Total Information Awareness still Running

gordm writes "National Journal reports that, instead of being shut down 2 years ago, the Total Information Awareness program is still datamining away. Must be effective. What else could explain Morrissey's latest adventure?" Just posting this story probably puts me on their radar.

Comments

Don't forget JPEN

[Anonymous Coward]

See here:

DoD's CIFA manages the database of "suspicious incidents" in the United States or the Joint Protection Enterprise Network (JPEN). It is an intelligence and law enforcement system that is a near real-time sharing of raw non-validated information among DoD organizations and installations. Feeding into JPEN are intelligence, law enforcement, counterintelligence, and security reports, information from DoD's "Threat and Local Observation Notice" reporting system of unfiltered information (TALONs), and other reports.

What makes this scary is

1. it's a big database of unsubstantiated rumors;
2. "information" may stay there indefinitely, with no protocols requiring verification or removal, nor removal within a certain period of time; and
3. there's no way to see if inaccurate information about you is in that db, making you a target for surveillance, etc.

Yes, of course it contains information about incidents and people in the United States, including U.S. Citizens.

Re:I told you...

[quanticle]

/* the tinfoil hat was a GOOD idea!!!!*/

Not really.  According to this study (http://people.csail.mit.edu/rahimi/helmet/), certain radio frequencies are greatly amplified by tinfoil helmets, making it far easier for the government to spy on your thoughts.

Matrix of Evil

[danratherfoe]

Did you really believe that they would ever voluntarily slow the march toward a complete surveillance society where everything that you buy, everywhere you go and even every conversation that you have is ruthlessly cataloged by the state. This is why they are pushing the RFID chips in products, the RFID chips in people, the cashless society, the national ID card (see HR418, the "Real ID" act http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c109:H.R.418 : ), the NSA domestic spying, and the patriot act. Did you know that under the PATRIOT act (HR3162 http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d107:h.r.0 3162: ) all of your property can be seized and the burden will be on you to prove that you are not a terrorist so that you can get your property back. What is the definition of a terrorist? Under section 802 of the PATRIOT act, a terrorist is anyone who is involved in "dangerous to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States or of any State" is a terrorist. So literally if you jay-walk you are a terrorist. Any one of us is in danger of being declared a terrorist at any time. When the government considers its entire population to be the enemy there is a term for that -- a police state. None of this stuff is a coincidence. Start getting informed about this stuff so that you know how to protect yourself.

Re:Oh if Dwight Eisenhower were here today.

[dal20402]

It effects far more people than required to be insurance, it's not need-based,

Politics 101: Programs that only serve the poor get no support.

If we want social security at all, then we have to serve at least most of the electorate with it.

it doesn't pay enough to be useful as a retirement program.

Tell that to these 13 million people.

The structure of social security may encourage irresponsible government accounting practices, but the fact remains that it's the single most effective step in U.S. history toward reducing poverty among those who can't work.