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DARPA to Fund TIA Study

Posted by michael on from the panopticon dept.

clonebarkins writes "Federal Computer Week has an article on a DARPA-funded study of privacy-related concerns related to TIA. "We envision software that will mask the identity of any individual whose pattern of activities triggers the suspicion of investigators," says the program manager of the Information and Intelligence Exploitation Division. Yeah, sure--that'll happen about as soon as Ashcroft converts to Islam."

4 of 18 comments (clear)

  1. Just the facts, please by GuyMannDude · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Yeah, sure--that'll happen about as soon as Ashcroft converts to Islam.

    Can we please have the submitters refrain from making editorial comments in their story submissions? Please use the Comments section like everyone else. We get enough of being told what to believe from the mass media. We don't need it on slashdot, too.

    My request is directed towards editors, as well.

    GMD

    --
    watch this
  2. Bad idea... by Paddyish · · Score: 5, Insightful
    In theory, TIA would enable national security analysts to detect, classify, track, understand and pre-empt terrorist attacks against the United States by drawing upon surveillance and patterns in public and private transactions.

    And in theory, communism worked beautifully. Too bad no one thought it through to the nth iteration...

    It would be interesting to see details on how
    1.) 'Threatening' patterns and their levels are selected, and
    2.) How someone could spam the system with threatening activity.

    Mmmm...spam...

    1. Re:Bad idea... by ArsonPanda · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It would be interesting to see details..

      Of course, its only a matter of time until even asking for such details lands you in a cell in cuba, for public safty. Wouldn't want you knowing how to get around it now would we? After all, the DOJ has already made great strides in gutting FOIA.

      --

      --I don't want the world, I just want your half.
    2. Re:Bad idea... by Blaine+Hilton · · Score: 2, Insightful
      Very good point, however it seems people here in the states at least are so worried about terrorists and everything that they seem to like the idea of TIA. I believe that the general public does not understand it and its consequences. Right now we as citizens have security through obscurity. When, not if, all of the government agencies all the way down to the local library have a single "master database" to cross reference everything then we are in trouble.

      This does show potential for security, but the risks far outweigh the benefits. With one system a hacker must only break one system. If there is a virus, again only one system. A government employee that works on the database can be selling information to other companies/individuals/rouge nations. Even the government could give detailed information to certain large benefactors.

      Go calculate something