The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) obtained some rather chilling documents through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. The documents cover the Department of Motherland Homeland Security’s new Fast Attribute Screening Technology (FAST), or as I like to call it pre-crime:
EPIC filed two Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests with the United States Department of Homeland Security’s Science & Technology Directorate (S&T) to obtain information about the agency’s public testing of a new sensor array used to conduct covert surveillance of individuals who are not suspected of any crime. The sensors secretly collect and record information concerning individuals, including video images, audio recordings, cardiovascular signals, pheromones, electrodermal activity, and respiratory measurements.
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According to documents published by the Department of Homeland Security, FAST is a Minority Report style initiative that seeks to determining the probability that an individual, who is not suspected of any crime, might commit a future criminal act. Under the FAST program, the DHS will collect and retain of a mix of “physiological and behavioral signals” from individuals as they engage in daily activities.
Not only do we have our government secretly collecting information on citizens but that information is being used to determine whether or not the target has committed a crime without already existing evidence. I would make an argument that any such “evidence” would never hold up in court but, sadly, our “justice” system has demonstrated a willingness to bypass due process in the name of stopping supposed terrorism.
As I’ve said before this country isn’t becoming a police state, it already is a police state. In fact we have a police state to efficient and with such amazing technology at the state’s fingertips that all previous police states would be insanely jealous.
I would like to know how much money has been sunk into these initiatives. I’m sure trillions of dollars have gone into the so-called “war on terror” and we have nothing to show for it other than ever more draconian legislation and technology used to specifically target American citizens.