As the nation prepares for President Bush's inauguration next
week, privacy activists on both sides of the political spectrum are bracing
for a White House push to augment controversial domestic surveillance powers
gained under the Patriot Act and other legislation passed since 9/11.
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President Bush has now named federal appeals court Judge
Michael Chertoff to head
the Department of Homeland Security.
"The government is increasingly ... turning to private
companies, which are not subject to the law, and buying or compelling
the transfer of private data that it could not collect itself."
The departments of Justice and Homeland Security have
replaced the Pentagon, while little-known high-technology firms like
Seisint, Acxiom, and ChoicePoint
have assumed the role once played by traditional weapons manufacturers.
Homeland Security Secretary-designate Michael Chertoff
is a big advocate of data mining as a tool to identify terrorists.
In testimony
presented three years ago at a Senate Banking Committee hearing on
the financial war on terrorism, when he headed the Justice Department’s
criminal division, Chertoff
characterized data mining as a promising tool to help thwart financing
of terrorist efforts.
"We are using computers to analyze information obtained
in the course of criminal  investigations,
to uncover patterns of behavior that, before the advent of such efficient
technology, would have eluded us,” he testified four months after
the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. “Through what has come to be
called data mining and predictive technology,
we seek to identify other potential terrorists and terrorism financing
networks. In our search for terrorists and terrorist cells, we are
employing technology that was previously utilized primarily by the
business community.”
Later in 2002, speaking at a Federalist Society panel
in Washington, Chertoff defended the government’s aggregation
of large amounts of personal information in computer databases for
law enforcement and national security, as recounted at the time by
the National Journal’s Technology Daily. Chertoff--who helped
author the Patriot Act, legislation critics say intrudes on civil
liberties--defended data-mining by the government, comparing it to
the type of information that Amazon.com aggregates about an individual
user's book preferences. "It is hard to say that my privacy has
been significantly invaded because the government, in protecting me,
can use the same technologies as people who want to market to me,"
Chertoff said.
Speaking on the same panel, according to Technology Daily,
American Civil Liberties Union President Nadine Strossen called data
mining the "power to snoop on every act of every American."
Chertoff retorted that data analysis had "obvious utility"
in detecting "certain types of money flows" in terrorist
financing.
However, Corporations are not subject to congressional
oversight or Freedom of Information Act requests -- two methods for
monitoring government activities and exposing abuses. And no laws
prevent companies from voluntarily sharing most data with the government.
"Government efforts to break down the walls between
commercial and public data to compile astonishingly detailed files
on virtually every adult American is amazing. For nearly a decade,
marketers have been collecting the electronic footprints we leave
as we consume our way through the modern world; they know what politicians
we give money to, what prescriptions we fill, and what sex toys we
buy from mail-order catalogs. Now the government knows, too. It
insists it can use this information to ferret out terrorists."
"Developed under the direction of Admiral John Poindexter,
the Iran-Contra conspirator, TIA would have used the military’s
most advanced eavesdropping capabilities to automatically monitor
everyone’s emails, online purchases, and phone, financial, and
medical records. The public furor that surrounded TIA’s rollout
ultimately forced Congress to pull the plug". (did it?)
Case in point: "Brandon Mayfield, the Oregon attorney
whose life was turned upside down after the FBI’s Automated Fingerprint
Identification System falsely linked him to the March 2004 Madrid
bombings. That Mayfield was a Muslim convert highlights how the combination
of old-fashioned prejudices and newfangled technology can lead to
poor police work. Data collection can also be a double-edged sword:
If law enforcement agencies are tripping all over themselves to acquire
it, so too are terrorists, who use credit card fraud as an important
source of income."
"Data mining is likely to balloon in the coming
years. Federal agencies already have nearly 200 projects in the works,
36 of which use personal information purchased from private companies.
