how far is to far?

[alkemical]

http://www.nbc11.com/news/10328455/detail.html

Video Shows UCLA Police Using Stun Gun On Student

LOS ANGELES -- A cell phone captured video of a 23-year-old student being administered multiple Taser shocks by UCLA police on Tuesday.

The UCLA student was hit with the Taser shocks multiple times while he was in the Powell Library Computer Lab.

Another student recorded the incident on a camera phone. On the video, Mostafa Tabatabainejad can be heard screaming during the incident, which took place at about 11:30 p.m., the Daily Bruin reported.

According to the paper, Tabatabainejad did not show ID to community service officers who were conducting a random check. UCLA police said Tabatabainejad was released by police after he was cited for obstruction/delay of a peace officer in the performance of duty.

The Daily Bruin reported that Tabatabainejad complained when an officer was escorting him from the lab and put his hand on one of Tabatabainejad's arms. He allegedly yelled, "Get off of me," according to the paper. He was then shot with the Taser, reported the paper.

The Daily Bruin reported that after he was hit, Tabatabainejad yelled, "Here's your Patriot Act, here's your f---ing abuse of power."

Police said they thought Tabatabainejad was not harmed in the incident.

"If he was able to walk out of here, I think he was OK," the sergeant said.

[TailgateNut]

I thought Tensi worked in NM???

[TheDave]

I thought Tensi worked in NM???

You mis-read the story... If it was Tensi it would of been

"Mall security guard Tasers own testicles while trying to apprehend local teenage hoodlum"

[TailgateNut]

I just about choked on a slice of orange! Thanks for the laugh!

[-Slap-]

Campus police, no less.

These tasers are dangerous business. People die from getting tasered by the cops all the time.

The idea is for tasers to provide police with a non lethal alternative to pulling their firearms. Unfortunately, this means police are much more likely to escalate force this way.

[alkemical]

that's more or less the direction i am going for Slap. When a 'non-leathal' alternative exists, how much quicker is it used?

[alkemical]

http://www.unknownnews.org/061112-dna.html

A criminal in the family casts suspicion on the whole family?
Feds relax safeguards on DNA evidence

by Sally Lehrman, Scientific American Nov. 12, 2006

If a sibling or other close relation of yours ever went to prison for more than a year, suspicion of criminal behavior now extends to you. The Federal Bureau of Investigation recently opened its forensic DNA database of felony offenders and certain other arrestees to allow states to share information that does not exactly match blood, semen or other crime scene evidence but may come close enough to finger a relative. Critics fear, however, that partial matches intrude on privacy and cast suspicion far too widely.

The FBI originally created the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) in 1990 to help investigators search among convicted sex offenders and other violent criminals for matches to evidence from unsolved crimes. Over the years, its use has rapidly widened to include other types of felons, juvenile offenders and some who committed misdemeanors. Five states can collect DNA from some arrests, whereas federal authorities may acquire biological samples from those who are arrested as well as from non-citizens who are detained. Nationally officials have compiled more than 3.6 million profiles based on 13 regions, or loci, of the human genome that vary among individual people.


(cont'd on site)

[Spider]

I thought Tensi worked in NM???

He does ....Roscoe P Coltrain of new Mexico at your service .....

[SteveTensi13]

I'd much rather use a Taser than pepper spray. Pepper spray affects last up to 1 hour after employment and quite possibly into the next day. Where as a Taser lasts only 5 seconds, you might be a little disoriented afterwards but not much more than that!

I like to call it "ride the lightning!" 50,000 volts of persuasion. Do as I say or suffer the consequences.

[Spider]

I'd much rather use a Taser than pepper spray. Pepper spray affects last up to 1 hour after employment and quite possibly into the next day. Where as a Taser lasts only 5 seconds, you might be a little disoriented afterwards but not much more than that!

I like to call it "ride the lightning!" 50,000 volts of persuasion. Do as I say or suffer the consequences.

you armed with anything is a bad idea

[alkemical]

So here is another question:

If the "state" pushes with agents who are more apt to use force, how does this effect the populous towards their feelings and reactions toward the state and it's employees?

[-Slap-]

that's more or less the direction i am going for Slap. When a 'non-leathal' alternative exists, how much quicker is it used?

Its a recipe for disaster. The potential for death increases dramatically when these "non-lethal" alternatives are employed on suspects who have unknown medical conditions. The odds an officer might encounter a suspect with drugs in their system are high and this is another problem. If a person's health is already compromised, these electric jolts (rarely is only one shock administered) can often prove fatal. These deaths are routinely attributed to the complicatiing factors and not the taser.

