Gov't Proposes Massive Homeless Tracking System

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Gov't Proposes Massive Homeless Tracking System

Posted by michael on Tuesday August 19, 2003 @08:12AM from the bagged-and-tagged dept.

Chris Hoofnagle writes "The Dept. of Housing and Urban Development is proposing a massive system of tracking for homeless people and others who are served by shelters and care centers. The system will track people by their SSN, and will collect health (HIV, pregnancy) and mental information. Secret Service and national security agents can gain access to the database by just asking for it! EPIC has released a fact sheet on HMIS, and the public can comment on the guidelines until September 22, 2003, but no electronic comments are being accepted."

11 of 808 comments (clear)

No, we need to track politicians, dammit! by corebreech · 2003-08-19 08:13 · Score: 5, Funny

WozNet suppositories for everybody on Capitol Hill!

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Is this truly the only Earth I can live on?
1. Re:No, we need to track politicians, dammit! by Uruk · 2003-08-19 08:20 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  No, we don't need to track politicians. We already know where all of the crack houses, bordellos, cheap motels, and liquor stores are. On the off chance that they're actually in session, we also already know where the Capitol is, thanks.
  
  --
  -- Truth goes out the door when rumor comes innuendo. -- Groucho Marx
2. Re:No, we need to track politicians, dammit! by zephc · 2003-08-19 08:34 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  Coming soon to a market near you: Soylent Hobo!
  
  --
  "I would say that 99 per cent of what my father has written about his own life is false." - L. Ron Hubbard Jr.
Works for me... by Anonymous Coward · 2003-08-19 08:14 · Score: 5, Funny

Now if only we could track spammers this way.
Re:Not to be cruel, but... by Jeremiah+Cornelius · 2003-08-19 08:18 · Score: 5, Funny

You rotten Communist!
Don't you think that if we had known who the penniless homeless were, we could have prevented the massive attack on 09/11/01? They are begging for spare change, and using it to buy AIRLINE TICKETS!

--
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
Hey Mister! by LiftOp · 2003-08-19 08:18 · Score: 4, Funny

"The government put a tracking device in my teeth!! No, seriously....!!"
Think of all the money we'll save in mental institutions letting these guys we THOUGHT were nuts back out...
That's good.. by preric · 2003-08-19 08:19 · Score: 5, Funny

Because one morning I came out to my parking space (I live in an apartment near the beach) to catch a homeless man 'cleaning' his ass crack on the corner of my truck's bumper.
He quickly ran off... I was still in shock and not sure if I should chase him down, let alone know what to do with him once caught, but now I can track him down and do the same to his shopping cart.
Sweet revenge!
Re:Not to be cruel, but... by gantzm · 2003-08-19 08:22 · Score: 5, Funny

They're not homeless, they're residentially displaced.

Somebody should the track the Politically Correct crowd, they're the ones to watch out for.

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Excessive forking causes un-wanted children.
Re:Not to be cruel, but... by Frymaster · 2003-08-19 08:22 · Score: 4, Funny

The point of the tracking system is to prevent fraud.
then we should have mandatory tracking for all major ceos! the enron debacle came in at about $4 billion... that's a lot of food stamps.

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2 1337 4 u!
Re:We can talk about them here by frodo+from+middle+ea · 2003-08-19 08:30 · Score: 3, Funny

Obligatory Simpsons quote.
old people don't need companionship. They need to be isolated and studied so it can be determined what nutrients they have that might be extracted for our personal use.
I guess the same goes for homeless.

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for the last time people, I am "frodo from middle eaRTH", not "middle eaST".
Re:Good deal by walt-sjc · 2003-08-19 08:42 · Score: 3, Funny

Yes, but we need to make it faster. I propose to tatoo a barcode on everyones forehead. Hey, at least facial recognition software will be easier... :-)