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Feds Open 'Total' Tech Spy System

Posted by timothy on from the what-privacy dept.

Diesel Dave writes "A Wired article reports: 'On Wednesday, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) will begin awarding contracts for the design and implementation of a Total Information Awareness (TIA) system...The Total Information Awareness program, with its ability to provide persistent storage of everything from credit card, to employment, to medical, to ISP records, is a recipe for civil liberties disaster unless there are provisions for citizens to find out who is looking at their records and to see and correct those records.' The foundation for the omnipotent National ID database has now been laid."

4 of 255 comments (clear)

  1. Funny by Lucas+Membrane · · Score: 2, Interesting
    This week they admitted that they were not able to process all the reports from paranoid patriots who were turning in their neighbors through the TIPS program, and they were turning tips over to "America's Most Wanted" for investigation. Used to be that Disney gave tips to J. Edgar. Now they are outsourcing it. Collecting lots of data isn't working, so let's do more of it. That's a definition of insanity.

    Speaking of outsourcing, this kind of a plan gives ample opportunity for politicians, bureaucrats and police to outsource wrongdoing. Like we are now outsourcing torture to friendly Arab nations and outsourcing covert operations to Israeli and British intelligence. Mostly, they will outsource the abuses to off-shore dummy corporations funded through US intelligence, but domestic corporations that collect large amounts of data on US residents (note that it is now considered legit for phone companies to track and disclose everyone you dial unless you succeed in opting out, and no one knows what goes on inside lots of commercial software -- why does the MS Excel viewer make my internet connection so busy?)will likely get involved as well.

  2. False Identities, New Identities by asreal · · Score: 2, Interesting
    Imagine the market for false identities that will spring up over the next few years and decades as the implications of moves like this are felt by more and more people. There is less and less room to screw up and later reinvent yourself.

    In the past it was possible to create an entirely new life. Criminals, debtors, or just people who wanted to start a new life could move to "The New World" or other countries and begin again. Now, your new home already has a pretty good idea who you are.

    Until the age of direct deposit, it was possible to move somewhere new and get a job that you could be paid for the same day, paying cash for a room in some seedy hotel until you could get a better place. Now, it takes 2-3 weeks before you see your first paycheque, and most hotels require a credit card. Right away it is harder to move around, let alone reinvent yourself.

    Let's look at the example of one famous head of state. He spent the first half of his life screwing around, doing drugs, getting arrested for drunk driving, and wasting Bush Sr.'s money. Suddenly he cleans up his act and buys a baseball team, becomes governor of Texas, and eventually President of the U.S. of A. Good for him.

    Imagine this same kid 20 years from now. (Minus some of daddy's influence, perhaps.) Generally good kid gets into a bit of trouble when he/she is young, but cleans up and decides to get a job working for MS-AOL-Time-Warner-USA. (MATWU for short.) Person goes in for their interview, to face a series of questions, like a normal job interview. After doing quite well, the interviewer says this:

    "You are very well suited for the job. I think you would make an excellent addition to the team. However your ethics do not fit with corporate guidelines. We notice that on your trip to Amsterdam you visited 3 hash bars in a 4 hour period, 1 strip club where you took part in two lap dances and consumed a good deal of alcohol. We also note that you visited Tokyo and stayed for 2 weeks at a VSP resort. Consorting with Vivendi-Sony-Panasonic, perhaps? I'm afraid we cannot hire you."

    Who has never done anything they wouldn't want their prospective employer, prospective friends, prospective mate, or prospective client to know about?

    --

    What Future?

    1. Re:False Identities, New Identities by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Don't forget the corolary to the maxim, "A rising tide lifts all boats". A lowering tide drops all boats" As sure as Someone is loking bad, so will his neighbor, and his neighbor etc. Everyone will gradually be ferreted out, granted. But it will be a gradual and equal information land grab on Everyone as the technology supports it. For example, no one really cared the Clinton an Lewinski had activity. 30 years ago this would have been insane to tell citazens. 30 years from know. We are all going to know a hell of a lot more than you or I care to. *BUT* it's all reletive. to our children it wont be a big deal. To us it will , just like to my parents and grandpartents, the Lewenski situation is an incredible affront to their sense of decency. But to our kids, 30 years in the future, kids who grew up on cameras in thier rooms as infant monitors, cameras in their daycares, and now we're seeing cameras in their high schools. I'm not a paranoid conspircist, just making observations here. Our kids won't give a damn about what you and I consider a dystopian nightmare. And you know what, maybe orwellian society really wont be tht bad. If you had informed an early American pioneer that ther great -great-granson would be living in a single building with 3000 other pwople 50 stories off the ground, thousands of miles from his closest family member, what would he think of it - TOTAL INSANITY! Of course anyone living in NewYork can tell you it's ..OK maybe it is total insanity! Point being, when "1984" truly arrives, there may be some old farts like us who lament not being able to pick up and go at will on a long journey without going through a monetary/informational exchange. But if it is just as easy as going to the gas station before a trip, ...

  3. Re:NSA Authority by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    No they aren't. Not on americans at least. Do your self a favor and pick up the book 'Body of Secrets'. It is a no bullshit account of what goes on at the NSA. It is amazingly well researched and will fill you in on the fact that the the NSA is prohibited on sying on Americans within America (if you are in another country that is a different matter). If you are sitting down watching Nascar in Nashville and Osama Bin Laden calls you on the phone, NSA procedure is to record that phone call and note that it was Bin Laden, but you are simply identified as 'American Citizen'. If a customer to the NSA, requests to know who 'American Citizen' is, and has due cause, the NSA will reveal it, but this is the extreme circumstance. Oh, and the good part is that politicans never get recorded at all :).

    one other interesting fact, the NSA is exempted from any US law that does not specifically name the NSA....

    Everyone should read Body of Secrets before claiming to know something about the NSA.