What Gog. and Facb. are Hiding (by cdr23d1)
Eli Pariser of the progressive organization MoveOn says the Internet is hiding things from us, and we don’t even know it. In this TED Talk he calls out Facb, Gog. and other corporations who are transforming the Internet to suit their corporate interests.
http://www.disinfo.com/2011/05/what-google-and-facebook-are-hiding/?sms_ss=tu…
http://www.ted.com/talks/eli_pariser_beware_online_filter_bubbles.html
Source: youtube.com
EPIC will host a Capitol Briefing on Wednesday, May 18, 2011 on “Street View, Privacy, & the Security of Wireless Networks.” The luncheon symposium will feature a panel with FTC Director of Consumer Protection David Vladeck and Former FTC Commissioner Pamela Harbour, and other experts. Sky Hook CEO Ted Morgan will demonstrate Wi-Fi scanning. Many countries have launched investigations of Google Street View after investigators found that Google unlawfully collected Wi-Fi data and intercepted private communications traffic. EPIC has recommended that the US FCC undertake an investigation. The Briefing will be held at the Capitol Visitor’s Center in room HVC-201 from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm. Registration information. For More Information, see EPIC: Street View and EPIC: FTC and follow #wifiprivacy.
EPIC filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the Federal Trade Commission over the agency’s failure to disclose to EPIC information about the FTC’s decision to end the Google Spy-Fi investigation. EPIC is specifically seeking documents that the FTC widely circulated to members of Congress and their staff that provide the basis for the agency’s decision. Privacy agencies around the world found that Google unlawfully intercepted private communications traffic. Yet documents obtained earlier by EPIC under the FOIA suggest that the FTC did not even examine the data Google gathered from private residential Wi-Fi routers in the United States. EPIC is hosting a Capitol Briefing on May 18th on “Street View, Privacy, and the Security of Wireless Networks.” For more information, see EPIC: Street View and EPIC: FTC.
US Patent # 4,105,991. Acoustic wave transmitter-receiver - Patents.com
Acoustic wave transmitter-receiver comprising at least one pair of transducer assemblies arranged symmetrically with respect to a vertical axis, the transducers of each assembly being lined up with a regular spacing such that the projection length thereof on the vertical axis is equal to a whole number of wave lengths of the transmitted acoustic waves, means for generating transmission signals and means for transmitting the latter, in phase opposition, to the two transducer assemblies of said pair.
Primary Examiner: Farley; Richard A.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Craig & Antonelli
What is claimed is:
1. An acoustic wave transmitter-receiver device comprising at least one pair of transducer assemblies for transmitting and receiving acoustic waves, the transducers of each assembly being regularly spaced and having their main transmission axes oriented in a direction parallel to a common axis, and the common axes of the two assemblies being arranged symmetrically with respect to a vertical axis, the spacing between the transducers of each assembly being so selected that the projection length of said spacing on the vertical axis is equal to a whole number of wave lengths of the transmitted acoustic waves, means for generating transmission signals, and means for transmitting said transmission signals, in phase opposition, to the two transducer assemblies.
2. An acoustic wave transmitter-receiver device comprising at least one pair of transducer assemblies for transmitting and receiving acoustic waves, the transducers of each assembly being regularly spaced and having their main transmission axes oriented in a direction parallel to a common axis, and the common axes of the two assemblies being arranged symmetrically with respect to a vertical axis, the spacing between the transducers of each assembly being so selected that the length of the projection of said spacing on the vertical axis is equal to a whole number of wave lengths of the transmitted acoustic waves and the central portions of said transducer assemblies being spaced from each other at a distance whose projection length on each of said common axes is equal to an odd number of half-wave lengths of the transmitted acoustic waves, means for generating transmission signals, and means for transmitting said transmission signals, in phase opposition, to the two transducer assemblies.
3. A transmitter-receiver device according to claim 2, comprising a member for balancing the transmission signals transmitted to the transducer assemblies when the projection length of the spacing between the central portion of the transducer assemblies on each of said axes is equal to a half-wave length of the transmitted acoustic waves.
4. A transmitter-receiver device according to claim 2, comprising a directional compensating transducer assembly oriented along a vertical direction and means for summing up the signals received by the compensating transducer assembly and the signals respectively received by the two transducer assemblies.
