Date:   1/18/2008 7:29:37 PM ( 16 y ago)
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URL:   https://www.curezone.org/forums/fm.asp?i=1089343

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Summary: Illegal domestic spying in the form of illegal email, internet and phone monitoring in the US, has slowly come to light (not much has been exposed in Canada). However, surreptitious forms of surveillance through infra-red cameras, audio bugging devices and celldar phones that can see through walls and into people’s homes remain largely hidden from the public. In this post, I describe my and my family’s experiences of targeted harassment, 24/7 surveillance, and cheap sadistic games based on the illegal information obtained about personal lives and daily living that amounts to abuse of power by agents of the state in US and Canada. It also describes how neighbors and probably neighborhood watch groups are being used as eyes and ears of the state to spy on “foreigners”. We are a South Asian family and we question racism and other forms of oppression – our experience is another example of false information and low-grade intelligence gathered on minorities, constituting violation of their human rights and the basic right to privacy.

Please read and circulate widely to stop these gross human rights violations

Details:
In addition to both subtle and blatant forms of racism against South Asians in North America and UK that has surfaced post-9/11, my family members and I have been subject to uncalled-for constant harassment, surveillance, and outrageous violation of privacy. In addition to constant monitoring of our internet, email and phone conversations, there is lot of harassment from outside while we are living in our home. It has become obvious to us that we are being targeted through audio and through-the-wall surveillance while going through our daily activities at home (please see references below). For every movement or sound that we make inside our house there is corresponding noise from outside at appropriate times, mainly in the form of banging car doors in the neighborhood, and loud acceleration of cars, motorbikes and vehicles on the street facing the house, cops wailing sirens every time we go outside to do yard work etc. This makes it obvious that neighbors are conniving with the cops to inform them of our movements every time.

These patterns of listening and watching into our home and then making appropriate noises continues even at odd unearthly hours when we are awake for work/study etc. I am South Asian and live with my closest family member who is a male international student. Using cheap technology to play cheap sadistic games in connivance with neighbors is very easy these days given continued fear mongering and one-sidedness in the mainstream media etc. The conversations we have had at home the previous day and our background personal life situations are disseminated to folks around on and off campus as is obvious from their comments as we pass by or when we take the transit. There is no doubt that the loud banging of car doors; loud honking right outside our home; cars, motorbikes and vehicles starting from nearby and accelerating loudly only for a little distance across our house is done to create purposeful disturbance when we are sleeping or working/studying at home. Being the only South Asian family in a white neighborhood is no help either. It is also obvious that the attempt is not only to disturb but to send the message that our every move inside the home, not just outside, is being watched. If this is not targeted harassment, persecution, and a violation of our basic human rights, what is it? It is shocking that even neighbors, whom we trusted and took the initiative to introduce ourselves to when we moved to our new home, are themselves in connivance in these games: coming out to only bang their car doors at appropriate times without driving corresponding to our body movements inside our home, e.g., studying, turning pages, typing on computer, walking around, tossing or turning, etc.

The see-through technology constantly watching our body movements and listening to our conversations inside our homes is obvious. The street we currently live at is a through-fare; however, it is very quiet at night time; so it becomes very obvious when we make a body movement or are conversing among ourselves and there is a corresponding loud noise from a vehicle outside near our home. The pattern repeats during day time as well; while other vehicles go by normally, ‘surveillance’ vehicles make their noise corresponding to what is happening inside our home. Every time we turn on or turn off a light; every time the heater during winter starts or stops, a vehicle goes by loudly. Every time we talk in normal voices within the house from one room to the other, a neighbor comes out and bangs his/her car door; the car doesn’t go anywhere. We cannot hear our neighbors talking inside their home; how can they hear us talking within our home?

Much is known by now about email, internet and phone monitoring in the US and Canada; however these surreptitious forms of surveillance through infra-red cameras, audio bugging devices and celldar phones remains largely hidden from the public. Given the sly nature of the technology and the harassment that it engenders, it is difficult to pinpoint blame and provide evidence of these insidious forms of harassment. Who do we turn to? Who is going to believe us? If you are not specifically targeted, any similar harassment, such as door-banging or car accelerating to name a few, happening at appropriate times will not affect you; however, if you are being specifically targeted and harassed, with all this harassment corresponding to your body movements, speech etc you will realize, note, and understand the difference and the harassment.
We have experienced audio and through-the-wall surveillance of our home both in the US and Canada. If we discuss this matter with the landlord or neighbors, the response is ‘we don’t know what you are talking about’.

Harassing minorities and immigrants by using neighbors and probably ‘neighborhood watch programs’ and other vehicles in the name of self-proclaimed ‘security,’ without any justification, public accountability, transparency or judicial oversight is a shame and a waste of public tax money. Why does US and Canada allow non-white international students and workers into the country if they cannot tolerate them? Researching the past of foreigners, following them, using their background information to harass them, blocking their opportunities, bugging their homes, using neighbors as eyes and ears of the state - giving surreptitious forms of technology to neighbors to monitor the non-white family in their neighborhood - is not supposed to happen in 'free' countries like USA and Canada; however, our experience proves otherwise. Since the mainstream majority does not have to undergo these human rights violations, it is unfathomable to them that these injustices can occur in their beloved country neither does the mainstream media venture into exposing these issues.

