Electronic surveillance is just as important as modern-day counter-terrorism. MI5 has the capability to intercept phone calls, see browsing histories, and exploit CCTV. But where does that leave our privacy. Tonight: Inside MI5: Keeping the UK Safe, ITV 2020
Amazon has propelled Jeff Bezos from bookseller to tech titan. He’s now the richest man on the planet. Former high-level Amazon insiders reveal how he did it. It’s about knowing us, the customer, in minute detail. As Amazon extends ever deeper into our lives, what does its spectacular rise mean for us? Panorama: Amazon: What They Know About Us, BBC 2020
Not only is she [Alexa] listening to us, humans are too. ibid.
Amazon has the technology to know a lot about us. ibid.
Panorama investigates China’s global surveillance operation. Many countries use high-tech surveillance but China’s just been accused of using spy balloons and secret police stations around the world. And just how secure are Chinese cameras lining our streets? Panorama: Is China Watching You? BBC 2023
Mike, is that motherfucker there? Let me talk to him. Chuck, I’m going to tell you something. You have that fucking hundreds in my hands tomorrow. If you ain’t got that two hundreds in my hands tomorrow, I’ll break every fucking bone in your body. I swear to my kids. You understand? Fear City: New York vs The Mafia s1e1: Mob Rule, tapes, Netflix 2020
People once called New York Fun City. Now police and firemen’s unions in New York are calling it Fear City. ibid. television news
1970s, New York: A lawless city plagued by drugs, violence and murder … ‘It’s a story about New York. It’s a story about horrible acts of violence. And then it’s a story about greed for money and power and dominance.’ … ibid.
Five untouchable Mafia families hold the city in their grip. This is a story of the men and women who attempt the impossible: to bring down the Mob. ibid.
Our biggest task force ever: we were going to bug the Mafia. ibid. rozzer
In the 1970s the city of New York was owned by the Mob. ibid. Curtis Sliwa
Bonanno, Colombo, Gambino, Genovese, Luchese … New York was total anarchy. The Bronx was burning every night. ibid.
New York was in the grip of the Mafia. The government wasn’t much in control of anything. ibid. DOJ dude
Using Rico, a person could now be convicted because they ordered someone to do a crime. ibid.
Going after the bosses of all five families. When he first broached that to me, I had my doubts. ibid. DOJ dude #2
It was a total immersion into the life of a Mafia household … It was a real slow-going art. ibid. tape transcript woman
He [Castellano] was having a torrid affair with his maid [Gloria Olarte]. ibid.
The early ’80s was a golden era of our life, the Mob. New York was the seat of power for that life all over America. Fear City: New York vs The Mafia s1e2: The Godfather Tapes, Curtis Sliwa
The intention was to develop a Rico case against each of the families. We decided that we tap five family squads. ibid. DoJ dude
They realised we had bugs all over the place. ibid.
You cannot be in the narcotics business and stick it in your stomach. You can’t be in the junk business without going on the fucking streets. ibid. gangsta
There’s a fucking dispute over fucking money. I gotta make a decision I hate to make. ibid.
The five bosses and the Commission had a lot of control over a lot of legitimate businesses, and not only that, the bosses were in business together. ibid. DOJ dude
Rudy Giuliani has this idea of prosecuting the board of directors of the Mafia. And he would like you to work as his deputy. ibid. prosecutor
In the 1980s there were buildings going up all across Manhattan. Fear City: New York vs the Mafia s1e3: Judgment Day
… There’s jobs that did count in there like Trump … ibid. building gangsta on tape
The Gambino squad was getting their information from a bug they had on Paul Castellano. ibid. DOJ rozzer
The Concrete Club: The Club was the key … There’s eight companies that participate in The Club. Each of those companies was connected to a Mob boss … Everything is fixed … A kickback of 2% … Every construction job in Manhattan over two million in value would pay the Mob. ibid.