5. A transmitter-receiver device according to claim 4, wherein the compensating transducer assembly comprises a plurality of transducers whose spacing is selected substantially equal to a whole number of wave lengths of the transmitted acoustic waves.
6. A transmitter-receiver device according to claim 5, wherein the compensating transducer assembly has a directional diagram showing a main lobe which has a minimum along directions close to those of the axes.
7. A transmitter-receiver device according to claim 6, wherein the projection length of the spacing between the transducers of the compensating transducer assembly in a direction substantially parallel to the axes is selected equal to an odd whole number of half-wave lengths of the transmitted acoustic waves.
8. A transmitter-receiver device according to claim 4, wherein said compensating transducer assembly comprises an even number of transducers.
This invention relates to an acoustic wave transmitter-receiver particularly useful in a Doppler navigation system.
The vehicles provided with a Doppler navigation system comprise transducer means whose main transmission axes are oriented along at least one direction inclined with respect to a vertical line and preferably along directions parallel to the edge-lines of a pyramid whose apex is on the vehicle.
Recurrent acoustic pulses are transmitted through transducer means. The echoes of the pulses reflected by a reference surface, with respect to which is determined the vehicle displacement, are sensed by transmitting transducers or other transducers.
The Doppler frequency shift is used to determine the speed of displacement and the travelled distance.
Each transducing means comprises one or more pressure transducers whose transmission direction diagram comprises a central lobe, the axis of which defines the main transmission direction and lateral or secondary lobes. Acoustic energy is also transmitted and received along the direction of each axis of the lateral lobes. The inclination of the axes of the secondary lobes is different from that of the axis of the main lobe. As a result, the Doppler frequency shifts to which are subjected the acoustic signals received in the main lobe and in the secondary lobes are different and the frequency spectrum of the signals received is enlarged. The measured value of the central frequency of the frequency spectrum of the received signals is subject to a systematic error due to the unsymmetry of the spectrum, resulting in an inaccuracy of the determination of the vehicle velocity and of the distance it travels.
The invention has for object a sensor device whose arrangement and method of use make it possible to avoid the above-mentioned drawbacks. The device comprises at least one pair of transducer assemblies for transmitting and receiving acoustic waves, the transducers of each assembly being regularly spaced and oriented in a direction parallel to a given axis. The axes of both assemblies are arranged symmetrically with respect to a vertical line. The device also includes means for generating transmission signals.
The device is remarkable in that the spacing between the transducers of each assembly is so selected that the length of the projection of said spacing on a vertical line is equal to a whole number of wave lengths of the transmitted acoustic waves.
In addition, it comprises means for transmitting the transmission signals to both transducer assemblies, in phase opposition.
Other characteristics and advantages of the device will be made apparent from the description of a non-limitative embodiment of the invention, given with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:
FIG. 1 diagrammatically shows a transducer assembly or network;
FIG. 2 diagrammatically shows the position of the two networks with respect to a vertical axis;
FIG. 3 diagrammatically shows the envelope curve of the frequency spectrum of the received acoustic signals;
FIG. 4 diagrammatically shows the position of the main “lines” of the frequency spectrum in the case where both transducer assemblies transmit signals in phase opposition and are balanced;
FIG. 5 diagrammatically shows the arrangement of two transducer assemblies for small shifts;
FIG. 6 diagrammatically shows the position of the main “lines” of the frequency spectrum in the case where both transducer assemblies transmit signals in phase opposition and are unbalanced; and
FIG. 7 diagrammatically shows elements for combining signals generated by a compensating sensor with the received signals, and
FIG. 8 diagrammatically shows the elements for generating, transmitting, and balancing the signals supplied to the transducer assemblies.
The sensor assembly shown in FIG. 1 comprises a network 1 of transducers whose axes are parallel.
Transducers 2 are placed at regular intervals a on a frame 3 which may be secured to a vehicle. The network may also be two-dimensional i.e. the transducers may be arranged on the whole surface of a rectangular frame.
Two networks, each comprising for example five transducers, diagrammatically shown on FIG. 2 as source-points S.sub.1, S.sub.2 . . . S.sub.5 and S’.sub.1, S’.sub.2 . . . S’.sub.5, are secured onto the vehicle.
