Is the Google Balloon experiment to spy on Sri Lanka & violate our personal freedoms?
Posted on August 6th, 2015
Shenali D Waduge
It was recently announced that Sri Lanka had been chosen to launch the Google balloon-based internet services under a project titled ‘Google Loon Project’. Anything being rolled out for the first time and free should raise concern. Why ‘experiment’ on Sri Lanka moreover why Sri Lanka or does it align to Kerry’s success in regime change in Sri Lanka and pax Americana goal? It is not so much as the idea to provide internet coverage to the whole of Sri Lanka (though users will still have to pay to their local service provider) but the ability that the owners of the balloon have over a sovereign country and whether local laws or even international can cover the range of spying/surveillance that can be done! Associated with the project and representing the US intelligence community is Dr. Bhavani Thuraisingham Executive Director of Cyber Security Research and Education Institute which is sponsored by George Soros’s Raytheon. The most important unanswered question is why was such a project kept secret from the Sri Lankan public, why were associated stakeholders not involved to report on the pros & cons and moreover why was the fundamental rights of privacy of the people violated. None of us wish to have the entire country under a blanket of US surveillance and it is wrong to have enforced such a project overlooking the national security concerns and the privacy of the people of Sri Lanka. Even the business community will undoubtedly have reservations. Will the world’s 1.8billion internet users like to have their privacy invaded too?
Google’s balloon design partner and manufacturer is Raven Aerostar. Project Loon is designed to provide wireless internet access to millions of unconnected people worldwide using Raven Aerostar high altitude balloons. Raven Industries is owned by George Soros. Google though founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin is also owned by George Soros. Therefore Google & Raven Aerostar is virtually home & home business co-opted by the US to control global information. Dr. Nafeez Ahmed’s investigative journalism has exposed US efforts to enable NSA mass surveillance and for Google to be used to hide behind US military industrial complex. https://medium.com/insurge-intelligence/how-the-cia-made-google-e836451a959e .
What needs to be highlighted is that the stated goals of these initiatives almost always hide behind more secret endeavors. Unbeknown to the American taxpayers funds to quasi-NGOs are funneled through organizations such as National Endowment for Democracy, Freedom House, National Democratic Institute and George Soros’s Open Society Foundations which are used for ‘regime change’. Their work is conducted in disregard of international law and in violation of the sovereignty and integrity of the people whose governments are thus targeted.
What role does Google play in this? Google has acquired over 180 companies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mergers_and_acquisitions_by_Google the services of these companies (web search, search engines, web sharing, customer relationship management, blogs, neotonic software, online advertising, social networking, mobile browser, HTML editor, image organizer, traffic analysis, map analysis, web analytics, web maps, video conferencing, aerial photography, email search, broadband internet access, video sharing, computer security, virtually everything being done electronically all fall under the control of Google (whose owner is George Soros) As of 03/31/2013, Soros Fund Management LLC owns 207 stocks with a total value of $8.6 billion. http://www.nasdaq.com/article/george-soros-buys-google-liberty-global-sells-citigroup-aig-ge-apple-cm246602#ixzz3i21nmh5N
‘Net neutrality’ and Mass Surveillance Under Executive Order 12333
Net neutrality is nothing but powers given to the government to regulate the internet. In other words content is controlled and you have no power over it. Obviously the goal is to secure and control the world.
Media Research Centre says that Soros has spent nearly $200,000,000 into pushing Obama’s so-called ‘net neutrality’ regulations. The money has been spent on funding liberal think tanks (Open Society Foundation owned by Soros & Ford Foundation) and supporting pro-net neutrality individuals – five of whom have ascended to key positions at the White House and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
Executive Oder 12333 (covering most of NSA work) issued by the US President is legally binding and allows US to carry out mass surveillance on the entire world – US can collect content of your communications including Internet communications like emails/text messages / there is no protection for non-US persons for their privacy can be violated even those not suspected of a crime and ironically no US court has considered the legality and constitutionality of surveillance under this Order. So we have a network of the same people establishing organizations under various names all curtailing our freedoms and grasping control and ownership in a future bid to set a price for which we have no choice but to pay.
