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US Shuts Down Controversial Anti-Terror Database
coondoggie writes "The massive anti-terror database established by the US government has been criticized for keeping track of regular everyday citizens. Computerworld reports that as of September 17th, the database will be shut down. 'The Threat and Local Observation Notices or TALON, was established in 2002 by then-Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz as a way to collect and evaluate information about possible threats to U.S. service members and defense civilians all over the world.
Congress and others protested its apparent use as an unauthorized citizen tracking database. The TALON system came under fire in 2005 for improperly storing information about some civilian individuals and non-government-affiliated groups on its database. The Air Force developed TALON... in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks as a way to gather data on possible terrorist threats. Anti-war groups and other organizations, protested after it was revealed last year that the military had monitored anti-war activities, organizations and individuals who attended peace rallies.'"
Wait, so the problem was that people who attended anti-war rallies found that they were in a database indicating that they were....at an anti-war rally!? The devil you say! So the DoD wants to keep track of who is at what rally? In what way does that infringe on civil rights anymore than video monitoring of street corners in Baltimore, for instance? Or red light cameras? Attending a rally is by definition not an act of someone desiring privacy.
Seriously, anyone who believes in vast government conspiracies has obviously never worked for the government or been around government employees. Or watched C-SPAN. Monitoring anti-war activists in order to sabotage their lives I just don't buy. Too complex. Kicking the door in to an old lady's apartment and hucking a flashbang at her because someone typed "Apartment B" instead of "Apartment D" on the warrant, that I believe. Bureaucracy isn't sneaky and pervasive like, well, like a sneaky and pervasive thing, it's more like a bull: big, dumb, and hard to stop once it get's going.
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No, it's not worth 3000 lives to live in a surveillance state.
... how many soldier's lives were lost and innocent Iraqi civilians murdered by shock and awe? I'm sure neither of them count, but it's a lot more than 3000.
Is it worth 10000 lives to live in a Fascist dictatorship?
When does it end? How much is 300 million people's freedom worth? Scratch that -- you've said, somewhere between 0 and 3000 lives, but not more than that, otherwise we'd need to wait for a second 9/11.
But
Another thing you do is lead the question -- "wouldn't affect you, probably". It always affects people. There isn't a surveilled citizen that hasn't had their life altered by monitoring. The people with the data _always_ find a way to put it to use you never intended or authorized, eventually. Don't forget the fact that the data is often wrong or misinterpreted, and we'll reap those consequences, too.
Personally, I'd rather live in a free state where I feared terrorists bombing symbols of their own exploitation (that I could easily avoid) than under a surveillance state, where I lived in constant fear of government reprisal, intimidation, mis-monitoring, and misinterpretation, no matter where I was.
I guess that's the difference between Bush supporters (trolls) and Bush haters (insightfuls).
This story is tagged "slashdotliberalwhining".
Because to the fake "Conservative" fascists who support an unlimited government spying on us, tracking our every move, and leaving the info unprotected for anyone to use against us however they wish (if their campaign or other bribe is high enough), privacy and its 4th Amendment guarantee is for "liberals".
Because to those fake "Conservatives", the duly-elected Congress that got an 11.6 point majority vote margin last November shutting down that tyrannical spying operation is just "whining".
Fake "Conservatives" are exactly the slaves our founders fought to free this country from in our Revolution. There were plenty of British monarchy loyalists back then, and even enough of them left today to form their own "Loyalist Party" that is completely consistent with all the other idiocy we expect from fake "Conservatives". A party dedicated to conservativewhining, and to destroying the Consitution.
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make install -not war
Huh???? What war??? You can't even articulate what you are not actually against??? It is an illegal occupation. Something highly complex about that for you??? Too complicted a situation for you to grasp, perhaps??? That freaking invasion by the Busheviks has put Shira law back into full effect in Iraq, you idiot! Can't you comprehend anything, clown? And by invading there, rendering that society into total system failure (something they are doing as well in America) - creating mass unemployment and unleashing crime wave after crime wave upon the Iraqis, the Busheviks are aiding and abetting the extreme spread of Shira law. What the f**k is wrong with you, moron? Can't you figure out anything on your own?
Did you even read the second line of my post? That's exactly what I said if you look closely...