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0 Stratfor emails reveal secret, widespread TrapWire surveillance system

Former senior intelligence officials have created a detailed surveillance system more accurate than modern facial recognition technology — and have installed it across the US under the radar of most Americans, according to emails hacked by Anonymous.

Every few seconds, data picked up at surveillance points in major cities and landmarks across the United States are recorded digitally on the spot, then encrypted and instantaneously delivered to a fortified central database center at an undisclosed location to be aggregated with other intelligence.
It’s part of a program called TrapWire and it's the brainchild of the Abraxas, a Northern Virginia company staffed with elite from America’s intelligence community. The employee roster at Arbaxas reads like a who’s who of agents once with the Pentagon, CIA and other government entities according to their public LinkedIn profiles, and the corporation's ties are assumed to go deeper than even documented.
The details on Abraxas and, to an even greater extent TrapWire, are scarce, however, and not without reason. For a program touted as a tool to thwart terrorism and monitor activity meant to be under wraps, its understandable that Abraxas would want the program’s public presence to be relatively limited. But thanks to last year’s hack of the Strategic Forecasting intelligence agency, or Stratfor, all of that is quickly changing.
Hacktivists aligned with the loose-knit Anonymous collective took credit for hacking Stratfor on Christmas Eve, 2011, in turn collecting what they claimed to be more than five million emails from within the company. WikiLeaks began releasing those emails as the Global Intelligence Files (GIF) earlier this year and, of those, several discussing the implementing of TrapWire in public spaces across the country were circulated on the Web this week after security researcher Justin Ferguson brought attention to the matter. 
At the same time, however, WikiLeaks was relentlessly assaulted by a barrage of distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, crippling the whistleblower site and its mirrors, significantly cutting short the number of people who would otherwise have unfettered access to the emails.
On Wednesday, an administrator for the WikiLeaks Twitter account wrote that the site suspected that the motivation for the attacks could be that particularly sensitive Stratfor emails were about to be exposed. 
A hacker group called AntiLeaks soon after took credit for the assaults on WikiLeaks and mirrors of their content, equating the offensive as a protest against editor Julian Assange, “the head of a new breed of terrorist.” As those Stratfor files on TrapWire make their rounds online, though, talk of terrorism is only just beginning.
Mr. Ferguson and others have mirrored what are believed to be most recently-released Global Intelligence Files on external sites, but the original documents uploaded to WikiLeaks have been at times unavailable this week due to the continuing DDoS attacks.
Late Thursday and early Friday this week, the GIF mirrors continues to go offline due to what is presumably more DDoS assaults. Australian activist Asher Wolf wrote on Twitter that the DDoS attacks flooding the servers of WikiLeaks supporter sites were reported to be dropping upwards of 40 gigabits of traffic per second. On Friday, WikiLeaks tweeted that their own site was sustaining attacks of 10 Gb/second, adding, "Whoever is running it controls thousands of machines or is able to simulate them."
According to a press release (pdf) dated June 6, 2012, TrapWire is “designed to provide a simple yet powerful means of collecting and recording suspicious activity reports.” A system of interconnected nodes spot anything considered suspect and then input it into the system to be "analyzed and compared with data entered from other areas within a network for the purpose of identifying patterns of behavior that are indicative of pre-attack planning.”
In a 2009 email included in the Anonymous leak, Stratfor Vice President for Intelligence Fred Burton is alleged to write, “TrapWire is a technology solution predicated upon behavior patterns in red zones to identify surveillance. 
Abraxas is a primordial Gnostic creator god
It helps you connect the dots over time and distance.” Burton formerly served with the US Diplomatic Security Service, and Abraxas’ staff includes other security experts with experience in and out of the Armed Forces.
What is believed to be a partnering agreement included in the Stratfor files from August 13, 2009 indicates that they signed a contract with Abraxas to provide them with analysis and reports of their TrapWire system (pdf).
“Suspicious activity reports from all facilities on the TrapWire network are aggregated in a central database and run through a rules engine that searches for patterns indicative of terrorist surveillance operations and other attack preparations,” Crime and Justice International magazine explains in a 2006 article on the program, one of the few publically circulated on the Abraxas product (pdf). “Any patterns detected – links among individuals, vehicles or activities – will be reported back to each affected facility. This information can also be shared with law enforcement organizations, enabling them to begin investigations into the suspected surveillance cell.”
In a 2005 interview with The Entrepreneur Center, Abraxas founder Richard “Hollis” Helms said his signature product “can collect information about people and vehicles that is more accurate than facial recognition, draw patterns, and do threat assessments of areas that may be under observation from terrorists.” He calls it “a proprietary technology designed to protect critical national infrastructure from a terrorist attack by detecting the pre-attack activities of the terrorist and enabling law enforcement to investigate and engage the terrorist long before an attack is executed,” and that, “The beauty of it is that we can protect an infinite number of facilities just as efficiently as we can one and we push information out to local law authorities automatically.”
An internal email from early 2011 included in the Global Intelligence Files has Stratfor’s Burton allegedly saying the program can be used to “[walk] back and track the suspects from the get go w/facial recognition software.”
Since its inception, TrapWire has been implemented in most major American cities at selected high value targets (HVTs) and has appeared abroad as well. The iWatch monitoring system adopted by the Los Angeles Police Department (pdf) works in conjunction with TrapWire, as does the District of Columbia and the "See Something, Say Something" program conducted by law enforcement in New York City, which had 500 surveillance cameras linked to the system in 2010. Private properties including Las Vegas, Nevada casinos have subscribed to the system. The State of Texas reportedly spent half a million dollars with an additional annual licensing fee of $150,000 to employ TrapWire, and the Pentagon and other military facilities have allegedly signed on as well.
In one email from 2010 leaked by Anonymous, Stratfor’s Fred Burton allegedly writes, “God Bless America. Now they have EVERY major HVT in CONUS, the UK, Canada, Vegas, Los Angeles, NYC as clients.” Files on USASpending.gov reveal that the US Department of Homeland Security and Department of Defense together awarded Abraxas and TrapWire more than one million dollars in only the past eleven months.
News of the widespread and largely secretive installation of TrapWire comes amidst a federal witch-hunt to crack down on leaks escaping Washington and at attempt to prosecute whistleblowers. Thomas Drake, a former agent with the NSA, has recently spoken openly about the government’s Trailblazer Project that was used to monitor private communication, and was charged under the Espionage Act for coming forth. Separately, former NSA tech director William Binney and others once with the agency have made claims in recent weeks that the feds have dossiers on every American, an allegation NSA Chief Keith Alexander dismissed during a speech at Def-Con last month in Vegas.

