statism watch

Rosie DiManno, The Toronto Star
May 09, 2008 04:30 AM

KABUL—An elderly woman reaches into the depths of her burqa for a small plastic bag, not even the size of a grocery sack.

She’ll take this much flour.

It requires only two scoops from a burlap-lined bushel for the merchant to fill his customer’s bag, weighing the precious commodity on battered scales. A fistful of Afghan dollars changes hands.

This purchase will be barely sufficient for a family’s bread-baking needs for one day.

Afghanistan, among the poorest nations in the world, is a country that lives by bread, the flat oblongs that emerge steaming from clay ovens. For many, bread rolled round a ragout of vegetables can be the entirety of a meal.

It is literally the staff of life.

But in some acutely impoverished regions, famished Afghans have been reduced to buying bread crust by the gram, softening the hardened bits in water, unable to afford flour at all.

The global food crisis has slammed Afghanistan hard, despite a good grain harvest last year. Wheat prices have risen by an average of 60 per cent over 2007, 300 per cent during a spike period in the early months of 2008: 46 Afghanis per kilo. That’s less than $1, but this is a country where half the population lives below the poverty line.

Full Story

michaelgeist.ca
Friday, May 9, 2008

Last month I wrote about the pressure to adopt “graduated response,” a policy that is better described as “three strikes and you’re out” for ISP subscribers.  While Canada has yet to take a public position on the issue, a new French document cites Canada as an example of a country that is negotiating an ISP three strikes policy.  In particular, the latest Olivennes bill draft submitted by the Conseil d’Etat, states:

La méthode et le dispositif des Accords de l’Élysée soulèvent d’ailleurs un vif intérêt à l’étranger.  De nombreux pays d’Europe (comme la Grande_Bretagne) ou d’autre continents (comme le Canada ou le Japon) ont d’ores et déjà initié un processus de négociation comparable, encadré par les pouvoirs publics, que ceux_ci viendront   relayer en tant que de besoin.

Given that there has been no Canadian public statement consistent with the French claim, either the French are simply wrong (and should be corrected) or Canadian officials may have privately indicated a willingness to move in this direction.  The latter possibility is very troubling given the likelihood that new Canadian copyright legislation is likely to be introduced within the next few weeks.

Full Story

CBC News
Last Updated: Friday, May 9, 2008

An elderly man in Kamloops, B.C., was zapped three times on the torso by a police stun gun while lying on his hospital bed, CBC News has learned.

Frank Lasser, 82, appeared fragile Thursday when he showed the Taser marks on his body and talked about the ordeal he went through Saturday.

“They [police] should have known I had bypass surgery,” Lasser told CBC News.

Lasser has had heart surgery and needs to carry an apparatus to supply oxygen at all times. He was in the Royal Inland Hospital Saturday due to pneumonia but has since been released.
Frank Lasser shows the marks left on his body after being stunned three times by a Taser. Frank Lasser shows the marks left on his body after being stunned three times by a Taser. (CBC)

RCMP said nurses called police after Lasser became delirious and pulled a knife out of his pocket.

Lasser told CBC News that he sometimes becomes delusional when he can’t breathe properly. He said he couldn’t explain why he refused to let go of the knife even after the Mounties arrived.

“I was laying on the bed by then and the corporal came in, or the sergeant, I forget which it was, and said to the guys, ‘OK, get him because we got more important work to do on the street tonight,’” Lasser said.

“And then, bang, bang, bang, three times with the laser, and I tell you, I never want that again.”

 Full Story | See Also: UN Says TASERs Are a Form of Torture

haaretz.com, May 9, 2008
By Guy Grimland

The wave of suicide bombings that swept over Israel in 2003 pushed the founders of WeCu Technologies into searching for a way to identify terrorists before they take action.

Quietly, even stealthily, this unknown company has been working for five years now on one of the more interesting technological innovations to be created in these parts.

WeCU (“We see you,” in case you are unaccustomed to SMS-speak) promises an automated system to detect people with mayhem on their minds. The system integrates methods and doctrines from the behavioral sciences with biometric sensors.

According to the company’s founders, in under a minute it can screen an individual, without his or her knowledge or cooperation and without interfering with routine activities, and disclose intentions to carry out criminal or terror activity. It can identify subjects who are not carrying any suspicious objects, do not demonstrate any suspicious behavior, do not fit into a predefined social or other profile and do not arouse any suspicion.

