[Lady Justice 08] - Lady Justice and the Watchers

by Robert Thornhill

  “How many of you own a computer?”

  Again almost every hand rose.

  “How many of you use search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing?”

  Again, every hand that had indicated computer use went up.

  “Well then, it’s a good thing that you like cookies, because every time you do an online search, one of these search engines places a ‘cookie’ in your computer.

  “These ‘cookies’ are used to track your search history and user preferences and are stored on their servers for over a year.

  “You certainly are not alone.

  “Google has over ninety percent of the computer search engine market and if you have one of the smart phones that allow you to search the Internet, you most likely have Google because they have ninety-seven percent of the search engine market for smart phones.

  “How many of you watch videos on You Tube?”

  Once more, almost every hand went up.

  “Again, you’re not alone. You Tube has over five hundred million visitors per month and eighty-two percent of all videos embedded in the Internet are from You Tube.

  “And guess who owns You Tube? Yep, it’s Google!”

  “How many of you have Gmail accounts?”

  About half raised their hands.

  “You and two hundred million others. Google owns it, of course.

  “Anybody ever use Google Maps or Blogger? They’re the most widely used map service and blogging platform on the Web.”

  His expression became deadly serious.

  “In one year alone, the U.S. Government requested private information from Google over three thousand, six hundred times.

  “Naturally, Google's chief legal officer said, "The vast majority of these requests are valid and the information needed is for legitimate criminal investigations or for the removal of child pornography.”

  “There is certainly some question whether these requests are ‘legitimate’ in the first place, but what about those that are not?

  “If there’s any question whether your stuff is being monitored, consider the case of an ombudsman for the National Geographic Traveler.

  “He posted a video trailer on You Tube titled ‘How to Save Your Money and Find Better Service in a World of Schemes, Swindles, and Shady Deals’.

  “Within minutes, Google had deleted the video and completely shut down the guy’s entire You Tube channel as well as his Gmail account.

  “Can there be any doubt that you are being watched?

  “Anybody use Facebook and Twitter?”

  Nearly every hand went up again.

  “Can you possibly imagine the amount of your personal data that is being collected and stored away that can be used in everything from predicting what kind of pizza you will order to who you’re going to vote for in the next election?

  “Now get this, hundreds of intelligence analysts already sift overseas Twitter and Facebook posts to track possible terrorist threats, but now, the U.S government through the Department of Defense, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the FBI are soliciting and seeking software to scan the ENTIRE universe of social media to identify emerging threats using the billions of posts people around the world, including you, share every day.”

  You could see the distressed look on the faces of some in the audience.

  Arnie continued, “How many of you watched the Super Bowl?”

  The majority of hands rose again.

  “An article in the Kansas City Star shared the following information. I’ll read it to you.

  ‘The Super Bowl was the most-watched show in TV history, topping last year’s game, the Nielsen Co. estimated Monday.

  An average of 111.3 million people were watching during the telecast. People didn’t turn away from Madonna at halftime - her performance had 114 million viewers - and 117.7 million people saw the game’s ending. Kansas City ranked in the top 10 markets nationally.’

  “How do you suppose they know all of that? They certainly aren’t calling 114 million viewers to ask them if they’re watching Madonna strut her stuff.”

  I had never stopped to think about that before, but it certainly made me wonder.

  “I’ll bet most of you have some type of ‘bundled’ service: cable TV, email and phone lines all grouped into one conveniently priced package.

  “You have either a cable box or satellite receiver box in your home turned on twenty-four hours a day monitoring every TV show you watch, every email you send, every Internet search you make and every phone call.

  “In 1949, George Orwell wrote a book titled 1984 in which a totalitarian government had everyone under complete surveillance through the use of ‘telescreens’ mounted in every home.

  “What a far-fetched notion that was. Or was it?”

  So there it was again. I could almost hear the Professor saying, “Are there any doubts that Big Brother is watching you?”

  “How about the local newscast? Isn’t it great that no matter where there’s an accident on our highways, there always seems to be a traffic camera to show the cars backed up for miles?

  “Do you ever wonder who has access to all those camera feeds that record our coming and going twenty-four hours a day?

  “Top all that with the GPS chips that are now mandatory in all cell phones and standard equipment on most cars and you find yourself living in a society where anyone can know where you are and what you are doing at any given moment in your life.”

  A guy in the back row raised his hand.

  “I believe all that is true, but isn’t that just the price we are paying to protect ourselves from more incidents like the Twin Tower’s tragedy?”

  “Of course it is,” Arnie replied. “I’m quite sure that all of this surveillance has averted many more disasters and saved tens of thousands of lives.”

  “So what are we supposed to do?” the guy asked. “Is it good or is it bad? It’s almost like having a toothache. Nobody wants to go to the dentist and sit through a two hour root canal, but you have to if you want to save the tooth.”

  There were snickers throughout the room.