Carmine Galante had eighty-four entrance and exit wounds in his body. Five people participated in that killing. ibid. DOJ sole lady rozzer
We are going to be arresting the bosses of all five families … I told my bosses, we gotta go right now. ibid. DOJ rozzer
Spies conduct surveillance to learn their enemies’ secrets. To do this spies use stealth and the most cutting-edge surveillance technology. When Intelligence Agencies don’t have access, they get creative. Spy Craft I: High-Tech Surveillance and an Eye in the Sky, Netflix 2021
Rulers, governments, lovers and corporations have been doing it for centuries – spying to gain information, assess potential threats, stop attacks and gain the utter hand. Today, Intelligence Agencies carry out espionage operations using cutting-edge surveillance devices. ibid.
This wasn’t the first time a US ambassador had been the target of covert surveillance. An early listening device called the Passive Cavity Resonator, also known as ‘the thing’ was invented for the KGB by Leon Theremin, the famous musician and Russian scientist in 1945. It contained no electrical parts and is still marvelled at today. ibid.
One operation codenamed Octopus targeted the Russian embassy in Washington (1977). ibid.
NAGRA CCR: Hi-end electronic miniature audio recorder in a credit card shape, developed by Nagra, Kudelski in Switzerland. ibid.
Operation Rainman surveillance … Suddenly, these guys were doing seriously well. And flaunting it. And that kind of rankled with us. So we kind of took that personal. Liverpool Narcos I: Heroin ***** rozzers, Sky Documentaries 2021
This was the early ’80s. You drove round in a white Rolls Royce? ibid. rozzers to Showers
So in 1983 the police tried to prosecute Michael Showers for the second time in short succession. On this occasion it was for possession of a firearm, cannabis, and heroin. The case collapsed in court. And Michael Showers to this day maintains that the case was never legitimate against him. In effect he was fitted up. ibid.
The [US] Government passed the Patriot Act: it said that everyone’s personal data must be open to examination to stop further attacks. Privacy of the individual now became irrelevant in the face of a much higher need: security. Adam Curtis, Can’t Get You Out of My Head VI Are We a Pigeon? Or Are We Dancer? ***** BBCiplayer 2021
In the late 1940s George Orwell imagined a dystopian future where a global surveillance system was used to monitor and control all citizens, independent thinking was censored, and holding unorthodox or controversial thoughts opposing or questioning those in power was considered a criminal act: a Thoughtcrime.
The classified information leaked by former CIA employee Edward Snowden in 2013 not only shocked the public opinion but also showed the disturbing and frightening similarities between the world we live in today and that of Orwell’s fiction. Thoughtcrime, captions, Amazon 2017
The United States only uses signals intelligence for legitimate national security purposes. ibid. Obama
Mass surveillance has never been established as effective for counter-terrorism … They are about power. ibid. Snowden
The absence of privacy is not the presence of security; and the presence of security is not the absence of privacy. ibid.
Privacy is what makes you an individual; privacy is what makes society open. ibid.
Whistleblowers are society’s safeguard of last resort. ibid.
On the frozen weekend of 5th November 1936 a nerve-shredded King Edward VIII made a secret telephone call from his office in Buckingham Palace. In a private conversation with his brother he confided that he could no longer be King if it meant abandoning the woman he loved. But recently declassified documents have revealed that his every word was being scrutinised. Spying on the Royals I, Channel 4 2017
A King suspected of Nazi sympathies … and a top-secret surveillance operation against the King. ibid.
[Albert] Canning began to investigate her background … she had a frustratingly murky past. ibid.
Inside the secret world of the surveillance industry … The spy merchants willing to sell powerful eavesdropping equipment to anyone willing to pay. Spy Merchants, Al Jazeera Investigations 2021
And we expose the methods used to cover their tracks. ibid.
Inside the spyware game: big money, dirty tricks, and a legal structure unable to control who is spying on you. ibid.
The dangers of facial recognition technology … Would you feel safe in public? … Should we be able to expect a reasonable level of privacy in our private lives? Why Facial Recognition Technology is So Dangerous, Youtube 14.48, Second Thought 2020