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Total Information Awareness, For One

Posted by timothy on from the aggregation-nation dept.

Jason writes "This guy has created his own TIA program for his electronic transactions around DC. He writes, 'Conceptually, I decided to create a personal TIA program to track my own electronic movements... and to document every single electronically-recorded transaction I've made.' A small vignette into what could be done with your electronic droppings."

3 of 197 comments (clear)

  1. sounds a lot like LifeLog by noahmax · · Score: 5, Informative
    This "personal TIA" sounds a whole lot like LifeLog, the DARPA uber-diary program to catalog every aspect of a person's life.

    There's more info on LifeLog here and here.

    nms

  2. Re:doesn't seem all that TIA... by guardian-ct · · Score: 5, Informative

    Click on the "Click for PNG link".
    Then click on some of the icons on his map. It's more involved than you think. Scanned receipts from that location, including what was purchased, and how much he paid for it. It's not just a map, and it certainly wasn't generated by Quicken or MS Money, unless those two programs have gotten significantly more powerful than I thought.

  3. Useful Illustration by maomoondog · · Score: 4, Informative
    He may be short on datapoints, but I think this gives a great illustration of how intrusive even a fraction of TIA's capabilities would be. This locational data could point probibalistically to hobbies, spending habits, sexual habits, organization membership and plenty of other things your employer / insurer / unfriendly regime (not talking just about USA) / local con artist / direct marketer / stalker would love to know. These systems will be made and abused, so if you care about any of the above, you should join efforts to condemn them socially wherever you are. I'm relieved the US Congress seems to be doing this by reconsidering funding TIA with taxes!

    If you live outside the USA, you should take special interest in [former TIA chief] [and felon] John Poindexter's recent open letter in the New York Times.

    It's pretty handwavy, but he makes a couple of interesting claims:
    • He says military research is free of moral content. His scientists are
      responsible for discovering what is possible; other agencies will be
      responsible for determining its correct use. I'm all for free exploration,
      but this is calculatedly naive. I think this project in particular was
      created with use in mind, and I think tax funded research should reflect
      what taxpayers feel is in their best interest.

    • He says TIA is aimed exclusively at foreign surveillance (and zeroes in on an
      American hotspot, claiming that American financial data isn't analyzed).
      I doubt this*, but even if it's true, citizens abroad should be letting their governments know about how they feel about the US accessing their data.


    *: DARPA funds a lot of research into how to appease American privacy laws while conducting surveillance.