================================================= Expat Worlds Bi-Monthly Digest ================================================= 21 October, 2004 Vol. 6, Issue 17 .....IN THIS DIGEST..... ==== THE STORY =================== -=Big Brother and Privacy Matters=- ==== OTHER EZINES ================ ==== EW SPECIAL ================== -=Need a Second Nationality/Passport?=- ==== HUMOR, TRIVIA, NEWS AND MORE... == -=Trivia=- -=News Story=- -=Traveller's Tales=- -=Jokes=- ==== THE RESOURCE TIP ============= -=Handy Password=- ==== INSIDE THIS MONTH EXPAT WORLD == -=Table of Content=- ==== THE STORY ================================== BIG BROTHER AND PRIVACY MATTERS BIG BROTHER, BIG BUSINESS, BECOMING ONE OF THE SAME The US government is increasingly using corporations to do its surveillance work, allowing it to get around restrictions that protect the privacy and civil liberties of Americans, according to a report released recently by the American Civil Liberties Union, an organization that works to protect civil liberties. Data aggregators - companies that aggregate information from numerous private and public databases - and private companies that collect information about their customers are increasingly giving or selling data to the government to augment its surveillance capabilities and help it track the activities of people. Because laws that restrict government data collection don't apply to private industry, the government is able to bypass restrictions on domestic surveillance. Congress needs to close such loopholes, the ACLU said, before the exchange of information gets out of hand. "Americans would really be shocked to discover the extent of the practices that are now common in both industry and government," said the ACLU's Jay Stanley, author of the report. "Industry and government know that, so they have a strong incentive to not publicize a lot of what's going on." Last year, JetBlue Airways acknowledged that it secretly gave defense contractor Torch Concepts 5 million passenger itineraries for a government project on passenger profiling without the consent of the passengers. The contractor augmented the data with passengers' Social Security numbers, income information and other personal data to test the feasibility of a screening system called CAPPS II. That project was slated to launch later this year until the government scrapped it. Other airlines also contributed data to the project. Information about the data-sharing project came to light only by accident. Critics like Stanley say there are many other government projects like this that are proceeding in secret. The ACLU released the Surveillance-Industrial Complex report in conjunction with a new website designed to educate the public about how information collected from them is being used. The report listed three ways in which government agencies obtain data from the private sector: by purchasing the data, by obtaining a court order or simply by asking for it. Corporations freely share information with government agencies because they don't want to appear to be unpatriotic, they hope to obtain future lucrative Homeland Security contracts with the government or they fear increased government scrutiny of their business practices if they don't share. But corporations aren't the only ones giving private data to the government. In 2002, the Professional Association of Diving Instructors voluntarily gave the FBI the names and addresses of about 2 million people who had studied scuba diving in previous years. And a 2002 survey found that nearly 200 colleges and universities gave the FBI information about students. Most of these institutions provided the information voluntarily without having received a subpoena. Collaborative surveillance between government and the private sector is not new. For three decades during the Cold War, for example, telegraph companies like Western Union, RCA Global and International Telephone and Telegraph gave the National Security Agency, or NSA, all cables that went to or from the United States. Operation Shamrock, which ran from 1945 to 1975, helped the NSA compile 75,000 files on individuals and organizations, many of them involved in peace movements and civil disobedience. These days, the increasing amount of electronic data that is collected and stored, along with developments in software technology, make it easy for the government to sort through mounds of data quickly to profile individuals through their connections and activities. Although the Privacy Act of 1974 prohibits the government from keeping dossiers on Americans unless they are the specific target of an investigation, the government circumvents the legislation by piggybacking on private-sector data collection. Corporations are not subject to congressional oversight or Freedom of Information Act requests - two methods for monitoring government activities and exposing abuses. And no laws prevent companies from voluntarily sharing most data with the government. "The government is increasingly ... turning to private companies, which are not subject to the law, and buying or compelling the transfer of private data that it could not collect itself," the report states. A government proposal for a national ID card, for example, was shot down by civil liberties groups and Congress for being too intrusive and prone to abuse. And Congress voted to cancel funding for John Poindexter's Total Information Awareness, a national database that would have tracked citizens' private transactions such as Web surfing, bank deposits and withdrawals, doctor visits, travel itineraries and visa and passport applications. But this hasn't stopped the government from achieving the same ends by buying similar data from private aggregators like Acxiom, ChoicePoint, Abacus and LexisNexis. According to the