(Like Siebel, Choicepoint, and others)
What’s more, company executives have helped write
what little legislation governs the industry, and firms such as Acxiom
have counseled the government on how to field public concerns about
privacy. And while it remains unclear whether any of their technologies
have helped protect us from terrorist attack, we do know that they
have made it possible for police officers to screen their dates and
track down estranged wives, as well as enabled the Denver police and
other agencies, to keep files on more than 3,200 people, including
anti-police-brutality activists." Not to mention plain old everyday
activists.
"Public outcry has stymied invasive programs like
TIA, but dozens of other federal surveillance efforts -- such as the
Joint Regional Information Exchange System -- are already under way.
The Department of Homeland Security, is expanding its
computer-based counterterrorism communications network to all 50 states,
five territories, Washington, D.C., and 50 other major urban areas
to strengthen its two-way flow of threat information.
The Homeland Security Information Network is built upon
the JRIES platform, a secure network and a suite of applications currently
operating at the sensitive but unclassified (SBU) level. Participants
currently include approximately 100 organizations, including federal
agencies, States, municipalities and other local government entities,
with a significant law enforcement user base. All participating entities
have a certified counterterrorism mission. Approximately 1,000 users
currently have access to the system.
This Homeland Security program begins the expansion of
JRIES to a broader community of users over the next two months encompassing
the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the five U.S. territories
and 50 major urban areas -- moving JRIES from its law enforcement
heritage to a Homeland Security-focused civilian function for real-time
information sharing.
As a foundation of the Homeland Security Information
Network initiative, the broadened JRIES community of users will include
the State Homeland Security Advisors, State Adjutant Generals (National
Guard), State Emergency Operations Centers, local emergency services
providers including firefighters, law enforcement, and others. Future
program expansion will include the county level, communication at
the classified SECRET level, and the involvement of the private
sector.
Priority capabilities of this expanded information exchange
system will include:
Communications
* Low-cost, always-on connectivity
* End-to-end encrypted communications
Collaboration / Analysis
* Secure e-mail
* Interactive collaboration tool (real time text or voice)
* Supports requests for information, exchange, and cross-reference
* Search and Link/Timeline analysis, map/imagery displays
Information
* Daily, periodic, and ongoing report sharing
* Suspicious incident/pre-incident indicator data
* Media studies and analysis
* Mapping and imaging (national, state, county, city)
* Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) repository
* Strategic analysis of terrorist threats, tactics and weapons
The DHS JRIES User Training is recommended for current JRIES users,
including:
* State Homeland Security Advisors and their staff
* State Emergency Managers and their staff
* Local Homeland Security Advisors and their staff
* Local Emergency Managers and their staff
* State Police
* Local Police, and
* Other state and local government officials
As Jeff Jonas, a software developer who advised Poindexter,
tells, "Once you surface an idea and it is a good one, very little
can be done to stop it." Sure enough, even TIA still has a pulse:
Congress left a loophole allowing its use on foreign nationals in
the United States. With the flip of a switch, it can start monitoring
citizens’ emails as well."
James Jay Carafano, Ph.D. is Senior Research Fellow for
National Security and Homeland Security in the Kathryn and Shelby
Cullom Davis Institute for International Studies at The Heritage Foundation.
He states on thier website, "Renewing the provisions related
to foreign intelligence and law enforcement surveillance authorities
that will expire in 2005 must be a priority. (See Paul Rosenzweig,
"Make Information-Sharing Authority Permanent," Heritage
Foundation Executive Memorandum No. 942, September 22, 2004.) Then
he goes on to say "Programs such as US-VISIT and Secure Flight
should be fully implemented as soon as practical. The government should
also develop new technologies such as data mining, link analysis,
and other data analysis tools, and the government should create policies
and programs that allow law enforcement resources to better target
legitimate threats, while limiting intrusion into the lives of citizens."
Tom Ridge said at ----------------------------- Relationships
have to get stronger. Information sharing must become more swift and
transparent. Public communication must be improved. Emergency response
protocols must be honed. And the latest science and most advanced
technologies must continue to be sought out and utilized.
