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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
I was wondering why all the stories aimed at getting the tinfoil hat crowd in a frenzy where popping up, then I noticed Michael was at the helm
there are numbers but not a list!
we need a list! if my state was involved I would like to know!
Why don't you embrace your slashbotness instead of living in a dreamworld?
I can't believe they actually had the balls to call it that.
With the Mormons keeping track of their ancestors and all, do you suppose that some (most?) of the info that Utah willingly provided was from those vast genealogical records?
I wonder if/how that would help the MATRIX project. Hmm.
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
Aksearch.net is a db I compiled from a few various databases the State of Alaska makes available. I have address and phone numbers for approx 98% of residents of Alaska. I also have DOB for about 5%, and voting records of all eligable voters. All available for free. Scarry huh?
I was recently stopped by the cops (while walking) here in FL. I was stopped for crossing the street with an open container of beer on the way to my neighbor's house.
Anyway, what was spooky about it is they were able to immediately look up my record--I got busted smoking pot at a concert about 10 years ago in NJ--literally a thousand miles away. Even though this was expunged from my record nearly ten years ago, they found out about it from their cars, without me every mentioning that I ever lived anywhere other than FL. That sucks.
I don't know if it's on the web, but there was a wonderful series of Pogo (by Walt Kelly) strips from the early 70's where Spiro Agnew (then Vice President) was portrayed (appropriately) as a hyena in military uniform. For the good of the country all suspect people were rounded up and jailed. The end result was everyone in jail except him, including his cronies and assistants.
Sounds like history repeating itself.
Spiro Agnew later resigned due to mounting pressure over scandal for tax evasion and bribe taking.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
do you see any tigers? it must work
I love this one from their FAQ: http://www.matrix-at.org/faq.htm
If you can't access the data, how can you find the source!?
CAN THE PUBLIC REVIEW THE MATRIX PILOT PROJECT DATA CONCERNING THEMSELVES?
No. Members of the public cannot access individually identifiable information on themselves or others. Persons wishing to access data pertaining to themselves should communicate directly with the agency or entity that is the source of the data in question. For example, each participating state must provide a means for an individual to review and challenge the accuracy and completeness of his or her criminal history record, as authorized and required by 28 Code of Federal Regulations, Section 20.21(g).
and the movie still sucked at the end?
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
....developped and running al the way till the late 80's, but a dude called Gorbachov kinda screwed it all up....(it's still in use only in outdated machines in China.)
1. No sig. 2. ???? 3. Profit!!!
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!
Head over to this site:
http://www.brbpub.com/pubrecsites.asp
Free public records for all states and nationwide databases.
I know for sure that Colorado and Wisconsin have criminal court proceedings online, effectivly putting your police record out there for anyone who knows your name or even parts of your name.
It did come in handy for me lately, as I found out someone gave my name when they were arrested. Had this resource not be available, I may have never known. Now I have to get it off, and they don't make it easy.
-ft
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
When he left for EPA his Lt. Gov, Walker took over and found out about this MATRIX stuff and told the public. I hope Walker or Matheson gets elected next time around.
Lasers Controlled Games!
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.
TARKIN:
The regional governors now have direct control over territories. Fear will keep the local systems in line. Fear of this MATRIX.
CT
it is only a matter of time before this is used to round up non terrorist criminals to make some politician look good. that is essentialy what this kind of information is best for. no terrorist is going to show up with the kind of info they are putting together. there is no way some this will not be used against the peaceful criminals in this country. its a damn shame.
this is not a Sig.
As it turns out, I actually know the person who prototyped the MATRIX system very well -- it's my wife's aunt.
On one hand, this scares me a bit, because I know her work, and she's good -- which means that this system probably functions as intended.
On the other hand, I have the assurances that a) she's a decent person, who generally supports civil liberties and frowns on abuse of government powers; and b) she's explicitly said that there were several requests that the government made during the initial design phase that she explicitly ruled out -- she told the government they were going too far, and that she wouldn't be a part of what they wanted. They actually backed off, too from what I've been told.
Of course, I realize that I have very little credibility here as just another Slashdot poster...but for anyone inclined to believe, the good news is that *some* restraint was made in designing the MATRIX system.
How To Get Humans To Mars
I don't care that much fo John Kerry, but if you want any hope at all of this type of thing going away, you'd better get out and vote for him in November.