  Arnie smiled, “That’s not a bad analogy and it’s a dilemma we face nearly every day in our lives. We must weigh the cost of things against their benefits and try to ascertain what the chances are that the things involved could be abused and used for the wrong reasons.”

  Another voice spoke up. “Then what are we supposed to do?”

  Arnie looked around the room. “If I were to tell each of you tonight to throw away your cell phones, unhook your TV sets, stop using email and never post on Facebook, you would think me crazy and walk away. I wouldn’t blame you.

  “The world is what it is and there’s no escaping it. My goal tonight is two-fold. First, you just need to be aware of what is happening around you.

  “Is there potential for you being watched? Yes, I believe so, but if you’re a law-abiding citizen, the chances of anything ever coming from it are slim.

  “Unfortunately, there will be some who inadvertently come under the scrutiny of Big Brother for the wrong reasons and if you happen to be one of those unlucky few, you may find that ‘the land of the free’ is anything but that.

  “Cervantes wrote, ‘Forewarned, forearmed. To be prepared is half the victory.’

  “Our task is to understand those things that can jeopardize our individual freedoms and to watch carefully those who would abuse them.”

  There it was again, ‘watch’. I looked around the room expecting the Professor to be seated in a corner somewhere.

  Another voice spoke, “You said there were two things you wanted to share tonight. What’s the second thing?”

  “We cannot escape what’s already here, so the next best thing is to make the best of it and use it to our advantage.

  “The reason the FBI is so interested in ‘data mining’ our Facebook and Twitter accounts, and I quote,” he said, taking a paper Nick handed him, ‘Social media has emerged to be the fir
st instance of communication about a crisis, trumping traditional first responders that included police, firefighters, EMTs and journalists.’

  “Anytime anything of significance occurs, somebody is there with a cell phone camera and takes pictures and video that are uploaded onto FaceBook, Twitter or You Tube instantly.

  “Before the advent of these technological miracles, the folks that controlled the newspapers, radio and TV stations, controlled and censored what news was reported and how they wanted that news to be viewed.

  “Those days are over. There are millions of us out there ready to pounce on any deviation from the truth.

  “Even more important, we now have a voice --- we have a means to communicate our fears, our wishes, our demands to those who wield the power in our country.”

  “We?” someone asked. “We have that power? How?”

  “I’m glad you asked.

  “Here’s a ridiculous example. Someone takes a video of a boy lighting another boy’s fart with a cigarette lighter and posts it on You Tube. Word gets around and within hours or days, the video goes ‘viral’ with millions of viewers getting a chuckle over the silly thing.

  “That sounds pretty inane, but I’m going to give you three recent incidents where public opinion completely reversed some major decisions.

  “The Susan G. Komen Foundation is the global leader of the breast cancer movement and the largest source of non-profit funds dedicated to the fight of breast cancer throughout the world.

  “Recently, the Koman organization opted not to renew a sizeable grant to the Planned Parenthood Organization.”

  Immediately, several hands shot into the air.

  “Whoa, back off. This isn’t about whether you are in favor or opposed to abortion so let’s not get into that battle.

  “This is about the fact that the public outcry was so strong on the social media, the Foundation reversed its decision and restored the grants.

  “How about this. The McDonald’s restaurant chain launched an ad campaign for their new chicken snack, Chicken McBites.

  “For some reason, the commercial said that ‘eating a Chicken McBite was less risky than petting a stray pit bull’.”

  Nick handed Arnie another piece of paper.

  “I’m reading from the Kansas City Star. ‘Almost as soon as it hit the air, a pit bull rescue group launched a protest campaign on Facebook and Twitter. McDonald’s quickly pulled the ad which never went national, and issued an apology.’

  “We’re talking about the largest, richest and most influential fast food chain in the world and they caved under pressure from people just like you and me.

  “But somebody had to be watching and become concerned enough to do something.

  “Let’s go all the way to the top.

  “Just recently, President Obama’s administration made a decision to require insurance coverage for the cost of contraceptives, even in policies offered by religious employers.

  “Hundreds of thousands of Catholics denounced the plan and criticism of the plan escalated on conservative and religious websites as well as other social media.

  “Bottom line, the President of the United States backed off his administration’s decision and is seeking some kind of compromise.

  “It’s the power of the people watching and making their voices heard.”

  “So what can we do?” someone asked.

  “You can learn to use the tools that were created to watch us --- to watch and influence them.

  “The first thing you need to understand is how things ‘go viral’.

  “For simplicity’s sake, let’s say you have a Facebook page with just fifty friends and you post an article that is important to you. If your fifty friends have just fifty friends and they repost or share your article, suddenly it’s in front of twenty-five hundred people. If those people have fifty friends and they repost, a hundred and twenty-five thousand folks will see your message. If they each have fifty friends, the number jumps to six million, two hundred and fifty thousand.

  “That’s how things get done.”

  You could see the expressions of wonder on the people’s faces. It was like they had been given a voice to express their concerns where previously, they had been content to suffer in silence.

