Policy Laundering and Privacy

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Policy Laundering and Privacy
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A Special Warning To US Allies
BE AFRAID!
BE VERY AFRAID!
Carnegie Mellon University March 23 2005 Barry S
teinhardt

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ACLU Now Facing New Challenges On A Global Scale

• Globalization of Security and Surveillance
• Policy Laundering

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Policy Laundering

• Cycling policies through international bodies
  that cant be enacted directly at home

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1st Signpost The Creation of a Global
Identification System

• National ID systems
• The globally interoperable biometric passport
  
  

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Biometric Passports

• Required by US Congress
• US launders standards through ICAO

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Biometric Passports

• Face-Recognition set as the standard
• RFID chips included too
• Standards allow for optional use of other
  biometrics
  

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RFID Chips

• Can be read at a distance (20m in tests)
• see http//tinyurl.com/46vml
• No encryption
• Could enable tracking

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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

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Passports wont exist in a vacuum

• National Identity systems
• Immigration database systems
• Passenger profiling systems

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National Drivers License/National ID Card

• Part of 9/11 Intel Reform
• Standardizes Drivers Licenses
• Distributed database functionally equivalent to
  National ID

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NGO input could have improved the product

• No RFID
• Local storage
• 1-1 checks
• biometric systems related to physical
  characteristics which do not leave traces (e.g.
  shape of the hand but not fingerprints)

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Policy Laundering Works NGOs Ignored!
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2nd 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).

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Passenger Screening
August 2004 Secure Flight (CAPPS version 3.0)
Watch lists, commercial data
August 2003 CAPPS II (version 2.0) Commercial da
ta, Red light/Green light

• February 2002
• CAPPS II (version 1.0)
• Data mining, wide sharing, the works

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(No Transcript)
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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

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3rd Signpost Infrastructure for Surveillance of
Electronic Communications and Financial
Transactions

• Expanded authorities for eavesdropping.
• Expansion of ECHELON.
• Expanded private-sector requirements.
• CALEA
• Data Retention
• Tracking and reporting of financial transactions

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4th Signpost The Convergence of Databases

• US-VISIT system (tied to 20 other government
  databases)
  
• Giant corporate data-brokers

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Total Information Blackout
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TIA --Gone But Not Forgotten
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5th Signpost The Surveillance-Industrial 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.

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The Surveillance- Industrial Complex
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The Surveillance- Industrial Complex
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6th Signpost Rendition, Torture, Death

• 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.
  

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Globalizing security agencies outstripping
restraints

• U.S. security agencies have obtained dramatic
  expansions in their domestic authority
  
• Patriot Act, NSLs, etc.
• ACLU has been fighting hard against this
• But theres an entirely separate, global front in
  this battle one that is in desperate need of a
  global response.

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The ACLU must fight in global arena

• GOING GLOBAL
• Political activism
• Media
• Crime
• Law Enforcement and security

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Law Enforcement going global, but oversight
hasnt kept pace

• Reporters
• Legislative oversight
• NGOs

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ACLU is already advancing aggressively toward
these goals

• Organizing The International Campaign Against
  Mass Surveillance (ICAMS) March 2005
  
• Policy Laundering Project --In Partnership
  Privacy International and Statewatch (April
  2005)
  

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ACLU concentrating on 4 primary goals

• 1. Build international coalitions
• 2. Increase capacity to monitor IGOs
• 3. Work closely with our colleagues on the
  ground
  
• 4. Push to open up IGO policy-making

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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

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2. Increasing our capacity to monitor and
influence international processes

• ICAO we dont want a repeat
• Create action information center
• Launch FOIA-type requests around the world

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3. Working closely with our colleagues on the
ground

• NGOs
• Privacy Commissioners

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4. Pushing to open up multinational
decision-making 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

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ACLU has successfully adapted and led time and
again. . .

• Civil rights
• Womens rights
• Gay rights
• Advent of television and mass media
• Explosion of a new online world

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With Your HelpWe Can Again!