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The Watchers ~~ Homeland Defense
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
The Watchers
Soon Santa Claus will not be the only one to know
if you've been good or bad. Or which movies you rent
or how you're coming along paying off that credit
card debt. While we've paid quite a bit of attention to
the political strategies along the road to the passage
of legislation to create the Dept of Homeland Security,
we've paid a lot less attention to a few of the key details
in the bill. A version of the legislation recently passed by
the House includes $200 million of backing to create what will
be known as the "Total Information Awareness" program. John Poindexter
(yes, that John Poindexter) will be at the helm of this effort
to unite and mine a cross-section of commercial and government
databases to place at the Pentagon's fingertips a clear, present
and complete view of, well, you. The stated goal here (most notable
for how quietly it's been stated) is to organize enough
information about citizens to be able to accurately identify
some of those who might be up to terrorist-related-no-good.
It's not entirely clear which behaviors will result in an
eyebrow raise at the Pentagon (one assumes that arms for hostages
schemes and lying to Congress would not be among the red flag
raising activities), nor is it clear whether or not such a systemic
invasion of privacy will really amount to much when it comes to the
war on terrorism. Some people are generally unconcerned about
such matters of privacy and figure, "Hey we don't have anything
to hide, so why should we care if the Poindexter police take
a gander?" Others are much more concerned about the issue of
privacy and wonder what freedoms we should be willing to trade for
the long-shot hope that the plan will result in even one
terrorist act being averted. One should assume though, that
beyond these two opinionated groups, there is a much larger
and more silent majority of people who have no idea such
a plan exists - and upon finding out just hope that their
information isn't shared with telemarketers.
So what exactly is included in Total Information Awareness? Here
is a list (courtesy of the McLaughlin Group) of some of things
a Pentagon employee would be able to pull up about you with a few
clicks of the mouse.
Credit Records
{To remain as inconspicuous as possible, run a series
of cards to their limits and then pay the minimum each
month for the rest of your life - and get more cards}
Drivers Licenses
Social Security Numbers
Annual Income
{Probably safer here if your salary
isn't being paid in Pakistani rupees.}
Employment Histories
{My friend Mike had once worked at a restaurant for less
than 15 minutes when he approached the manager, explained
that he just couldn't "do this" and walked out. Seemed
pretty funny at the time, eh Mike?}
Divorce Records
{Elizabeth Taylor holds most of them, but don't
count out JLo.}
Mail Order Purchases
{Excepting those made by the Contras during the eighties.}
Criminal Proceedings
Gun Registrations
{Heston should have this nixed from the list in time for the holidays.}
Civil Lawsuits
Passport Applications
Military and Civil Service Files
Bridge Toll Records
{If you're one of those people who doesn't have
a crisp, straight, aerodynamically folded
bill ready as you approach the toll booth, then
frankly, you're history.}
Bank Accounts
IRS Records
{Best to leave the section "deductible
white powder expenses" blank}
Airline Travel Records
Police and FBI Dossiers
Surveillance Camera Files
{For the record, that time in front of the news rack
at 7-11 I was operating under the assumption that
Yank Magazine would have an article on Steinbrenner}
Pay-Per-View Rentals
{Up until this point in the list, most of us
we're thinking, "Hey, no big deal, I've got nothing
to hide..."}
Video Store Rentals
{Terror cell members are notorious
for forgetting to rewind...}
Web Sites Visited
{If you Ask Jeeves, you're basically asking Poindexter}
Library Withdrawals
{Your Kampf or Mein?}
Schools Attended, Grades Received
{You were awfully proud of that A in chemistry...}
Debts and Loans
{You think you're worried, I took the
Seahawks to win the Super Bowl this year...}
+
Here are some recent articles on this topic.
NYTimes: Pentagon Plans a Computer
System That Would Peek at Personal Data of Americans.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/09/politics/09COMP.html
Safire: You Are a Suspect
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/14/opinion/14SAFI.html
Newsweek: Big Brother Goes to Washington
http://www.msnbc.com/news/835798.asp
Concerned that the FBI is not changing with the
times, some Bush aides are pushing for the creation
of a domestic spy agency.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61549-2002Nov15.html
Soon Santa Claus will not be the only one to know
if you've been good or bad. Or which movies you rent
or how you're coming along paying off that credit
card debt. While we've paid quite a bit of attention to
the political strategies along the road to the passage
of legislation to create the Dept of Homeland Security,
we've paid a lot less attention to a few of the key details
in the bill. A version of the legislation recently passed by
the House includes $200 million of backing to create what will
be known as the "Total Information Awareness" program. John Poindexter
(yes, that John Poindexter) will be at the helm of this effort
to unite and mine a cross-section of commercial and government
databases to place at the Pentagon's fingertips a clear, present
and complete view of, well, you. The stated goal here (most notable
for how quietly it's been stated) is to organize enough
information about citizens to be able to accurately identify
some of those who might be up to terrorist-related-no-good.