Unlike systems currently in use, such as polygraphs or biometric systems based on identifying an individual under emotional pressure, WeCU does not attempt to determine whether the subject is lying, concealing information, under stress or feeling guilty. Instead, it seeks to identify concealed intentions by uncovering an associative connection between the subjects and defined threats.

Guilt by association

It may sound like science fiction, but the people behind the system are known to be more involved in science fact. The company founders include Prof. Shlomo Breznitz, a professor of psychology whose research specialization is stress situations (and who is also a former Knesset member from Kadima); Dr. Boaz Ganor, founder and executive director of the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya; WeCU CEO Ehud Givon; and Zipora (Zipi) Alster, an expert in the behavioral sciences. Until recently, the company underwrote its activities on its own, but recently a private investor stepped in with an injection of $3 million.

How does it work? Givon explains: “The technology is patented. We take advantage of human characteristics, according to which when a person intends to carry out a particular activity or has a great acquaintance or involvement with a particular activity, he carries with him information and feelings that are associated with the subject or activity. In effect, his brain creates a collection of associations that are relevant to the subject.

“When this person is exposed to stimuli targeted at these associations – such as a picture of a partner to the activity, items from the scene of a crime that he carried out, the symbol of the organization in whose name he is acting or a code word – he will respond emotionally and cognitively to these stimuli. The response is expressed with a number of very subtle physiological and behavioral changes during the exposure to the stimulus,” Givon said.

He noted that in an individual who has not built up such associations, the stimuli will not elicit a significant response.

Fitting the threat

Givon points out that the bank of stimuli included in the system is varied and unpredictable: “Even a skilled, well-practiced suspect who is aware of the system and who tries to prepare for the screening cannot know where the stimuli will come from and how they will appear.”

The system consists of three components: Hidden biometric sensors that measure the subject remotely or during random contact; a system that displays the stimuli; and a computerized data analysis and decision-making system that operates in real time.

The system has been demonstrated to governmental authorities in Israel, the United States and Germany. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security showed particular interest in WeCU. Two research grants have been given to the system, in a relatively rare show of support for the development.

The developers say that mass production of the system is expected within two and a half years. Each unit is expected to cost tens of thousands of dollars.

Full Story

By Rajesh Mirchandani, BBC News, Denver
07:31 GMT, Friday, 9 May 2008 08:31 UK

In a downtown loft apartment in Denver, Colorado, a group of 30-something women is having a party. They joke easily with each other about men, cats and botox.

It’s more Sex and the City than Psycho, but party organiser Dana Shafman would have them believe they could easily be victims of violent crime.

She runs a company that sells Tasers, the electric stun guns used by security forces around the world.

In Colorado and other US states, it’s legal for ordinary people to own them. Dana’s marketing them to women as the ideal personal protection device.

“I’ve been to everyone’s Avon-type tupperware-style parties, purse parties, clothing parties, boutique parties and I felt like why not have a self-defence party? Why not have a Taser party, because without self-defence you won’t have any of the other stuff.”

‘Take it to the gym’

She gives a presentation, including worrying crime figures for Denver.

This is an unusual party, to say the least – there’s food, but no alcohol, and much of the time is spent listening to disturbing statistics

But she also goes on to show off the different colours that are available (bright red, soft pink and electric blue are all on display) and the fashionable accessories you can buy, including a carrying pouch made of fake leopard-print fur.

“I sometimes carry mine with me like this to the gym,” Dana says.

Full Story

James Tozer, The Daily Mail
Last updated at 16:35pm on 9th May 2008

He had only popped out to do a couple of errands for his disabled wife.

But 54-year-old Keith Hirst ended up spending the night in a police cell after being accused of throwing away an apple core.

Despite strenuously denying the allegation, the ex-plumber, who suffers from a heart condition, was taken into custody by up to five uniformed officers and had his DNA and fingerprints taken.

By then his worried family were calling local hospitals fearing he had been in an accident, and it wasn’t until nearly 11pm that he was able to ring them and explain what had happened.

After finally being released having spent 18 hours behind bars, Mr Hirst said yesterday he would fight to clear his name in a case which could leave him with a criminal record and cost the taxpayer thousands of pounds.

“The way I was treated you would have thought I had robbed a bank,” he said. “My family are law-abiding people, and I would help if I saw a gang of yobs attacking a police officer.

“But this kind of incident does not help in improving relations between the community and police. I suppose £50 for an on-the-spot fine is easy money for them.”

Full Story