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Maryland Police Put Activists' Names On Terror List

Posted by timothy on from the bad-incentive-to-remain-peaceful dept.

aaandre writes with word of a Washington Post story which begins: "The Maryland State Police classified 53 nonviolent activists as terrorists and entered their names and personal information into state and federal databases that track terrorism suspects, the state police chief acknowledged yesterday. The police also entered the activists' names into the federal Washington-Baltimore High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area database, which tracks suspected terrorists. One well-known antiwar activist from Baltimore, Max Obuszewski, was singled out in the intelligence logs released by the ACLU, which described a 'primary crime' of 'terrorism-anti-government' and a 'secondary crime' of 'terrorism-anti-war protesters.'" According to the article, "Both [former state police superintendent Thomas] Hutchins and [Maryland Police Superintendent Terrence] Sheridan said the activists' names were entered into the state police database as terrorists partly because the software offered limited options for classifying entries." Reader kcurtis adds "The State Police say they are purging the data, but this is one more example (on top of yesterday's news that datamining for terrorists is not feasible due to false positives) of just how badly the use of these lists can be abused."

4 of 426 comments (clear)

  1. Re:All these lists are insane by Stanislav_J · · Score: 5, Funny

    All innocent people should be equal in the eyes of the law.

    But some are more equal than others.....

    Sincerely,
    Mr. G. Orwell

    --
    "Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket." -- Eric Hoffer
  2. Re:no surprise by MightyMartian · · Score: 3, Funny

    I'm not surprised, but here is how I feel about it: Let them watch, let them make their stupid list, its up to us to overload them with false positives. That's right I'm advocating fucking with them. Talk about drugs on the phone even if you don't use them, talk about shooting politicians, talk about bombs, the CIA, the NSA, whatever you want. Buy chemicals, buy guns, go to protest, fuckin' call them up and ask them to put you on the list. Who give a shit, they want to waste their time, fuck um waste their time.

    Caller: Hi, is Tony there?

    Answerer: Tony Cocaine?

    Caller: No, Tony Jones.

    Answerer: Heroin rifles blowing up New York!

    Caller: Um...

    Answerer: Bin Laden plastic explosive Tonka Trucks! Eat Presidential kidneys with Senate explosive snacks!

    Caller: I've got the wrong number, don't I?

    --
    The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
  3. Re:In Soviet-America... by beav007 · · Score: 3, Funny

    What makes you think the final result will be any better than what you have now?

  4. Re:In every country ... by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 4, Funny

    I see the current two-party system as the ultimate gesture of divide and conquer. Roughly half of the population believes that the other half is wrong and feels a mix of strong negative emotions against it. But the fact is, the whole (non-elite) population suffers, and our power and choices are taken away from us as soon as we believe the polititians' bs and forget that our unity is the only thing more powerful than the elite's tools. ...

    Yeah, yeah, but are you for or against abortion???