To that end, common international standards of biometrics
must be developed – the sooner the better. Biometrics is a tremendous
technological tool that can not only accurately identify and cross
check travelers – and potential terrorists – before they
enter our countries, but also provide increased travel document security
and important identity protections.
More recently, USVISIT was established, and a registered
traveler program that provides travelers an opportunity to provide biometric
and biographic information voluntarily that can be used to perform a
security check against law enforcement and terrorist watch lists.
A fingerprint or iris scan is all that is then needed
for quick passenger identification and expedited processing through
security. Travelers who voluntarily enroll in the program must go
through a pre-screening clearance, which may include checks of various
biometric and biographic watch lists, including a 10-fingerprint criminal
history check, a face-to-face interview with a DHS officer, and a
review of any other pertinent information.
The program today will launch the first international
pilot over at Schiphol Airport in the Netherlands.
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"The administration has made it clear that they do
intend to continue their move to dramatically reduce privacy and constitutional
protection for our citizens," said former Republican congressman Bob Barr,
who now works as a speaker and consultant to organizations like the American
Civil Liberties Union.
But surveillance legislation isn't the only concern on the minds
of privacy advocates. They're also looking at technologies and services coming
out of the commercial sector that could seriously affect civil liberties. Some
of the important issues to watch this year are:
Patriot Act enhancements
In his state-of-the-union speech last year, Bush urged Congress
to renew certain provisions of the Patriot Act that are set to expire at the
end of this year.
Barr and other civil liberties advocates expect that the administration,
believing it has a mandate to gain the powers it wants, will also try to push
through new Patriot Act II provisions, which the administration partly abandoned
when their existence came to light and caused an uproar in 2003. Barr expects
the administration will pass provisions piecemeal in other legislation to avoid
controversy, as it did last year with the Anti-Terrorism Intelligence Tools
Improvement Act of 2003, or HR3179.
"This will be a crucial battle over the coming two years
to see whether Congress really will stand up for the privacy rights of our
citizens," Barr said. "The record so far has not been terribly optimistic."
One possible reason for optimism could be the SAFE Act, introduced
in 2003, which Barr sees as a sign that some members of Congress regretted
passing the Patriot Act with insufficient checks and balances. The Security
and Freedom Ensured Act of 2003, or SB1709, is a bipartisan bill that refines
some of the more invasive provisions of the Patriot Act regarding wiretaps,
library records and other types of surveillance. The bill has 19 co-sponsors
but has been frozen in the Senate for more than a year. A House companion bill
(HR3352) has also been stuck.
Data mining
The corporate sector has increasingly been collaborating with
government agencies in data-mining projects that whittle away individual liberties.
Privacy advocates say this will be the most important issue to watch this year.
Although laws prohibit the government from building dossiers on
individuals, they don't prohibit the government from buying information from
commercial data aggregators like Acxiom, ChoicePoint and LexisNexis, which
collect information about citizens' web surfing, bank transactions, doctor
visits and travel itineraries. And there are no laws governing how federal
agencies can use the data.
The concern cuts both ways, however. Privacy advocates say there
are currently few safeguards governing how private corporations can use information
passed to them by government authorities. For example, the Fleet Bank in Boston
closed the financial accounts of several customers after law enforcement made
inquiries about the customers' transactions in the course of a terrorist investigation.
Although authorities never found any reason to charge the customers with a
crime, the bank closed their accounts anyway.
Kim Taipale, executive director of the Center for Advanced Studies
in Science and Technology Policy, said that monitoring and battling such corporate/government
partnerships takes a concerted effort that has, until now, been lacking.
"When the public spotlight is on it, it creates a lot of
concern and attracts a lot of attention, but the battle is getting the public
spotlight to shine on these plans," Taipale said.
European and Latin American countries are also looking to establish
privacy safeguards for data collected by U.S. companies on foreign consumers.
According to Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information
Center, U.S. commercial data aggregators have collected information on Latin
American consumers and dropped it into border-patrol databases to help officials
determine who should be allowed entry to the United States.
"This data from property records and DMV and voter-registration
records in those countries should not be going to the U.S. for these purposes,"
Rotenberg said. "The flow of information around the world will be a very
big issue this year."
