They’re Here and They’re Watching. Florida Rolls Out High-Tech “Smart” Street Lights

April 19, 2015

Posted on April 17, 2015 by Aaron Dykes Posted in Connect-the-Dots

(Truthstream Media.com) Despite appearances, the “smart” society was never based on saving energy, saving money or saving the environment.

The real aim has been to control the population and conduct absolute surveillance on the larger herd and even every individual.

Thanks to smart phones, smart meters, smart grids, smart TVs, smart cars and smart appliances, the places you go, the people you contact and all the things you interact with are logged, tracked and analyzed by advanced computer algorithms. Thanks to search engines, the technocrats even believe they known what you’re thinking and what you’ll do next.

Now, the “smart” street lights that record conversations and broadcast government propaganda are actually being rolled out on city streets across the America.

The latest is in Jacksonville, Florida.
From the Business Journals:

Through a pilot program with GE Lighting, JEA and the city, Downtown and surrounding neighborhoods will be outfitted with about 50 data-collecting LED streetlights, as part of the GE Intelligent City Initiative, announced Thursday morning.

*Paul McElroy, JEA CEO, Jaime Irick, vice president and general manager of GE Lighting and Mayor Alvin Brown announce new intelligent LED street lights will collect data for the city to use.*

As the first city on the East Coast to have this technology — and the second in the world, behind San Diego — the move is an opportunity for Jacksonville to become a cutting-edge city, said Mayor Alvin Brown.

The lights — which will come at no cost to taxpayers during the pilot program — will be interconnected with one another and will collect real-time data, as seen in a presentation by GE.
..… GE’s Predix software will then analyze the data so the city can use it.

Aaron Dykes & Melissa Melton Truthstream Media

intellistreets two way communication

Check out this promo video for “Intellistreets,” the makers of one of the leading smart street lights. While it has a few interesting features, the creepy factor is clear enough by the end of the video.

Admittedly, the lights carry two way communication, acting as a watcher and spy of passersby, while carrying “official” messages. The system is designed to work with supervisions by Homeland Security, and may have terrorism applications.

A video demonstration of the many capabilities of the Intellistreets intelligent light pole system, including homeland security, video surveillance, public safety, traffic control, energy conservation, and advertising features.

Of course, the benefits for the average person are being advertised

"One of the more relevant, ready-to-go applications is the ability to have smart parking. Through the streetlight sensors, residents can be notified when parking spots are available, or even if their meter might be running out."

Life under Big Data

There have been many warnings, but the warnings have been ignored.
Life under Big Data is already “smarter” and bigger than life under Big Brother, and the full effects have yet to materialize.

How long until we all regret so easily giving up our freedom and privacy for the convenience of technology – though its effect is ultimately enslaving and enough to make most of us obsolete.

Here are just a few of the articles Truthstream has covered before on the dangers of the Smart Society:
Orwell’s Dystopic Nightmare Comes True: Agenda 21 Smart Cities Are Here!
How Wearable Smart Tech Will Control Your Life
Total Smart Grid Control: “Warren Buffett Wants to Tell You When You Can Wash Your Clothes”

Non Payment Network Demonstration Success in the Sunshine

April 18, 2015

The march passed off peacefully with marchers clearly enjoying themselves chanting slogans all along the route, such as 'Enda Enda Enda Out Out Out', 'No Way, We Won't Pay', Ruth Coppinger TD told the people that this was the start of the next phase of the campaign, non payment. She said that the Non Payment Network will be holding many more demonstrations throughout the country. There was a symbolic binning of Irish Water bills at Leinster House. According to Ruth Coppinger, many people had still not received irish Water bills.

Demonstration against Irish Water and Water Charges Dublin Saturday April 18, 2015

Non Payment Network, organisers of the national demonstration against Irish Water and the water charges were delighted with the massive turnout. Demonstrators gathered in lovely sunshine at the Garden of Remembrance, Parnell Square and then marched to Dail Eireann, Leinster House where they were addressed by several speakers including Ruth Coppinger and Paul Murphy of the Anti Austerity Alliance.

