subject: You're Being Watched posted: Fri, 13 Jan 2006 02:59:04 -0000
[..noting that "information on Internet use" is not specifically
defined here. OK, so we're not in the US - but we'd be naive to
think the same thing is not happening in our countries. - Stu]
You're Being Watched: Efforts to Collect Data on Americans Go Far
Beyond the NSA's Domestic Spying Program
by Laura K. Donohue
Published on Thursday, January 12, 2006 by the Los Angeles Times
Congress will soon hold hearings on the National Security Agency's
domestic spying program, secretly authorized by President Bush in
2002. But that program is just the tip of the iceberg.
Since 9/11, the expansion of efforts to gather and analyze
information on U.S. citizens is nothing short of staggering. The
government collects vast troves of data, including consumer credit
histories and medical and travel records. Databases track Americans'
networks of friends, family and associates, not just to identify who
is a terrorist but to try to predict who might become one.
Remember Total Information Awareness, retired Adm. John Poindexter's
effort to harness all government and commercial databases to preempt
national security threats? The idea was that disparate, seemingly
mundane behaviors can reveal criminal intent when viewed together.
More disturbing, it assumed that deviance from social norms can be an
early indicator of terrorism. Congress killed that program in 2003,
but according to the Associated Press, many related projects
continued.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency runs a data-mining
program called Evidence Extraction and Link Discovery, which connects
pieces of information from vast amounts of data sources. The Defense
Intelligence Agency trawls intelligence records and the Internet to
identify Americans connected to foreign terrorists. The CIA
reportedly runs Quantum Leap, which gathers personal information on
individuals from private and public sources. In 2002, Congress
authorized $500 million for the Homeland Security Department to
develop "data mining and other advanced analytical tools." In 2004,
the General Accounting Office surveyed 128 federal departments and
agencies to determine the extent of data mining. It found 199
operations, 14 of which related to counterterrorism.
What type of information could these mine? Your tax, education,
vehicle, criminal and welfare records for starters. But also other
digital data, such as your travel, medical and insurance records —
and DNA tests. Section 505 of the Patriot Act (innocuously titled
"Miscellaneous National Security Authorities") extends the type of
information the government can obtain without a warrant to include
credit card records, bank account numbers and information on Internet
use.
Your checking account may tell which charities or political causes
you support. Your credit card statements show where you shop, and
your supermarket frequent-buyer-card records may indicate whether you
keep kosher or follow an Islamic halal diet. Internet searches record
your interests, down to what, exactly, you read. Faith forums or chat
rooms offer a window into your thoughts and beliefs. E-mail and
telephone conversations contain intimate details of your life.
A University of Illinois study found that in the 12 months following
9/11, federal agents made at least 545 visits to libraries to obtain
information about patrons. This isn't just data surveillance. It's
psychological surveillance.
Many Americans might approve of data mining to find terrorists. But
not all of the inquiries necessarily relate to terrorism. The Patriot
Act allows law enforcement officers to get "sneak and peek" warrants
to search a home for any suspected crime — and to wait months or even
years to tell the owner they were there. Last July, the Justice
Department told the House Judiciary Committee that only 12% of the
153 "sneak and peek" warrants it received were related to terrorism
investigations.
The FBI has used Patriot Act powers to break into a judge's chambers
and to procure records from medical clinics. Documents obtained by
the American Civil Liberties Union recently revealed that the FBI
used other new powers to eavesdrop on environmental, political and
religious organizations.
When Congress looks into domestic spying in the "war on terror," it
should ask a series of questions:
First, what information, exactly, is being collected? Are other
programs besides the president's NSA initiative ignoring traditional
warrant requirements? Are federal agencies dodging weak privacy laws
by outsourcing the job to private contractors?
Second, who has access to the data once it is collected, and what
legal restrictions are set on how it can be used or shared?
Third, who authorized data mining, and is its use restricted to
identifying terrorists?
Fourth, what is the collective effect of these programs on citizens'
rights? Privacy certainly suffers, but as individuals begin to feel
inhibited in what they say and do, free speech and freedom of
assembly also erode.
Fifth, how do these data collection and mining operations deal with
error? As anyone who's tried to dispute an erroneous credit report
can attest, once computer networks exchange data, it may be difficult
to verify its accuracy or where it entered the system. Citizens who
do not know they are under surveillance cannot challenge inaccurate
information that may become part of their secret digital dossier.
What will Congress do to ensure that the innocent remain so?
Laura K. Donohue is a fellow at Stanford University's Center for
International Security and Cooperation and author of the forthcoming
"Counterterrorism and the Death of Liberalism" (Cambridge University
Press).
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