Poorly trained law enforcement officers, those in poor physical condition and idiots with a cowboy mentality http://www.orangemane.com/BB/image.php?u=1613&dateline=1161399516 are improperly using these devices and people are dying needlessly.

[alkemical]

Its a recipe for disaster. The potential for death increases dramatically when these "non-lethal" alternatives are employed on suspects who have unknown medical conditions. The odds an officer might encounter a suspect with drugs in their system are high and this is another problem. If a person's health is already compromised, these electric jolts (rarely is only one shock administered) can often prove fatal. These deaths are routinely attributed to the complicatiing factors and not the taser.

Poorly trained law enforcement officers, those in poor physical condition and idiots with a cowboy mentality http://www.orangemane.com/BB/image.php?u=1613&dateline=1161399516 are improperly using these devices and people are dying needlessly.



I see it as the domino effect upon that. Then people die, the cops get cleared - and it creates a dissent upon people.

I think the lack of respect works both ways. Give what you get....

[Smiling Assassin27]

The Daily Bruin perspective...

UCPD officers shot a student several times with a Taser inside the Powell Library CLICC computer lab late Tuesday night before taking him into custody.

No university police officers were available to comment further about the incident as of 3 a.m. Wednesday, and no Community Service Officers who were on duty at the time could be reached.

At around 11:30 p.m., CSOs asked a male student using a computer in the back of the room to leave when he was unable to produce a BruinCard during a random check. The student did not exit the building immediately.

The CSOs left, returning minutes later, and police officers arrived to escort the student out. By this time the student had begun to walk toward the door with his backpack when an officer approached him and grabbed his arm, at which point the student told the officer to let him go. A second officer then approached the student as well.

The student began to yell "get off me," repeating himself several times.

It was at this point that the officers shot the student with a Taser for the first time, causing him to fall to the floor and cry out in pain. The student also told the officers he had a medical condition.

UCPD officers confirmed that the man involved in the incident was a student, but did not give a name or any additional information about his identity.

Video shot from a student's camera phone captured the student yelling, "Here's your Patriot Act, here's your ****** abuse of power," while he struggled with the officers.

As the student was screaming, UCPD officers repeatedly told him to stand up and said "stop fighting us." The student did not stand up as the officers requested and they shot him with the Taser at least once more.

"It was the most disgusting and vile act I had ever seen in my life," said David Remesnitsky, a 2006 UCLA alumnus who witnessed the incident.

As the student and the officers were struggling, bystanders repeatedly asked the police officers to stop, and at one point officers told the gathered crowd to stand back and threatened to use a Taser on anyone who got too close.

Laila Gordy, a fourth-year economics student who was present in the library during the incident, said police officers threatened to shoot her with a Taser when she asked an officer for his name and his badge number.

Gordy was visibly upset by the incident and said other students were also disturbed.

"It's a shock that something like this can happen at UCLA," she said. "It was unnecessary what they did."

Immediately after the incident, several students began to contact local news outlets, informing them of the incident, and Remesnitsky wrote an e-mail to Interim Chancellor Norman Abrams.

[alkemical]

I should develop some type of vest that will short out the taser causing the cops to get shocked.

[orangenblue2]

Watch it for yourself. If you can stomach it...

http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/11/tasered-ucla-student-appears-to-be-of.html

[orangenblue2]

Claviculasolomonis - Sorry dude, I didn't realize that you had already posted a link to the video...

[alkemical]

No worries man - someone may have missed it from before.

[W*GS]

If you want to avoid getting tasered successfully, wear multiple layers, with a leather jacket. Those darts aren't as penetrative as the manufacturers claim.

Of course, a cop who attempts to taser you and fails will get out his sidearm.

Your call.

[alkemical]

well i guess it's settled, i have no choice but to either be electrocuted or shot.

[SteveTensi13]

Well, the way I look at it. I like my uniform nice and clean, I dont like rolling around in the dirt with some scumbag probably infected with aids or Hepetitis. So, if I can zap him BEFORE things get out of control so much better for me and them! Pull trigger, badguy falls to the guy twitching like a fish out of water, cuff him/her up, 10-98. I guess you guys would prefer I get out my expandable baton and flail on him/her like they were Rodney King.

I've been carrying my Taser for 2 years now and have used the prongs twice. I use the "dry stun" method more often. Which means you take off the cartridge and ram the Taser into someones gut and pull the trigger. Best used when in close quarters or when someone continues to resist that could cause injury or property damage.

