{"id":143126,"date":"2024-07-21T15:45:25","date_gmt":"2024-07-21T22:45:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=143126"},"modified":"2024-07-21T15:45:25","modified_gmt":"2024-07-21T22:45:25","slug":"bill-gates-mudaliyar-usa-indias-mega-maps-data-steal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2024\/07\/21\/bill-gates-mudaliyar-usa-indias-mega-maps-data-steal\/","title":{"rendered":"Bill Gates Mudaliyar: USA & India\u2019s Mega Maps & Data\u00a0Steal"},"content":{"rendered":"

e-Con e-News<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n
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blog: eesrilanka.wordpress.com<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Before you study the economics, study the economists!<\/em>\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

e-Con e-News 14-20 July 2024<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In 1504, Portuguese king Dom Manoel issued a decree forbidding<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

the insertion on maps<\/em><\/strong> of any routes beyond the Congo, and had any<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

references to these routes erased on all maps drawn even prior<\/strong> to that.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Portugal invaded Sri Lanka in 1505<\/em><\/strong> \u2013 ee<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2018We will map out the whole of Sri Lanka\u2019s every tree species,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and what the carbon output of each tree species.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 Ruwan Wijewardene, Senior Presidential Advisor on Climate Change<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(ee Agriculture<\/em><\/strong>, Govt to start flora spatial mapping, eyes carbon credit trading)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

US multinational<\/strong> McKinsey & Co<\/strong>, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF)<\/strong>, in alliance with India<\/strong> & Norway<\/strong> (who else but Mr Eric Solheim<\/strong>), are stealing Sri Lanka\u2019s \u2018data\u2019 in broad daylight<\/strong>. They wish to map the entire country and<\/em> its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ)<\/strong> using Geographical Information Systems (GIS)<\/strong>. They are throwing money at politicians, military, judiciary and other government officials (who turn private \u2018consultants\u2019, or offered jobs abroad) to grab data<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Information is a commodity<\/strong> \u2013 the most precious in the much-touted knowledge economy<\/em>! GIS<\/em> is therefore a powerful tool<\/strong>, and can be used of course for a variety of purposes, \u2018just like the T-56 & the AK-47, not to mention the AR\u2019!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Who exactly owns national data?<\/em><\/strong> Including: a country\u2019s GIS? Presumably, the people and the state own census data and other vital statistics. Yet much of what goes under the name of Big Data is of course privately<\/em><\/strong> owned by Google<\/em>, Amazon<\/em>, Cambridge<\/em> Analytica<\/em>, and the many peddlers of AI & other wares in the information market. But is all this, only about marketing?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

     On Friday, July 19, 2024, yet another warning was given to Sri Lanka\u2019s fake IT industry deep in the pockets of Bill Gates and his monopoly Microsoft fraud (see ee Industry<\/em><\/strong>, SLASSCOM). A single flawed software update by US cybersecurity CrowdStrike<\/strong> caused a widespread tech outage to thousands of companies running Microsoft\u2019s Windows operating system. US industries nationwide were brought to a halt, causing major US airlines to ground flights, and further impacting banks, 911 services, stock exchanges, payroll companies, and numerous industries. Not only in the USA, in Hong Kong, India, Dubai, Berlin and Amsterdam, etc. The 3 main cloud providers (Amazon, Google and Microsoft) monopolize the juicy competition for military, intelligence and government contracts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2022 Some of the actors in this latest data grab<\/strong>, appear in virtue-signaling news lullabies, as in the recent headline \u2018Sri Lanka launches locally-produced fortified rice\u2026 to combat micronutrient malnutrition<\/strong> with kernels being distributed via the government\u2019s National Free School Meal Program<\/strong>\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     It is unclear if \u2018fortified<\/em>\u2019 is a euphemism for genetically modified (GM) food: \u2018The kernels are enriched with Folic Acid and Iron through an extrusion process\u2019. \u2018The transfer of extrusion technology was prioritized<\/em> by the Presidential Secretariat, and enabled by\u2019 the UN\u2019s World Food Program (WFP, USAID<\/strong> is now their largest donor), the Program for Appropriate Technology & Health (PATH, based in Seattle, US), the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation<\/strong> (now