Saturday, March 08, 2014

Austin PD put on pyrotechnic show for private intelligence firm Stratfor

The Austin Chronicle has a brief story based on emails leaked in 2011 about links between the self-described private intelligence firm Stratfor and the Austin PD, whose bomb squad apparently put on demonstrations for the company and accidentally started a pair of brush fires in the process during one of Austin's "burn bans" three ago. See also the Chronicle's earlier coverage and a Grits post detailing the company's close ties to Texas Department of Public Safety muckety mucks. An Aug. 2012 Wired magazine article ("Trapwire: It's not the surveillance, it's the sleaze") revealed that the company used its high-level Texas DPS connections to convince the agency to install an expensive surveillance tool called "Trapwire" along the Texas border for which Stratfor got a cut for referrals.

1 comment:

  1. So the police department doesn't have to obey fireworks bans and burn bans?

    Wired magazine may be good on some topics, but it's bad on vaccinations. It published an article brazenly defaming a consumer advocate and got away with it.

    LAVA

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