Terrorist Incidents: Statistics

August 3, 2008 — 585

A report into the economic impact of terrorism incidents, published in2006 by the Milken Institute found that there was no a strong link between terrorist acts, in general, and a long term effect on terrorism.

However, and perhaps more relevant to this site, it reported that:

“During the past 35 years, the world has witnessed nearly 20,000 terrorist incidents…..These incidents have resulted in more than 90,000 casualties worldwide” The report pulled on data the MIPT – Memorial Institute for Prevention of Terrorism

With a sudden increase in data collection, new laws, and new powers from DNA to fingerprints, to CCTV and extradition, following one terrorism incident, it is useful to put this in perspective. How one terrorist incident changed the concept of human rights for the rest of the world, where as the other 88,000 deaths, and 19,999 incidents didn’t

Posted in Terrorism. Tags: , . No Comments »

US-VISIT – Dossiers on all visitors

August 3, 2008 — 585

The U.S. Government is now investing 15 billion dollars to create dossiers on all visitors to
the U.S.

Original Source – GAO. 2004. Data Mining: Federal Efforts Cover a Wide Range of uses, GAO-04-548, May.

Link

Posted in Terrorism, data retention. Tags: . No Comments »

Mistaken Identity: Brandon Mayfield

August 3, 2008 — 585

On 6th May 2004 US Citizen Brandon Mayfield  was arrested by the FBI as the primary suspect responsible for the the Madrid Bombings. The detention was based on a single, imperfect finger print, which the FBI did not see the original of, despite being given the opportunity by the Spanish police. Brandon was released on 21st May 2004, two days after the Spanish police had identified the correct suspect, Ouhane Daoud.

On the 13th March 2004 when the FBI first searched their database “AFIS” – Automatic Fingerprint Identification Search”, the result was negative, and they asked for a new, better quality image, which they received on the following day, on 14th March.

On 15th March 2004, 20 “matches” were found during the search – 20 were found as the search was programmed to limit it do 20 – i.e it could/would have many more, if it had not been limited to 20 people.

Brandon Mayfield was ranked number 4 on the search. However details of the 20 people identified in the search were extracted and background checks made. Brandon Mayfield has the following Bio:

American citizen born in Oregon and reared in Kansas. He lives with his wife and three children in Aloha, Oregon, a suburb of Portland. Mayfield was 38 years old, a former Army officer with an honorable discharge, and a practicing Oregon lawyer. However his faith is listed as Muslim.

On April 13, 2004, the Spanish National Police provided a written report to the FBI concluding that Mayfield’s fingerprints did no match the scene of crime.

The FBI continued to investigate Brandon Mayfield, including bugging his house, etc, then on 6th May 2004 Bradon was eventually arrested, he was put in solitary confinement, his family told the evidence was “100%” and leaks to the press about the guilt of Brandon were made.

On 19th May 2004 the Spanish Police correctly identified who the fingerprint belonged to, an Algerian called -Ouhane Daoud.However the FBI continued to detain Brandon until the 21st – when the story made the news. Even then Brandon was still placed under home arrest until 24th May, when the FBI finally released him.

This case, along with the case of David Asbury, shows how large amounts of data, and fingerprints in particular, can and are misused.

Links:

The Register

FBI Statement

US Court Report

Posted in Fingerprint Scanners, Terrorism. Tags: , , . No Comments »

Mistaken Identity: Khaled el Masri

August 3, 2008 — 585

In late 2003 Khaled el Masri, a German citizen, left Ulm, Germany, for holiday in Skopje, in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

On 31 December 2003, he was stopped at the border between Serbia and Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

According to Khaled el Masri he was then detained the CIA in a hotel for 3 weeks, then on 23rd January 2004 he was transferred to Afghanistan on a CIA Boeing 737

Khaled el Masri states that he was then detained in solitary confinement for another 4 months In Afghanistan. He was later released with out charge.

Initially the case was denied by the German government (in November 2005). However, later evidence was provided that showed that he was detained and taken to Afghanistan.

This information included:

  • Passports stamps
  • Isotopes in Khaled el Masri hair that showed he had been in Afghanistan at the time in question

Then in December 2005 the US admitted the incident to the German Chancellor.

Source

Posted in Data Misuse, Terrorism. Tags: , . No Comments »

Mistaken Identity: Maher Arar

August 3, 2008 — 585

In September 2002, Maher Arar, a Canadian citizen, who had been living in Canada since 1987 was returning from a holiday in Tunisia via New York’s Kennedy airport. He was detained at JFK airport and and accused of having links with Al Qaeda and was arrested and detained for 13 days.

