inkbluesky

storm over main street

Two methods the federal government wants to use to find terrorists — “data mining” and “behavior detection” — are dubious scientifically and have “enormous potential” for infringing on law-abiding Americans’ privacy, a consortium of scientists said.

[  ]…Behavior detection, used by the Transportation Security Administration and some police departments to isolate possible criminals from crowds, likewise falls short of meeting scientific standards, the group said.

[  ]…The report recommends the government be required to systematically evaluate the effectiveness and lawfulness of data-mining and behavior-detection programs before implementing them, and at regular intervals thereafter.

The programs also should be subjected to robust, independent oversight, the group recommends.

2,000 specially trained behavior-detection officers looking for people that show stress, fear or deception. There are a few people in this world with extraordinary, though not super, powers of observation. Its possible that one works for TSA. The cynicism is not at the expense of those 2000 Americans just doing a job to provide a themselves a living. Its the ridiculous premise of data mining(needle in a haystack of data) and behavior detection. Why not a space based giant vacuum with some special terrorist detector software or one of those walking alien machines from War of the Worlds programmed to spot Americans under stress, like someone who’s about to lose their home or job  – Dad loses job, kills self and family.

Lawmaker’s son, UT student David Kernell, indicted in Palin e-mail hacking. I was reading he comments under this story,

* I don’t care WHO it was that was hacked, or from which party they are from. This is a VERY serious crime. Not from the election-politics angle, but from the law & order angle.

It is bad enough that he hacked & trespassed on someone else’s private e-mail…. BUT THIS IS THE GOVERNOR OF A LARGE STATE. That is a VERY SERIOUS, DANGEROUS thing to do.

* Posted by ErinF on October 8, 2008 at 10:16 a.m.

We better get used to this. It’s just a sign of things to come under an Obamination Administration. No Conservative will be safe or secure. Good bye privacy.

* Posted by leprechaun on October 8, 2008 at 10:27 a.m.

This is the ultimate example of the statist / totalitarian mentality of the Democratic Party: a dad sacrifices his son for the “good” of the party.

Joseph Stalin would be quite proud.

What wakes the average person from their obviously walking slobbers, what’s the tipping point at which they pay attention to issues. How alert these folks are, on the case as it were, that a governor’s personal privacy was violated. Privacy rights, judging from the volume of shrill outrage, is a Constitutional issue on which they possess a keen knowledge and a good citizens concerns. So much so, they’ve stepped beyond data mining and behavior detection, developing transcendental powers of future vision. One where they can accurately predict a future where those rights they hold so dear and fundamental to the values and traditions of American liberty and justice will be compromised. An intolerable situation to the haters of ‘Stalinism’. I’d love to see the letters they wrote to President Bush, the FBI, and their federal representatives about the abuses of the Patriot Act that have included, but not limited to spying on Americans banking transactions, reading their e-mail, tracking their library records and monitoring peaceful advocacy groups. It would probably make my ears burn. I don’t envy the  former governor of Maryland Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) when those commenters hear about this, Md. Police Put Activists’ Names On Terror Lists

The Maryland State Police classified 53 nonviolent activists as terrorists and entered their names and personal information into state and federal databases that track terrorism suspects, the state police chief acknowledged yesterday.

Mr. Ehrlich claimed that it was his right to track and spy on anyone that might some day interfere with the operation of the government. Mr. Ehrlich Jr. attended Wake Forest Law School. Interesting they never taught him that the Bill of Rights was specifically designed to protect the people from the excesses of the government, not to protect the government from what people might do.

the adlake camera

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