[EAS] Outsourcing Privacy

[pjk]

Subject:   Outsourcing Privacy

from
WHAT'S NEW  Robert L. Park   Friday, 22 Oct 04  Washington, DC
(Archives of What's New can be found at <http://www.aps.org/WN>)

PRIVACY: HAS "TOTAL INFORMATION AWARENESS" BEEN OUTSOURCED?
Remember the Pentagon program to create a data base of personal
information?  It would record our movements, purchases, who we
talk to, what we read.  It was the nightmare of the computer age
<http://www.aps.org/WN/WN02/wn122002.cfm>.  It still is.  Killed
by Congress <http://www.aps.org/WN/WN03/wn012403.cfm>, or so we
thought, but it was too bad an idea to be allowed to die.  It was
privatized and moved offshore, out of reach of U.S. regulators.   
Bahamas-based Global Information Group Ltd. offers such products
as the "Terrorist Risk Identity Assessment."  But is it accurate?
Hey, war is not pretty; there are always civilian casualties. 

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A quick look with Google points to other articles on these ever
inventive efforts to keep us safe, e.g.
<http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/washpost/20041016/tc_washpost/a36853_2004oct15>.

Heck, until recently convicted felons were used to compile profiles
of consumer data. E.g. see <http://www.epic.org/privacy/profiling/>
regarding Beverly Dennis, et al. v. Metromail, et al., No. 96-04451,
Travis County, Texas. Just to give you an idea about the amount of
available personal information, Metromail had twenty-five pages of
personal data on Beverly Dennis, including her income, and
information on when she had used hemorrhoid medicine. Inventiveness
in pursuit of profit is boundless.  --PJK