SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO.com) — The South Dakota chapter of the ACLU is concerned about surveillance balloon launches from Baltic.
The U.S. military says the balloons can track moving vehicles in a 25 mile radius.
“Technology like this runs the risk of turning South Dakota into a surveillance state and violating the privacy of every South Dakotan,” said Libby Skarin, policy director for the ACLU of South Dakota. “We’re not talking about closed-circuit TV cameras or camera in discrete places. This is area-wide surveillance that essentially creates a pervasive checkpoint over entire cities and metro area.”
She says the military needs to be very clear about what information they’re collecting and what they’re doing with the information.”
The balloons are scheduled to be in the region until September 1st.
The U.K. newspaper, The Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/aug/02/pentagon-balloons-surveillance-midwest), reports that a Sioux Falls company makes the balloons.
- Raven Aerostar, the company that is supplying the balloons for Southcom’s tests and launching them from its facility in South Dakota, told the Guardian that it has had balloons remain aloft for nearly a month. Raven also makes balloons for the Alphabet subsidiary Loon, which uses them to help deliver internet and cellphone service from the stratosphere.
On its webpage, the company says:
- Raven Aerostar offers long-duration, reliable, cost-effective solutions for critical infrastructure protection, elevating payloads and extending sensor ranges for a variety of security missions.
- For decades, Raven Aerostar has led the market in advanced signal processing and persistent surveillance with radar systems and stratospheric platforms. Our suite of technology has enabled end-users and decision-makers to achieve and exceed dynamic intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions spanning land, sea, and air.
Click here (https://ravenaerostar.com/aerospace-and-defense/situational-awareness-isr) to watch a video from Raven Aerostar on their Thunderhead Balloon System.
Below is the S.D. ACLU’s news release on the issue.
—–
The U.S. military is conducting wide-area surveillance tests across six Midwest states, including South Dakota, using experimental high-altitude balloons, according to a report in The Guardian today.
This technology could violate the privacy of all South Dakotans, the ACLU of South Dakota says.
“Technology like this runs the risk of turning South Dakota into a surveillance state and violating the privacy of every South Dakotan,” said Libby Skarin, policy director for the ACLU of South Dakota. “We’re not talking about closed-circuit TV cameras or camera in discrete places. This is area-wide surveillance that essentially creates a pervasive checkpoint over entire cities and metro area. The military needs to be very clear about what information they’re collecting and what they’re doing with the information.”
Because this technology is capable of recording and storing all public movement over large areas – entire cities or metro areas – this kind of mass surveillance destroys any level of anonymity South Dakotans have.
“There are so many unanswered questions here,” Skarin said. “What information is being collected? What information is being stored? Who has access to this information? Is the surveillance for law enforcement purposes? At a minimum, there should be consultation and approval from local communities before the federal government subjects South Dakotans to area-wide surveillance.”
Three times in last seven years, the United States Supreme Court has ruled in favor of privacy when considering advances in technology:
- · GPS tracking case, U.S. v. Jones 565 U.S. 400 (2012). Law enforcement may not install GPS tracking device on a vehicle to monitor the vehicle’s movements without a search warrant.
- · Searching a phone incident to arrest case, Riley v. California, 573 U.S. __ (2014). Warrantless search and seizure of digital contents of a cell phone during an arrest is unconstitutional.
- · Cell phone tracking case (ACLU filed amicus and presented oral argument in this case), Carpenter v. United States, No. 16-402, 585 U.S. ____ (2018). The government violates the Fourth Amendment by accessing historical records containing the physical locations of cellphones without a search warrant. Here, the Court said that there’s a distinction between being “observable” in the old sense – law enforcement following a person – and being “observable” in new sense because of technological advances – one camera can follow an entire city and/or metro area.