The main transmission axes of the transducers, i.e. their symmetrical axes, are at an angle .alpha. with respect to a vertical line.
The amplitude of the acoustic waves transmitted by the network in a direction at an angle .beta. with respect to the transmission axes of the transducers, is given by the well-known relationship: ##EQU1## wherein: .lambda. is the wave length of the transmitted acoustic waves,
a is the common distance between the transducers, and
k is a proportionality coefficient, and n is the number of transducers.
The direction diagram of the networks corresponding to relationship (1) comprises a main transmission lobe A whose axis is the main transmission axis and lateral lobes B,B’, C,C’ etc . . . symmetrically oriented with respect to the main transmission axis and having successive amplitude maxima decreasing rapidly along directions .beta..sub.1, .beta..sub.2 etc . . .
Let f.sub.o be the frequency of the transmitted acoustic waves. The frequency of the echoes of the transmitted waves on the reference surface is not the same when the acoustic energy is transmitted in the main transmission lobe or in the lateral lobes.
In the case of a network inclined with respect to a vertical line in a direction opposite to the moving direction of the vehicle, the frequencies of the echoes of the signals transmitted along the axes of the main lobe A and of the lateral lobes B, C, located between the main transmission axis and the vertical axis, are respectively f.sub.1, f.sub.2, f.sub.3 etc . . . The frequency f.sub.3 is higher than f.sub.o when the projection of the axes of lobe C on the horizontal line is oriented in the direction of movement.
The envelope W(f) of the frequency spectrum of the echoes of the transmitted signals (FIG. 3) comprises relative maximum values W.sub.2 and W.sub.3 respectively corresponding to frequencies f.sub.2 and f.sub.3.
The frequency spectrum of the echoes of the acoustic signals transmitted from the network arranged symmetrically with respect to a vertical line, is symmetrical with respect to frequency f.sub.o and comprises relative frequency maxima f’.sub.1, f’.sub.2, f’.sub.3 etc . . .
As the received acoustic energy decreases with the propagation time and, accordingly, with the inclination of the transmission axes with respect to a vertical line, the echoes of the signals transmitted from the lateral lobes B’ and C’ are substantially weaker than those corresponding to lobes B and C and the envelope of the frequency spectrum will not be symmetrical.
The envelope will have a greater amplitude for the frequencies within the range from f.sub.o to f.sub.1. It results that the Doppler measurement corresponding to the values of the function: ##EQU2## will be disturbed by the presence of relative maximum values f.sub.2 and f.sub.3 particularly; the result of the measurement limited to the effect of f.sub.1 and f.sub.2 is substantially disturbed by the relative amplitude of the two lines.
In order to nullify the effects of the secondary lobes, the method of the invention consists of:
in a first step bringing the first secondary lobe f.sub.2 along a vertical direction so as to make the frequency of the echoes of the transmitted signals in said lobe independent from the vehicle velocity.
In order to obtain this result, the spacing between the transducers is so selected that the first lateral maximum of relationship (1) occurs for a value of .beta. equal to .alpha., i.e. when:
n being a positive integer
The spacing a is selected equal to ##EQU3## In practice the angle .alpha. will be preferably selected equal to 30.degree. and the spacing between the transducers is proportional to twice the transmission wave length;
in a second step, reducing as much as possible the amplitude of the “line” not involved in the Doppler effect, i.e. the energy transmitted along a vertical direction. The “line” f.sub.o will disappear in the received echo when said energy is nullified.
The amplitude A’ of the acoustic signals transmitted from each of the networks along a direction inclined at an angle .alpha. with respect to the vertical axis and received at a distance r from the network, is:
A being defined as in relationship (1)
k, I.sub.o, b and a being respectively the coefficient of reflection on the reference surface, the sound intensity transmitted in the direction thereof, a coefficient ranging from 2 to 4 and an absorption coefficient.
The resulting amplitude transmitted from the two networks along a direction perpendicular to the reference surface and received at a distance r may be written:
i.sub.1 and I.sub.2 being the intensities respectively transmitted from the two networks.
In order to cancel “line” f.sub.o, the method of the invention consists of using networks symmetrical with respect to the vertical axis, whose first lateral lobes are equivalent, and controlling these networks of transducers so that they transmit signals in phase opposition (FIG. 4). A dephaser will be incorporated to the transmission device.