ACLU, ChoicePoint's million-dollar contracts with the Justice Department, Drug Enforcement Administration and other federal agencies let authorities tap into its billions of records to track the interests, lifestyles and activities of Americans. By using corporations, the report said, the government can set up a system of "distributed surveillance" to create a bigger picture than it could create with its own limited resources and at the same time "insulate surveillance and information-handling practices from privacy laws or public scrutiny." Most of the transactions people make are with the private sector, not the government. So the amount of data available through the private sector is much greater. Every time people withdraw money from an ATM, buy books or CDs, fill prescriptions or rent cars, someone else, somewhere, is collecting information about them and their transactions. On its own, each bit of information says little about the person being tracked. But combined with health and insurance records, bank loans, divorce records, election contributions and political activities, corporations can create a detailed dossier. And studies show that Americans trust corporations more than they trust their government, so they're more likely to give companies their information freely. A 2002 phone survey about a proposed national ID plan, conducted by Gartner, found respondents preferred private industry – such as bank or credit card companies - to administer a national ID system rather than the government. Stanley said most people are unaware how information about them is passed on to government agencies and processed. "People have a right to know just how information about them is being used and combined into a high-resolution picture of (their) life," Stanley said. Although the Privacy Act attempted to put stops on government surveillance, Stanley said that its authors did not anticipate the explosion in private-sector data collection. "It didn't anticipate the growth of data aggregators and the tremendous amount of information that they're able to put together on virtually everyone or the fact that the government could become customers of these companies," Stanley said. Although the report focused primarily on the flow of data from corporations to the government, data flow actually goes both ways. The government has shared its watch lists with the private sector, opening the way for potential discrimination against customers who appear on the lists. Under section 314 of the Patriot Act, the government can submit a suspect list to financial institutions to see whether the institution has conducted transactions with any individuals or organizations on the list. But once the government shares the list, nothing prevents the institution from discriminating against individuals or organizations on the list. After the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the FBI circulated a watch list to corporations that contained hundreds of names of people the FBI was interested in talking to, although the people were not under investigation or wanted by the FBI. Companies were more than happy to check the list against the names of their customers. And if they used the list for other purposes, it's difficult to know. The report notes that there is no way to determine how many job applicants might have been denied work because their names appeared on the list. "It turns companies into sheriff's deputies, responsible not just for feeding information to the government, but for actually enforcing the government's wishes, for example by effectively blacklisting anyone who has been labeled as a suspect under the government's less-than-rigorous procedures for identifying risks," the report states. Last March, the Technology and Privacy Advisory Committee, created by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to examine government data mining, issued a report (PDF) stating that "rapid action is necessary" to establish clear guidelines for responsible government data mining. The ACLU's Stanley said companies are in the initial stages of the Homeland Security gold rush to get government contracts, and that the public and Congress need to do something before policies and practices of private-sector surveillance solidify. "Government security agencies always have a hunger for more and more information," said Stanley. "It's only natural. It makes it easier for law enforcement if they have access to as much info as they want. But it's crucial that policy makers and political leaders balance the needs of law enforcement and the value of privacy that Americans have always expected and enjoyed." ==== OTHER EZINES =============================== ASIAN TIMES ONLINE Asia most trusted source for news, business,commentary and analysis from throughout Asia and our world. (www.atimes.com). ----- Subscribe now to the "Timely Time Management Tips" newsletter. Free tips sent to you to help you get more done in less time, with less stress. Send your email now to: mailto:timemanagement-subscribe@topica.com ----- japan-guide.com Extensive, up to date online guide on Japan living and travel related information. http://www.japan-guide.com/ ==== EW SPECIAL ================================= NEED A SECOND NATIONALTY/PASSPORT? Expat World knows of a program that has been running for over 4 years now and has added many new citizens and passport holders. We have heard nothing but good reports about it. In our humble opinion, it is the best value for money today in securing a second pp/nationality that is in all the computer data bases and comes from a government source. IT has all the additional bells and whistles, is time-proven to be hassle free. It also has very good visa free entry to most of the world's countries. No matter what your reasons for seeking second citizenship, you