[alkemical]

Wow, with cops like these, no wonder NWA & ICE-T had such hit songs... err anthems.

[defenseman]

The student should have quietly left. The students who felt offended, then they don't understand what a policeman is payed to do. IF, anyone does not capitulate wrt lawful orders from a peace officer, you get what you deserve. No exceptions. And, as long as excessive force isn't used, you'll never win a lawsuit. Just the way it is, it can be no other way wrt to officers of the law..dman

[TheDave]

The student should have quietly left. The students who felt offended, then they don't understand what a policeman is payed to do. IF, anyone does not capitulate wrt lawful orders from a peace officer, you get what you deserve. No exceptions. And, as long as excessive force isn't used, you'll never win a lawsuit. Just the way it is, it can be no other way wrt to officers of the law..dman

And there lies the potential problem...

[-Slap-]

Well, the way I look at it. I like my uniform nice and clean, I dont like rolling around in the dirt with some scumbag probably infected with aids or Hepetitis. So, if I can zap him BEFORE things get out of control so much better for me and them! Pull trigger, badguy falls to the guy twitching like a fish out of water, cuff him/her up, 10-98. I guess you guys would prefer I get out my expandable baton and flail on him/her like they were Rodney King.

I've been carrying my Taser for 2 years now and have used the prongs twice. I use the "dry stun" method more often. Which means you take off the cartridge and ram the Taser into someones gut and pull the trigger. Best used when in close quarters or when someone continues to resist that could cause injury or property damage.

I actually have a lot of respect for the job law enforcement officials perform. Your first response was very flippant and suggested you enjoying lighting people up as casually as you would a Marlboro, thus my response.

[Spider]

http://www.sitcomsonline.com/photopost/data/748/14261barneyfife-bullet.jpgWell, the way I look at it. I like my uniform nice and clean, I dont like rolling around in the dirt with some scumbag probably infected with aids or Hepetitis. So, if I can zap him BEFORE things get out of control so much better for me and them! Pull trigger, badguy falls to the guy twitching like a fish out of water, cuff him/her up, 10-98. I guess you guys would prefer I get out my expandable baton and flail on him/her like they were Rodney King.

I've been carrying my Taser for 2 years now and have used the prongs twice. I use the "dry stun" method more often. Which means you take off the cartridge and ram the Taser into someones gut and pull the trigger. Best used when in close quarters or when someone continues to resist that could cause injury or property damage.

[SteveTensi13]

I actually have a lot of respect for the job law enforcement officials perform. Your first response was very flippant and suggested you enjoying lighting people up as casually as you would a Marlboro, thus my response.

What I suggest you do is check with your local PD and see if they have a ride-along program. If they do, try a Friday or Saturday night around the end of the month or first of the month when the government checks come in. Then you will see first hand the **** we have to put up with.

I dont think my remarks were "flippant" at all, its reality. I was given a tool to use and use it as necessary. You are right though, I do not hesistate to use it all if I'm confronted by someone who wants to get physical or who is obstructing. The quicker I get a situation under control the less likely I have to use deadly force.

Police humor can be kinda harsh and gallow and sometimes offensive to civilians. Unless you're there you wouldnt understand. We joke about suicides, fatal car crashes, shootings, etc., helps to take the edge off.

[Bronco_Beerslug]

167 cases of death following stun-gun use

Robert Anglen
The Arizona Republic
Jan. 5, 2006 01:20 PM

The Arizona Republic, using computer searches, autopsy reports, police reports, media reports and Taser's own records, has identified 167 cases in the United States and Canada of death following a police Taser strike since September 1999. In 27 cases, medical examiners said Tasers were a cause, a contributing factor or could not be ruled out in someone's death. In 35 cases, coroners and other officials reported the stun gun was not a factor. Below is a synopsis of each case. The Republic requested autopsy reports for all of the cases and so far has received 50.
CONT (http://tinyurl.com/c9y9k)

[SteveTensi13]

Ok, well then lets do away with the Taser and go straight from "Stop in the name of the law!" to BAM! You're dead! and have no non-lethal system in between.

[Bronco Bob]

The student should have quietly left.



The CSOs left, returning minutes later, and police officers arrived to escort the student out. By this time the student had begun to walk toward the door with his backpack when an officer approached him and grabbed his arm, at which point the student told the officer to let him go. A second officer then approached the student as well.