Remember the Florida election of 2000 when a private database company scrubbed thousands of eligible voters from the rolls? Well now one of the co-founders of Database Technologies is back in the headlines -- he's working with law enforcement agents in Florida to create what may soon expand into a national surveillance system. We talk with privacy expert Wayne Madsen, investigative reporter Greg Palast and a top intelligence official from the state of Florida.
s .h tm
8 /0 7/1427223
When is Joe Six pack going to wake up to the fact that in secret the government has conspired to create a dossier on every citzen in this country and this is who they hired to do it:
Hank Asher then creates the MATRIX as a state level network version of the TIA office. Essentially continuing the TIA office, but freeing it from congressional oversight and federal whistleblower protections. He admits smuggling millions of dollars worth of cocaine in 1981 and 1982. Coincidentally at the time when the Iran-Contra dealings were in full swing.
But this is only speculation. Could there be more of a link between illegal dealings between Hank Asher and the republican party? OF COURSE THERE IS!
In 1992, Asher founded Database Technologies, which later merged with ChoicePoint. In 1999, he founded Seisint Inc. by merging two companies. He is still on Seisint's board of directors, and continues to play an active role in the company.During the 2000 presidential election ChoicePoint, gave Florida officials a list with the names of 8,000 ex-felons to "scrub" from their list of voters. But it turns out none on the list were guilty of felonies, only misdemeanors.
So there we have it. We went from having a domestic spying agency run by a five time felon to having the same domestic spying program sans congressional oversight and whistle blower protections run by a convicted drug smuggler who has proven that he'll break the law to further the republican agenda.
http://www.oldamericancentury.org/oh_republican
A Florida law enforcement data-sharing network is about to go national. In the name of counterterrorism, the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security are pouring millions of dollars into the system to expand it to local law enforcement agencies across the nation. It's called Matrix, which stands for Multistate Anti-Terrorism Information Exchange. According to the Washington Post, the computer network accesses information that has always been available to investigators but brings it together and enables police to access it with extraordinary speed. Civil liberties and privacy groups say the Matrix system dramatically increases the ability of local police to snoop on individuals.
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=03/0
The Florida company that built the database was founded by the man behind ChoicePoint and Database Technologies. The companies administered the contract that stripped thousands of African Americans from the Florida voter roles before the 2000 election.
Although narrower in scope than John Poindexter's controversial Terrorist Global Information Awareness program, Matrix may serve a similar purpose because it provides unprecedented access to US residents regardless of their criminal background. And states are eager to participate in the new program. On Tuesday, the Department of Homeland Security announced plans to launch a pilot program in state law enforcement data-sharing among Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and New York.
Mouth shut, eyes forward, do what you're told. Don't question the editors.
Smile for the cameras. They're everywhere and they're watching you.
Secure all servers, workstations, toasters, etc. with Linux. Windows isn't funny anymore, it's subversive.
Mod down your fellow posters on the slightest hint they're windows users. You won't get a free subscription, but you help keep Slashdot safe.
Suspicious links: Don't click 'em, otherwise you might know where they go or what horrors they may contain.
Twiddle your thumbs when considering posting evidence that Windows is OK to avoid Astroturfer label.
Vote for the most paranoid, irrational sounding politician, but only if their platform is Open Sourced.
"Ask not what your country can do for you." --John F. Kennedy
I was reading James Mitchner's Iberia up to a couple months ago. It's terribly ironic considering what happened in Spain on the 11th and the political climate in the USA. The book was written, IIRC, in the late 60's and one spaniard told Mitchner, refering to the harsh governance of Franco, that the spaniards need a firm hand because (pardon if quote is not exact) "We're such bastards to govern."
I consider this phrase frequently when reading about autocratic or strong central governments and people apparently happy to be lead thusly. It's worrying.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
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.
(Multistate Anti-Terrorism Information Exchange)
Wouldn't that be MATIE?
No, because then they would be confused with the pirate non dairy creamer COFFEE MATIE.
Article Text here
New York and Wisconsin Opt Out of Anti-Crime Database
............
MARK JOHNSON
Associated Press
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- New York and Wisconsin have joined the list of states that have pulled out of an anti-crime database program that civil libertarians say endangers citizens' privacy rights.
Just five states now remain involved in Matrix out of more than a dozen that had signed up to share criminal, prison and vehicle information with one another and cross-reference the data with privately held databases.
Questions over federal funding and the waning potential for benefit to law enforcement ultimately prompted New York's withdrawal, said Lynn Rasic, a spokeswoman for the New York State Office of Public Security.
