Satellite Surveillance

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Satellite Surveillance

I. Preface

My interest in satellite surveillance did not really appear to after I saw the movie "Enemy of the State" in 1998. The synopsis of the movie is: Robert Dean (Will Smith) is a labor lawyer who is unknowingly in possession of evidence related to a serious politically motivated crime. Government agents eager to hide their guilt believe that Dean is on to them, and proceed to turn his life upside-down, ruin his reputation, and frame him for various incidents, thanks to the latest in high-tech government surveillance techniques. In an attempt to clear his name and reclaim his life, Dean teams up with the reclusive Brill (Gene Hackman), a former federal employee who has as much high-tech equipment and expertise as the government itself. Smith scores as a man who is desperate to reclaim his identity and prove his innocence. This intense technological thrill-ride from director Tony Scott questions how much access the government should have to the communications of private citizens, and leaves the viewer with the unsettling feeling that Big Brother is definitely watching. After this movie I was amazed that we have the capability in our hands to do this. I have two scenes from the movie that show the technology at work.

II. Introduction

A powerful worldwide surveillance system is being built up and the world is being watched. Spy satellites are orbiting the earth, those are the eyes in the sky, and millions of video cameras and other sensors are scattered on the earth, the eyes and ears on the ground. The computer networks are continually growing, the brians of the system. Implantable microchips with miniature digital transceivers are attached to many objects and animals, and lately to some hu...

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...tion-en.html> (31 October 2003)

ACLU, "ACLU Urges Congress to Investigate ECHELON Surveillance System," <http://archive.aclu.org/congress/lg040699a.html> (06 April 1999)

MTC ONLINE, " Reports of Current Experimentation with Microwave and EM Weapons," <http://www.heart7.net/mcf/1.html> (10 August 2003)

"Directed Energy Weapons," <http://www.rhfweb.com/hweb/shared2/usexist.html#Directed%20Energy%20Weapons> (2001)

Hi-Tech Methods, "Technology of control," <http://members.tripod.com/%7Emdars/1/war2.htm>

"The Microwave Syndrome," <http://www.grn.es/electropolucio/omega287.htm> (20 September 2003)

Duncan Cambell, "Inside Echelon," Inside Echelon.pdf, 25 July 2000

European Parliment, "Echelon Interception System," Report.pdf, 11 July 2001

Patrick S. Poole, "ECHELON: America's Secret Global Surveillance Network," Echelon.pdf, 2000

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