Mountain Views News          Saturday, October 2, 2010

10

OPINION

 Mountain Views News Saturday, October 2, 2010 

My Turn

HAIL Hamilton

Ways We Are Being Tracked, Traced, and Databased

 
The war on terror is a worldwide 
endeavor that has spurred 
massive investment into the 
global surveillance industry 
- which now seems to be 
waging a war on “liberty and 
privacy.” Here are just some 
ways the matrix of data is being 
collected: 

 GPS -- Global positioning 
chips are now appearing in 
everything from U.S. passports, 
cell phones, to cars. More 
common uses include tracking 
employees and for all forms 
of private investigation. Apple 
recently announced they are 
collecting the precision location 
of iPhone users via GPS for 
public viewing in addition to 
spying on users in other ways.

 Internet -- Internet browsers 
are recording your every move 
forming detailed cookies on 
your activities. The NSA has 
been exposed as having cookies 
on their site that don’t expire 
until 2035. Major search engines 
know where you surfed last 
summer, and online purchases 
are databased, supposedly 
for advertising and customer 
service uses. IP addresses 
are collected and even made 
public. Controversial websites 
can be flagged internally by 
government sites, as well as re-
routing all traffic to block sites 
the government wants to censor. 
It has now been fully admitted 
that social networks provide 
NO privacy to users, while 
technologies for real-time social 
network monitoring are already 
being used. The Cybersecurity 
Act attempts to legalize the 
collection and exploitation of 
your personal information. 
Apple’s iPhone also has browsing 
data recorded and stored. 

 Radio frequency identification 
-- Forget your credit cards 
which are meticulously tracked, 
or the membership cards for 
things so insignificant as movie 
rentals which require your 
SSN. Everyone has Costco, 
CVS, grocery-chain cards, and 
a wallet or purse full of many 
more. RFID “proximity cards” 
take tracking to a new level in 
uses ranging from loyalty cards, 
student ID, physical access, and 
computer network access. Latest 
developments include an RFID 
powder developed by Hitachi, 
for which the multitude of uses 
are endless -- perhaps including 
tracking hard currency so we 
can’t even keep cash undetected. 

 Traffic cameras -- License 
plate recognition has been used 
to remotely automate duties of 
the traffic police in the United 
States, but have been proven to 
have dual use in England such 
as to mark activists under the 
Terrorism Act. Perhaps the most 
common use will be to raise 
money and shore up budget 
deficits via traffic violations, but 
uses may descend to such “Big 
Brother” tactics as monitors 
telling pedestrians not to litter 
as talking cameras already do in 
the UK. 

 Computer cameras and 
microphones -- The fact that 
laptops -- contributed by 
taxpayers -- spied on public 
school children (at home) is 
outrageous. Years ago Google 
began officially to use computer 
“audio fingerprinting” for 
advertising uses. They have 
admitted to working with the 
NSA, the premier surveillance 
network in the world. Private 
communications companies 
already have been exposed 
routing communications to the 
NSA. Now, keyword tools -- 
typed and spoken -- link to the 
global security matrix.

 Public sound surveillance -- 
This technology has come a long 
way from only being able to 
detect gunshots in public areas, 
to now listening in to whispers 
for dangerous “keywords.” This 
technology has been launched 
in Europe to “monitor 
conversations” to detect 
“verbal aggression” in public 
places. Sound Intelligence is 
the manufacturer of technology 
to analyze speech, and their 
website touts how it can easily 
be integrated into other systems. 

 Biometrics -- The most popular 
biometric authentication 
scheme employed for the last few 
years has been Iris Recognition. 
The main applications are entry 
control, ATMs and Government 
programs. Recently, network 
companies and governments 
have utilized biometric 
authentication including 
fingerprint analysis, iris 
recognition, voice recognition, 
or combinations of these for use 
in National identification cards. 

 DNA -- Blood from babies has 
been taken for all people under 
the age of 38. In England, DNA 
was sent to secret databases from 
routine heel prick tests. Several 
reports have revealed covert 
Pentagon databases of DNA 
for “terrorists” and now DNA 
from all American citizens is 
databased. Digital DNA is now 
being used as well to combat 
hackers.

 Microchips -- Microsoft’s 
HealthVault and VeriMed 
partnership is to create 
RFID implantable 
microchips. Microchips for 
tracking our precious pets is 
becoming commonplace and 
serves to condition us to accept 
putting them in our children in 
the future. The FDA has already 
approved this technology for 
humans and is marketing it as 
a medical miracle, again for our 
safety.

 Facial recognition -- 
Anonymity in public is over. 
Admittedly used at Obama’s 
campaign events, sporting 
events, and most recently at the 
G8/G20 protests in Canada, this 
technology is also harvesting 
data from Facebook images and 
surely will be tied into the street 
“traffic” cameras.

 Predictive behavior technology 
-- It is not enough to have logged 
and charted where we have been; 
the surveillance state wants 
to know where we are going 
through psychological profiling. 
Things seem to have advanced 
to a point where a truly scientific 
Orwellian world is at hand. It is 
estimated that computers know 
to a 93% accuracy where you will 
be, before you make your first 
move. Nanotech is slated to play 
a big role in going even further 
as scientists are increasing the 
use of nanoparticles to directly 
influence behavior and decision 
making. 