  You could tell that Arnie was pleased with the crowd’s reaction.

  “Now I’m going to turn the meeting over to my friend, Nick. He’s going to go over how to set up Facebook and Twitter pages and how to start building that database of friends. My example was only with fifty friends. Imagine how far you could reach with a hundred --- or five hundred!”

  Everyone rose to their feet and applauded.

  I saw Pastor Bob standing at the back of the room and I headed his way.

  “What do you know about these guys?” I asked. “Where did they come from?”

  “Pretty impressive, aren’t they?”

  “They certainly seem to know what they’re talking about. Yesterday, they were attacking the CDC, the FDA and the big drug companies and today they’re after the FBI and Homeland Security. What’s that all about?”

  “Arnie and Nick met under very trying circumstances.

  “Do you remember the Vioxx scandal?”

  “That was Merck Pharmaceutical’s arthritis drug that was taken off the market, wasn’t it?”

  “That’s the one. It was responsible for hundreds of heart attacks and multiple deaths.

  “Both Arnie and Nick’s fathers were among the deaths. They met when their families sued Merck. Each of them was awarded over a million dollars in compensation.

  “They both blamed the FDA for approving the drug and vowed to use the money from the settlement to combat the abuses of corrupt government agencies.

  “One thing led to another and the more they investigated, the more corruption they found.”

  I probed a little further.

  “This may sound a bit strange and I certainly didn’t see anything here tonight to support the idea, but have you ever overheard them advocating violence to overthrow the government?”

  “Nick and Arnie? Are you kidding? They may be passionate but they’re certainly not violent.

  “Think about it, Walt. Do you believe that I would let them use my church or be involved in any way if they were doing something dangerous or illegal?”

  I almost felt ashamed. “Of course not.”

  “Does this have anything to do with your request earlier?”

  “I wish I could tell you. You said you would trust me. Remember, I’m just plain old Walt.”

  “I’ll tell you what, plain old Walt, we’re having another meeting this Saturday evening. It’s by invitation only and I’m inviting you and Maggie.”

  “Maggie --- I don’t know ---.”

  “You want me to trust you. How about you trust me? Besides, someone you know and respect is going to be the guest speaker, Dr. Edgar Pearson.”

  Now I was more confused than ever.

  I had been sent to spy on a possible terrorist organization and I had discovered that two of the people I admired most in the world were in it up to their necks!

  CHAPTER 7

  I pulled up in front of my building and for the life of me, I couldn’t remember driving home.

  My mind had been filled with thoughts of Google-Bots tracking my Internet searches and Big Brother watching my every move.

  I was surprised to see the Professor standing on the front stoop with two strangers, a fifty-ish gentleman in a tweed suit and a young foreign-looking fellow, maybe twenty years old.

  The Professor seemed happy to see me.

  “Walt, I’d like you to meet an old friend and a new friend.

  “This is Professor Rhinehart, a colleague of mine from the University and Amir Akhtar, a foreign exchange student from Pakistan.”

  We exchanged handshakes and greetings.

  “Dr. Rhinehart is a Professor of Eastern Cultures and he has arraigned for six of our UMKC students to spend six months in P
akistan, and Amir and five other Pakistani students will be spending six months here.”

  “That’s fantastic!” I said. “I’ll bet you’re a bit overwhelmed by all of this.”

  I was amazed at his command of the English language. “It is more than I could have ever imagined.

  “Professor Skinner tells me that you are a law enforcement officer. In my country, the reform and reorganization of the police department is a top priority. I hope that sometime before I leave the country we can speak of your legal system.”

  “Well, sure. But there are probably a lot of others who know more than I do.”

  “But you are on the streets every day dealing with the people. I believe I read that your motto is to ‘serve and protect’. I want to know more of this. I want to see American justice first hand.”

  “I’ll be glad to do whatever I can to help,” I replied.

  I just didn’t realize at the time how prophetic that would be.

  Across town, in the basement of an abandoned school, Zareef Khan was meeting with Mustafa Wasim, his American contact.

  “Welcome, Brother. Are you ready to take our jihad to the infidels?”

  “I am here to serve Allah and give my life to avenge the deaths of my friends and family. Tell me what I must do.”

  “We have been planning our attack for more than a year. With your arrival, we are ready to proceed. The sacrifice that you and three others will make will take thousands to their deaths and let the Americans know that they are no longer safe in their own country.”

  “How will this work?”

  “The American baseball All Star game is in July. There will be over forty thousand fans in that ballpark that day. That is where we will strike.”

  “But how?”

  “Our people have been infiltrating the system since last summer. We have many who are vendors in the park selling hot dogs, beer and peanuts, and even more important, we have people working behind the big scoreboard, setting off the fireworks after home runs.

  “Tomorrow, you will begin work as a vendor and learn the system. By July, everything will be in place.

  “The four of you will be heroes in our cause and your names will spoken with reverence for years to come.”