has an office inside the Sri Lankan President\u2019s premises!), Akshata, and Connect to Care<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Connect to Care <\/strong>(C2C<\/strong>) is remote-controlled by the President\u2019s nephew<\/strong> Raknish Savan Wijewardene, a former \u2018Head of Digital\u2019, at Lakehouse (aka Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd, now government-owned, but founded as an imperialist mouthpiece by his great-grandfather DR Wijewardena). The C2C board also includes slimy Norwegian Eric Solheim; and Shamir Zavahir, who in 2020 \u2018assumed the role of Head of Reforms at the SL Ministry of Justice<\/strong>, where he\u2019s actively involved in shaping legal reforms<\/strong>\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Many of these characters also appeared at the recent \u2018DigiEcon Global Investment Summit 2024<\/strong>\u2019 in Colombo, including \u2018strategic partner\u2019 the World Bank<\/strong> & its International Finance Corporation (IFC<\/strong>), and \u2018global giants\u2019 such as \u2018US Agency for International Development (USAID<\/strong>), the Gates Foundation<\/strong>, Mastercard, and Microsoft.\u2019 They also popped up at the recent Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) \u2018donor engagement dialogue\u2019. But the recent grab goes way beyond just DPI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This ee<\/em> begins looking at the latest \u2018DATA\u2019 grab<\/strong>, under the guise of giving cultivators<\/em> land title, saving the environment<\/em>, treating women \u2018equally\u2019<\/em>, etc. Also, its repercussions on Sri Lanka\u2019s economy & security<\/strong>, with military officials pointing to a lack of \u2018guidance, ability & technology\u2019 to defend the country (see ee Focus<\/em><\/strong>). It also examines the role of university \u2018Geography Departments<\/strong>\u2019 in Sri Lanka and the funding of GIS data grabs<\/strong> through them. And how the USA was already planning a new global \u2018geography\u2019<\/em><\/strong> from the 19th century, midst its takeover of countries formerly invaded and occupied by European imperialists (see ee Focus<\/em><\/strong>). ee<\/em><\/strong> also notes: the International Seabed Authority<\/strong> opened its annual summit in Jamaica this week, with the Indian government attempting to take over Sri Lanka\u2019s EEZ, while diverting with threats to take over that rock called Kachativu\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2022 Some may recall that the Urban Development Authority (UDA)<\/strong>, with dreams of a \u2018megapolis<\/em><\/strong>\u2019, wished to digitize urban land data into a massive GIS database for planning purposes. They were backed by the USA\u2019s World Bank<\/strong> or such outfits \u2018keen to lubricate the real estate<\/strong> business.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     \u2018Government departments such as the UDA hire consultants to supply \u2018expert\u2019 knowledge that they need because they do not \u2013 or claim not have \u2013 the in-house expertise\u2019, reports a former urban planner. \u2018Sometimes, if not often, consultants (usually private companies, because very few states outside of China have the resources to do this type of work) are contracted to process and produce data for clients (such as the UDA) end up owning data.\u2019 Let\u2019s examine the recent origins of this data grab<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Under PM Wickremesinghe during the US-founded Yahapalana regime (2015-2019), western aid agencies, think tanks and corporations shaped, drafted and helped to implement policies, opening new frontiers\u201d for US hegemony. The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC)<\/strong>, which claims to be independent, is a US government body chaired by the US Secretary of State. The MCC project unit was physically located inside the Prime Minister\u2019s office and was involved in drafting Wickremesinghe\u2019s eight-year economic development plan, Vision 2025\u201d, that was believed to be planning to recommend constitutional changes to make it easier for foreign corporations to buy land in the country\u2026\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 New laws to make data compiled by the state statistics office<\/strong> \u2018more accessible\u2019, was promised in 2019 by the then US-funded Yahapalana regime\u2019s Public Distribution & Economic Reforms Minister CTC-Harsha de Silva<\/strong>. \u2018I\u2019m looking to amend the law for the Department of Census & Statistics for the data to be shared, more<\/em><\/strong> than what is currently being shared.\u2019 De Silva complained to the US-funded Asia Liberty Forum 2019<\/strong> in Colombo, co-hosted by the US Advocata Institute<\/strong> & Atlas Network<\/strong>, that \u2018his department is protective of data it collects\u2019. \u2018The department tells others, This is my data, don\u2019t come near it.