Deja View, Inc., the first company to introduce a wearable digital
mini-camcorder with unique "after-the-fact" recording technology
for the consumer market, today announced two new counter-terrorism products
to help in homeland security efforts.
Available immediately from the Brick, N.J. company, the products
-- Command Central and the Mobile Data Collection System -- are both targeted
to major suppliers of security systems and services dedicated to keep private
and public organizations secure from terrorists and other criminals.
Designed to be the hub for stationary and mobile data collection,
Command Central is a powerful server-based software suite designed for ease
of implementation. It enables users to implement a virtually limitless array
of counter-terrorism tools that are totally compatible with each other, regardless
of their hardware or software constraints, according to Sid Reich, Deja View
president and founder.
"The beauty of Command
Central is that it uses a data storage system that is totally transparent to
any database format," Reich explained. "This means that existing
software such as data mining, risk assessment calculation, DMV, INS and local
fire and police systems will all work with Command Central."
He added that Command Central can control digital video recording
(DVR) systems so their cameras can be re-aimed and the proper zoom can be used.
Tasks that were once considered difficult, such as managing interfaces to various
federal, state and local government databases, can now be handled automatically.
In any field surveillance application, collected data ideally
should be easily searchable, transportable and compatible with the various
agencies that need and use the information, said Reich. "That is why we
developed the Mobile Collection System, which can store and send data in a
standardized form to the agencies for database mining and threat analysis applications."
The system consists of Deja View's Camwear 100, the first wearable
camcorder with the company's "after-the-fact" technology; a tablet
PC with pen stylus, specialized detail-formed software based upon the popular
Formulizer software package and can support biometrics such as fingerprint
and retina scan integration.
In a recent article, Paul R. Pillar, national intelligence officer
with the CIA, wrote:
"The collection and analysis of intelligence is the least
visible but in some ways the most important counterterrorist tool, and is rightly
thought of as the 'first line of defense' against terrorism." And, he
added, because most intelligence gathered about terrorists or terrorist groups
is "fragmentary, ambiguous and often of doubtful credibility," data
analysis is thus almost as much of a challenge as collection.
National ID
Another important issue is the adoption last month of what could
become a de facto national ID card. Even though Congress previously nixed a
proposal for a national ID card on grounds that it would be too intrusive and
prone to abuse, a driver's license provision in the National Intelligence Reform
and Terrorism Act, passed before Congress' holiday recess, requires all driver's
licenses to be standardized to include machine-readable, encoded data by the
end of 2006.
Although the legislation didn't specify what data would be encoded
in the cards, it gave authority to the secretary of transportation, in consultation
with the Homeland Security secretary, to define the data within 18 months.
Privacy advocates are concerned that rather than just preventing
ID fraud, the data on cards could be linked to a national database containing
dossiers of information gathered from other sources.
Robert Ellis Smith, publisher of the Privacy Journal, has said
the new law "will have more serious consequences for individual liberties
of American citizens than any other law enacted in at least two decades."
Privacy legislation and states' rights
Privacy advocates expect ongoing battles between the federal government
and states over jurisdiction in privacy matters. California experienced such
a scuffle when Congress, bowing to pressure from business lobbyists, passed
a law in 2003 that undid a California privacy regulation.
The state law would have let bank and brokerage customers prevent
financial institutions from sharing their personal information -- such as bank
balances, credit card purchases and stock holdings -- with affiliate companies.
California has been a leader in passing privacy legislation, but Rotenberg
says the state's moves have made a lot of people inside and outside of corporate
boardrooms uncomfortable.
"There's a lot of nervousness in Washington about California's
willingness to create privacy laws," Rotenberg said, "and I think
you may see some effort to use federal authority to reign in states."
DNA databases
Although Californians have high regard for privacy, this regard
didn't extend to criminal suspects last November when residents approved one
of the most aggressive DNA measures in the country, which privacy advocates
say will likely be copied nationwide.