0 Anonymous Declares War on Ukraine Over Demonoid Gift-Wrap Shutdown



Ukraine’s government is currently feeling the wrath of Anonymous, after it decided it’d be a great idea to take out one of the biggest torrent trackers as a present for the US. OpDemonoid is Anonymous’ way of saying, haven’t you learnt anything, Ukraine?
As the collective itself points out, this isn’t the first time Anonymous has had a go at Ukraine over censorship, and probably won’t be the last. The current targets seem to be Ukraine’s TV, copyright and anti-piracy organisations, which are getting buffeted by DDoS attacks. Good ol’Anonymous — always the champion of anti-censorship, with a good dose of, err, censorship.

Source:http://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2012/08/anonymous-declares-war-on-ukraine-over-demonoid-gift-wrap-shutdown/

0 We Will Not Go Down (Song for Gaza) - Michael Heart - OFFICIAL VIDEO




WE WILL NOT GO DOWN (Song for Gaza)
(Composed by Michael Heart)
Copyright 2009
 
A blinding flash of white light
Lit up the sky over Gaza tonight
People running for cover
Not knowing whether they’re dead or alive

They came with their tanks and their planes
With ravaging fiery flames
And nothing remains
Just a voice rising up in the smoky haze

We will not go down
In the night, without a fight
You can burn up our mosques and our homes and our schools
But our spirit will never die
We will not go down
In Gaza tonight

Women and children alike
Murdered and massacred night after night
While the so-called leaders of countries afar
Debated on who’s wrong or right

But their powerless words were in vain
And the bombs fell down like acid rain
But through the tears and the blood and the pain
You can still hear that voice through the smoky haze

We will not go down
In the night, without a fight
You can burn up our mosques and our homes and our schools
But our spirit will never die
We will not go down
In Gaza tonight

0 WMD Fear Mongering.

Just a little re-work of Michael Rivero's great graphic. 

    Visit http://whatreallyhappened.com/

0 The Lie.


0 Iran TV airs confessions in murder of scientists

Iranian state television on Sunday broadcast purported confessions by more than a dozen suspects in connection with the killing of five nuclear scientists since 2010.