Mountain Views

News

Publisher/ Editor

Susan Henderson

City Editor

Dean Lee 

Sales

Patricia Colonello

626-355-2737 

626-818-2698

Art Director

Allison Kirkham

Production Assistant

Richard Garcia

Photography

Jacqueline Truong

Lina Johnson

Contributors

Teresa Baxter

Pat Birdsall

Bob Eklund

Howard Hays

Paul Carpenter

Stuart Tolchin

Kim Clymer-Kelley

Christopher Nyerges

Peter Dills 

Hail Hamilton 

Rich Johnson

Chris Bertrand

Mary Carney

La Quetta Shamblee

Glenn Lambdin

Greg Wellborn

Ralph McKnight

Trish Collins

Pat Ostrye

Editorial Cartoonist

Ann Cleaves

Webmaster

John Aveny 


STUART Tolchin..........On LIFE 

 

BEING IN A REALITY SHOW WITH INSTANT REPLAY (ALMOST)

Today is the 
sixth day of 
my visit to 
Washington 
D.C. and 
so far it has 
been an 
absolutely 
unique 
experience. 
For me it’s something like the 
difference between watching 
a football game on TV or 
actually going to the Rose Bowl 
and screaming for my beloved 
Bruins. Really we all know that 
you can see the plays better at 
the game. The camera focuses 
in on the action and then there’s 
instant replay to help you see 
what you missed. At the Rose 
Bowl, even from my alumni 
seats, the action may be far away 
on the other side of the field. 
Someone is always jumping up 
in front of me and often I can’t 
locate the ball and I always 
miss the intricate line plays. 
During day games the glare of 
the sun makes seeing anything 
dificult and sitting for hours in 
a shadeless bowl really isn’t that 
much fun ...and I’m leaving out 
the stairs and the endless lines 
and the unalterable truth that 
there is no nearby refrigerator.

So what’s so great about 
actually going to the game and 
why do I keep going, losing 
season after season. Well, it’s 
the reality, the giant reality of 
the whole thing. It’s fighting the 
traffic to get there and worrying 
about losing my ticket and not 
being able to find my car after 
the game. It’s waiting in line 
and all at once seeing the whole 
glorious spectacle. It’s seeing 
50,000 people seated; watching 
footbals flying, balls kicked 
higher than can be believed 
,then the field empties and 
there is quiet and anticipation 
everywhere and then there is 
the moment of return. Beautiful 
young men and women racing 
around the field holding flags 
and doing flips and throwing 
each other into the air and then 
the players coming on to the 
field. Huge ,young, powerful, 
nervous yet cocky. Our warriors 
reading themselves for the 
fight accompanied by cheers 
and music and sometimes jets 
flying in precision overhead.

Sounds great doesn’t it and 
the game hasn’t even started 
yet. Well, so far that’s what 
being in Washington D.C. is 
like except that I feel like I’m 
not watching the game I’m 
actually in it. I think it’s not 
unlike being on the sidelines 
at the Rose Bowl. No I’m not 
really playing in the game but 
I imagine i can see the players 
sweat, hear and probably feel 
the bone-crushing collisions. I 
imagine talking to the players 
and feeling their fatigue and 
sometimes noticing them 
waving to their proud parents 
in the stands.

Thats what being in 
Washington D.C. is like I’m 
not just looking at history. 
It’s history merging with the 
present and I’m in it. It’s being 
up at the Lincoln Monument at 
midnight. climbing the stairs 
and smellling the once familar 
but still not forgotten odor of 
burning marijuana and hearing 
the running steps and then 
seeing the stranely uniformed 
cops chasing someone around 
behind the monument. 

It’sdiscovering a mistake in 
the carved reproduction of 
Lincoln’s second inagural 
speech which contains the 
famous words ‘with malice 
toward none and charity for 
all”. I disovered the word 
FUTURE is actuallly carved 
as EUTURE. I tell a security 
guard about the mistake and 
she laughs as we watch an arrest 
and explains that the mistake 
had been discovered - but after 
it’s carved what can you do?

I see a teacher type person 
dragging about 6 pre-teens 
up the stairs and toward the 
statue and telling the kids 
that Lincoln’s open right hand 
resting on his knee and his 
clenched left hand are sign 
language for the initials “A” 
and “L” that the statue was 
designed by the founder of the 
famous Gauladet school for 
the deaf. She walks to the back 
of the statue and tells them 
that the head of Robert E. Lee 
is sprouting from the back of 
Lincoln’s head and is looking 
out at his property behind 
the memorial which is now 
Arlington National Cemetery.

The kids aren’t really paying 
attention and can’t see Lee’s 
head which may not really 
be there. One of the friends I 
am with, a 325 pound 6 foot 3 
inch man also scoffs, and the 
diminutive teacher physcially 
grabs him and pulls him to look 
at the statue from her point of 
view. This is what Washington 
D.C. is like. You don’t just look 
at it, it pulls you right in.

