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FBI Data Mining Students' Financial Aid Records

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the they-have-nothing-better-to-do dept.

crumley writes "The U.S. Department of Education has been running a program that data mines student financial aid records for the FBI. The program, now five years old, is known as Project Strike Back. It trolls for names of suspected terrorists through the Education Department's database of information, which is derived from students who fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). The discovery of this program by Northwestern University journalism student Laura McGann has added fuel to the debate about the Education Department's proposal to start a new database tracking the academic progress of all students."

3 of 254 comments (clear)

  1. Re:We should be tracking our government. by stankulp · · Score: 0, Troll

    "It should not be tracking us."

    So our government's response to 9/11 should have been to not do anything except perhaps apologize to the Islamic community for placing our skyscrapers in the paths of the airliners they hijacked?

    What exactly should the government be doing? Waiting patiently for the next attack?

    --
    We must be alert to the danger that public policy could become captive to a scientific-technological elite. - Eisenhower
  2. Re:We should be tracking our government. by HangingChad · · Score: 0, Troll

    The lack of self-control exhibited by this administration and its departments over the last six years is unbelievable.

    What do you expect from a group who gets their political philosophy from a neurotic shrew, a pervert with anger management issues and a drug addict?

    --
    That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
  3. Re:Why not require a warrant? by DM9290 · · Score: 1, Troll

    what ever happened to TRUST?


    "You are asking the government to put you under a microscope in order to determine how much money they will have to give you to pay for your education. You can't just say "Hey, give me money, but don't ask anything about me.""

    uhhh... what does that have to do with handing over the records to other government agencies so they can perform whatever other analysis they can dream up on you?

    Or do you figure that when a person asks for help from the government they must forfeit all rights and human dignity?

    --
    No one has a right to their *own* opinion. They have a right to the TRUTH.