won't find a better deal. The time it takes is about 3 weeks from the time application, photos and payment is in hand. Want to know more? Email: office@expatworld.net with pp/nat in the subject heading. Note: EW does not sell pps, we act only as the advertiser for companies working directly with gov authorities to provide what is on offer. ==== HUMOR, TRIVIA, NEWS AND MORE... ================ NEWS STORIES Schwarzenegger Says Pro-Bush Speech Cost Him Sex MONTEREY, Calif. (Reuters) - California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (news - web sites) said on Monday that his speech backing President Bush (news - web sites) at the Republican Convention in August resulted in a dramatic cold shoulder from his wife Maria Shriver, a member of the very Democratic Kennedy family. "Well, there was no sex for 14 days," Schwarzenegger told former White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta in an on-stage conversation in front of 1,000 people. "Everything comes with side effects." The crowd roared with laughter, but the governor may have been serious: he has said little in public to back fellow Republican Bush since then. Panetta, a Democrat, had asked him how Shriver, whose uncle was U.S. President John F. Kennedy, had reacted to his praised but partisan prime-time convention speech. The governor referred to Shriver several times in the 90-minute conversation. "I don't know why I watched the presidential debates," he said. "If I want to watch a smart liberal Democrat and a Republican leader argue, all we have to do is go out to dinner. They were lucky. They only had to do it three times." At another point he was asked about the difference between working in Hollywood following scripts and being on his own in politics. "When you're married to my wife, you're never your own boss," he quipped. California is expected to back Democratic challenger John Kerry (news - web sites) in the election in two weeks, and Schwarzenegger, who faces re-election in 2006, has been careful not to offend the majority Democratic voters in his state. "I think both are doing a great job; it's very tedious to be out there campaigning a year and a half," he said at the Panetta Institute for Public Policy in Monterey south of San Francisco. "You make one mistake and you lose the presidency." Schwarzenegger did say the one state where he might campaign for Bush outside of California was Ohio, where he owns a gym and sponsors an annual body building competition. "I said to the president I'm perfectly willing to go to Ohio if he needs me there but I can't travel around from state to state because I'm working for the people of California," he said. --- Man 'cooked' in giant wok A MALAYSIAN man allowed himself to be "cooked" for half an hour in a huge wok of steaming dumplings and corn in an offering to Chinese deities during a Taoist festival, a report said today. A giant steamer cover was placed over temple caretaker Lim Boon Hwa, 56, as he sat cross-legged on a wooden board atop a steaming giant wok yesterday in a temple in northern Kedah state, The Star said. This was the fourth time Lim was "cooked" to mark the festival, known as the Nine Emperor Gods, the newspaper said. The longest he had been on the wok was 45 minutes. "Lim's performance shows the greatness of the Taoist deities in protecting their devotees from harm," temple spokesman Goon Fook Theong was quoted as saying. About 1000 people turned up to watch Lim, and the cooked dumplings and corn were later distributed to the spectators, the newspaper said. Ten other devotees also performed stunts, including walking and throwing themselves on glass shards, it said. Ethnic Chinese make up a quarter of Malaysia's 25 million population, with most of them being Taoist or Buddhist. --- Singapore Enlists Taxi Drivers to Foil Terrorists SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore has enlisted its 40,000 taxi drivers to foil terrorists, telling them to be on alert for nervous or restless passengers and distributing pamphlets describing what militants might do or ask. As part of a campaign, drivers have been told watch out for people who wear "thick or loose clothing," carry heavy luggage but decline offers for help, who leave taxies "in a hurry without taking luggage" or talk and behave suspiciously. "Taxi drivers can unknowingly become instruments for terrorists to threaten the security of Singapore," Police Superintendent Ng Guat Ting said. "Taxis are also a common means of transport for terrorists." Tightly controlled Singapore, a staunch U.S. ally, already boasts Southeast Asia's most advance security apparatus but still sees itself as a prime target after foiling plots by militants to attack the wealthy Southeast Asian island in 2001 and 2002. About 75,000 pamphlets have been distributed, arming taxis with a detailed list of who may be bent on an act of violence. These include passengers who ask to be driven to important government buildings, who want to stop some distance before or after their destination or who ask drivers to keep driving around the area of their destination. Singapore's government, known for micro-managing its 4.2 million people, said militants may also ask about where and how to buy cheap, second-hand vans or trucks. Passengers asking about major events, celebrations, or conferences attended by foreign "VIPs" could also raise the alert, along with those inquiring about where police, military and security agencies are based, said the pamphlet. "It's a bit absurd," said 22-year-old student Serene Chua. "Terrorists have their network and will know where to source out things like fertilizers or cheap second-hand cars. They won't need to ask taxi drivers that." The campaign, which began this week, also includes a training video for drivers that shows footage