Some of it has to do with the 
weather. Now it’s cold and 
raining, a couple of days ago it 
was burning hot and probably 
soon will be again. Some of it 
has to do with the subway, it’s 
not like L.A. where you sit in 
the car stuck in traffic. Instead 
it’s up and down ridicuously 
steep flights of stairs worried 
about catching the wrong train. 
It’s the fatigue from walking 
the unexpected distances 
between the monuments and 
the museums. it’s driving out 
to Monticello and finding 
myself in a passionate living 
argument about the worth of 
the complex Thomas Jefferson.

It’s kidding with a well-
dressed man on the Metro by 
asking, “Are you a powerful 
international diplomat?” “No, 
not anymore” he replies. The 
guy was the former Serbian 
Ambassador to the United 
States. He now works for 
a German pharmaceutical 
compay and feeling fortunate 
to still be alive. The next guy 
I talked to had been a lobbyist 
on the Hill for thirty years and 
explained to my wife and I at 
length the great service done by 
lobbyists. Right.

On the walk to the Capital my 
wife and I passed the Capital 
Hill Club and its’ “FIRE 
PELOSI” signs. Lounging about 
behind their limousines, really, 
several pink-faced well-dressed 
and well fed Republicans 
laughing about Presidential 
errors.

On the House floor my wife 
and I witnessed Congressman 
Henry Waxman making an 
impressive presentation and 
two hours later on the televised 
baseball documentary there 
was the same Henry Waxman, 
5 years younger, making a 
similar kind of speech. It’s kind 
of aninstant eerie pre-play.

Since being here in Washington 
my wife and I have seen a body 
in the street bleeding from the 
head and we were caught in the 
traffic jam as the police roped 
off the crime scene. We walked 
down a street on the way to the 
Metro only to learn that a few 
minutes later a gang shooting 
ocurred and all three people 
were killed right there.

I could go on and on about my 
5 days in Washington D.C.. 
The license plates today still 
say “No Taxation Without 
Representation.” The fight still 
goes on and somehow here one is 
a participant and not a removed 
observer. A final incident 
describes my D.C. experience. 
It is about 6:00 a.m. and I am 
writing this longhand in a just 
opened coffee shop. Paper is 
spread out in front of me along 
with my book “Neurodiversity” 
subtitled “Discoverihg the 
Extraordinary Gift of Brain 
Differences.” My waiter whose 
appearance is gender non-
specific wanders over and 
looks at the book and laughs, 
“ I think my problem started 
when they couldn’t decide on a 
a pink or blue blanket.” That’s 
Washington D.C. - it’s not out 
there, it’s right here bringing 
coffee and recommending a 
kind of omelet.


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City of Sierra Madre

PUBLIC HEARING NOTICE

To: Citywide

From: The City of Sierra Madre

Subject: PROPOSED RESIDENTIAL CANYON ZONE 
ORDINANCE

Applicant: City of Sierra Madre

Project Location: Properties within the proposed Residential Canyon Zone 
of the City of Sierra Madre, County of Los Angeles, State 
of California 

The City of Sierra Madre gives notice, pursuant to State of California law, that the City 
Council will conduct a public hearing to consider a text amendment to the City’s Zoning 
Code (Title 17), and corresponding Zone Change and General Plan Amendment 
for the proposed Residential Canyon (RC) Zone. The difficulties inherent in applying 
citywide R-1 Zoning standards to the Canyon area of Sierra Madre prompts the need to 
adopt zoning standards that allow reasonable development of properties located therein 
while preserving the unique character and natural environment of this area, as well as 
preserving the overall quality of life for its residents. The purpose of the new Ordinance 
is to 1) facilitate residential canyon preservation through single-family development 
standards; 2) maintain the environmental equilibrium unique to the residential canyon 
consistent with the aesthetic of its rustic and historic character; and 3) establish dwelling 
size, lot coverage, building massing, and floor area ratios which are consistent with 
the smaller homes and lots in the canyon area. Adoption of the Ordinance includes 
amendments to the City’s Zoning Map, Land Use Map and amendment to Title 17 
(Zoning Code) of the City of Sierra Madre Municipal Code.

DATE AND TIME OF HEARING PLACE OF HEARING

City of Sierra Madre City of Sierra Madre

City Council meeting City Council Chambers

Tuesday, October 12, 2010 232 W. Sierra Madre Blvd.

(Hearing begins at 6:30 p.m.) Sierra Madre, CA 

All interested persons may attend this meeting and the City Council will hear them 
with respect thereto.

ENVIRONMENTAL DETERMINATION: The project qualifies for a Negative 
Declaration pursuant to the provisions of the California Environmental Quality Act 
(CEQA). 

APPEAL: If in the future anyone wishes to challenge the decision of the City Council 
in court, one may be limited to raising the issues that were raised or presented in written 
correspondence delivered to the City Council at, or before, the scheduled public hearing. 
For further information on this subject, please contact the Development Services 
Department at (626) 355-7135.

By Order of the City Council

Danny Castro, 

Development Services Director

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