When the two networks are operated in phase opposition, it may happen that the energy transmitted along certain directions and, in particular, along the directions of the main transmission axes, be of reduced level.
In order to avoid this drawback, the distance D between the centers of the networks is so selected as to result in a phase combination of the acoustic signals transmitted along the main transmission axes, so that the following relationship be complied with:
m being an integer.
When angle .alpha. is chosen equal to 30.degree., D is chosen equal to (2m + 1).
The two networks of transducers fed in phase opposition and spaced at a distance D will produce interferences. However, when number m is naught, i.e. when D is equal to .lambda., no useful interference occurs between the signals except along directions parallel to the axes of the main lobes of the two transducer networks. Along directions close to the vertical axis, the signals transmitted from the two networks are in phase opposition.
When the amplitude of the acoustic signals transmitted within the two secondary lobes oriented along the vertical axis are not identical, it suffices, in the case where D is equal to .lambda., to associate to the transmitting device a device for balancing the amplitude so as to nullify the acoustic energy received along the vertical axis.
When number m is different from O, there may exist directions close to a vertical line and included in the transmission-reception angle of the two secondary lobes of vertical axes, for which the acoustic signals transmitted from the two networks usefully interfere and the compensation is only partial (FIG. 6). It is then possible to obtain the extinction of the signals received along the vertical direction by means of a simple balancing device.
In order to obtain a nullification there is used an additional very directional compensation sensor whose reception axis is vertical. Its reception angle must at most be equal to 2 .alpha.. It may consist of a linear network preferably comprising an even number of transducers. The network is placed vertically under the vehicle. The spacing d between the transducers of this network is so selected that the direction diagram shows a maximum along the vertical line and a minimum along directions close to the main transmission directions of the two networks. Both conditions result in the following relationships:
p and q being integers.
There can be deduced, consequently: ##EQU4##
The values of p and q are so selected that angle .beta. is close to angle .alpha.. In the case where .alpha. is equal to 30.degree., there can be selected for example:
The network senses the acoustic signals Es arriving in the vicinity of the vertical axis and resulting from interferences.
For obtaining a nullification of signals Es in the receiving device, these signals are respectively added to the Doppler signals E.sub.D1 and E.sub.D2 received in the main lobes, in summing devices 4 and 5 (FIG. 7). The signals delivered by these summing devices are treated in measuring devices 6, 7, of a known type, determining the distance travelled by the vehicle in relation with the Doppler frequency shift having an effect upon the acoustic signals received by each of the networks and then added in a summing device 8.
The transmission, reception and measuring devices may advantageously by selected of the type described in the U.S. Pat. No. 3,781,774. Thus, as shown in FIG. 8, the system for generating transmission signals includes an oscillator 17 providing a transmission signal to a modulator 9 which controls two power generators 10 and 11 through a balance member 16 comprising a potentiometer, for example. The power generators are connected with the transducer assemblies 1a and 1b through two transformers 12 and 13 respectively. In order to feed the transmission signals in phase opposition, the connection of transducer assemblies 1a and 1b with the secondary windings of their respective transformers 12 and 13 are reversed with respect to each other.
* * * * *
Source: patents.com
Hospitals and airplanes ban the use of cell phones, because their electromagnetic transmissions can interfere with sensitive electrical devices. Could the brain also fall into that category? Of course, all our thoughts, sensations and actions arise from bioelectricity generated by neurons and transmitted through complex neural circuits inside our skull. Electrical signals between neurons generate electric fields that radiate out of brain tissue as electrical waves that can be picked up by electrodes touching a person’s scalp. Measurements of such brainwaves in EEGs provide powerful insight into brain function and a valuable diagnostic tool for doctors. Indeed, so fundamental are brainwaves to the internal workings of the mind, they have become the ultimate, legal definition drawing the line between life and death.
Brainwaves change with a healthy person’s conscious and unconscious mental activity and state of arousal. But scientists can do more with brainwaves than just listen in on the brain at work-they can selectively control brain function by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). This technique uses powerful pulses of electromagnetic radiation beamed into a person’s brain to jam or excite particular brain circuits.