[Spider]

Ok, well then lets do away with the Taser and go straight from "Stop in the name of the law!" to BAM! You're dead! and have no non-lethal system in between.

better brush up on the shooting Range there Roscoe

[Spider]

The CSOs left, returning minutes later, and police officers arrived to escort the student out. By this time the student had begun to walk toward the door with his backpack when an officer approached him and grabbed his arm, at which point the student told the officer to let him go. A second officer then approached the student as well.

well he did have a back pack , and he was in use of the school libary , to use this he has to obey the rules , one of the rules on campus is you are to show your student ID , He is clearly to blame as well as the libarian that allowed him in ...... Cops clearly went overboard , and they should be dealth with , but the student put himself in this position ....... No telling what he had oin that back pack ...........

[Bronco Bob]

well he did have a back pack , and he was in use of the school libary , to use this he has to obey the rules , one of the rules on campus is you are to show your student ID , He is clearly to blame as well as the libarian that allowed him in ...... Cops clearly went overboard , and they should be dealth with , but the student put himself in this position ....... No telling what he had oin that back pack ...........


The backpack was never the issue. He was told to leave, he was leaving as
he was told to do. Then the campus police showed up and over-reacted.
The only significance of the backpack was putting it on was an indication that
he was leaving.

[Spider]

The backpack was never the issue. He was told to leave, he was leaving as
he was told to do. Then the campus police showed up and over-reacted.
The only significance of the backpack was putting it on was an indication that
he was leaving.

I agree they over reacted , the back pack should have been an issue .....
but he still didnt provide a student ID .............

[alkemical]

http://www.aclu.org/privacy/25551res20060512.html

Rayburn 2226
House Office Building
DNA Databases: A Panel Discussion
VIEW COMPLETE VIDEO OF THE FORUM:
- Windows Media (.wmv)

Over the past fifteen years, the United States has witnessed an extraordinary expansion in the banking and mining of DNA for law enforcement purposes. Recently, the U.S. Congress as well as several state legislatures voted to allow for the permanent retention of DNA from persons who are arrested. These dramatic expansions have occurred with little regard for the tremendous threats they pose to individual privacy and racial justice. At the same time, such expansions threaten to overburden crime laboratories and undermine quality assurance in DNA testing and analysis. This panel will consider these and other concerns related to our criminal justice system’s increasing reliance on DNA collection and analysis.

(Video)

[alkemical]

http://www.strike-the-root.com/62/scarmig/scarmig1.html

E-Passport: Doorway to the Panopticon

[alkemical]

http://www.silicon.com/publicsector/0,3800010403,39163770,00.htm

'Extreme Big Brother fears to become a reality'
Chips in our clothes and 'eyes in the sky' by 2016?



UK citizens will be tracked by RFID tags embedded in their clothes and have their movements monitored by unmanned "flying eyes in the sky" using facial recognition systems within 10 years, the nation's data protection watchdog has claimed.

In a new report entitled A Surveillance Society, information commissioner Richard Thomas predicts a world in 2016 where technology is extensively and routinely used to track and record people's activities and movements.

He said in the report: "Two years ago I warned that we were in danger of sleepwalking into a surveillance society. Today I fear that we are in fact waking up to a surveillance society that is already all around us."

In 2016 Thomas predicts shoppers will be scanned as they enter stores and their clothes recognised through unique RFID tags embedded in them. This data will be matched with loyalty card data to affect the way they are treated as they do their shopping, with some given preferential treatment over others.

In 10 years time he claims facial recognition systems will also be used to monitor people using tiny cameras embedded in lampposts and in walls, and unmanned aerial "friendly flying eyes in the sky".

Other surveillance scenarios for 2016 include:


Cars linked to global satellite navigation systems, which will provide the quickest route to avoid current congestion, automatically debit the mileage charge from bank accounts and allow police to monitor the speed of all cars and to track selected cars more closely.


Employees being subject to biometric and psychometric tests combined with lifestyle profiles and diagnostic health tests, with jobs refused to those who are seen as a health risk or those who don't submit to the tests, and staff benefit packages drawn up depending upon any perceived future health problems that may affect an employee's productivity.


Schools introducing card systems to allow parents to monitor what their children eat, their attendance, record of achievement and drug test results.


Older people becoming more isolated as sensors and cameras in their home provide reassurance to their families who therefore need to pay fewer visits.



Thomas warned: "As ever-more information is collected, shared and used, it intrudes into our private space and leads to decisions which directly influence people's lives. Mistakes can also easily be made with serious consequences – false matches and other cases of mistaken identity, inaccurate facts or inferences, suspicions taken as reality, and breaches of security."

