Florida's Version Of TIA May Spread To Other States

Annoying Cowwart writes "Looks like TIA is coming back, this time through the by-the States-but-all-together backdoor. Now called M.A.T.R.I.X. ('Multistate Anti-Terrorism Information Exchange'). See the Washington Post article for details. I wonder: do they have to try hard to find such apt names for their projects or does it come naturally? (For German speakers, there is another article about this in Der Spiegel.)"

Comments

Scary quote

[cK-Gunslinger]

A senior official overseeing the project acknowledged it could be intrusive and pledged to use it with restraint. "It's scary. It could be abused. I mean, I can call up everything about you, your pictures and pictures of your neighbors," said Phil Ramer, special agent in charge of statewide intelligence. "Our biggest problem now is everybody who hears about it wants it."

Re:Scary quote

[DrWho520]

In 1999, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the FBI suspended information service contracts with an earlier Asher-run company because of concerns about his past, according to law enforcement sources. The Chicago Tribune reported in 1987 that court documents in a federal drug case said defense lawyer F. Lee Bailey, who identified Asher as a pilot and onetime smuggler, offered him as an informant.

Who are the criminals here, the people violating our civil rights by using this thing or the former drug trafficer heading its development? Is not this sort of system supposed to track these people down?

Maybe we should be considered the criminals if we let this sort of thing proceed.

Re:Scary quote

[deop]

...there probably isn't anything they can't know about a person...

True, if you consider the collection of numbers that identify you to be everything about you. But don't you think that people that are trying to hide things about themselves would have a way to do so, under the radar? Not everyone uses credit cards, many people don't drive, lots don't register their dogs.

Seems to me that such a system really works best on people with nothing to hide - which contradicts the very purpose for which it is intended.

Airport credit & medical check for every passe

[peter303]

Last week the news said airlines were looking at the credit agency and medical insurance reports of every passenger. People with low credit scroes were flagged for additional scrutiny. I guess because these are easy databases to access, not because they are informative.

Name change

[ItWasThem]

At least they picked a name that should strike the proper level of fear into joe citizen. When it was TIA no one had a clue, it was almost as good as the PATRIOT Act (who could vote against being a patriot right?). But with a name like MATRIX thanks to the media machine people will naturally associate it with total helpless control and loss of basic rights.

This program will be quickly dropped, the politicians will say it was all that guys idea *point long finger* and it'll come up again under the name "USA FLUFFY BUNNIES AND PEACE ON EARTH FOR EVERYONE Act"

Vote no on USA FLUFFY BUNNIES AND PEACE ON EARTH FOR EVERYONE!

Re:Whoa....

[AllUsernamesAreGone]

And what if they *gasp* get it wrong?

And what about when someone who shouldn't gets access to the system and either farms details, or better yet, frames you?

And what about when you may actually have a reason to organise a rebellion because your government has turned your country into a police state the KGB would envy?

I've lived with real terrorism all my life - I was 5 minutes away from being killed on one occasion I know of for certain (Manchester IRA bombing) and probably more. As far as I'm concerned this "keeping track of YOU so they can't blow you up" is nothing more than a way to monitor and control a nation, it has nothing to do with stopping terrorists.