Although a cell phone is much less powerful than TMS, the question still remains: Could the electrical signals coming from a phone affect certain brainwaves operating in resonance with cell phone transmission frequencies? After all, the caller’s cerebral cortex is just centimeters away from radiation broadcast from the phone’s antenna. Two studies provide some revealing news.
The first, led by Rodney Croft, of the Brain Science Institute, Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia, tested whether cell phone transmissions could alter a person’s brainwaves. The researchers monitored the brainwaves of 120 healthy men and women while a Nokia 6110 cell phone—one of the most popular cell phones in the world—was strapped to their head. A computer controlled the phone’s transmissions in a double-blind experimental design, which meant that neither the test subject nor researchers knew whether the cell phone was transmitting or idle while EEG data were collected. The data showed that when the cell phone was transmitting, the power of a characteristic brain-wave pattern called alpha waves in the person’s brain was boosted significantly. The increased alpha wave activity was greatest in brain tissue directly beneath to the cell phone, strengthening the case that the phone was responsible for the observed effect.
Alpha Waves of Brain
Alpha waves fluctuate at a rate of eight to 12 cycles per second (Hertz). These brainwaves reflect a person’s state of arousal and attention. Alpha waves are generally regarded as an indicator of reduced mental effort, “cortical idling” or mind wandering. But this conventional view is perhaps an oversimplification. Croft, for example, argues that the alpha wave is really regulating the shift of attention between external and internal inputs. Alpha waves increase in power when a person shifts his or her consciousness of the external world to internal thoughts; they also are the key brainwave signatures of sleep.
Cell Phone Insomnia
If cell phone signals boost a person’s alpha waves, does this nudge them subliminally into an altered state of consciousness or have any effect at all on the workings of their mind that can be observed in a person’s behavior? In the second study, James Horne and colleagues at the Loughborough University Sleep Research Centre in England devised an experiment to test this question. The result was surprising. Not only could the cell phone signals alter a person’s behavior during the call, the effects of the disrupted brain-wave patterns continued long after the phone was switched off.
“This was a completely unexpected finding,” Horne told me. “We didn’t suspect any effect on EEG [after switching off the phone]. We were interested in studying the effect of mobile phone signals on sleep itself.” But it quickly became obvious to Horne and colleagues in preparing for the sleep-research experiments that some of the test subjects had difficulty falling asleep.
Horne and his colleagues controlled a Nokia 6310e cell phone—another popular and basic phone—attached to the head of 10 healthy but sleep-deprived men in their sleep research lab. (Their sleep had been restricted to six hours the previous night.) The researchers then monitored the men’s brainwaves by EEG while the phone was switched on and off by remote computer, and also switched between “standby,” “listen” and “talk” modes of operation for 30 minute intervals on different nights. The experiment revealed that after the phone was switched to “talk” mode a different brain-wave pattern, called delta waves (in the range of one to four Hertz), remained dampened for nearly one hour after the phone was shut off. These brainwaves are the most reliable and sensitive marker of stage two sleep—approximately 50 percent of total sleep consists of this stage—and the subjects remained awake twice as long after the phone transmitting in talk mode was shut off. Although the test subjects had been sleep-deprived the night before, they could not fall asleep for nearly one hour after the phone had been operating without their knowledge.
Although this research shows that cell phone transmissions can affect a person’s brainwaves with persistent effects on behavior, Horne does not feel there is any need for concern that cell phones are damaging. The arousal effects the researchers measured are equivalent to about half a cup of coffee, and many other factors in a person’s surroundings will affect a night’s sleep as much or more than cell phone transmissions.
“The significance of the research,” he explained, is that although the cell phone power is low, “electromagnetic radiation can nevertheless have an effect on mental behavior when transmitting at the proper frequency.” He finds this fact especially remarkable when considering that everyone is surrounded by electromagnetic clutter radiating from all kinds of electronic devices in our modern world. Cell phones in talk mode seem to be particularly well-tuned to frequencies that affect brainwave activity. “The results show sensitivity to low-level radiation to a subtle degree. These findings open the door by a crack for more research to follow. One only wonders if with different doses, durations, or other devices, would there be greater effects?”