Well done everybody involved massive turnout bin your bills dublin 18 / 4 / 15

A Thirst For Privitisation

April 17, 2015

If one recognises water as a basic human right - a concept endorsed last year by the United nations, then the decision to allow it be taken out of public control and given to private interests is reprehensible, writes Frank Groome.

The recent government decision to introduce household water meters and charges, as mandated by the terms of the EU-IMF bailout, is the second crucial step towards the full privatisation of water services and resources in the country. The first step was taken almost a year ago at a United Nations General Assembly vote on a resolution recognising the human right to water – a vote on which the last Irish government abstained.

In this historic vote, the United Nations declared “the right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation as a human right that is essential for the full enjoyment of the right to life." The resolution was passed with 122 nations in favour, none against and 41 abstentions. It is interesting to note that most of the abstaining countries - which included a majority of developed countries - argued that the resolution would impose expensive obligations on wealthier countries to meet the provisions in the resolution and could undermine a process in the UN's Human Rights Council in Geneva to build a consensus on water rights - a multilateral process that many commentators argue is unlikely to produce an outcome anytime soon.

On the face of it, this explanation of the vote might appear somewhat reasonable; however, a cursory examination of the events preceding the UN vote reveals a more telling motive. The recent resolution at the UN was introduced by Bolivia, a country that has extensive frontline experience in defending public ownership of water resources and services. Indeed, Bolivia is probably the best-known example of the grassroots global resistance to water privatisation. In 1999, the World Bank recommended the full privatisation of Cochabamba’s water supply company and even threatened to withhold $600 million in international debt relief if the Bolivian government refused. Not long after the government took the decision to privatise water, bills started rising - ultimately reaching almost twenty dollars a month (in a city where the minimum wage - at the time - was around a hundred dollars a month). Eventually through massive grassroots mobilisation and mass strikes this perverse decision was reversed - but not before a number of citizens were killed during the street protests.

The Dark Experience of Privatisation
This dark experience with water privatisation has encouraged successive Bolivian governments to continue the push for the UN to recognise water as a human right; a position not recognised in the 1948 United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, but a position most governments -especially most established democracies - would be hard pressed to explain to their electorate if they openly refused to recognise it. However, in the diplomatic negotiations that preceded last year’s vote, it was clear that most of those UN members that abstained
would have voted in favour had the resolution explicitly recognised “access” to water as a human right. The reason: governments would be able to continue their efforts to hollow out core government services and privatise water. After all, governments would only be required to provide citizens with “access” to water - which they would achieve through private companies offering water services to households - but governments would have no obligation to ensure citizens could afford to pay for water. It is also telling to discover that many of those abstaining countries have already or have plans underway to privatise water.

Uploaded by OireachtasRetortTV on 2014-12-10.

Dec 2014 Former Junior Minister Fergus O’Dowd, one the people involved in setting up Irish Water, said he felt that there were “forces at work” with “agendas” to privatise the utility company. He said he remains “deeply concerned at other agendas, they may be European… I don’t know where they are coming from…” and said we have “real reason to be concerned” about the possibility of Irish Water being privatised.
Responding to the Fine Gael TD’s comments, Environment Minister Alan Kelly told reporters this morning: “ I don’t really know what Fergus O’Dowd is talking about, to be frank. I haven’t a clue. thejournal.ie

Pressure of the IMF in Ireland
The pressure from the International Monetary Fund and World Bank to replace public (collective) ownership of water services with corporate control in Ireland is being realised by the government’s recent decision to introduce water meters, and ultimately charges, for usage. However, the legal imprimatur to proceed with this decision was based on the decision of the previous government to abstain from recognising water as a human right.
The lasting importance of this decision to abstain on the UN vote is significant. It represents the acquiescence of a hollow government to the fanatical principles of a neoliberal capitalism that aims to commodify everything, without regard to the consequence or outcome on citizens.
The lasting importance of this decision to abstain on the UN vote is significant. It represents the acquiescence of a hollow government to the fanatical principles of a neoliberal capitalism that aims to commodify everything, without regard to the consequence or outcome on citizens.

From Politico