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Thirty-Three States Contributed to the MATRIX
lexbaby writes "The Salt Lake Tribune has an article claiming that at least 33 states have released government and commercial records on residents to the controversial MATRIX (Multistate Anti-Terrorism Information Exchange) network instead of the originally claimed 13." Don't worry, there's plenty of RAM for all 50 and the territories too.
Mouth shut, eyes forward, do what you're told. Don't question authority.
Smile for the cameras. They're everywhere and they're watching you.
Secure all zippers, buttons, tie clips, etc. Wardrobe Malfunction isn't funny anymore, it's subversive.
Turn in your neighbors on the slightest hint they're trouble makers. You won't get a pair a blue jeans, but you help keep your country safe.
Pokemon: Catch 'em all, otherwise you never know where they are or what they are up to.
Cover your mouth when coughing or sneezing to avoid Germ Warfare Terrorist label.
Vote for the most patriotic sounding politician, no matter what their platform.
Remember, we're all in this together.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Welcome to The Matrix.
Once this MATRIX is proven to be useless, either by failing to catch terrorists or not predicting the next attack, will the government kill the program? Of course not.
Fear has always been a great method to let government erode privacy and rights.
Trolling is a art,
Don't worry, there's plenty of RAM for all 50 and the territories too.
Do you actually have some good, solid evidence that the ram is being used for this? Aside from an article at Techworld that thinks it might be. At least try to show a tiny little bit of responsibility in the statements that you make.
slashdot, news for crazed liberal socialist zealots
It's very likely that the bombers in Spain, like the hijackers here, had valid drivers licenses and other papers and good identification.
After all, they don't need to hide until AFTER they do it. Then they are dead.
This is like a stupid school teacher to tries to re-arrange seating order from alphabetical to something else when her classroom becomes disruptive. All she knows how to do is put things in order so that's what she does, when in reality the situation calls for some strong spankings and maybe kicking some students out.
do you see any tigers? it must work
I am guessing Mr. Ashcroft pay this out of his own pcoket. So this tax payer's money.
Is this going to make you any safer? Doubtful.
Is this going to make you poorer? Yes, Indirectly.
Is this going to make Seisinit richer? Sure.
Is this going to violate your privacy? Most Definitely.
So you are basically paying Seisinit to take away your privacy. This is a bit like this story here. But that one is a bit more believable.
Nothing to see here
To quote the article...
Leavitt teamed up with Florida Gov. Jeb Bush -- President Bush's brother -- to pitch MATRIX to other states. The two briefed other governors on the project during a conference call referred to in Feb. 6, 2003, MATRIX board minutes.
A member of the Bush family involved in something deceptive that will further erode our constitutional rights? NEVER, I say, NEVER!
Goddamned asshole mother-fucking pile of steaming shit! FUCK YOU GW you mother fucker!!!!
Darpa with a new Internet for more control, more MATRIX states. I am starting to get scared. I am Canadian and the only hope we have is that the US has freedom of expression that we can emulate. Please rise up and fight this demon that justifies itself with the "think of the children argument". The end does not justify the means.
Stay tuned for new sig...
Enough with the MATRIX puns, look at the issue seriously. I live in France and had never heard of this project before, but it sure looks scary, or at least, the government not saying everything about it is.
Can be read in the article: "We don't want our information floating out there when we don't know what's on the database or who has access to it," said Sen. Ron Allen, D-Stansbury Park. It seems the people actually involved in this do not know very much what information will be withheld, let alone the people whose information is withheld. I mean, how can you be sure what you're being told is the truth when you see that the people involved with the project do not know that much about it themselves?
The representatives say that the MATRIX is just a way of accessing individuals' information faster, but I don't really see how this could help them to predict where and when the next terrorist attack will be -- it will only really help them once the acts are actually done, I should think.
I'm not stating that the government are surely up to something dodgy here, and after all, perhaps they might not be lying when they say that this will allow them to get hold of currently available information faster. But I just cannot read this without an ounce of doubt that a few privacy breaches might help them to fulfill their task.
"Really, I'm not out to destroy Microsoft. That will just be a completely unintentional side effect" -- Linus Torval
I love feeling guilty until proven innocent. It gives me a warm, fuzzy and safe feeling and makes me able to sleep at night. And remember kids, just as long as everyone videotapes everybody, everything will be alright.
I'm sure this has been said already, but who in their right mind would choose to call this thing MATRIX and then not expect people to get upset about it leading to some form of totalitarianism. I mean didn't any of them see the movie? This has got to be one of the stupidest marketing mistakes of all time.
This is true because, as Authority Figures, our exalted leaders and police officials can be trusted completely to act diligently and with only the public interest in mind. Abuses of power for political or personal reasons are quite impossible, now and evermore. Liberals foolishly fail to understand this simple fact that every Good Dog knows.
The really cool thing about this is that they'll always be able to round up a good number of plausible suspects for anything that might happen, without all the hassle and expense of identifying the actual perpetrator or - what's worse - having to actually prove guilt. That way Ashcroft et.al. get to look like heroes whether any real justice is done or not. We the People insist on no more than that somebody be apprehended. I'd like to have a job like that. I could say, "Lookee here, Mr. Boss-Man, sir. I wrote you a hunnert lines o' code," and Mr. Boss-Man wouldn't even care if it compiled, much less did anything useful.
I dunno about you, but I didn't enjoy the Spain incident.
