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Totally Idiotic Americans
(Ted Rall, AlterNet, November 27, 2002)
Rear Admiral John Poindexter, the scandal-scarred Iran-Contra figure who heads the $62.9 million "data mining" operation for the Defense Department, says that the TIA's mission is "to detect, classify and identify foreign terrorists � and decipher their plans � and thereby enable the U.S. to take timely action to successfully preempt and defeat terrorist acts." Sounds like a magnificent idea. So why do such unusual allies as the American Civil Liberties Union, The New York Times, William Safire and Republican senator Charles Grassley say it's dangerous? . . . Total Information Awareness will use sophisticated computer-modeling programs to search every database they can get their hands on. They'll scan credit card receipts, bank statements, ATM purchases, Web "cookies," school transcripts, medical files, property deeds, magazine subscriptions, airline manifests, addresses � even veterinary records. The TIA believes that knowing if and when Fluffy got spayed � and whether your son stopped torturing Fluffy after you put him on Ritalin � will help the military stop terrorists before they strike. . . . Most of this raw data is already available to businesses trying to market their products. The TIA represents the first full-scale attempt by a government agency � the Department of Defense � to collect and analyze that information. . . . Critics are understandably anxious that the TIA is merely the Bush Administration's latest effort to emulate the most unsavory aspects of Soviet society. "If the Pentagon has its way, every American � from the Nebraskan farmer to the Wall Street banker � will find themselves under the accusatory cyber-state of an all-powerful national security apparatus," warns Laura Murphy of the ACLU. . . . Is Poindexter more interested in digging up dirt on Bush's political foes than fighting Islamist terrorism? . . . Since most of the data the TIA analyzes relates to loyal American citizens, Total Information Awareness creates the potential for abuse of governmental power on an unprecedented scale. Because it won't track the most likely future terrorists � people who live in, for example, Pakistan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia � it's a waste of money that furthers the illusion that our government is protecting us. . . . Since Sept. 11, George W. Bush has asked us to trade our precious freedoms for a little security. The TIA forces Americans to sacrifice privacy for nothing.

posted by Lorenzo 12:19 PM