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posted by janrinok on Thursday March 20 2014, @11:02PM   Printer-friendly
from the quis-custodiet-ipsos-custodes? dept.

Angry Jesus writes:

"The EFF has put together a quick tutorial on using FedBizOpps to see what sorts of surveillance technologies US federal agencies have been buying.

Examples of documents that anyone can retrieve from the database include the Director of National Intelligence's funding of a program to dramatically increase facial recognition algorithms, the FBI purchasing fiber-optic tapping systems and a contract for drone programs in Burundi, Kenya and Uganda."

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  • (Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 21 2014, @01:58AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 21 2014, @01:58AM (#19133)

    And what I suppose you'd be able to find through fbo.gov is only the tip of the iceberg. There's loads of stuff that's classified and doesn't show up there at all, and there are also the proverbial $20,000 hammers and $30,000 toilet seats that hide even more scary shit they really don't want anyone to know about.

  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by d on Friday March 21 2014, @02:41AM

    by d (523) on Friday March 21 2014, @02:41AM (#19140)

    The problem is that watchers are going to watch the watchers that watch the watchers.

    • (Score: 2) by d on Friday March 21 2014, @02:44AM

      by d (523) on Friday March 21 2014, @02:44AM (#19141)

      On the other hand, what happens if these are the same watchers...? Okay, I think that my head exploded.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 21 2014, @02:29PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 21 2014, @02:29PM (#19315)

    the Director of National Intelligence's funding of a program to dramatically increase facial recognition algorithms

    This makes sense.

    the FBI purchasing fiber-optic tapping systems

    I understand the FBI wanting to tap communications, but isn't tapping fiber optic more cumbersome than it needs to be? If the FBI is simply running amok with power which they might be this makes sense (from their point of view), but wouldn't a warrant to intercept communications from the comm providers themselves make a lot more sense logistically and ethically?

    and a contract for drone programs in Burundi, Kenya and Uganda.

    This makes no sense at all!

    Oh wait, yes it does, because the FBI's purpose is no longer law enforcement:
    http://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/fbis-main-missi on-now-not-law-enforcement [msnbc.com]
    http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/intelligence/mission [fbi.gov]