KitKat Posted January 23, 2003 Share Posted January 23, 2003 http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0...5E15306,00.html POSSIBLE FBI involvement the Pentagon's Total Information Awareness project to sift through Americas' personal information has raised new concerns about privacy and civil liberties in the US. The Defence Department's inspector general, Joseph Schmitz, told Republican Senator Charles Grassley that the FBI was working on a memorandum of understanding with the Pentagon "for possible experimentation" with the data-mining project. Disclosure of FBI contacts regarding the Total Information Awareness project "only heightens my concern about the blurring of lines between domestic law enforcement and military security efforts," said Senator Grassley, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and a frequent critic of the FBI. Mr Schmitz also told Senator Grassley he will order an audit to help the Pentagon develop sufficient privacy safeguards that do not exist now to ensure the project has adequate protection for computer security and people's privacy. The project, being developed by the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency, would collect and mine huge amounts of data, including telephone records, credit card transactions, travel information and medical records. The goal of the effort, headed by retired Rear Admiral and John Poindexter, is to spot clues and patterns that possibly could identify would-be terrorists. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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