\u201d\u2018 He said a team of ex-researchers will help formulate legislation on \u2018greater data sharing\u2019<\/em><\/strong>. De Silva also claimed some statistical definitions are \u2018archaic<\/em><\/strong>, such as how urban and rural areas are defined.\u2019 \u2013 see ee Economy<\/em><\/strong>, Sri Lanka to make state statistics more accessible (2019)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 The US <\/strong>government had launched its thinktank Advocata<\/strong> in May 2016 at the Kadiragamar Institute in Colombo with (then State Minister of Finance) AOG-Eran Wickremaratne as Chief Guest. Advocata\u2019s annual report, prepared even before Advocata had been officially set up, claimed 55 strategically important state-owned enterprises(SoEs) had been making enormous losses, 2006-15, They suggested a \u2018productivity study\u2019 to determine which to shut down and sell off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Wikileaks <\/em><\/strong>disclosed a discussion in 2005 between an MCC CEO and (then-yet-again-former PM) Wickremesinghe on \u2018several  local political issues, including moves by the GoSL to  restructure the Ceylon Electricity Board and the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation, in the face of opposition by unions. Wickremesinghe\u2019s solution to these challenges is to allow the entities to collapse, then pick up the pieces when people have no choice but to follow<\/strong>\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     In 2016, then-Minister of Development Strategies & International Trade Malik Samarawickrama quoted US Advocata\u2019s findings, just 3 months after its launch, & announced \u2018far reaching privatization plans.\u2019 The PM then proposed to hire the US firm McKinsey & Co<\/strong> for $2.3mn to establish a Central Program Management Unit <\/strong>in Temple Trees<\/strong> for \u2018accelerated economic transformation\u2019 & introduce a new Development (Special Provisions) Bill<\/strong> allowing sweeping power<\/strong>s to restructure & transform the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The USA\u2019s Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC<\/strong>) agreement (US prefers to call it a \u2018Compact\u2019<\/em>) with the (yet-again-Prime Minister) Ranil Wickremesinghe \u2018after 2 years of very secretive discussions\u2019, was to have been signed in November 2018 (but was derailed by the so-called \u2018constitutional coup\u2019 in Oct).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It turns out that under cover of \u2018Megapolis\u2019<\/em><\/strong> development, the US <\/strong>was demanding from Sri Lanka an \u2018economic\u2019 corridor of 1.2million acres from Trincomalee to Colombo for a lease period of 200 years<\/strong>, with US law omnipotent along this corridor, which would divide Sri Lanka into 2 \u2013 the North & the South \u2013 like the earlier Eelam Map<\/em> or the US DMZ<\/em><\/strong> (Demilitarized Zone) in Korea. This corridor holds the \u2018Eppawela\u2019 phosphate<\/strong> deposits (one of the world\u2019s largest which the US tried to snatch in the 1980s), Ilmenite<\/strong>, Thorium<\/strong> (nuclear substitute for uranium), Monazite<\/strong>, and rare-earth metals Cerium<\/strong> & Lanthanum<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The MCC \u2018Constraints to Investment\u2019 analysis <\/strong>of Sri Lanka, demanded that to qualify for such largesse Sri Lanka would have to abrogate any land laws that protected her sovereignty and national security. Sri Lanka was instructed to pass new Land Laws<\/em><\/strong> that would legalize the sale of state land (privatization<\/strong>) and laws to permit the US to buy outright any extent of land in any part of the country<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wickremesinghe then had 2 new Bills \u2013 the \u2018State Land Bank\u2019 Bill & \u2018Land (Special Provision)<\/strong>\u2019 Bill \u2013 and the \u2018Constraints to Investment\u2019 Report drafted at Harvard University<\/strong>, Massachusetts, and subsequently sent to Sri Lanka\u2019s Attorney General<\/em> and the Legal Draftsman for their signatures. Here are some exposing highlights<\/strong> excerpted from the preambles to the Bills:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The State Land Bank Bill<\/strong>: a. Provides for the establishment of a State Land Bank: b. Requires the compilation of a register of all State Lands belonging to Public Institutions: c. Makes provision for these Public institutions to lease such lands to persons making a request for same: d. Repeals Parts 1v, v & v1 of the Land Reform Act No1 of 1972<\/strong> (this repeal includes the restriction in place on ownership of property by a single individual to a maximum of 50-acres): e. Vests the powers of the Land reform Commission in the State Land Bank: f. (Sec 17) \u2013 Enables any person, including foreigners, to lease out State Land<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Land (Special Provisions) Bill:<\/strong> a. Grants absolute title to citizens who presently, by \u2018Government Grant\u2019, have regulated usage of State Lands: b. Permits citizens, who hold title to state