[alkemical]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/idcards/story/0,,1950226,00.html

Cracked it!


Three million Britons have been issued with the new hi-tech passport, designed to frustrate terrorists and fraudsters. So why did Steve Boggan and a friendly computer expert find it so easy to break the security codes?


Six months ago, with the help of a rather scary computer expert, I deconstructed the life of an airline passenger simply by using information garnered from a boarding-pass stub he had thrown into a dustbin on the Heathrow Express. By using his British Airways frequent-flyer number and buying a ticket in his name on the airline's website, we were able to access his personal data, passport number, date of birth and nationality. Based on this information, using publicly available databases, we found out where he lived, his profession, all his academic qualifications and even how much his house was worth.

(cont'd on site)

[alkemical]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061128/ap_on_bi_ge/ihop_ids

IHOP changes policy of asking for IDs

QUINCY, Mass. - John Russo has been a victim of identity theft. So when he was asked to fork over a photo ID just to be seated at an IHOP pancake restaurant, he flipped. "'You want my license? I'm going for pancakes, I'm not buying the Hope diamond,' and they refused to seat us," Russo said, recounting his experience this week at the Quincy IHOP.

[bendog]

The student should have quietly left. The students who felt offended, then they don't understand what a policeman is payed to do. IF, anyone does not capitulate wrt lawful orders from a peace officer, you get what you deserve. No exceptions. And, as long as excessive force isn't used, you'll never win a lawsuit. Just the way it is, it can be no other way wrt to officers of the law..dman

Hold on. If a cop asks you for ID, you can say no. If he has probable cause to think you've done something, he can arrest you, or possibly take you into custody for questioning. Most likely, he'll keep his eye on you till you jay walk or something, and ticket you, and check your id that way. But he doesn't get to taser you, esp if he's put hands on you without justification. He should get a pink slip in that instance. And I'd love to have this kid as a client. I'd be filing this puppy before the State could offer the kid a free semester just to ensure I get a slice. (-:

No way do I want my kid to be at a school where some campus cop can just stop and look at her ID and personal info.

The way it's supposed to work, is if a person says 'no,' then the cop, or renta cop, can watch them to see if their suspicious. If there's a potential bomb or something, they arrest or call the real cops. If it's a creepy cop, the kid can report him.

[Garcia Bronco]

If he didn't have proper ID and started getting loud then he deserved what he got.

[Garcia Bronco]

I dont like rolling around in the dirt with some scumbag probably infected with aids or Hepetitis..

this in a nutshell is when you have to understand that most people don't understand the risks of working any kind of enforcement job or security detail. Most people picture themsleves as the person getting...in this case...tasered. But in the role of the other...you have to be concerned with exactly these types of things.

You people tell me....you work the libary at university X....in the course of performing your job you come across a person with no ID acting out/up...and you have no idea about their motives or what is going on with them. No tell me with a straight face that at times you won't go to the lowest common denominator.

[Northman]

Again, accountability. He was asked to leave the premises and decided to make a scene when they were showing him the door.

[Northman]

If he didn't have proper ID and started getting loud then he deserved what he got.



Thank you. If i had been there i would of been laughing my ass off.

[Northman]

No way do I want my kid to be at a school where some campus cop can just stop and look at her ID and personal info.

The way it's supposed to work, is if a person says 'no,' then the cop, or renta cop, can watch them to see if their suspicious. If there's a potential bomb or something, they arrest or call the real cops.


If i walk on a campus and a cop asks me for ID i show it. He then will ask me my buisness and i tell him im visiting a friend. He gives me the ID back and all is well. What is so difficult or wrong about that? The guy gets paid **** money to ensure the safety of the school and the students in that school. I would expect nothing less from a cop or a security guard. At least i know they would give a damn.

[bendog]

If i walk on a campus and a cop asks me for ID i show it. He then will ask me my buisness and i tell him im visiting a friend. He gives me the ID back and all is well. What is so difficult or wrong about that? The guy gets paid **** money to ensure the safety of the school and the students in that school. I would expect nothing less from a cop or a security guard. At least i know they would give a damn.

At a small school, the security guys are pretty well known to all. At a huge university, it's a perfect set up for a rapist who has a fake uni or a guy with an attitude. The community isn't endagered by recognizing that our individual freedoms include refusing to show ID.

Why are you guys in such a hurry to give up freedom?