CIA / US soft-power agencies & Soros
Soros’s companies/ associated NGOs are closely wrapped up in and helps fund US expansionism. From 1991, Yugoslavia became target of Open Society Institute which channelled more than $100m to the coffers of the anti-Milosevic opposition, funding political parties, publishing houses and “independent” media. Even the Hague tribunal was co-financed by Soros with charges made by Human Rights Watch owned also by Soros! An example that shows how Western governments use NGOs for regime change.
U.S. intervention in Libya was the first formal tests of a new United Nations doctrine known as Responsibility to Protect”. With global opposition to R2P, the tilt of opinion favoring R2P is done through media and organizations. Global Center for Responsibility to Protect (GCR2P) is funded by Soros. Gareth Evans is the Board Co-Chair. Patrons include Kofi Annan, Desmond Tutu, and Lloyd Axworthy. Not only is Soros an executive member of the ICG board of trustees but Soros’ Open Society Institute is one of only three nongovernmental funders of the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect. Government sponsors include Australia, Belgium, Canada, the Netherlands, Norway, Rwanda and the U.K. ICG was active in Egypts Arab Spring. Soros is also tied to Samantha Power, the National Security Council special adviser to Obama on human rights. These entities provide funds to local NGOs – Centre for Policy Alternatives, Transparency International all claiming to be ‘independent’.
Globalreseach calls the US a ‘rogue state’ accusing it of rejecting the rule of law, violating treaty obligations, killing over a million human being from armed attacks since 9/11 all of which has cost $4 to $6trillion to the US taxpayers ($40-$60,000 per household). Globalresearch also claims that the US Wars of Aggression has killed 20-30million people in covert & overt wars since 1945.
The use of social media by the Soros/CIA coup plotters should come as no surprise. Social media served at the very core of the themed revolutions sponsored by the CIA and Soros twice in Ukraine (Orange Revolution and Euro-Maidan uprising), Jasmine Revolution (Tunisia), Lotus Revolution (Egypt), Rose Revolution (Georgia), Tulip Revolution (Kyrgyszstan), and Green Revolution (Iran). In essence, Freedom House, like Soros’s NGOs, serves as a conduit for CIA support for rebellious opposition forces in dozens of countries around the world, countries that now include Macedonia, as well as Hungary, Venezuela, Syria, Egypt, Serbia, Jordan, Mexico, and Cuba. Therefore, when Sri Lanka falls within the new ‘Look East Policy’ it is best that we look at these new ‘free’ gestures with caution.
Much as Project Loon’s objectives of providing internet access to the world is commendable the fact that Google itself is owned by individuals co-opted by the West and use think tanks/organizations funded by or controlled by their organizations and the fact that these in turn can intrude and invade upon sovereign nations (the govt, the public and the corporate sector) who have no legal control over how their information is taken and used raises alarm bells whether those that signed the agreement thought of these concerns before hurriedly signing. There are numerous other concerns as well given that those now controlling these outer space state-of-the-art facilities are the same players disturbing and destabilizing nations and alerts us to wonder what additional options they can provide to these virtual unmanned drones if the nations they are providing services to become an ‘enemy’ or require to be ‘used’ to advance the geopolitical agendas of these owners. Given the vulnerable status Sri Lanka it is interesting to know how India and China will view this new mode of entry into Asia by US and its regime change operators using global networks now under their disposal.
While only 1 in 5 Sri Lankans are internet users it would be interesting to gauge how the Colombo elite accept this invasion of privacy in particular the business community since Project Loon which provides internet access also enables the owners to have full access to one’s emails/internet use/ telephone address books/home calls … just about everything we do and saved and kept to be used. The access is with a handful and the rest of us will end up virtual slaves to them!
Rolling out the project with 13 balloons makes caution greater as well as questioning whether the world’s poor need social networking and streaming video more than medicine and food.
Yet, the question is, is it correct to try out such an experiment on the entire country without informing the People. Even members of the Government are clueless about it, the business community naturally will have concerns, the People do not wish to have their privacy invaded and moreover given that the provider is virtually working in collision with Western governments attempting to extend imperial rule Sri Lankans need to seriously look at this from a national and personal invasion.
Shenali D Waduge
Further reading:
Google’s relationship with CIA :
http://thegarynullshow.podbean.com/e/the-gary-null-show-012915/
https://medium.com/insurge-intelligence/how-the-cia-made-google-e836451a959e
August 6th, 2015 at 3:19 pm
Thank you for this wonderful article! I share your concern about privacy, and said as much when the story broke a couple of weeks ago (See comments in “http://adaderana.lk/technology/31785/chamath-palihapitiya-helped-sri-lanka-get-googles-internet-balloons”).
