[e-privacy] [9/11, USA] 9/11 Legislation Launches Misguided Data-Mining and Domestic Surveillance Schemes

[Andrea Glorioso]

http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/002172.php

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9/11  Legislation   Launches    Misguided Data-Mining  and    Domestic
Surveillance Schemes

December 20, 2004

On Friday President  Bush signed into  law the Intelligence Reform and
Terrorism  Prevention Act   of 2004  (IRTPA;   PDF), launching several
flawed  "security" schemes that  EFF has  long  opposed. The media has
focused on turf wars between the intelligence and defense communities,
but the real  story is how IRTPA trades  basic rights for the illusion
of security. For instance:

~ Section 1016 - a.k.a. "TIA II" ~

A  clause authorizing the  creation of  a massive "Information Sharing
Environment" (ISE) to link "all appropriate Federal, State, local, and
tribal entities, and the private sector."

This vast   network links  the  information   in public  and   private
databases, which poses  the  same kind  of threat  to our  privacy and
freedom  that  the  notorious Terrorism  Information   Awareness (TIA)
program did. Yet the IRTPA  contains no meaningful safeguards  against
unchecked data  mining other  than  directing the  President  to issue
guidelines.  It also includes a  definition of "terrorist information"
that is frighteningly broad.

~ Section 4012 and Sections 7201-7220 - a.k.a. "CAPPS III" ~

A number  of provisions that provide the  statutory  basis for "Secure
Flight,"   the    government's  third     try at     a   controversial
passenger-screening system that has consistently failed to pass muster
for protecting passenger privacy.

The  basic concept: the  government will force commercial air carriers
to hand over  your private travel  information  and compare it with  a
"consolidated  and integrated   terrorist  watchlist."  It  will  also
establish   a    massive    "counterterrorist  travel    intelligence"
infrastructure that calls for   travel  data mining ("recognition   of
travel patterns, tactics, and behavior exhibited by terrorists").

It's not clear how  the government  would use  the travel  patterns of
millions  of Americans to     catch the small  number  of  individuals
worldwide  who are planning terrorist  attacks. In fact, this approach
has been  thoroughly  debunked by security experts.  What  is clear is
that  the system   will   create  fertile ground  for   constitutional
violations  and the abuse  of  private information. The latest Privacy
Act notice  on  Secure Flight shows  that the  Transportation Security
Administration (TSA)   still doesn't have   a plan  for how  long  the
government will  keep your private information, nor  has it mapped out
adequate procedures for  correcting your  "file"  if you are   wrongly
flagged as a terrorist.

~ Section 6001 - a.k.a. "PATRIOT III" ~

Straight from  the infamous "PATRIOT II"  draft  legislation leaked to
the public last  year comes a  provision that allows the government to
use secret foreign   intelligence warrants and  wiretap orders against
people unconnected  to any  international  terrorist group  or foreign
nation. This represents yet another step in the ongoing destruction of
even  the   most basic legal   protections   for those the  government
suspects are terrorists.

~ Sections 7208-7220 - a.k.a. "Papers, Please" ~

Just as EFF,  the ACLU, and a  number of other  civil liberties groups
feared, IRTPA  creates  the basis  for  a de facto national  ID system
using biometrics. Driven by   misguided political consensus,   the law
calls for  a "global standard of  identification" and minimum national
standards  for birth certificates,    driver's licenses and state   ID
cards,  and  social security  cards and  numbers.  It also directs the
Secretary of Homeland Security to  establish new standards for ID  for
domestic air travelers.

Identification  is  not security. Indeed,   the 9/11 Commission report
revealed    that a critical   stumbling   block in identifying foreign
terrorists is the   inability to  evaluate *foreign* information   and
records. Yet  we are  placing  disproportionate emphasis  on pervasive
domestic  surveillance, opening  the door to  a standardized "internal
passport" -- the hallmark of a totalitarian regime.

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Ciao,

--
Andrea Glorioso             sama at miu-ft.org         +39 333 820 5723
        .:: Media Innovation Unit - Firenze Tecnologia ::.
	      Conquering the world for fun and profit