[alkemical]

http://www.rutlandherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061119/NEWS/611190337/1031/FEATURES02

Moneyless exchanges a twist on free markets

November 19, 2006

By MARCELLE HOPKINS Columbia News Service

NEW YORK — The police were prepared for the worst. They had received word that anarchists were rallying in downtown Raleigh, N.C., one summer Saturday in 2004. Museums were closed, a Civil War re-enactment was cancelled and parking meters were hooded. A helicopter circled overhead while police mounted on horses and bicycles patrolled the empty streets around the Children's Garden.

"There were 40 fully geared-up riot police waiting in the building next door while we were folk dancing, giving free massages and exchanging old books in the park," said Liz Seymour, 57, a freelance writer and community activist.

Dubbed the Really Really Free Market by organizers, the event did not turn out to be the sort of anti-globalization protest police had expected. It was, instead, a peaceful gathering of about 200 people who came to give and get free stuff and services. There was an old-time string band playing under a tree, used clothing and knickknacks laid out like pirate's booty on bed sheets, and a bike-repair workshop to fix flat tires. Everything was free. That's right, really, really free — no trading or bartering and absolutely no money being exchanged.

[alkemical]

http://www.cato.org/raidmap/

An interactive map of botched SWAT and paramilitary police raids, released in conjunction with the Cato policy paper "Overkill: The Rise of Paramilitary Police Raids," by Radley Balko.

[alkemical]

NYC violated Constitution by jailing protesters (http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyID=2006-12-19T005155Z_01_N18233622_RTRUKOC_0_US-COURT-PROTESTERS.xml&WTmodLoc=USNewsHome_C2_domesticNews-5)


NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York City violated the U.S. Constitution for more than two months in 2001 with a policy to detain arrested protesters overnight instead of giving them summonses to appear in court, a U.S. federal jury found on Monday.

The suit stemmed from the city's handling of the mass protests and arrests in New York immediately after the 1999 killing by police of unarmed Guinean immigrant Amadou Diallo, who was hit by 19 shots.

An eight-person jury in Manhattan federal court found that the city's police department violated the First Amendment right to free speech and the 14th Amendment right to due process between May 1, 2001, and July 13, 2001, by its policy of locking up protesters overnight in city jails.

However, the same jury ruled that the 350 protester plaintiffs failed to show that in the two years before 2001 the city followed an unwritten policy of locking up protesters.

"It's not the victory we wanted, but certainly it's a victory for the 30 plaintiffs who alleged they were discriminated against by the police department for those more than two months," said Jonathan Moore, a lawyer for the protesters.

Susan Halatyn, a city attorney, said decision was a victory for the city.

"We are very pleased that, after hearing and carefully considering all the evidence, the jury understood that the city never had an unwritten policy to deny demonstrators equal treatment under the law," Halatyn said.


© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.

[alkemical]

Face-hunting software will scour web for targets (http://www.newscientisttech.com/article/dn10828-facehunting-software-will-scour-web-for-targets.html)


A search engine that uses sophisticated facial recognition to allow users to identify and find people in online images will launch next month. But civil liberties groups say the biometric-style tool could compromise the privacy of anyone who has their picture online.

Search engine Polar Rose reconstructs the 3D shape of a person's face and then combines that with characteristics of their features to generate a unique "face print". This can then be used to search other photos for a match.

In January users will be able to download a plugin for their browser that allows users to enter information about faces they recognise in online images. This data is then sent to a central server allowing anyone looking at an image containing that particular face print to tell who it is. Users can also search the web for more photos containing that face.

Online image search engines usually work much like their text counterparts. "They find images on pages that contain the words you search for," says Jan Erik Solem, whose PhD project at Malmö University College, Sweden, led to the new company. "Search engines are blind to images, Polar Rose is not."


Third dimension
"Some biometric companies are using 3D laser scans of faces to aid identification from photos," Solem says. "We've developed a way to work backwards; we can create a 3D model of a face from a 2D image."

That allows Polar Rose to recognise people even when the pose or lighting has changed, he says. The technique was developed using a database of around two thousand 3D face-scans paired with normal 2D photos.

"We used statistical methods to work out the relationship between the two," explains Solem. A video on the Polar Rose website (avi format) shows the technique being used to reconstruct actor Tom Cruise's face.

Broadband explosion
The 3D shape is combined with colour and shape data from the 2D picture to generate the face print that serves as a unique identifier.