I wasn’t aware of the Soros connection, as this pretty much makes it conclusive that Google Loon is ALL about illegally monitoring the communication of Sri Lankans to facilitate Western control of Sri Lanka.
Soros has been bad news wherever he goes, and his Open Society, Transparency International, and International Crisis Group NGOs have been very active in Sri Lanka in orchestrating the regime change we saw on January 8th.
I have not seen a SINGLE article or press release from Transparency International on the Bond Fraud in Sri Lanka, even though this NGO is ostensibly an anti-corruption group. They only oppose corruption of those who oppose Soros, and turn a blind eye to the corruption of those who advance Soros’ pro-Western hegemony, pro-Israel racism and religious bigotry, and anti-China “China Containment” agenda around the world.
August 6th, 2015 at 3:43 pm
One more thing…
One of the hallmarks of the wealthy racist fools that run America is that they hide behind brown-faced fronts to mask their racist intentions. In America it is the “black front” that we often worry about – the black face put out by white folks to harm the interests of black people (e.g., Ward Connerly, Shelby Steele, Thomas Sowell, Clarence Thomas, etc.).
In the Google Loon case, it is Sri Lankan ‘born’ Chamath Palihapitiya, who was raised in Canada and now lives in a wealthy white suburb in America – Palo Alto. Chamath hosts a weekly poker game in his house and invites prominent white people in the Silicon Valley social scene to these card games – none of which are Sri Lankan. In fact, if you went to a Sri Lankan temple anywhere in California, it is doubtful that anyone would even know who Chamath Palihapitiya is, as he has never been an active member of the Sri Lankan community in America.
Nonetheless, as a front person to try to make it look like Google Loons is not anti-Sri Lankan, he is the perfect fit. Someone with a Sri Lankan name and birthplace but who has thoroughly adopted American and Western values and culture. In fact, his only goal in life thus far has been to see his name listed on the Forbes list of richest Americans, so this is hardly the kind of person who would give a damn about what happens to Sri Lanka.
August 6th, 2015 at 4:39 pm
There is ONE, AND ONLY ONE “solution” to the problem of Indian fishermen fishing in Sri Lankan waters … and that is FOR INDIA to ENFORCE ITS INTERNATIONAL MARITIME OBLIGATIONS by PREVENTING its fishermen from crossing into and fishing in Sri Lankan waters, just as Sri Lanka does with respect to HER OWN fishermen!
Why is that such an ABSTRUSE, COMPLEX, and DIFFICULT TO UNDERSTAND concept we need to DISCUSS interminably? Forget the SELF-SERVING local Indian politics in DRavida-Nadu, and ENFORCE the INTERNATIONAL MARITIME LAW!
India MUST STOP BULLYING Sri Lanka into allowing its Fishermen to POACH in Sri Lankan waters FOR WHATEVER REASON!
If India has DENUDED its OWN WATER of Fish by HABITUAL OVERFISHING … that is India’s Prerogative and Right to do so.
However, having DEPLETED its own Fish Resource by overfishing, India has no right to DEPLETE Sri Lanka’s fisheries!
Sri Lanka … is ENFORCING its own Fishing Rights to protect the livlihood of its own citizens by using the Sri Lanka Navy, and the Coast Guard to ARREST, PROSECUTE and PUNISH the violaters, and CONFISCATE their BOATS and FISHING GEAR as the MOST EFFECTIVE DETERRENCE against the boat owners who deploy the boats and PROFIT from the ILLEGAL FISHING!
All these “DISCUSSIONS” with Sri Lanka are geared to EXTRACTING CONCESSIONS from Sri Lanka to GIVE UP ITS FISH RESOURCES in part or as a whole! DON’T DO IT!
Please tell India that THERE IS NOTHING TO TALK ABOUT, and ask hem to ENFORCE THE LAW and CONTROL their own fisherman in their OWN country! SHORT, SWEET & EFFECTIVE!
………………………….