The broadcast showed some of the suspects re-enacting the assassinations in different districts of the capital Tehran. The 14 suspects shown on TV included eight men and six women.
The TV showed pictures from a military garrison it said was a training camp outside Tel Aviv in Israel. It said the suspects took courses there, including how to place magnetic bombs on cars _ the method used in the killing of the scientists.
Iran says the attacks are part of a covert campaign by Israel and the West to sabotage its nuclear program, which the U.S. and its allies suspect is aimed at producing nuclear weapons. Iran denies that.
Iran's intelligence chief, Heidar Moslehi, had promised recently to provide detailed TV pictures about the case.
Iran has blamed Israel's Mossad as well as the CIA and Britain's MI6 for the assassinations, with support from some of Iran's neighbors. The U.S. and Britain and denied involvement in the slayings. Israel has not commented.
The TV said closed circuit cameras in a Tehran street recorded one of the operations, providing clues for Iran's intelligence agencies to identify and arrest the suspects.
One of the suspects, Behzad Abdoli, claimed that he received training in Israel, along with several others.
"I entered Turkey and then was taken to Cyprus by ship. From there, I entered Israel and (then) Tel Aviv ... They (Israelis) said that this group is being supported financially by the U.S. and Israel," he said.
Another suspect, Arash Kheradkish, said he received training in attaching magnetic bombs to moving cars.
"There was a motorcycle racing complex (in Tel Aviv) where we received training. We were told we needed to improve our skills so that we would be able to attach magnetized bombs to moving cars ... We were given time bombs that we had to push the start button when we attached it," he said. "At the end of the training course, members (of the group) were given money. They arranged our return (to Iran)."
The broadcast said Jamali Fashi and Arash Kheradkish got the highest grades during training in Tel Aviv and were chosen to lead the operations.
Maziar Ebrahimi, another suspect, said there were three groups involved in the bombings: Two on a motorbike, a car driving in front to slow the target car and a third support team waiting nearby to help if necessary.
"The assassination control room was in Tel Aviv, but it was receiving the orders from Washington and London," the TV report said.
The TV report did not say if the 14 suspects have already stood trial or when they would be tried.
In May, Iran hanged Majid Jamali Fashi, 24, who was sentenced to death for the 2010 killing of Tehran University physics professor Masoud Ali Mohammadi. Fashi, who said in televised confessions that he was recruited by Mossad, was convicted last August.
At least five Iranian nuclear scientists, including a manager at the Natanz enrichment facility, have been killed since 2010.
Officials say that campaign includes the abduction of Iranian scientists, the sale of faulty equipment and the planting of a destructive computer worm known as Stuxnet, which briefly brought Iran's uranium enrichment activity to a halt in 2010.
The broadcast said Iran reserves the right to pursue the case through legal channels at international bodies.

Source:http://www.lompocrecord.com/news/world/iran-tv-airs-confessions-in-murder-of-scientists/article_36874d5b-eb45-55d2-85c1-3c28b02cfee5.html

Further reading :http://www.thefrontierpost.com/news/5861/ 

0 New NASA study links current extreme summer events to climate change

 NASA are at it again....

The relentless weather-gone-crazy type of heat that has blistered the United States and other parts of the world in recent years is so rare that it can't be anything but man-made global warming, says a new statistical analysis
from a top government scientist.

The research by a man often called the "godfather of global warming"
says that the likelihood of such temperatures occurring from the 1950s
through the 1980s was rarer than 1 in 300. Now, the odds are closer to 1
 in 10, according to the study by NASA scientist James Hansen. He says
that statistically what's happening is not random or normal, but pure
and simple climate change.

"This is not some scientific theory. We are now experiencing scientific
fact," Hansen told The Associated Press in an interview.

Hansen is a scientist at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies in
New York and a professor at Columbia University. But he is also a
strident activist who has called for government action to curb
greenhouse gases for years. While his study was published online
Saturday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, it is
unlikely to sway opinion among the remaining climate change skeptics.

However, several climate scientists praised the new work.

In a blunt departure from most climate research, Hansen's study — based
on statistics, not the more typical climate modeling — blames these
three heat waves purely on global warming:

—Last year's devastating Texas-Oklahoma drought.

—The 2010 heat waves in Russia and the Middle East, which led to
thousands of deaths.

—The 2003 European heat wave blamed for tens of thousands of deaths,
especially among the elderly in France.

The analysis was written before the current drought and record-breaking
temperatures that have seared much of the United States this year. But
Hansen believes this too is another prime example of global warming at
its worst.