of a 2003 attack in India's financial center of Bombay where suicide bombers placed explosives in two buses, killing 52 people including the drivers. ----- TRAVELLER'S TALES EARTH MOTHER: A woman in China has eaten 10 tonnes of soil. That's as much dirt as a good-sized backyard, or even a small park. Hao Fenglan, from Zhangwu county, Liaoning province, started eating mud as a child--as many children do. The difference between her and the rest of the world's kids is that she never stopped. She dined on chunks of earth virtually every day from the age of eight to the present day. Since she is now 78 years old and in good health, it seems the mud has done her good, the South China Morning Post reported. She said she felt uncomfortable if she didn't get her daily dose of crumbled mud. Most people these days eat ground beef. She eats ground ground. ----- Oxymoron: completely destroyed ----- Nobody believes a rumor here in Washington until it's officially denied. -- Edward Cheyfitz ----- A compromise is an agreement whereby both parties get what neither of them wanted. -- Author Unknown ----- One of our EWD readers send us this. Subject: Dear Mom A mother passing by her daughter's bedroom and was astonished to see the bed was nicely made and everything was picked up. Then she saw an envelope propped up prominently on the center of the bed. It was addressed, "Mom". With the worst premonition, she opened the envelope and read the letter with trembling hands: Dear Mom, It is with great regret and sorrow that I'm writing you. I had to elope with my new boyfriend because I wanted to avoid a scene with Dad and you. I've been finding real passion with John and he is so nice - even with all his piercings, tattoos, beard, and his motorcycle clothes. But it's not only the passion mom, I'm pregnant and John said that we will be very happy. He already owns a trailer in the woods and has a stack of firewood for the whole winter. He wants to have many more children with me and that's now one of my dreams too. John taught me that marijuana doesn't really hurt anyone and we'll be growing, it for us and trading it with his friends for all the cocaine and ecstasy we want. In the meantime, we'll pray that science will find a cure for AIDS so John can get better; he sure deserves it!! Don't worry Mom, I'm 21 years old now and I know how to take care of myself. Some day I'm sure we'll be back to visit so you can get to know your grandchildren. Your daughter, Judith PS : Mom, none of the above is true. I'm over at the neighbor's house. I just wanted to remind you that there are worse things in life than my voting for Geroge Bush. I love you! Call me when it is safe to come home. ----- A man goes to the doctor and tells him, "Doctor, I don’t know what the problem is but I can’t stop farting all the time. It’s not really a problem because my farts are silent and don’t smell. In fact while I’ve been in here I must have farted at least 20 times." The doctor nodded and gave him some pills. "Take these pills for the next 2 weeks and see me again when they are finished." So he takes the pills. He returns 2 weeks later as instructed. Infuriated he confronts the doctor. "What kind of pills are these? I’m still farting silently all the time but now they stink terribly!" The doctor nodded, "That’s all right, now we have your sinuses cleared up, we’ll work on your hearing." ----- POLITICS SIMPLIFIED Capitalism: You have two cows; you sell one and buy a bull. Socialism: You have two cows and give one to your neighbour. Communism: You have two cows; the government takes both and gives you some milk. Fascism: You have two cows; the government takes both and sells you the milk. Nazism: You have two cows, the government takes both and shoots you. Bureaucratism: You have two cows, the government takes both, shoots one, milks the other and then throws the milk away. ==== THE RESOURCE TIP ============================ HANDY PASSWORD Handy Password is a free easy-to-use secure password manager designed for automatic filling of web forms. You don't need to remember your passwords or save it in your browser anymore! All passwords saved with the help of Handy Password are stored locally on your computer in a single file encrypted using 128-bit encryption and you should not worry that somebody else can access your confidential information. Get it at . ==== INSIDE THIS MONTH EXPAT WORLD =============== EXPAT WORLD NEWSLETTER (VOL.16 ISSUE 08) Table of Content: - THE WORLD'S TOP RETIREMENT HAVEN - PANAMA'S A BARGAIN - 2004 GLOBAL RETIREMENT INDEX - PRESTIGIOUS MAIL DROP ADDRESS - MORE MAIL DROPS IF SINGAPORE DOESN'T SUIT YOU - PASSPORTS BY MAIL - BELIZE -- LIVE ON AS LITTLE AS $450 A MONTH - TERROR LINKS SAUDI ARABIA AGAIN - TAXING MATTERS - THE PAPER TIGER -THE IRS - IRS BACKS OFF - MALTA CLAIMS NOT TO BE A TAX HAVEN - BIG BROTHER AND PRIVACY MATTERS - BIG BROTHER WANTS TO WATCH - OFFSHORE NEWS - PANAMA YANKS DIPLOMATIC PASSPORTS - SWISS MAY END DUAL NATIONALITY RIGHT - BIG BROTHER HONES IN ON CANADIAN VISA CARD HOLDERS - INTERNATIONAL SNIPS AND CLIPS - EXPAT WORLD'S WORLD OF TRAVEL - CRAPPER RAPPER - BUSH OR KERRY? - STIR-FRIED RATS, ANYONE? - WRITTEN ON THE CRAP HOUSE WALLS - READ THIS EVEN IF IT LOOKS WIERD - THE TRUTH ABOUT AMERICA YOU MISSING SO MUCH Each week the EXPAT WORLD DIGEST gives you just a smattering of what you can find in the EXPAT WORLD newsletter that we produce once a month. Why not get the whole story and subscribe now to our electronic version for just US $30 per year. Go to our website: www.expatworld.net to sign up. ********************************************************************* EXPAT WORLD - the newsletter of international living URL - http://www.expatworld.net Email - office@expatworld.net ---------- End of Expat World Digest --------------------------------