Indian government to find a solution to fishermen issue with Sri Lanka
Aug 06, New Delhi: The central Indian government Wednesday informed parliament that it is working towards evolving a permanent solution for Tamil fishermen issue and that the External Affairs Ministry is engaged in discussions with Sri Lanka.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu has described the fishermen issue as a serious and recurring one and Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj is taking necessary interest and engaged in discussions with Sri Lanka from time to time.
Minister Naidu made this assurance after the AIADMK’s P Venugopal raised the issue of frequent attacks on Tamil Fishermen by Sri Lankan Navy, New Indian Express reported.
“Over the years and months, these attacks have become very frequent and severe. From capture, detention and harassment of our fishermen, now a state has come when they are shot at sight. It is criminal, inhuman and unjustified action by Sri Lanka,” Venugopal said in Lok Sabha. He also slammed the Centre for not condemning the statement of Sri Lankan Prime Minister against Tamil fishermen. Venugopal said despite raising this issue on several occasions in the House, no concrete action had been taken by the government.
August 6th, 2015 at 4:51 pm
MAKE NO MISTAKE … If the UNP wins, the ABOVE SCENARIO of DIVISION of Sri Lanka into a PATCHWORK of Ethno-Religious Bantustans will be
INEVITABLE within the FIRST TERM of government by the UNPatriotic Party!
That is DEFINITELY, beyond a SHADOW OF DOUBT, what is AT STAKE in this General Election!
EMBALA SINHALAYENI … AWADIWAWU!
Mey DUSHTA DARUNU DROHI kriyakalapaya sampoornayenma uduradamawu!
Apey maubimey ekiya bhawaya than randhee aththey obey atheyei!
Maubimey sathuranta chandaya dunnoth, aniwareyen heta obta walapenna, kandulusalanna, wevi!
EMBALA SINHALAYENI … EVANI ANDURU ANAGATHAK BIHIWENNA IDA NOTHABAU!
August 6th, 2015 at 6:31 pm
Indian colonial parasites have been and are spying on us since 1792. One has to be blind not to see it of realize it. The Indian colonial parasites who live among us and spy on us and brainwash us and majority of the live in Indian ghettos like Jaffna or Wellawatta or Hatton. So there is nothing much to worry about balloons.
August 6th, 2015 at 6:35 pm
Since 2013 SL is a PATCHWORK of Ethno-Religious Bantustans. Northern Bantustan is ruled by Vigneswaran (VASUTHEVAN’s in-law) since 2013. Eastern Bantustan ruled by Najeeb since 2012. We have to SCRAP 13 amendment immediately.
Since VESAVALAMI LAW was introduced in 1900 Singhalese have been UNABLE TO BUY LAND in the north.
No one has the balls to SCRAP 13 amendment and UNIFY the DIVIDED SL.
No one has the balls to SCRAP VESAWALAMI LAW either.
IF prince Dutugemunui lived today he would complain I can’t stretch my feet. I’m trapped between the DEVIL and the deep blue sea.
Now the question is will SL be FURTHER DIVIDED.
August 6th, 2015 at 6:44 pm
MB,
Partly AGREE.
The ONLY good thing MARU SIRA’s govt. did was to BAN foreign citizens from contesting elections. I have made that demand since OCTOBER 2014 in these comments.
Now USA agents at least cannot be in parliament.
MOST Sri Lankans, especially the UNDER 40s LOVE the GOOGLE LOON idea. For them it is a LINK to the cyber world. It is like the OPEN ECONOMY. What other opportunity they have?
Anyway there is NO guarantee the LOON idea will WORK to provide internet!!! It may just be a spy operation after all!!
The problem is with our politicians. Immediately after the war the govt. should have installed ISLAND WIDE GOVERNMENT INTERNET NETWROKS without waiting for 2014 and without wasting money on YARL DEVI. If you followed my comments here in 2010, I DEMANDED it (for different reasons). My logic was for the ministry of defence SL to spy on activities through the island-wide network. But the govt. thought YARL DEVI was more important.
August 6th, 2015 at 8:45 pm
Shenali is right.. We have to be more cautious. Please read the below article published in today’s Daily Divaina on Google and Face Book supporting Gihadees;
ගූගල් සහ ෆේස්බුක් ජිහාද් ත්රස්ත ප්රහාරවලට සහාය වෙනවා
– බ්රිතාන්ය අගමැති කැමරන්ගේ කතා රචක ක්ලේයා ජෝජස්
ගූගල් සහ ෆේස්බුක් වෙබ් අඩවි ජිහාද් ප්රචාර සඳහා සහාය වීම ගැන බ්රිතාන්ය අගමැති කැමරන් මෘදු පිළිවෙතක් අනුගමනය කරන බව කැමරන්ගේ හිටපු කතා රචක ක්ලේයා ජෝජස් චෝදනා කරයි.
