The surveillance state is making us less safe
Restaurants begin Googling (spying) on customers claim its to improve customer service:
If you apply for a job, you can rest assured that someone will Google your name or look you up on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and elsewhere before hiring you. If you meet someone via an online dating service, he or she has probably (and wisely) made repeated efforts to look you up on publicly available social media sources in order to make sure you’re not a suspected serial killer. But when you make a reservation at a restaurant, you probably don’t expect anyone there to do any research (spying) about you.
But the maitre d’ at Manhattan’s swanky Eleven Madison Park tells Grub Street he does his due diligence about every guest who makes a reservation. But he says this research isn’t about e-stalking or scoping out good-looking/wealthy customers. Instead, he claims he’s trying to learn about the guests in order to improve customer service.
For instance, if he sees that it’s a particular visitor’s birthday, he’ll greet them with a “Happy Birthday” when they arrive. The same goes for anniversaries.
He also will pair diners with servers and sommeliers who may have similar or shared interests and backgrounds.
“If I find out a guest is from Montana, and I know we have a server from there, we’ll put them together,” he explains.
http://www.grubstreet.com/2014/04/eleven-madison-park-foh-staff-detailed-look.html
Washington high school district sets up ‘Homeland Security Class’
DHS is partnering with a Washington state school district to recruit future employees through a new high school curriculum. The course will be overseen and shaped by the Homeland Security Advisory Committee, a group consisting of government, academia and private sector employees who provide information and security-related recommendations to the DHS secretary. Of the many requirements, applicants are informed of their duty to meet with the committee on a regular basis.
An employment application posted by Evergreen Public Schools this weekend requests a certified “Homeland Security Instructor” to steer young students into a career with the agency.
“Instruct high school juniors and seniors in skills and knowledge leading to entry-level employment or further education in Homeland Security occupations,” the job description reads. “In-depth instruction will include theory, application and work based learning activities.
The instructor will work closely with the Skills Center and administrative staff and the program advisory committee to continually upgrade the program curriculum and skills competencies (outcomes) needed by students for employment.”
“Attend all Homeland Security Advisory Committee meetings. Actively seek consultation and advice from the advisory committee about prevailing practices, equipment, and facilities necessary for maintaining up-to-date competencies (outcomes) and up-to-date instructional program,” the application states.
The instructor will also be required to actively evaluate all students, maintaining “appropriate student records” that will be provided to “appropriate personnel.”
Specific course content is completely unavailable in the job application as well as on the Evergreen Public Schools website, which also fails to make any mention whatsoever of the upcoming class.
While there are no facts to suggest that the program is purposely being kept under wraps, the most concerning questions surround not only the lesson plan, but the district’s stance toward the agency’s many controversies.
One must ask whether the district will inform parents and students alike of the agency’s $2 million purchase of paper shooting targets depicting young children, pregnant woman, and the elderly last year. Although the target producer was forced to publicly apologize to outraged Americans, the DHS has yet to even acknowledge the outrageous acquisition.
Given the fact that former Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano labeled returning military veterans as the number one terror threat in 2009, will students be shown the New York Times report where the agency trained Boy Scout Explorers to kill “disgruntled Iraq war veterans?”
Multiple DHS-funded drills throughout the country have also portrayed children and parents outside of the public school system as terrorists. In 2004, Michigan police apologized to families after carrying out a drill that consisted of homeschoolers carrying out a terrorist attack on a public school bus.
Despite the fact that Americans are far more likely to die from bee stings than terrorism, the DHS appears eager to instill baseless fear into the minds of the next generation.
http://www.storyleak.com/wash-state-school-district-sets-homeland-security-class/