In a letter earlier this week, New York State Police Lt. Col. Steven Cumoletti noted that as more states withdraw, Matrix's usefulness diminishes.
The administrator of the Wisconsin Division of Criminal Investigation, meanwhile, cited cost, privacy and potential abuses of such a large database.
"When you added it all up, there were more negatives than positives,'' said the administrator, Jim Warren. He said the state signed up for Matrix about a month ago, but withdrew this week without having put any money into it or trained anyone.
Known formally as Multistate Anti-Terrorism Information Exchange, Matrix links government records with up to 20 billion records in databases held by Seisint Inc., a private company based in Boca Raton, Fla.
The Seisint records include details on property, boats and Internet domain names that people own, their address history, utility connections, bankruptcies, liens and business filings, according to an August report by the Georgia state Office of Homeland Security.
Officials with Seisint and the U.S. Department of Justice did not immediately return calls seeking comment.
The American Civil Liberties Union has complained that Matrix could be used by state and federal investigators to compile dossiers on people who have never been suspected of a crime. Seisint officials have said safeguards are built into the system to prevent such abuses.
"We're pleased New York has finally seen the light and opted out of this data-mining program that would allow the government to troll billions of private, personal records for information they have no business getting,'' said Donna Lieberman, director of the New York Civil Liberties Union.
New York started questioning Matrix when several other states dropped out because of privacy or cost concerns, Rasic said. Alabama, California, Colorado, Georgia, Louisiana, Kentucky, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas, Utah and West Virginia have all left or declined to join after actively considering it.
"It was going to end up costing a lot for something we already had,'' Tela Mange, Texas Department of Public Safety spokeswoman, said Thursday.
Matrix, short for the Multistate Anti-Terrorism Information Exchange, began in 2002 in Florida. Connecticut, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania also remain participants in the program, which was helped by $12 million in initial funding from the federal government.
Julie Norris, spokeswoman for Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro, said the state plans to stick with Matrix, considering it "a powerful investigation tool'' that uses information already available through public records.
"It allows for an intelligent search that is quick, fast and efficient,'' she said.
The Michigan State Police use Matrix on a limited basis and continue to support it, said spokeswoman Shanon Akans.
------------------
I swear, whenever I read about posts that infringe on privacy in this forum, all the dangerous 1984 references sound like more whining and justification based on more fear, uncertainty, and doubt. I've ceased to take any of it seriously.
-Rob
Marriage doesn't have to suck!
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
Freemason Grand Master: ...and we will call it Multistate Anti-Terrorism Information Exchange!
Illuminatus Rex: Hm.. Mu.. Ant.. Te... Matie? MATIE? Didn't we decide to keep the Aussie division out this time?
Freemason Grand Master: No, no, they are not in. Purely a coincidence.
Paul W.: Well, it sounds a bit... dull.
Illuminatus Rex: I agree. MATIE just will not work. Think of USA PATRIOT - Uniting and Strengthening - now that is a classic. Even TIA is better, even thought it is just a TLA. How are we going to keep people on their toes with MATIE? People should think of strength and cunning, not Foster's and dingos. We are not playing shadow government here!
Alan G.: What if we change a few letters... uhm.. MATRIX?
Illuminatus Rex: Eeexcellent.
I shall go and tell the indestructible man that someone plans to murder him.
I love the America that you represent. Currently we are a minority in our own country. I hope the pendulum does swing back soon, because moving to europe is gonna be a pain. ;-)
h p and know that some of us are awake and give a sh*t.
Please read this: http://holophrastic.com/javascopes/september_02.p
The House Between - Original Sci-Fi Series
"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."
It wasn't just the open border policy. What was more important was US government intervention in other countries' affairs. I mean, the CIA don't exactly twiddle their thumbs all day! In one of the Dalai Lama's books, he mentions that the CIA were involved in his run to India, and that was decades ago on the other side of the world in the Himalayan mountains in Tibet, ferchrissakes! Can you imagine what the CIA are like now? What amazes and scares me the most is that today people have stopped demanding to know why and just accept the fact that it happened because those "middle easterners are evil terrorists". But WHY? WHAT ARE THEY DYING FOR? All I ever hear is that "those godless savages and fundamentalists hate freedom, that's all". C'mon people, keep questioning!!! 3000 people dead. What is going on behind our backs?
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