lands, to mortgage such land to banks: c. Permits banks to sell off such State Lands<\/strong>, mortgaged to the banks, to private individuals including foreigners<\/strong>:  d. This Act shall be in operation for only 7 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The US further instructed the PM to \u2018replicate\u2019 in Sri Lanka\u2019s rural areas, the \u201840-Acres & a Mule<\/em><\/strong>\u2019 concept that had been enforced in the US in 1865; the former slave-owners<\/em><\/strong> were required to give each of the emancipated slave-families<\/em><\/strong>, 40-acres of land & a mule. \u2018Without wherewithal, the Black families survived the first month on the flesh of the Mule; thereafter, to survive, they sold their property back to the former slave owners for a pittance and the Black families, in droves, trekked & trekked & trekked to the industrial cities like Detroit, Michigan & Chicago in search of employment\u2019.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \u201840-acres & a Mule\u2019 concept<\/em> \u2018drove out the Black community from their lands<\/strong> in the South, pauperized and bonded the former slaves from the inception of their emancipation, created mass urban migration to the industrial centres, was responsible for the creation of Black ghettos in US cities, created the foundation for a large number of the Black community to be sent to prison for drug offences and be deprived of their voting-rights, created a bank of surplus labour which the US private sector exploited<\/strong> by paying them less-than-subsistence wages<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wickremesinghe then announced his intentions of giving each rural farmer family 2 acres of land.<\/em><\/strong> With the proviso in the \u2018Land (Special Provisions) Bill<\/strong> that this law applies only for 7 years, the problems the US Black community have come to be burdened with, would be compounded and accelerated, and it could be anticipated that the rural poor would hurriedly sell off or mortgage their lands<\/strong>. When the rural poor are compelled and encouraged to mortgage their lands and trek to the cities, the land (devoid of any one occupying it) becomes available for companies like Monsanto to initiate their assault on our land<\/strong>. Over 80% of Sri Lanka is State land<\/em><\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MCC also had added features, and projections into the future: An \u2018electrified\u2019 railway from Trincomalee to Colombo would ensure a distinct physical separation of the north of the country from the south, with an international airport (Hingurakgoda) in Polonnaruwa<\/strong>. By the year 2100 a Suez-like canal<\/strong>, would have been dredged along the length of the economic corridor from Trincomalee to Colombo. Such a canal would open up the Bay of Bengal to the Arabian Sea via the Laccadive Sea, affording the INDOPACOM and its RIMPAC military alliance a tremendous strategic advantage, over such other powers as India, China, Russia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many of these plans are now unfolding before our eyes<\/em><\/strong>. (The above information has been gleaned from LankaWeb<\/em>, Shenali D Waduge & Tamara Kunanayakam).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2022 Internet Companies treat societies as Data-generating resources to be strip-mined<\/em><\/strong>. Platforms like Google & Facebook track and analyze every \u2018search, location, like, video, photo, post and punctuation mark\u2019<\/strong>\u2026 Google & FB<\/strong> pivoted from serving to surveiling their users, harvesting more and more data. They bypassed privacy settings<\/strong> or made it difficult for users to opt out of data-sharing<\/strong>. They source their raw material \u2013 users\u2019 experiences \u00ad\u2013 for free, and translate them into behavioral data. Tech companies promote \u2018surveillance\u2019 to only mean governments spying on individuals. FB maintains lists of users\u2019 personal interests, eg, their political leanings, for advertisers. Cambridge Analytica<\/strong>, the voter-profiling company, improperly harvested the data of millions of Facebook users.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 The collection, handling & use of data dominates all other policy issues<\/strong>. Calling on nations to enact legislation to protect privacy, and defining \u2018personal data<\/strong>\u2018 as any information that can be used to identify an individual<\/strong>, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in 1980, set standards in many countries, including guidelines. Then digital data exploded \u2013 from the web, smartphones, sensors, genomics, etc \u2013 becoming the \u2018free\u2019 raw material exploited by modern AI companies<\/strong>\u2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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________<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Contents:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Bill Gates Mudaliyar: USA & India\u2019s Mega Maps & Data Steal<\/a><\/blockquote>