The DNA Fingerprint, Unsolved Crime and Innocence Protection Act
allows authorities to take DNA samples from anyone -- adult or juvenile --
convicted of a felony. Currently, it also lets police collect samples from
any adult arrested for specific felonies, such as sexual assault and murder,
even before they are convicted.
But in 2009, that authority will expand to allow police to collect
DNA samples from any suspect arrested for any felony -- including nonviolent
crimes like residential burglary -- whether or not the person is charged or
convicted. It's expected that genetic data for 1 million people -- including
innocent suspects -- will be added to California's DNA databank by 2009, making
it the largest state DNA databank in the country.
"Not long ago, people said we would only collect for felony
convictions of sex crimes where there is a high level of concern about recidivism,"
Rotenberg said. "Now it's dramatically expanded to non-sex crimes and
even misdemeanors. I can now imagine the world of perfect DNA matching that
(the film) Gattaca depicted."
RFID tags
Radio-frequency ID tags will become a bigger issue in 2005 as
their use expands into new areas. Currently, stores and companies embed RFID
tags in the packaging of drugs and commercial products to help track product
supplies and update orders. But privacy advocates say the tags will soon be
embedded in clothing and other products, raising concerns that the tracking
might not stop when consumers leave a store with the product.
"The problem is not only about tracking the whereabouts of
people but about linking associations," Rotenberg said. "Students
with RFID student cards can be grouped and monitored in terms of who they're
with."
Chips embedded beneath the skin will also become a larger issue.
There's a concept programme at the moment on RFID, tracking pharmaceutical
products. Last October, the FDA approved an implantable computer chip that
would contain medical information to assist with health care. The military
has discussed implanting the chips in soldiers to speed up medical care, and
Rotenberg said it's likely the chips will soon be used in prisoners, parolees
and eventually children. The concern is with forced chipping, which would take
away choice from individuals receiving the chips.
Rotenberg expects 2005 to be a busy year for privacy advocates.
But he hopes that individuals won't leave it to organized activists to do all
the work to protect privacy rights or think that because a specific right doesn't
pertain to them that it's OK for others to lose it.
"It's a mistake to think that privacy is an individualist
or atavist right," Rotenberg said. "I really view privacy as a collective
right. When someone else is forced to give up their privacy, yours could be
the next to go."
ADT's total security solutions include intrusion, fire protection,
closed circuit television, access control, critical condition monitoring, electronic
article surveillance and integrated systems. ADT of Boca Raton, Florida announced
today the signing of a multi-year contract with Tesco UK as its exclusive supplier
of Electronic Product Code (EPC) Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) readers
and antennae. This contract is the largest publicly announced single order
of EPC RFID readers, and it follows the successful completion of an RFID pilot
program with Tesco. The first phase of the contract involves the provision
of over 4,000 readers and 16,000 antennae by fall 2005.
On Wednesday, the Government Printing Office awarded contracts
to four additional companies for testing electronic passports that use radio-frequency
identification technology. On Track Innovations Ltd. said its U.S. subsidiary
won one of the contracts. OTI is based in Israel.
After testing is completed and a final vendor(s) is chosen, the
State Department expects to begin issuing RFID passports to U.S. government
employees in the second quarter of 2005. Full deployment at all State Department
passport agencies is planned for early 2006.
The three-phase project involves GPO, Department of State's Bureau
of Consular Affairs and the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
The question comes down to why the government is fixating on this
technology, Security expert Bruce Schneier, founder and chief technical officer
of Counterpane Internet Security, said. `I cannot figure out a motive, unless
they want to read it surreptitiously themselves.
Adding a computer chip to passports does not provide a means
to track U.S. citizens, said State Department spokesman Kurtis Cooper. The
information stored on the chip is the same as on the printed passport and will
be used only to verify identity at ports of entry.
That is.....unless all this data mining, Patriot Act, National
ID, DNA databases, etc. is totally integrated through government programs and
it is looking more and more that "that" is exactly what is happening.
www.voiceoffreedom.com