On 8 October 2002 Maher Arar was served with an expulsion order issued by the Immigration Court and then handed over the CIA. He was then transferred to Jordan on a private Gulfstream jet (which went via Rome, Italy). Maher Arar was then transferred into Syrian custody and held in a Damascus prison under the control of the Syrian security services.

Maher Arar was then tortured for a year, physical and psychological torture.

He was later released without any charge against him. He is now living in free in Canada.
On 5 February 2004 the Canadian Government set up a commission of inquiry , chaired by Justice O’Connor to investigate the actions of Canadian officials in the Arar cas. In October the same year the O’Connor Commission confirmed that Arar had been tortured in Syria

Source

Posted in Data Misuse, Terrorism. Tags: , , . No Comments »

2003 Report into the Anti Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2000

August 2, 2008 — 585

In December 2003 a Newton Committee Report in the Anti Terrorism , Crime and Security Act 2000 (ATCS)  (which is required by law)  made several clear statements about the over use of powers by governments.

It stated that:

“Giving the authorities untrammelled powers to exercise against suspected terrorists may seem reasonable in the heat of the moment, until they are exercised against the wrong people (perhaps through mistaken identity rather than mischief) and those at the wrong end of them find that the procedures for redress are inadequate. The case of the 72-year-old British man held in a South African prison for nearly three weeks in an identity
mix-up by the FBI earlier this year illustrates the point in a non-terrorist context.

The report also states that:

“Nor do more extensive powers always lead to greater public safety. The East German Government may have had files on a quarter of their population, but it failed to predict or prevent its own demise.”

Original Report

Report on Government Website

Posted in Data Misuse, Terrorism, UK Law. Tags: , , , . No Comments »

Reports into the Anti Terrorism Act 2000

August 2, 2008 — 585

Section 122 of the Anti-Terrorism and Security Act 2001 and one states that there must be a “review of the Act” and that a report must be produced.

Section 122, Review of Act

(1) The Secretary of State shall appoint a committee to conduct a review of this Act.

(2) He must seek to secure that at any time there are not fewer than seven members of the committee.

(3) A person may be a member of the committee only if he is a member of the Privy Council.

(4) The committee shall complete the review and send a report to the Secretary of State not later than the end of two years beginning with the day on which this Act is passed.

(5) The Secretary of State shall lay a copy of the report before Parliament as soon as is reasonably practicable.

(6) The Secretary of State may make payments to persons appointed as members of the committee.

Posted in Terrorism. Tags: . No Comments »

Report on the operation of the terrorism act 2000

August 2, 2008 — 585

In June 2007 Lord Carlile of Berriew, Q.C. produced a report entitled” REPORT ON THE OPERATION IN

2006 OF THE TERRORISM ACT 2000″ in this he made several comments about the Terrorism Act 2000, one of the more interesting comments is made on page 73 of the report, it states “significant amendment introduced by ATCSA2001 allowed authorisation for the obtaining from a detained person of fingerprints, restricted to cases of refusal of identity or where there are reasonable grounds to doubt the claimed identity. Used fairly, this is a proportional and reasonable provision, and should work adequately.Three years ago I recommended that statistics should be kept by the Home Office of the use of this power. Frustratingly, I have yet to be provided with them: they should now be made available.”

Full Report

Posted in Fingerprint Scanners, Terrorism, UK Law. Tags: , , . No Comments »

More bodyscanners in the US

July 27, 2008 — 585

The US are to increase the number of “body scanners” at airports, which give the operator a “naked image” of person being examined from 40 to 120.

The devices can cause controversy as the allow the images of a person to be take that they probably would not normally want to be taken.

Bloomberg Article

The U.S. Transportation Security Administration will triple the number of devices at airports that can detect bombs under airline passengers’ clothing.

The purchase of 80 so-called Passenger Imager machines will bring the total in use next year to 120 at 21 airports, agency spokesman Christopher White said today.

The imagers are produced by L-3 Communications Holdings Inc., OSI Systems Inc.’s Rapiscan unit and American Science & Engineering Inc. The TSA hasn’t yet decided which vendors it will use or how much it will spend, White said in an interview.

Posted in CCTV, Data Misuse, Terrorism. Tags: , , , . No Comments »

NSA Builds Database of All Phone Calls (2006)

July 7, 2008 — 585
The National Security Agency (equivalent of the UK GCHQ) has secretly collected the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans, using data provided by AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth.
Full Article
This program, unlike Echelon, does not monitor content, but instead is a very large database that uses patterns of calls, as it builds up a complete list of who is talking to who. It is currently the biggest type of database in the world, and has the intention of containing information about every call made in the US.
Out of all the big telecommunications companies in the US only Qwest has refused to help the NSA – as the NSA was demanding the information without a warrant.
Posted in Terrorism. Tags: , . No Comments »
« Older posts
Newer posts »