WikiLeaks Diplomatic Bombshell Reveals Strange Tech Snooping Schemes [Wikileaks]

Today’s not a very good morning to wake up as an American diplomat. The weekend’s WikiLeaks disclosure of covert communications has revealed some strange tech plots surrounding world figures-Bluetooth bugs implanted in prisoners. DNA gathering. UN stalking. Weird stuff.

Bluetooth Human Tracking Implants

First up- injecting released Guantanamo Bay prisoners with internal tracking devices , so that their movements would be ” tracked with Bluetooth” -a (somewhat crackpot) idea cooked up by Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah. The explanation? ” This was done with horses and falcons.” Ah, the old Hey, it works with animals approach. Forget the indisputable fact that Bluetooth would never be a viable technique of tracking someone all over the world-or that the concept itself is immensely ominous. White House counterterrorism advisor John Brennan demurred, replying politely ” horses don’t have good lawyers,” and that the premise probably wouldn’t fly in US courts.

Secret African DNA Gathering

Another tracking strategy came from america itself- aimed at prominent African military and political figures . In one leaked wire, diplomats are directed to assemble pertinent information on their African colleagues:

” e-mail listings; internet and intranet ‘handles’, internet e-mail addresses, website identification-URLs; credit card account numbers; frequent flyer account numbers; work schedules, and other relevant biographical information.”

That might seem a chunk invasive to you or me, but really, it’s what diplomats are being paid to do-as PJ Crowley-U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs- says himself , ” Diplomats collect information that shapes our policies and actions. Diplomats for all nations do a similar thing.” So this isn’t anything phenomenal.

What is a little bit odd are anything of the instructions-diplomats are asked to assemble ” fingerprints, facial images, DNA, and iris scans.” How exactly a diplomat is imagined to gather such genetic and biometric information isn’t explained. Hair grabbed off a brush? Toenail clippings? Mouth swab sneak attack?

Keeping Techie Tabs on the UN

Perhaps more dubiously, biometric information was also requested for members of the UN -including prominent US allies and Security Council members which includes France and the UK. The biometric directive-and the term ” biometric” remains ambiguous here-even extended to leadership within ostensibly benign organizations, reminiscent of the Director General of the WHO, head of UNAIDS, and the Pan American Health Organization. Why the State Department would need iris scans of these people goes unexplained-and again, how much of this knowledge gathering is solely diplomatic business as usual is a mystery to those outside of the diplomatic establishment.

Biometric sweeping, however, was only half the story. An analogous State Department edict asks diplomats to swipe ” passwords” and ” personal encryption keys” of key UN officials, in addition as details on ” commercial and private VIP networks used for official communications.” Whether or not this constitutes spying- a charge Crowley has already denied -is ambiguous. But we doubt anyone at the UN can be pleased knowing america was tracking their passwords and private communications. Alternatively, every diplomat on earth may well be receiving similar wires from the motherland-the WikiLeaks dump is a one-sided revelation.

It’ll take days (and maybe much longer) to gauge the significance of these directives-though the ” diplomatic” aspect of diplomacy is clearly less pristine than the word connotes.

Photo by Jorbasa

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This post is tagged: assistant secretary, biographical information, card account numbers, covert communications, frequent flyer account