National Security Versus Privacy Rights: FBI Facial Recognition System Fully Operational in U.S.

The FBI's biometric database system is fully operational and will be activated across the United States, according to Activist Post.

The FBI announced the launch of the Next Generation Identification system (NGI) on September 15, 2014. According to Activist Post, the NGI includes advanced finger printing technologies, facial recognition, and iris scans "that are collated into a central database for real-time sharing at all levels of law enforcement and government agencies."

Though the FBI states in its press release that the NGI is an “investigative tool" to help identify criminals via photo matching, Activist Post speculates that there is nothing to stop the FBI from cataloging the entire U.S. population.

Catching criminals often involves crossing national borders, though, and privacy concerns extend beyond the U.S. which has extradition treaties with over 100 nations. The NGI has already been used in at least one international case involving a U.S. fugitive who was hiding out in Nepal, reports Activist Post.

Though NGI is not currently known to be in use in Thailand, Thailand international airports already photograph all persons entering and exiting the Kingdom. Additionally, Thailand law enforcement agencies have had a robust relationship with U.S. law enforcement agencies for decades. Currently, Thailand is home to an FBI-sponsored international law enforcement academy. In the past 30 years under the Thailand-USA Extradition Treaty, 135 fugitives have been extradited from Thailand to the U.S.

These facts illustrate how easily the NGI could be initiated, not only in Thailand, but in other nations around the world.   

Read the full FBI biometric database story here.

Related Articles:
Prominent Extradition Cases in Thailand – Snaring Minor Offenders to Big-Time Crooks
FBI-Wanted Cyber Hacker Arrested in Bangkok
The Darker Side of Tropical Bliss: Foreign Mafia in Thailand
Foreign Investigators: Crime Fiction in a Thai Setting

Related Documents:
Thailand-USA Extradition Treaty
Thailand Extradition Legal Counsel

Related Videos:
FBI Finishes $1 Billion Facial Recognition System
Thailand Extradition Law

Drones and Constitutional Rights

“Right to Virginity” in China is Worth $5,000

China: Raw Story reports that a woman was awarded $5,000 after suing a man—whom she dated and had a sexual relationship with—that she didn’t know was married.

The Chinese court ruled that the law protected the woman’s “right to virginity” as a “moral right” relating to “sexual freedom, sexual safety and sexual purity,” according to Raw Story. The court granted the plaintiff $5,000 in damages, versus the $81,000 she originally sought.

Alternatively, in Thailand, virginity is a property right as applicable to the practice of a groom giving a bride’s family a dowry. The bride’s virginity is one determining factor for the price of a dowry, which can be upheld under Thailand Family Law if the price is set in a formal agreement.

Read the full story here.

African American Males at Higher Risk of Autism from Vaccines Says CDC Whistleblower

A senior scientist from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently confessed that data proving a link between MMR vaccines and autism that CDC scientists knew about was allegedly hidden from the public in 2004, reports Sonoran News.

CDC scientist, William W. Thompson, was reportedly recorded by scientist Brian Hooker discussing an autism study Thompson coauthored a 2004. Hooker published a reanalysis of the original CDC data on vaccines and autism and released his recordings of Thompson in August 2014.

The Chaninat and Leeds Thailand personal injury attorneys have received sizable recoveries on behalf of clients, including many foreign nationals injured in Thailand. 

According to Sonoran News, Thompson issued a statement via his lawyer, affirming that statistically significant data suggesting MMR vaccines were associated with a higher risk of autism in African American male children was left out of the original published report.

Read the full story here.

Interfaith Marriages not Recognized in Indonesia Claim Petitioners

According to The Jakarta Post, a legal challenge was filed against Indonesia’s Marriage Law by five law school graduates on the grounds that the law is unconstitutional because it violates freedom of religion.

In the claim filed in the Constitutional Court, the five students argued that Article 2.1 of the Marriage Law forces couples to conduct a marriage according to only one religion’s traditions and also “forces everyone to apply religious teachings in order to get married.”

Chaninat and Leeds’ Thai divorce lawyers specialize in Thai and international cases with decades of experience in Thailand’s family courts.

Anbar Jayadi, one of the students, said, “We just find that this law has the potential to violate people’s rights to adhere to their chosen religion and to bypass religious wedding rituals.”

Read the full story here.

Indian Man Allegedly Harassed by Wife for More Sex, Seeks Divorce

The Times of India reports that a family court in India granted a decree of divorce to a man claiming his wife is an aggressive and adamant sex addict.

The husband petitioned for divorce in January, and said in the petition that “it was intolerable for him to bear any more atrocities and he also apprehended danger to his life and limb.”

The Thailand divorce attorneys at Chaninat and Leeds have successfully filed thousands of court divorce and uncontested divorce cases in Thailand.

In the court ruling, Judge Laxmi Rao stated, "Due to respondent's (wife's) non-appearance before the court, the petitioner's (husband's) evidence remains unchallenged on record. Hence this court has no option but to accept his evidence as it is and he is entitled to a decree of divorce as prayed.”

Read the full story here.