It's not entirely clear which behaviors will result in an
eyebrow raise at the Pentagon (one assumes that arms for hostages
schemes and lying to Congress would not be among the red flag
raising activities), nor is it clear whether or not such a systemic
invasion of privacy will really amount to much when it comes to the
war on terrorism. Some people are generally unconcerned about
such matters of privacy and figure, "Hey we don't have anything
to hide, so why should we care if the Poindexter police take
a gander?" Others are much more concerned about the issue of
privacy and wonder what freedoms we should be willing to trade for
the long-shot hope that the plan will result in even one
terrorist act being averted. One should assume though, that
beyond these two opinionated groups, there is a much larger
and more silent majority of people who have no idea such
a plan exists - and upon finding out just hope that their
information isn't shared with telemarketers.
So what exactly is included in Total Information Awareness? Here
is a list (courtesy of the McLaughlin Group) of some of things
a Pentagon employee would be able to pull up about you with a few
clicks of the mouse.
Credit Records
{To remain as inconspicuous as possible, run a series
of cards to their limits and then pay the minimum each
month for the rest of your life - and get more cards}
Drivers Licenses
Social Security Numbers
Annual Income
{Probably safer here if your salary
isn't being paid in Pakistani rupees.}
Employment Histories
{My friend Mike had once worked at a restaurant for less
than 15 minutes when he approached the manager, explained
that he just couldn't "do this" and walked out. Seemed
pretty funny at the time, eh Mike?}
Divorce Records
{Elizabeth Taylor holds most of them, but don't
count out JLo.}
Mail Order Purchases
{Excepting those made by the Contras during the eighties.}
Criminal Proceedings
Gun Registrations
{Heston should have this nixed from the list in time for the holidays.}
Civil Lawsuits
Passport Applications
Military and Civil Service Files
Bridge Toll Records
{If you're one of those people who doesn't have
a crisp, straight, aerodynamically folded
bill ready as you approach the toll booth, then
frankly, you're history.}
Bank Accounts
IRS Records
{Best to leave the section "deductible
white powder expenses" blank}
Airline Travel Records
Police and FBI Dossiers
Surveillance Camera Files
{For the record, that time in front of the news rack
at 7-11 I was operating under the assumption that
Yank Magazine would have an article on Steinbrenner}
Pay-Per-View Rentals
{Up until this point in the list, most of us
we're thinking, "Hey, no big deal, I've got nothing
to hide..."}
Video Store Rentals
{Terror cell members are notorious
for forgetting to rewind...}
Web Sites Visited
{If you Ask Jeeves, you're basically asking Poindexter}
Library Withdrawals
{Your Kampf or Mein?}
Schools Attended, Grades Received
{You were awfully proud of that A in chemistry...}
Debts and Loans
{You think you're worried, I took the
Seahawks to win the Super Bowl this year...}
+
Here are some recent articles on this topic.
NYTimes: Pentagon Plans a Computer
System That Would Peek at Personal Data of Americans.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/09/politics/09COMP.html
Safire: You Are a Suspect
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/14/opinion/14SAFI.html
Newsweek: Big Brother Goes to Washington
http://www.msnbc.com/news/835798.asp
Concerned that the FBI is not changing with the
times, some Bush aides are pushing for the creation
of a domestic spy agency.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61549-2002Nov15.html
0
Comments
our financial dealings will be the easiest to spy on. tracking our physical movements is getting easier. as for our intentions it gets near impossible. all of us should right now...i already do, fill in internet forms with complete bollox. put what you think they want to hear. or not. a massive billion pages of bullshit on the internet and txt messages will be very difficult to deal with.
then they will make it an offence to talk bullshit i suppose.
the thought police are disturbing. but they are going to find it near impossible to fight terrorists this way. do they think terrorists are dumb or what ? thats me on the watch him on a daily basis list i suppose !
I've been watching this build up all my life...from the restrictions of WW-2 to present...it does get much worse.