ඇමරිකාවට සම්බන්ධ මෙම වෙබ් අඩවි ජිහාද් හමුදාවක් ගොඩනැඟêමට උපකාරී වන බව ඇය කියා සිටියාය.
ගූගල් සමාගම බ්රිතාන්ය අගමැති කැමරන් සමග සාකච්ඡා කීපයක් පැවැත් වූ බව පළකළ ඇය දේශපාලකයන් අනුගමනය කරන මෘදු පිළිවෙත නිසා ත්රස්තවාදය වර්ධනය වී ඇතැයිද ඇය පළ කළාය.
August 6th, 2015 at 11:20 pm
Ado Facebook LORENZO, if you knew all these ANTI-SL PUNKS had taken over the UNPatriotic Party,
WHY DID YOU VOCIFEROUSLY support them at LankaWeb and AGITATE to get MR/UPFA GoSL OUSTED???
My God NOTHING you say MAKES SENSE …. EVERYTHING you SAY SMELLS bad in the Light of What you DID & SAID leading upto the Jan 8th Presidential Election?
BLOODY Hypocrite & LTTE Operative trying to CAUSE Chaos!
There can be ONLY ONE of TWO EXPLANATIONS:
EXAPLANATION #1. You are a NINCOMPOOP, as you are PLEADING NOW for us to beleive, and made a “MISTAKE”! ALL THAT HELL, FIRE & BRIMSTONE railing against MR/UPFA charging “Corruption, Corruption and More Corruption” making LISTS just as you are making now, was a HUGE MISTAKE on your part!
If you are really a DUMB MUTT who got taken by the Yamapalaya song and dance, WHY THE HELL ARE YOU STILL NIKAN POOPING at LankaWeb? Who wants to LISTEN TO AN ABSOLUTE MUTT like you anymore who was DEAD WRONG THEN and is DEAD WRONG NOW? Is there NOT OF SHRED OF SHAME about what you had done?
EXPLANATION #2.Your are still the SAME MACHIAVELLIAN BACKSTABBING SHAMELESS LTTE Operative who is STILL TRYING TO CONFUSE & UNDERMINE the PATRIOTS PRETENDING to get MR/UPFA restored to OFFICE.
I PREFER to BELIEVE the second reason! Isn’t time now, to create a slew of avatars to hide and comment under? Maybe you can revive “Nanda” to help you! Bah!
In EITHER case, BUGGER OFF O SHAMELESS Facebook Lorenzo …. you were NEVER a Patriot of any kind!
August 7th, 2015 at 1:11 am
A “Trojan horse” Every one knows about it.
August 7th, 2015 at 4:19 am
NAK,
I doubt everyone knows Google Loon is a trojan horse or there would be more outcry against the project.
I also doubt that most people are aware of the Soros connection pointed out in the above article. Sri Lanka must do like the French who successfully prosecuted and convicted Soros of securities fraud and insider trading, and stand up to Soros and his NGOs operating in Sri Lanka with a big NOT WELCOME sign so he gets the message. It has been shown in the past if you take a strong united stand against Soros, he folds and moves on to other countries where he can have an easier time.
August 9th, 2015 at 6:25 pm
Ranil is trying to hand over the internet to Google who will collect all the information and sell it.
Here is a quote from JC Ahangama “Sri Lanka is a small island that can have one wireless canopy covering the entire island. That can be built by the government cheaply and fed from one or several Internet connections from sources such as the traditional international telephone connections and satellite feeds. Only thing that ICTA should do is to do this in open fashion that it never did since its inception. Actually, ICTA’s original mandate was only for 5 years. The tradition in Lanka is to forget when to kill white elephants, like the grand dictionary projects it started, for example. Our going to Google first puts the country into a situation of compromised security giving the company the ability to store all data including telephone conversations. That is their main stay of business: collecting data and selling. This deal must be cancelled in the interest of the nations independence.”
I agree with Ahangama’s statement.