My own experience suggests immigrants are welcome as long as they don’t question the mistreatment meted out to them. Outspoken immigrants and educators of color who attempt to raise consciousness around social justice issues in the classroom and in their presentations and writings are hounded, slandered and persecuted in various ways, including bugging of their homes, harassment and vilification of their family members, intimidating tactics etc. Little research exists on the experiences of educators who have opposed the US wars of aggression through their teaching, writing, informal conversations etc. Little research exists on the experiences of educators from the United States who have been critical of the war, military aggression, and imperialism, and have moved to Canada out of conscience, leave alone research on the experiences of South Asian/non-white educators from the US who have dared to oppose the war and have moved to Canada in good faith. As mentioned earlier, my own experience shows that hounding, harassment and surveillance continues when you cross borders hoping Canada will offer a more congenial environment for freedom of speech and expression.

There must be other South Asian, Middle Eastern, Arab minorities who are experiencing this but either they are confused about what is happening or do not know whom to complain or are too afraid to speak up. Today civil liberties and right to privacy of South Asians, Arabs and Middle Easterners are being violated. Tomorrow this police-state style surveillance can happen to you. We are writing our experiences to you to alert alternative media groups and peace, human rights and civil liberties organizations about audio and through-the-wall surveillance measures being implemented on civilian populations. These are measures of repression against those who question the status-quo (those who question the military-industrial-capitalist complex), rather than serving any ‘security’ purposes. The misuse of these forms of repressive technology is an indication of the abuse of power by the state and its agents against civilian populations without due process. These immoral and outrageous forms of harassment must be questioned and stopped immediately.

Please disseminate this information widely - widespread public outrage and demand for accountability and transparency from the state and its agents will hopefully put an end to the abuse of these insidious forms of technology.

Any efforts to expose these unjust violations of human rights will be much appreciated,

A harassed South Asian family.

The following articles/websites can be perused for further information:

Burke, J. & Warren, P. (2002). How mobile phones let spies see our every move.
The Observer, October 13. Available online at

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,811027,00.html


Bush, Steve. (2002, August 12). Radar with Cell Phone s? Look at CellDar.
Available online at

http://3nw.com/pda/radar_with_cell_phones__look_at_celldar.htm


Bush, Steve. (2006, November 17). Police will use radar to see through walls.
Electronics Weekly. Available online at

http://www.electronicsweekly.com/Articles/2006/11/17/40181/Police

+will+use+radar+to+see+through+walls.htm

Chan, Hans, H. (1999, June 4). Cops have eyes on x-ray vision. New technology
would let police see through walls. New York: APBNews.com. Available online at

http://www.angelfire.com/nj3/soundweapon/xray.htm


Exploitation of millimeter waves for through-wall surveillance during military
operations in urban terrain. Available online at

http://www.rmc.ca/academic/gradrech/millimeter-e.pdf


Hearn, Kelly. (2001, April 18). High tech cop tools see through walls. United
Press International cited on CommonDreams.org. Available online at

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines01/0418-04.htm


How CIA and FBI Conduct Covert Domestic Surveillance. Available online at

http://groups.google.com/group/alt.law-enforcement.london-ontario/
topics or

http://groups.google.com/group/alt.law-enforcement.london-ontario/

browse_thread/thread/a10ffa62bed24f16#99f227b5944081c7

Hunt, Allan. R. Image formation through walls using a distributed radar sensor
network. Available online at
http://www.akelainc.com/pdf_files/
SPIE0405.pdf

Hunt, A., Tillery, C., & Wild, N. (2001). Through-the-wall surveillance
technologies. Available online at
http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/
nij/07_01.pdf

Jones, Willie. D. (2005, November). No place to hide: Portable radar devices see
through walls and report what?s inside. IEEE Spectrum Online. Available
online at
http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/nov05/2146


McGowan, Dave. (2000, June). Sony?s Magic cameras. Available online at

http://www.davesweb.cnchost.com/cameras.htm


Miles, Donna (2006, January 3). New device will sense through concrete walls.
American Forces Information Service. US Department of Defense. Available online
at
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Jan2006/20060103_3822.html


National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center. (2000). Looking
through walls.
http://www.nlectc.org/techbeat/summer2000/
LookWallsSum2000.pdf

Sanders, Jane (2001, April 12). Flash of force: Radar flashlight could help
police detect suspects hiding behind doors and 8-inch thick walls. Georgia
Institute of Technology Research News. Available online at

http://gtresearchnews.gatech.edu/newsrelease/RADARFLASH.html


Simonite, Tom. (2006, November 14). Compact radar tracks movement through a
wall. New Scientist. Available online at

http://www.newscientisttech.com/channel/tech/weapons/dn10524


This new radar can see through walls. Available online at

http://www.primidi.com/2004/07/02.html




 

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