IARPA DEVELOPS TRACKING IN YOUR PANTS, AS DOD DEPLOYS AI TO BATTLE “DISINFORMATION”

It’s hard to parody the dystopian control-freak technology ambitions of Government entities, as two recent stories underscore.

The first involves “SMART ePANTS,” wearables with tracking electronics embedded into the fabric of clothing in a way which makes it difficult to detect or disable.

As reported by NextGov, a nexus hub for tech industry purveyors and government agencies, the project is the work of US Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA).

Officials announced the SMART ePANTS (Smarty Pants, get it?) initiative will produce performance-grade clothes that can collect audio, video, and geolocation data while still being wearable and comfortable.

The government loves its acronyms, and for those wondering, SMART ePANTS represents a doozy:  “Smart Electrically Powered and Networked Textile Systems”

Don’t expect an average strip to hide your secrets.

NextGOV noted that authorities began soliciting contractors in 2022 to assist with producing sensor systems that could be incorporated into everyday apparel like shirts, pants, or even socks and underwear.

“IARPA is proud to lead this first-of-its-kind effort for both the [Intelligence Community] and broader scientific community which will bring much-needed innovation to the field of ASTs,” project lead Dawson Cagle, said in a statement.

We’re wondering if the statement was provided directly to his skivvies.

Cagle added that no one has, as of yet, invested the time and money required to create the first integrated electronics that are flexible, elastic, comfy, and machine washable like conventional clothing.

But that’s all happening, thanks to U.S. taxpayer dollars.

The ASTs will be reportedly produce these capabilities thanks to technological advancements like weavable conductive

polymer threaded into textiles that can act as wires powering sensors, energy “harvesters” powered by movements of people wearing the garments, and “ultra-low power printable computers on cloth, microphones that behave like threads and ‘scrunchable’ batteries.”

DOD Enlists AI To Destroy (Supposedly AI Generated) Criticism

File under “O what a tangled web we weave?…”

The Department of Defense is claiming it needs to use AI to combat disinformation being generated by using AI.

They have contracted with startup Accrete AI, which is being tasked with developing and implementing software that can predict and neutralize “disinformation” on social media platforms in real-time.

To hear the DOD and Accrete AI tell it, much info critical of the DOD on social media isn’t being voiced by average American citizens fed up with hyper-militarized U.S. policy.

No, it’s the work of “malicious” adversaries increasingly using AI. Accrete AI CEO Prashant Bhuyan argued in a statement about the contract award, as reported by NewsMax:

“Government agencies and enterprises alike have an urgent need to manage a plethora of risks and opportunities posed by AI-generated synthetic media. Companies are already experiencing significant economic damage caused by the spread of AI-generated viral disinformation and deep fakes manufactured by competitors, disgruntled employees, and other types of adversaries.

“We believe that the market for AI that can predict and neutralize malign AI-generated synthetic media is about to explode.”

(“DOD Awards AI Contractor to Monitor ‘Viral Disinformation’,”  3 Sep 2023.)

As The Trends Journal has extensively reported, The Twitter Files and the Missouri vs Biden federal court case have amply shown how government agencies knowingly, falsely used claims of foreign influence to censor American citizens voicing criticism of COVID policies, election integrity and other matters.

Far from being chastened by the exposure of those lies and trampling of Constitutional rights, the latest DOD news is another sign that the Biden administration is doubling down on authoritarian censorship, and looking to deploy the most advanced technology available to do it.

The Trends Journal has long predicted and extensively detailed how government would exploit the worst potentialities of IoT (IoT) technology and AI to more granularly surveil citizens and further entrench its own power and perpetuation. (See for example “THIS WEEK IN SURVEILLANCE” 13 Apr 2021, “SINGULARITY UNIVERSITY: FUELING AI ASCENDANCE” 3 Aug 2021 and the recent article “ELECTROSMOG RUINING LIVES AND HEALTH?” 15 Aug 2023.)

There are next to no limits on the government’s use of these technologies to manipulate and censor public opinion.

Many civil liberties advocates have pointed out how the legal frameworks of the War On Terror have precipitated a wholesale negation of Bill of Rights protections of essential human rights.

Despite shocking revelations of government abuse of the highest law of the land, the Supreme Court has shirked its primary function to preserve the essential legal order, by striking down terror laws that undermine and subvert higher Constitutional prohibitions on government abuse of People’s rights.

Expect the now utterly familiar scenario of “crisis,” “foreign influence,” “dangerous disinformation” and “safety” to be used to rapidly expand the intrusive use of cutting edge AI and IoT technology to censor and surveil citizens.

How about masks that report on whether and where citizens use them as mandated? 

What happens when AI can connect a user to all their social media, their purchasing history, the list of groups and individuals they interact with and support (or oppose), their geolocation and travel history, habits and upcoming itinerary, and every digital activity they have engaged in—and serve it all up to authorities with the natural language helpfulness of an “Informant Chat-GPT?”

That day is arriving fast.