FC: Ashcroft backs away from TIPS informant program, just slightly

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

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http://www.politechbot.com/p-03790.html

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A63340-2002Jul25.html

   Ashcroft: No Database for TIPs 
   Anti-Terror Information Will Be Passed On, He Testifies
   
   By Dan Eggen
   Washington Post Staff Writer
   Friday, July 26, 2002; Page A10
   
   Attorney General John D. Ashcroft told senators yesterday that he had
   scrapped plans to include a centralized database as part of a
   controversial program enlisting millions of Americans as
   anti-terrorist tipsters.
   
   But Ashcroft defended the Operation TIPS initiative as a valuable way
   for truck drivers, ship captains and others to identify potential
   terrorist activities.
   
   "It builds on existing programs that industry groups have," Ashcroft
   said in testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee. "You have the
   ability of people who have a regular perception, who understand what's
   out of order here, what's different here, and maybe something needs to
   be looked into."
   
   Ashcroft also warned that "the entire United States of America is a
   target for terrorist activities."

   [...]



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