Transcript ACLU on technology

Policy Laundering and Privacy
A Special Warning To US Allies
BE AFRAID!
BE VERY AFRAID!
Carnegie Mellon University
March 23 2005
Barry Steinhardt
ACLU Now Facing New
Challenges On A Global Scale
• Globalization of Security and
Surveillance
• “Policy Laundering”
“Policy Laundering”
Cycling policies through
international bodies that can’t
be enacted directly at home
1st Signpost: The Creation of a
Global Identification System
• National ID systems
• The “globally interoperable biometric
passport”
Biometric Passports
• Required by US
Congress
• US launders
standards
through ICAO
Biometric Passports
• Face-Recognition set
•
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as the standard
RFID chips included
too
Standards allow for
optional use of other
biometrics
RFID Chips
• Can be read at a distance (20m in tests)
– see http://tinyurl.com/46vml
• No encryption
• Could enable tracking
Expansion is inevitable
Once created, passports are likely to:
• Be used for more and more purposes
• Contain ever-more information
• Incorporate more biometrics, such as
fingerprints and iris scans
National Driver’s
License/National ID Card
• Part of 9/11 Intel
Reform
• Standardizes Driver’s
Licenses
• Distributed database
functionally equivalent
to National ID
Policy Laundering Works: NGOs
Ignored!
nd
2
Signpost: Creation of an
Infrastructure for the Global
Surveillance of Movement
• Checkpoints and databases to track
movements using their ID cards
• Direct
government
access to airlines’
passenger name
records (PNR).
Passenger Screening
August 2004
“Secure Flight” (CAPPS version 3.0):
Watch lists, commercial data
August 2003
CAPPS II (version 2.0)
Commercial data, Red light/Green light
February 2002:
CAPPS II (version 1.0)
Data mining, wide sharing, the works
Passenger Screening
Foisted On Our Allies
• Must be international to work
• EU-US agreement reached over
•
parliamentary objection
International agreements reached while
domestic program still embattled
3rd Signpost: Infrastructure
for Surveillance of Electronic
Communications and
Financial Transactions
• Expanded authorities for eavesdropping.
• Expansion of ECHELON.
• Expanded private-sector requirements.
o CALEA
o Data Retention
• Tracking and reporting of financial
transactions
Signpost: The
Convergence of Databases
4th
• US-VISIT system (tied to 20 other
government databases)
• Giant corporate data-brokers
Total Information Blackout
TIA --Gone – But Not Forgotten
5th Signpost: The SurveillanceIndustrial Complex
• More tracking by private companies
• Government hooking into private efforts
– Growing government powers to demand
access
– many businesses voluntarily surrendering
databases
– a surging industry of data companies is
creating new information products to sell to
the U.S. government.
The Surveillance- Industrial Complex:
The Surveillance- Industrial Complex:
6th Signpost: Rendition, Torture,
Death
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•
•
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•
Torture
Indefinite detention
A frightening context for rising surveillance
A shocking loss of moral compass in the “war on
terror”
A significant number of victims mistakenly
arrested or otherwise innocent.
Maher Arar case: US intercepts and renders
Canadian to torture in Syria.
The ACLU must fight in global
arena
“GOING GLOBAL”:
• Political activism
• Media
• Crime
• Law Enforcement and security
1. Building international
coalitions.
• Encouraging advocates in Europe, Asia,
•
•
Africa, and Latin America to become
involved in this critical issue.
Foreign publics often unaware of
security agreements – and domestic
ministers too!
Staff has already been hired in London
2. Increasing our capacity to
monitor and influence
international processes
• ICAO – we don’t want a repeat
• Create action information center
• Launch FOIA-type requests around
the world
3. Working closely with our
colleagues on the ground
• NGOs
• Privacy Commissioners
4. Pushing to open up
multinational decisionmaking bodies
• Force international standards & policy
•
•
groups to follow widely accepted
principles of openness and public
oversight
Craft model proposals for open
operations
Advocate for passage of these proposals
ACLU has successfully
adapted and led time and
again. . .
• Civil rights
• Women’s rights
• Gay rights
• Advent of television and mass
media
• Explosion of a new online world
With Your Help—We Can Again!