Solem says he cannot give figures on the search engine's accuracy until it is tested by the public. It works on any image with a face at least 100 pixels (35 millimetres) across, as broadband becomes more common, more and more pictures will fit the bill, he predicts.

Earlier this year, another visual search engine called Riya launched. It has a less biometric approach, instead relying on the context of a person's face – such as clothes and objects around them – to search images for a specific person.

Privacy concerns
Polar Rose and future developments that make facial recognition available to the masses risk encroaching on people's privacy, warns Yaman Akdeniz, director of the UK non-profit group Cyber-Rights & Cyber-Liberties.

"Although this sounds like a great idea, I would not like to be searchable in this way, or so easily tracked without my consent," says Akdeniz. The database compiled by Polar Rose is similar to the kind of biometric database some governments wish to use, he points out.

"I wonder whether they have a right to build such a database," says Akdeniz, he suggests people think twice before embracing such potentially intrusive tools, and consider which photos of themselves they allow online.

[alkemical]

Neo-Nazis try to recruit in Macomb Co. (http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061222/METRO/612220366)


Neo-Nazis try to recruit in Macomb Co.

White supremacist group drops off literature in Roseville, with plans for other communities.

George Hunter / The Detroit News



ROSEVILLE -- Macomb County is being targeted by a neo-Nazi group whose members are distributing fliers bearing swastikas and messages of white supremacy.

The fliers, which were printed by the Port Huron-based National Socialist Movement of Michigan, proclaim the group stands for "quality neighborhood schools for every white child without jibbering non-whites," and "telling pushy minority agitators where they can go."

Another flier printed by the group bears the headline, "Stop the Jewish War."

Dozens of fliers were delivered in Roseville this week, and group members say they plan to drop off the literature in other Macomb County communities in the coming weeks.

The latest deluge of racist literature marks the second time in recent months that such material has been distributed in Roseville. In October, an edition of The Klansmen's Voice newsletter -- a publication of the United Northern and Southern Knights of the Ku Klux Klan -- was left on driveways on Normandy on the city's southeast side.

The National Socialist Movement is targeting Macomb County in an effort to increase membership, said Dan Hill, the organization's northern director.

"We get people who complain when we do a literature drive -- but we get just as many people who call us asking for more information," Hill said. "We go county by county, and right now we're in Macomb County."

Hill said Roseville, Sterling Heights and Warren are areas where fliers have been dropped off. "We've done Warren for a long time," he said.

The most recent fliers in Roseville were delivered earlier this week in the area of 11 Mile and Hayes. On some streets, the fliers were still on lawns and sidewalks Thursday.

"It's disgusting," said Gina Perugi, who saw a man and a woman put a flier on her lawn Wednesday. "This is a great neighborhood, with people from different races living here. Everybody gets along here, and the kids don't need to see this kind of trash."

Gregory Murray, spokesman for the Ministerial Alliance of Macomb County, a coalition of African-American church ministers and activists in Macomb County, called the fliers "a shame."

"Roseville is actually one of the more progressive communities in Macomb County," Murray said. "It's very unfortunate and regrettable."

One of the fliers is printed to resemble a missing children alert. The word, "Missing," is printed over a picture of a smiling young girl. Underneath the picture is the caption, "a future for white children."

A description follows: "Red, blond or brown hair, fair skin anti-white special interest groups have stolen her future."

Hill took offense at the fliers being called racist.

"Is it hateful? Some might call it hateful. I don't," he said. "We believe in our heritage, and that's what we try to promote. We want to be separate. There have never been any acts of violence by our members that weren't instigated."

Perugi's brother, Bob Perugi, who lives across the street from his sister, also was the recipient of the fliers. He said there's no question the literature is tinged with hate.

"I'm a Christian, and this really bothers me," he said. "I can understand freedom of speech. But I wish they'd just express themselves on the Internet. Don't come into my neighborhood spreading this stuff where children can get a hold of it."

You can reach George Hunter at (586) 468-7396 or ghunter@detnews.com.

[ORANGEJARHEAD]

Well, the way I look at it. I like my uniform nice and clean, I dont like rolling around in the dirt with some scumbag probably infected with aids or Hepetitis. So, if I can zap him BEFORE things get out of control so much better for me and them! Pull trigger, badguy falls to the guy twitching like a fish out of water, cuff him/her up, 10-98. I guess you guys would prefer I get out my expandable baton and flail on him/her like they were Rodney King.

