Nexus - 0906 - New Times Magazine-pages

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... GLOBAL NEWS . ... NEWS Ocean currents can redistribute mass quickly, such as in the five-year time frame that these changes were first observed. The TOPEX/Poseidon observa- tions of sea level height do show an increase in the equatorial bulge of the oceans corresponding to the observed gravity changes, but the data are not yet conclusive. (Source: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center press release, August 1, 2002, at website http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/topstory/ 20020801 gravityfield.html; also see Science, August 2, 2002) Information Center give warning of a sig- nificant loss of personal freedom. The Privacy and Human Rights survey notes that in many of the 53 countries stud- ied, communications surveillance has grown, intrusive "personal profiling" of individuals has increased and data protec- tion laws have been watered down. "In the rush to strengthen national secu- rity and to reduce the risk of future terror- ist acts, governments around the world turned to legal authority and new technolo- gy to extend control over individuals," the report states. "Many of these proposals have had far-reaching consequences for the protection of privacy." The report highlights the British government's use of the terrorist threat to introduce new requirements for personal communications data to be stored and to launch a new debate about a national identity card. David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, also sought in June to extend the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act to allow private email and telephone records to be shared among more than 1,000 government agencies. After facing strong protests, Mr Blunkett withdrew the proposal a few weeks later and announced that he had "blundered". Simon Davies, director of Privacy International, said the report highlights "a systematic attack on the right to privacy by all levels of the British government". He added: "The UK demonstrates a pathology of antagonism toward privacy. The rate of rockets, provoke serious accidents in electricity networks and in oil and gas pipelines and have a negative impact on the mental health of populations of entire regions, the deputies said. They demanded that an international ban be put on such large-scale geophysical experiments. The appeal, signed by 90 deputies, has been sent to President Vladimir Putin, to the United Nations and other international organisations, to the parliaments and leaders of UN member countries, and to scientists and the mass media outlets. (Source: Interfax News Agency, Moscow, August 9, 2002; via Dr Nick Begich, EarthPulse Press, website http://www. earthpulse.com; also see website http:// server5550.itd.nrl.navy.mil/projects/haarp/) HAARP WEAPONS WORRY RUSSIAN DUMA lhe Russian State Duma has expressed concern about the USA's program to develop a qualitatively new type of weapon. "Under the High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP), the USA is creating new integral geophysical weapons that may influence the near-Earth medium with high-frequency radio waves," the State Duma said in an appeal circulated on Thursday [August 8]. The significance of this qualitative leap could be compared to the transition from cold steel to firearms, or from conventional weapons to nuclear weapons. This new type of weapon differs from previous types in that the near-Earth medium becomes at once an object of direct influence and its component. These conclusions were made by the commission of the State Duma's interna- tional affairs and defence committees, the statement reads. The committees reported that the USA is planning to test three facilities of this kind. One of them is located on the military test- ing ground in Alaska, and its full-scale tests are to begin in early 2003. The sec- ond one is in Greenland and the third one in Norway. "When these facilities are launched into space from Norway, Alaska and Greenland, a closed contour will be creat- ed with a truly fantastic integral potential for influencing the near-Earth medium," the State Duma said. The USA's plans to carry out large-scale scientific experiments under the HAARP program, and not controlled by the global community, will create weapons capable of breaking radio communication lines and equipment installed on spaceships and UK LEADS THE WAY IN ERODING PERSONAL PRIVACY ndividual privacy is being eroded in Britain to a far greater extent than in other developed countries, according to an international study of state surveillance in the year since September 11. Many states have rushed through restric- tive anti-terrorism and security laws in response to last year's terrorist attacks, but the Blair government is singled out for an anti-privacy "pathology" that the report claims is leading to mass surveillance of the population. In the 400-page report, due to be pub- lished on September 6, Privacy International, a London-based campaign group, and the US Electronic Privacy "Yes, sonny, we are part of the global transcorporate military-industrial ruling cartel, but today we just wanna have fun." NEXUS ¢ 7 OCTOBER — NOVEMBER 2002 www.nexusmagazine.com