Croft of Swinburne emphasizes that there are no health worries from these new findings. “The exciting thing about this research is that it allows us to have a look at how you might modulate brain function and this [look] tells us something about how the brain works on a fundamental level.” In other words, the importance of this work is in illuminating the fundamental workings of the brain-scientists can now splash away with their own self-generated electromagnetic waves and learn a great deal about how brainwaves respond and what they do.
Mind Matters is edited by Jonah Lehrer, the science writer behind the blog The Frontal Cortex and the book Proust was a Neuroscientist.
BuyBackAmericaYouthRadio-TruthIsRevolutionary_f..> 17-Dec-2010 01:09 866
BuyBackAmericaYouthRadio-TruthIsRevolutionary_m..> 17-Dec-2010 01:09 761
BuyBackAmericaYouthWikiLeaksAnonymous.m4a 17-Dec-2010 01:07 30604750
Ziggy Marley | Love is My Religion Video HQ (by ziggymarleycom)
High Quality version of Ziggy’s Video for Love is My Religion!
Source: youtube.com
(RawStory) – Twenty-five fighters killed, wounded near Afghan-Pakistan border in retaliatory strike – Read More Here
(GlobalResearch) – SYRIA: Who is Behind The Protest Movement? Fabricating a Pretext for a US-NATO “Humanitarian Intervention” – Prof. Michel Chossudovsky – Read More Here
Osama News
(IntelHub) – Latest Fake Osama Picture Making The Rounds – Read More Here
(LandDestroyer) – Bin Laden Hoax to Expand War – Globalist think-tanks are already building a case against Pakistan – Read More Here
(WashingtonsBlog) – No, Bin Laden’s Death Does NOT Justify Torture – Read More Here
(DailyMail) – Body Scanners, Airport Harassment to INCREASE After Bin Laden Death – Read More Here
(RussiaToday) – Video: Bin Laden media hysteria
The mainstream media has been dominated today with coverage of the death of Osama Bin Laden. In the bigger picture, however, what role does his passing play? Will this end al-Qaeda? Will it end the wars? Filmmaker Danny Schecter debates the effect of the assassination of Bin Laden on America and the message that the media is missing out on. Video Link Here
(NationalJournal) – Experts question strength of OBL DNA identification – Read More Here
(CNSNews) – You Got Bin Laden, Now Get Out of the Region, Islamists Tell U.S. – Read More Here
(ZeroHedge) – As Pentagon Releases Details Of Osama Compound, Iran Claims bin Laden Killed Due To Risk Of Leaking Joint US-Al Qaeda Operations – Tyler Durden – Read More Here
(Excavator) – Obama’s Announcement Of Osama Bin Laden’s Death Is A Mass Psyop – Read More Here
(Infowars) – Obama Ready to Release Photo of Dead Osama Today – Read More Here
(CNN) – Gory Osama Death Photo Shows Massive Head Wound Across Both Eyes – Read More Here
(SteveWatson) – EPIC FAIL: The US Government’s History Of Fake Bin Laden Tapes
With this track record how can anyone trust anything the White House says about Osama? Read More Here
(PaulWatson) – The Dead Bin Laden Photo Does Nothing To Address These Facts
Establishment will claim that images “put conspiracy theories to bed,” when ‘conspiracy theorists’ have in fact been saying Osama has been dead for years Read More Here
(KurtNimmo) – Pakistan Could Be Linked To OBL – But The CIA Defninitely Is – Read More Here
(IBT) – Pakistani stocks, economy in jeopardy after Bin Laden death – Read More Here
(WashingtonPost) – Washington Post: Report of bin Laden’s death spurs questions from conspiracy theorists – Read More Here
(Politico) – White House Struggles To Get Its Lies Straight In Telling Bin Laden Fairytale – Read More Here
(PaulWatson) – Media Builds Strawman Argument Around Dead OBL Photos – Read More Here
(PaulWatson) – Obama Shamefully Exploits Bin Laden Fairytale In Transparent PR Stunt – Read More Here
(AlJazeera) – Video: Bin Laden’s Neighbour: “None Of This Is True” – Video Link Here
(KurtNimmo) – CIA Employs Theatrics to Heighten Drama in Osama Murder Photo Release – Read More Here
(PaulWatson) – Forget Pakistan, US Knew Bin Laden’s Location All Along – Read More Here
(MattRyan) – More Fake Photos of a Dead bin Laden and Son Circulate the Web – Read More Here
DETROIT — Federal investigators in Detroit have taken the rare step of obtaining search warrants that give them access to Facebook accounts of suspected criminals.
