Waihopai spy domes to be dismantled due to irrelevance
The Waihopai spy domes will be decommissioned and dismantled as they have become “virtually obsolete”, the Government Communications Security Bureau says.
The two radomes at the spy base – which resemble two oversized golf balls among the vineyards of the Waihopai Valley south of Blenheim – have for decades been a focal point of protest against New Zealand’s participation in United States-led conflicts and the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing arrangement.
Minister for the Intelligence Agencies Andrew Little on Wednesday evening said the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) no longer needed the radomes, as they yielded less and less intelligence.
“There’s other forms of signals intelligence gathering that they can do now, online and what have you, that doesn’t necessitate a technology that’s represented in those domes.”
As legendary Anti Spy Base activist Murray Horton points out…
Here’s the key sentence in this news report: “The Waihopai base itself will continue to be used, as will a GCSB base at Tangimoana, in Manawatū”.
Anti-Bases Campaign (ABC) is not surprised that Waihopai’s radomes and satellite interception dishes will be dismantled. They’re 1980s’ technology, dating back to the era of landlines, fax machines and video cassette recorders.
Since the 1980s ABC has consistently called for Waihopai to be closed. Not to be made a more modernised, efficient spy base, using different spying methods, which is what Andrew Little has announced.
So, Waihopai will still be a spy base, albeit without its most conspicuous physical features that stick out like dogs’ balls.
…beyond that though it’s a clever attempt at de-escalating the surveillance State right at a time Andrew Little is promising to announce a vast new upgrade of it.
This is as irresponsible as his criticism of the Medicinal Cannabis Industry when it’s really his policy that is fucking up!
Post Snowden we know mass surveillance is completely open to the NSA and our criticism towards the SIS, Police Intelligence and GCSB was why they didn’t use the existing powers they have to stop the terrorist.
Those positions are completely legitimate and for Little to purposely misrepresent concerns suggests he’s picking for a fight.
Little’s aggressive assertion that he will implement new mass surveillance policy which will outrage critics is concerning.
My guess is that it will be the face recognition softwear Police have secretly been building.
Right now, the NZ Police are using mass surveillance facial recognition software from an Orwellian company that illegally sources photos without any sign off from the Privacy Commissioner or their own Police Boss!
The Police then held a ‘stocktake’ of these types of unapproved face recognition software trials and lo and fucking behold the Police quietly admit to a $9million face recognition network they are setting up with zero oversight from the Privacy Commissioner???
Police setting up $9m facial recognition system which can identify people from CCTV feed
Police have been quietly setting up a $9 million facial recognition system that can take a live feed from CCTV cameras and identify people from it.
This would push New Zealand into new territory for tracking citizens.
It will be run by a non-police contractor – US firm Dataworks Plus – and collect 15,000 facial images a year, with that expected to expand up to 10-fold.
Their latest move is to create some fake watchdog panel over mass surveillance powers that no on gave them!
The duplicitous and underhand manner in which the NZ Police have quietly amassed a mass surveillance network alongside their constant abuse of power to get what they want is an incredibly dangerous combination for any State Agency to gain.
Look at how they are being deceptive by taking over people’s social media…
Police try to assume people’s online identities
Police are trying to assume the online identities of suspects and defendants by taking over their social media and email accounts to gather information.
Defence lawyers concerned about their young and vulnerable clients alerted RNZ to a form the police are using, titled ‘Consent to Assume Online Internet Identity’.
The form asks people to sign away their social media and email accounts, allowing the police to “take control of and use my internet online identities”.
Those signing the document are asked to provide the passwords so that police can access the accounts and use the information stored on them.
“I consent to the use of my online identity and accounts for any purpose relating to an official investigation by the New Zealand Police,” the form says.
Those signing the form “relinquish all present and future claims to the use of these accounts” and are told police will change their passwords so they no longer have access.
The New Zealand Bar Association and the Auckland District Law Society have written to Police Commissioner Andrew Coster, expressing their concern about police trying to assume people’s online identities.
“Given the nature of the form and the concerns it raises, we are hoping for an urgent response,” Queen’s Counsel James Rapley said.
…are we sure we know what level of power we are blithely handing over here?
A Police State starts with the promise of security.
Allowing the domestic police force to gain real time 24/7 live surveillance of the entire population of the country is a wet dream fantasy for the Police State, let’s see how well they’ve tricked Little.
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