You're taking a big leap of faith here if you're suggesting that the liberty/safety trade-off is real. Under Hitler, Stalin and Mao, nobody was safe. Don't expect any better here if we hand absolute power to Bush and his minions (or anyone else, for that matter).
What a great time not to be an american...
People better be concerned about this. The general populace does not know what's contained in the database, only that it has some kind of information on just about everybody. Unlike a credit report, a citizen cannot access it, view it, dispute it, or make corrections to it. Who knows if the information within is even correct? Even though it's claimed that it will only be used for 'noble' purposes, it's still possible for someone authorized to abuse it or use it for 'sneaky' reasons. Insert your own speculative scenario here. From what I can tell, there's no checks and balances and that is something be to concerned about.
-- After all is said and done, more is said than done.
I fear a state of mind that makes living freely and happily quite cumbersome. I myself will side with the hundreds of thousands of Americans that have died protecting these rights and will accept a certain level of uncertainty pertaining to "terrorists", thank you very much...
In other words, "Live free or die". For those that may want to reconstruct this sentiment to form something like "you will die OR live free", remember what that quote means. It means, "I would rather die than to NOT live free". And I would agree. You see, I am an American, and I understand what freedom means, and therefore when I see it being eroded for unseemly ends I must, in a working democracy that is, rise up and fight. It is my duty as an American, and as a patriot.
Vote these bastards out of office... our freedom depends on it...
"The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance - it is the illusion of knowledge." - Daniel Boorstin
Read, L
"Would you be saying the same thing if a Democrat was in office?"
You say that as though Republicans are any different from Democrats. At this point, pubbies are pretty much liberal-lite. The few real conservatives left with any say get shouted down by the liberals and neo-con morons of the supposedly right-leaning party.
Why are we spending more than ever? Why are we looking at a $500+ Billion deficeit? Why are we pumping $530 Billion into a socialist medical plan? Why are we sapping the life out of Social(ist) Security while continuing to pretend it's doing something useful? Why are we pushing things like TIA? Why are we pushing for gun control on the same level Reno & Friends were? Why are we letting illegal immigrants stay in this country? Why are we allowing them to work here legally? Why are we contining to push the farce known as the "War on Drugs", which is really just a code for wasteful government spending designed to look pretty while sending the Bill of Rights through a shredder? Why are we locking US citizens up without trials or lawyers? Why are we passing censorship laws? Why are we even talking about adding Constitutional amendments to snatch even more rights from the states?
The list goes on and on, but suffice it to say that Bush and the rest of the Pubbies have shifted left of many Dems - so far so, in fact, that many so-called liberals are getting whiplash from it.
We've actually managed to elect a Republican President who's too liberal for many liberals.
The problem with your logic, in terms of "us" voting these people into office, is that these same people are now utilizing fear in an extreme manner to force citizens into submission. They present programs such as this as the only alternative to sudden, painful, horrifying death. They marginalize civil liberties advocates on BOTH sides of the political spectrum as extremists, and then proceed to convince the public at large that the entire nation will burst into flames unless these types of actions are taken.
That's called treason, in my book.
-- "Government is the great fiction through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else."
I would also assert that this "if you don't like it, leave" mentality is unAmerican. The proper attitude should be "if you don't like it, vote and change it." Certainly, if there were a mass exodous of citizens from the country, that would change things because there would be not enough workforce to keep the infrastructure running. However, short of that mass exodous, leaving the country will not change anything. Voting, however, has changed much.
For all those people who love to say "if you don't like it here, leave," I'm considering turning them in to homeland security as terrorists because they are trying to undermine the American way. I'm not going to do it, but it's a fun idea.
"I swear I won't break you if you let me take you where the willows never weep" -- Switchblade Symphony
Imagine a succesful hack capable of sending everyone you don't like straight to gautanamo without any legal access or rights for them? Anyone with the skillz, would you mind altering Darl Mcbride's records?
True genius is grasping a situation like a peice of fruit, and peircing it just right so that it drains dry.
Funny how Dems decry the media as the puppets of multi-national conglomerates owned by frat buddies of high-ranking pubblies, while pubbies decry the liberal hippie media as a bunch of commie-loving bastards.
What's even funnier is that Oliver Stone, probably one of the most hated (by right-wingers) directors in Hollywood once made a film about how aweful and terrible the media is. It was called, "Natural Born Killers".
The media doesn't care if you're a Democrat or a Republican. The media doesn't care what your position is. The media doesn't care if you're alive, dead, growing mushrooms out of your eyelids, or bleeding to death in the back of a city cab. What they do care about are the ratings you and your story may bring to them. What the media does care about is reporting the things that will keep them employed and successful.
There's a concept that's lost on most people these days, and it's something that would solve probably 80% of the problems plaguing us at this point: personal responsibility.
-- "Government is the great fiction through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else."
"Upon being asked if you are a terrorist, make relevant portions of this record avaliable."
I read your post right the first time - you just made up that "legitimate authority" requirement when you saw how flimsy your proposal looks. Who's a "legitimate authority"? That's not for you, a private citizen, to decide. The courts already have lots of ways to extract your life record from you, based on due process. And that "white married christian male" fetish you've got tends to protect Aryan Nation people from scrutiny, too, now doesn't it? I don't know why you've got any complaints at all with the current procedures, given your apparent satisfaction with faith based government.
--
make install -not war