quote:
Funds in doubt for Pentagon's cyber-spy plan
By Audrey Hudson
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Privacy advocates from the political left and right are joining forces with Congress to stop funding of the Pentagon's Total Information Awareness (TIA) program, a cyber-surveillance system labled by critics as a "supersnoop" system.
A measure blocking the program passed the Senate last month but must survive the House and Senate conference committee this week. The measure was added as an amendment to a 2003 omnibus spending bill.
"The folks behind this amendment aren't exactly a group that flocks together for every possible issue," said Sen. Ron Wyden, Oregon Democrat and the amendment's sponsor."Democrats, Republicans, liberals and conservatives are raising their voices and saying they don't want their government snooping on law-abiding Americans. The program amounts to unleashing virtual bloodhounds," Mr. Wyden said.
The TIA data-mining program seeks to collect public and private records, such as credit-card transactions and cell-phone usage, to identify terrorists.
Several civil liberties groups, dubbed the "Right-Left Coalition," participated in a teleconference call yesterday to raise awareness with House and Senate conference committee members on the need to retain the legislative language.
The coalition includes the American Civil Liberties Union, Americans for Tax Reform, the Center for Democracy and Technology, the Eagle Forum, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, the Free Congress Foundation, and People for the American Way.
House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, Illinois Republican, has expressed concerns over privacy, and his spokesman said the program's fate is questionable.
The amendment would block funding until the defense secretary, attorney general, and CIA director submit a report to Congress explaining the program in detail and any threats to privacy or civil liberties. It also requires congressional approval on the technology used.
TIA was initiated last year and is run by retired Vice Adm. John Poindexter, whose conviction for deceiving Congress in the Iran-Contra scandal was later overturned. After the coalition criticized the administration's choice to lead the agency, Adm. Poindexter's name and biography were removed from the program's Web site.
The program's original logo ? a pyramid with an all-seeing eye focused on the world ? and its slogan translated from Latin, "knowledge is power," further raised speculation as to the agency's mission and have also been redesigned. The new logo is an open pyramid with a ribbon running through it.
Mr. Wyden said the Web site changes are encouraging and indicate the administration is stepping away from the program as proposed.
Also, the White House on Tuesday sent congressional appropriators a letter outlining cuts and additional spending that would trigger a veto from President Bush. Maintaining the TIA program was not listed among the administration's main concerns or objections to the omnibus spending bill.
Sen. Charles E. Grassley, Iowa Republican, has criticized the program, but Republicans have remained mostly mum on the issue, letting Democrats take the lead to block the program.
The Free Congress Foundation's Lisa Dean said the "bit of indecision on the Republican side of the aisle" comes from their inclination to support the Bush administration wholly in the war against terrorism.
Because the measure passed unanimously in the Senate however, conservatives expect Republicans to join ranks to kill the program.
"It is doubtful Republicans will jump up and support TIA and track law-abiding citizens. They know it would jeopardize their own re-election," said Lori Waters with the Eagle Forum.
Added Robert Fike with Americans for Tax Reform: "While we would like to see a bipartisan assortment of lawmakers come out against the TIA program in a more vocal fashion, what really matters is how they vote. And at the end of the day, we hope they vote the right way."
Chris Westphal, chief executive officer of Visual Analytics, said his company trademarked the phrase "total information awareness" and had begun proceedings to fight the Pentagon for using it.
However, the phrase has taken on such a negative connotation that Mr. Westhpal said they are no longer pursing ownership of the phrase, which is printed on the reverse side of his business card.
"I don't want to say it's tainted, but it's not something we now want to embrace as a slogan," Mr. Westphal said.
Lyinar Ka`Bael, Piney Fresh Druidess - Luclin
quote:
Talonus had this to say about John Romero:
Sounds like they're talking about "Carnivore". Information, both biased and unbiased, is easily found on google.
I think Carnivore only searched for key words.
This is a whole new level of wrong.
It's not something people hear about.
Why don't we just make that mandetory in fact. Once a month the police can come into your home and search for anything they want. They can tap your phone, read your mail, etc, etc.
No I have nothing to hide either. But that does not mean I would allow this.
quote:
Azizza was listening to Cher while typing:
It does not matter if you have anything to hide or not. Since you have nothing to hide does that mean that you have no problem if hte police come in and search your home?Why don't we just make that mandetory in fact. Once a month the police can come into your home and search for anything they want. They can tap your phone, read your mail, etc, etc.
No I have nothing to hide either. But that does not mean I would allow this.
Ah, but the police search would be very inconvenient for me. As would mail reading, assuming it holds up getting my mail. This and phone tapping I could care less about because it doesn't interfere with my daily business.
Wasn't the CIA that listened in/intercepted Saddam's calls, was the NSA. So why does the Pentagon need their own branch?
sigpic courtesy of This Guy, original modified by me
quote:
Kegwen had this to say about Captain Planet:
NSA, Deth
That's what he said.
Your son stumbles upon a bomb making site on the internet, or the anarchist's cookbook online...
you need to transport propane for your job, and so you apply for a license to transport expolsive and flammable goods.
Your wise uses your credit card to purchase some special asian cookware online, and the collection goes to a business in north korea.
All three look inocent when looked at individually, but when you look at the fact that YOUR internet connection was used to access bombmaking instructions, YOUR credit card was used to purchase something from notrh korea, and YOU applied for a license to transport EXPLOSIVE and FLAMMABLE material, it's not so good, and that's the conclusion that this program will find.
It will take these unrelated events and use them to make you look like a terrorist.
Granted, you may find a terrorist or two, but you'll probably also find thousands upn thousands of innocent americans that just happened to be caught in the crossfire.
No, Really. Bite me.
Don't be alarmist.
sigpic courtesy of This Guy, original modified by me
quote:
The Burger had this to say about Pirotess:
hypothetical situation...Your son stumbles upon a bomb making site on the internet, or the anarchist's cookbook online...
you need to transport propane for your job, and so you apply for a license to transport expolsive and flammable goods.Your wise uses your credit card to purchase some special asian cookware online, and the collection goes to a business in north korea.
All three look inocent when looked at individually, but when you look at the fact that YOUR internet connection was used to access bombmaking instructions, YOUR credit card was used to purchase something from notrh korea, and YOU applied for a license to transport EXPLOSIVE and FLAMMABLE material, it's not so good, and that's the conclusion that this program will find.
It will take these unrelated events and use them to make you look like a terrorist.
Granted, you may find a terrorist or two, but you'll probably also find thousands upn thousands of innocent americans that just happened to be caught in the crossfire.
I highly doubt the system works like that.
quote:
When the babel fish was in place, it was apparent Kaglaaz How'ler said:
http://www.darpa.mil/iao/TIASystems.htm
Aha. Assuming I'm looking at that thing right, the idea is to better organize stuff. Sort of like a program that organizes how other programs interact.
My point still stands, though.
sigpic courtesy of This Guy, original modified by me