I've been carrying my Taser for 2 years now and have used the prongs twice. I use the "dry stun" method more often. Which means you take off the cartridge and ram the Taser into someones gut and pull the trigger. Best used when in close quarters or when someone continues to resist that could cause injury or property damage.

You sir are sick in the head. Let me tell you a Missouri story, home of the greatest outlaws in the world: I played guitar in a cover rock band, played many bars and biker rallies, and in this state cops like you don't live very long. Cops in this state show their cowardice all the time, they will not come into a bar, unless they are called for. They know what'll happen. One cop stupidly came into a Freedom of the Road Riders rally to break up a fight by the front gate of the venue. I saw it all from the stage. He pulled his tazer, threatened the two bikers fighting. They stopped fighting and beat the living **** out of him. Beat him near to death. He deserved it. Most cops deserve it. They tazered him, took his gun away, and shoved it up his ass. That is the way you treat a Cowboy cop. Come visit us here in Missouri, Tensi, I will not lube your pistol before I shove it up your a*s.

[orangenblue2]

You sir are sick in the head. Let me tell you a Missouri story, home of the greatest outlaws in the world: I played guitar in a cover rock band, played many bars and biker rallies, and in this state cops like you don't live very long. Cops in this state show their cowardice all the time, they will not come into a bar, unless they are called for. They know what'll happen. One cop stupidly came into a Freedom of the Road Riders rally to break up a fight by the front gate of the venue. I saw it all from the stage. He pulled his tazer, threatened the two bikers fighting. They stopped fighting and beat the living **** out of him. Beat him near to death. He deserved it. Most cops deserve it. They tazered him, took his gun away, and shoved it up his ass. That is the way you treat a Cowboy cop. Come visit us here in Missouri, Tensi, I will not lube your pistol before I shove it up your a*s.

He's not here anymore, dude. I'm not going to get into all of the reasons, etc., but you can do a search and find out for yourself...:peace:

[ORANGEJARHEAD]

Thanks, wow. He should'nt be here anymore. I've got high blood pressure and guys like that come close to given' me a stroke or heart attack. I should'nt let it bother me.

My opinion: Three cops could've got that kid out of there without tazering him. There are certain rules for deadly force, and these cops (actually rent-a-cops) should be fired and never allowed to work in law enforcement again.

[alkemical]

US prison population to add 200,000 convicts by 2011: study (http://www.rawstory.com//news/2007/US_prison_population_to_add_200000_0215.html)

The US prison population ballooned eight-fold between 1970 and 2005 and will grow by an additional 192,000 convicts by 2011, according to a new study.

The report by the Pew Charitable Trusts said one in 178 US residents will live in prison by 2011 and the increase could cost American taxpayers another 27.5 billion dollars over the next five years in jail spending.

"After a 700-percent increase in the US prison population between 1970 and 2005, you'd think the nation would finally have run out of lawbreakers to put behind bars," said the report by Pew's Public Safety Performance Project.

But figures provided by US states show that 1.7 million people will be behind bars in 2011, a 13 percent increase that is three times the growth rate of the US population, the study said.

The Pew data does not include local prisons, whose population in 2005 was nearly 750,000, bringing the total US prison population to 2.2 million people, the largest in the world.

The jail growth will cost states another 15 billion dollars for prison operations and an additional 12.5 billion dollars to build new prisons.

[Bronco Bob]

US prison population to add 200,000 convicts by 2011: study (http://www.rawstory.com//news/2007/US_prison_population_to_add_200000_0215.html)

The US prison population ballooned eight-fold between 1970 and 2005 and will grow by an additional 192,000 convicts by 2011, according to a new study.

The report by the Pew Charitable Trusts said one in 178 US residents will live in prison by 2011 and the increase could cost American taxpayers another 27.5 billion dollars over the next five years in jail spending.

"After a 700-percent increase in the US prison population between 1970 and 2005, you'd think the nation would finally have run out of lawbreakers to put behind bars," said the report by Pew's Public Safety Performance Project.

But figures provided by US states show that 1.7 million people will be behind bars in 2011, a 13 percent increase that is three times the growth rate of the US population, the study said.

The Pew data does not include local prisons, whose population in 2005 was nearly 750,000, bringing the total US prison population to 2.2 million people, the largest in the world.

The jail growth will cost states another 15 billion dollars for prison operations and an additional 12.5 billion dollars to build new prisons.


What the story doesn't tell you is that at least half of them are in prison
for non-violent drug related crime, such as simple possesion of marijuana,
and are in because of manditory sentencing laws that give the judge
no leeway in assigning sentences.