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The FBI Wants To Know About Your IT Skills
AHuxley writes "The FBI, via the Office of Management and Budget, would like to find out more about your information technology expertise if you are part of InfraGard. Terms like 'practical utility' have been included in a 60-day emergency notice of information collection via the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. Is your boss or cubicle colleague part of InfraGard? It's a private, non-profit organization run as a public-private partnership with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Are they passing info back about you or your company?"
The FBI has never contacted you in any way, shape or form, other than through this post. You are advised to retract your statement and apologize, otherwise legal action will be brought against you. Thank you.
Have a nice day.
From the information provided, which is very little, it appears that the FBI is requesting information from people who have voluntarily joined an organization of IT professionals not just sponsored by but directly affiliated with the FBI. Why is this getting everyone's hackles up? It does not say that the information will be required of all members, nor does it say that members will be required to inform on their coworkers or companies. The ACM asks you about your IT skills, too. How is this different?
Most people didn't. They panicked when they saw the headline.
I've known about InfraGard for a while now. It's more of a group of security consulting people, gathered together to try to get a solid handle on securing the infrastructure of the country.
I might be in the minority here, but this request is probably more in line with gathering a list for the FBI to go contact when they need an independent contractor for something. Like you said...while there's some aspects of tech they've got a handle on, there's others including this sort of thing that they just simply don't- and I'm thinking they thought it might be useful to get a list of that class of individual and what they do so they know who to turn to for help when they need it.
I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the State of Texas
I sometimes wonder if I am the only one who when passing through an airport security checkpoint is the only one who is more afraid of the TSA than I am of the terrorists. I have a far greater fear of getting arrested for forgetting to remove a leatherman from my bag or not emptying my water bottle than I am afraid of the plane getting blown up be some nutcase.
Just out of curiosity, when *are* you going to start holding Obama accountable for the state of things? It sounds to me like you've set up a perfect moving-goalpost situation where "badness" == "Bush's Legacy" whenever it's convenient.
I'm definitely not a big fan of Republicans and their degenerate relationship with religious folks these days, but is it really productive to mask the bad behavior of one political party by blaming it on another?