more on Heather MacDonald lashes out at "privacy fanatics" opposed to TIA, CAPPS II [priv]

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

From: Hiawatha Bray <hbray () mailblocks com>

Rubbish.  While I'm not as familiar with CAPPS, I agree completely with
MacDonald about TIA.  It was an experimental program that posed no immediate
threat to anybody.  Had it been deployed--something that was years away from
happening--it might have been different.  But that would have best been
addressed by designing safeguards against its improper use, not by
preventing the development of the technology altogether.

I am by no means certain that TIA could have been made to work.  Plenty of
brilliant computer guys think it was impractical.  But DARPA exists to try
out impractical ideas.  And this one could have saved a few lives--or a few
thousand--if it had proved practical.  The idea of quashing this sort of
research merele because it MIGHT lead to abuses of civil liberties makes as
much sense as saying DARPA shouldn't have helped develop the Internet,
because it's given us spam.

Hiawatha Bray
Boston Globe 

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