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Homeland Security Tests Snoop Computer System

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the return-of-tia dept.

Parallax Blue writes "The Washington Times reports that Homeland Security has developed and is testing a new computer system called ADVISE (Analysis, Dissemination, Visualization, Insight and Semantic Enhancement) that collects and analyzes personal information on US citizens. Relevant data 'can include credit-card purchases, telephone or Internet details, medical records, travel and banking information.' The program apparently uses the same process as the Pentagon's Total Information Awareness project, which was aborted in 2003 due to privacy concerns."

6 of 233 comments (clear)

  1. Aborted? by vivaoporto · · Score: 5, Insightful

    which was aborted in 2003 due to privacy concerns

    If by aborted you mean "renamed, swept under the rug and kept secret this time", yes, it has been "aborted".

  2. Bad, bad, bad... by YouTalkinToMe · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Granted, data mining can dig a lot of interesting info out of big databases. But to me, there are two big problems with these type of programs:

    1. Guilt by association: When they are doing "linkage analysis" using your phone records etc, how many people will be swept up in the "terrorist" net because they visit the same library as a "terrorist", or got called by accident, or shop at the same Wallmart?

    2. Mandate drift: We all know that now it is "the terrorists", soon it will be "the terrorists, the child abusers, the drug dealers, the guys who hit little old ladies, ...". But with the sorts of data mining they are doing, they could just as easily pick out groups of probable (insert political affiliation here). How would you like the FBI showing up at your door because some data mining program thinks that you are probably going to protest a visit to your hometown by the president?

  3. Nothing to see here, move along. by Sage+Jackal · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Here's another article tackling this issue.

    http://infowars.net/articles/march2007/080307TIA.h tm

    The part I really love, is their logo. A giant eye of Horus with beams coming out of it encompassing the Earth.

    Is it me or does anyone else find that just the slightest bit odd?

    1. Re:Nothing to see here, move along. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful
      The eye is pure Masonic, and I know I'll take flack on this, but this is all straight out of the Illuminati playbook too. Makes it so much easier to control the public. Wish I was merely paranoid, but way too many people know that a lot more underlies history than the civics teacher (assuming there are any in high school anymore) ever covers. This eye logo thing is megacreepy. I assume I'll end up in Gitmo for conspiring to raise doubt about the necessity of spying on everyone.

      I hope you all realize how many Congressional representatives are being blackmailed. Those phone taps aren't going to waste. Look how effective J. Edgar Hoover was blackmailing people, and he didn't even have computerized help gathering dirt. So, yeah, creepy eyeball.

  4. U.S. Democracy by j35ter · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Ok, I gave up on the U.S. quite a while ago. If *that* is the freedom you were proclaiming for the last few decade, then let me move to the USSR...oh, you brought them *democracy*...damned! :)

    As long as good (old) Europe is free(until you bring us democracy too;) I'll just stick to my side of the atlantic (and the channel).

    But seriously, U.S. citizens, aware of their surroundings, must be pretty frustrated by these moves.

    --
    Delta-Mike November Bravo Tango
  5. Re:ADVISE by clickety6 · · Score: 5, Funny


    Personally, I detest acronyms. If you dislike writing something out all the time, use a macro. If you need to say something, please don't use some ridiculous string of consonants as a word. It's insulting to your audience.

    I for one, welcome your non-acronym agenda and from 12:00 post meridian today I shall no longer use acronyms, Exempli Gratia I shall hereby only refer to Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation devices, Radio Detection And Ranging devices, Et Cetera.

    I think the above proves how much better it is to not have acronyms. Anybody with an Intelligence Quotient over 50 could see this, so Quod Erat Demonstrandum. Using my International Business Machines Corporation computer, I have created an HyperText Markup Language docuemnt linked to a My Structured Query Language database showing this which can found at the following Uniform Resource Locator:

    HypertextTransferProtocol:\\worldwideweb.letsallpl easestopusingacronyms.commercial\mydocument.hypert extmarkuplanguage

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    ----------------------------------- My Other Sig Is Hilarious -----------------------------------