The warrants let investigators view photographs, email addresses, cell phone numbers, lists of friends who might double as partners in crime, and see GPS locations that could help disprove alibis.
There have been a few dozen search warrants for Facebook accounts nationwide since May 2009, including three approved recently by a federal magistrate judge in Detroit, according to a Detroit News analysis of publicly available federal court records.
The trend raises privacy and evidentiary concerns in a rapidly evolving digital age and illustrates the potential law-enforcement value of social media, experts said.
Locally, Facebook accounts have been seized by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and FBI to investigate more than a dozen gang members and accused bank robber Anthony Wilson of Detroit.
“To be honest with you, it bothers me,” said Wilson, 25, who was indicted Tuesday on bank robbery charges after the FBI compared Facebook photos with images taken from a bank surveillance video. “Facebook could have let me know what was going on. Instead, I got my door kicked down, and all of a sudden I’m in handcuffs.”
Federal investigators defend the practice. “With technology today, we would be crazy not to look at every avenue,” said Special Agent Donald Dawkins, spokesman with the ATF in Detroit.
The FBI suspected Wilson was behind a string of bank robberies across Metro Detroit that netted more than $6,300. Special Agent Juan Herrera said an informant told the FBI about Wilson’s Facebook account. It was registered under the name “Anthony Mrshowoff Wilson.”
In several photos on Facebook, Wilson was wearing a blue baseball hat and blue hooded sweatshirt, both featuring a Polo emblem. That’s the same outfit the FBI said the suspect wore when he stole $390 from a Bank of America Branch in Grosse Pointe Woods on Nov. 26, according to federal court records.
His Facebook photos also included one in which Wilson wore a red Philadelphia Phillies baseball hat, which the FBI said Wilson donned while robbing $1,363 from a PNC Bank branch in St. Clair Shores on Dec. 21, according to court records.
On Jan. 26, U.S. Magistrate Judge Virginia Morgan gave approval for the FBI to seize information from Wilson’s Facebook account. The warrant was executed within four hours.
Facebook gave the FBI Wilson’s contact information, including birth date, cell phone number, friends, incoming and outgoing messages, and photos.
Wilson was charged in a criminal complaint Feb. 7 and indicted Tuesday on five bank robbery charges. He is free on a $10,000 unsecured bond.
“I’m innocent until proven guilty,” Wilson told The Detroit News. “They’re basically going off my clothes. Ralph Lauren is a popular clothing line.”
He’s since updated his Facebook photo. Wilson swapped the blue Polo hat and blue Polo sweatshirt for white ones featuring the iconic Polo horse.
Despite the search warrants, his Facebook information page was still public Thursday.
Technology challenging
Morgan, the federal magistrate judge, also approved two search warrant requests from the ATF late last year and in February to search the accounts of at least 16 people suspected of belonging to a Detroit area gang. The affidavit justifying the search remains sealed in federal court.
Even with the access, investigators are having a hard time keeping up with high-tech crooks. In February, an FBI official testified before a House subcommittee about the difficulty accessing electronic communications on social media sites and email even with court approval.
“The FBI and other government agencies are facing a potentially widening gap between our legal authority to intercept electronic communications pursuant to court order and our practical ability to actually intercept those communications,” FBI General Counsel Valerie Caproni testified.
Monitoring real-time Web-based conversations is particularly difficult, she said.
The FBI uses the term “Going Dark” to label the gap between having the authority to access electronic communications and the Internet service providers’ capability to gather the information. “This gap poses a growing threat to public safety,” Caproni testified.
Concerns over privacy
Information gleaned from the Internet raises constitutional and evidentiary issues that must be considered, including privacy and the right against unreasonable searches and seizures, said Chief U.S. District Judge Gerald E. Rosen, who also is an evidence professor at Wayne State University. Evidence obtained from the Internet and social media sites also raises issues about whether the information can be authenticated, he said.
“The Internet is the next frontier for the development of Fourth Amendment law,” Rosen said, referring to the amendment protecting against unreasonable searches and seizures.
