt Foot, co-ordinator for Asbo Concern, which campaigns against the misuse of the Asbo, said the channel was "a complete waste of money".

"While the rest of the project sounds quite positive, the community safety channel is a gimmick," he said. "There are professionals trained to monitor CCTV and it should be left to them.

"Here, you will have a situation of people spying on each other, which raises concerns about vigilantism and vulnerable people such as children being bullied on CCTV."

Ali, zato

Guide to Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) destruction

i

The Surveillance Camera Players