A Facebook spokesman said the company receives a “significant volume of third-party data requests” that are reviewed individually for “legal sufficiency.”
“We do not comment publicly on data requests, even when we disclose the request to the user. We have this policy to respect privacy and avoid the risk that even acknowledging the existence of a request could wrongly harm the reputation of an individual,” said Andrew Noyes, Facebook manager of public policy communications. “We never turn over ’content’ records in response to U.S. legal process unless that process is a search warrant reviewed by a judge. We are required to regularly push back against overbroad requests for user records, but in most cases we are able to convince the party issuing legal process to withdraw the overbroad request, but if they do not, we fight the matter in court (and have a history of success in those cases.)”
Spokeswomen for the U.S. Attorney’s Office and FBI declined to discuss techniques used by investigators.
It is unclear exactly how many search warrants have been executed for Facebook accounts. But requests - in Maryland , New York , North Carolina , Virginia , California , Pennsylvania , Montana and Alabama - come amid a backlash from users who complained too much of their personal information was being disclosed .
The San Francisco-based Electronic Frontier Foundation , a digital civil liberties organization based in San Francisco, launched a campaign recently to encourage Facebook and others to disclose when and how often law-enforcement agencies request user account information.
In some ways, all the uproar about Apple saving location data on its iOS device users is old news. Guess what? Big Brother, or Big Google, also collects geo-location information from its mobile, Android-powered devices. It’s like anything else in computing: geo-location can provide great services and resources, but it can also be abused.
Take, for example, a woman who was recently robbed in Texas. Using her stolen iPhone, police officers were able to quickly find not only her stolen phone, but her wedding ring as well. Yea!
On the other hand, say another woman is in an abusive relationship and goes to a friend’s house or to a “safe-house” shelter. Her husband tracks her down using her smartphone and literally drags her back “home.”
That last case isn’t fiction. My friend Angela, a Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP) tells me, “I teach tech-safety courses for domestic-violence survivors. This scenario has a probability of 1. In the two years I’ve been teaching, we’ve had multiple instances of abusers using hidden GPS-Bluetooth phone combinations to track vehicles, which sort of totally sucks when the vehicle is now parked at a ‘secret’ women’s shelter.”
“Worse, the use of phone ‘family’ plans and fancy smartphones are among the most difficult issues we face in the teaching process,” Angela said. “Most of the women we see are in desperate financial straits; often there’s no money for any sort of mobile plan (and we’ll leave aside the whole getting-an-account-set-up-under-those-circumstances thing), let alone for a decent phone. Realistically, they know they have to dump the gadget and the plan and so forth, but practically? With so much else happening? Argh.”
How about wanting the local cops to know where you’ve been for the last two weeks? Police already have the technology to grab GPS location data from smartphones including latitude, longitude, altitude and time data. They don’t need sophisticated forensics equipment. In Michigan, cops can do it in a roadside traffic stop in a few minutes.
The cops or the jealous ex don’t even need to get their hands on your smartphone or tablet. Both Apple and Google regularly pull down your location data. Apple, it seems, does it twice a day, while Google updates your location several times an hour.
Why do they need continual access to this information? Beats me. Advertising is what comes first to mind, but do they really need to know where I am around the clock to make sure I get local ads? It strikes me as overkill.
And here’s the part that really worries me. What stops someone from snatching that location data out of the air over the Wi-Fi or 3G/4G network? Do we want a government, say Syria, using this information to track down protesters seen at a recent demonstration? Might Syria’s dictatorship be doing just that with its recent pinpoint kidnapping of activists?
I know there are people who don’t consider it a big deal that Big Companies potentially knows their every move.. I do. There’s a huge difference between information that you opt to give a company when you buy their product or click on a Web ad, and information that flows to them whenever your device is turned on.
Sure, you can opt out by refusing to grant any geo-location app permission to run, but that’s not a viable answer. That’s throwing out the baby with the bathwater.
The real answer, the better answer, is for Apple and Google to keep only a brief log of where you’ve been, and to stop transmitting this data to the home office. The applications don’t need this comprehensive information; the companies don’t need it, even if they want it; and the potential harm that can result from using the information far outweighs the benefits. Do the right thing, Apple and Google: Get out of the Big Brother business.
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iOS is watching you … always watching!
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