Ex-gov signs Utah up for MATRIX

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

Delivered-To: dfarber+ () ux13 sp cs cmu edu
Date: Sat, 31 Jan 2004 19:19:33 -0700
From: ken_i_m () limpinggoose com
Subject: Ex-gov signs Utah up for MATRIX
To: dave () farber net

Deseret News
http://deseretnews.com/dn/print/1,1442,590039368,00.html

Deseret Morning News, Thursday, January 29, 2004

Dossier program alarms Utahns

Copyright 2004 Deseret Morning News

By Jerry D. Spangler, Amy Joi Bryson and Bob Bernick Jr.  Deseret Morning
News

It sounds like a sci-fi thriller: a super computer program that gathers
dossiers on every single man, woman and child — everything frrom birth
and marriage and divorce history to hunting licenses and car license
plates. Even every address you have lived at down to the color of
your hair.

It sounds surreal, but former Gov. Mike Leavitt signed Utah's 2.4 million
residents up for a pilot program — ironically called MATRIX  — that
does just that. And he never bothered to reveal details of the program
to Utah citizens or to state lawmakers who, upon learning of the program
on Capitol Hill this week, are now worried the state could be involved
in a program that jeopardizes basic civil liberties.

"I am concerned our governor signed us up without ever talking to
us, the people of the state" said Senate Minority Whip Ron Allen,
D-Stansbury Park, who has asked legislative analysts to research whether
the Legislature ever authorized state participation in the program. "If
what I have heard is true, then I am concerned about our liberty and our
privacy. It is a national identification card without ever carrying it."

Allen's concerns are shared by his GOP counterparts, who worry about
government intrusion into people's private lives and the collection of
comprehensive data on people who have committed no crime.

"It certainly sounds like Big Brother to me, a paranoia that government
wants to know what all the people are doing because government knows
best," said Senate Majority Leader Michael Waddoups, R-Taylorsville. He
had not heard of the program until queried by the Deseret Morning News. "I
want to find out where the origin of it is in our state."

So does Gov. Olene Walker, who on Wednesday requested that the Utah
Department of Public Safety provide her more information on MATRIX.

"It does appear to be something that began under Gov. Leavitt," said
Walker's spokeswoman, Amanda Covington, who added, "Gov. Walker is very
concerned about individual privacy, but she has been assured by the
Department of Public Safety that is not an issue with MATRIX."

Attempts to reach Leavitt for comment on MATRIX were not successful.

House and Senate leaders either had never heard of MATRIX or, if the name
was familiar, had no idea that conservatives and civil libertarians had
any concerns over the new, super-information network.

MATRIX — Multistate Anti-Terrorism Information Exchange â— is an
intranet database regarded as the nation's largest cyber-compilation of
personal records. It is touted as an efficient crime-fighting tool that
allows agencies to access information with just a nimble fingertip.

Searchable databases allow law enforcement agents to probe for people
using Social Security numbers, dates of birth, addresses, property
records, motor vehicle information and credit history. The information
is collected by states and forwarded to a database in Florida, where a
private company, Seisint Inc., builds and manages the database.

The program essentially cross-references government records from both
public and private databases, putting together a dossier on individuals
for use by law enforcement.

Verdi White II, the man Leavitt tapped to be the state's homeland security
specialist, said any data gleaned for Utah's participation in MATRIX is
information already available to law enforcement — and in somme cases
the public. White said Utah's participation is at a limited level,
and he described it as an "experiment."

"We will evaluate this and see if it does have value, if we are able to
interdict a crime or apprehend an abducted child. If it does have value,
we will go to the Legislature and see if they want to participate in it,"
he said. White said no cost analysis had been done about continuing the
program past the end of the pilot project in August.

But MATRIX could turn into a conservative punching bag, like the old
"smart card" proposal that would have allowed the Department of Public
Safety to begin a "smart" driver's license that used electronic chips
to store all kinds of information like an allergic reaction to certain
antibiotics. And the state itself could put on the chip information like
criminal history.

But conservatives came out of the woodwork, claiming the "smart card"
could become a national I.D. card, containing all kinds of information
that could be misused by authorities. The bill quickly died.

MATRIX could present the same ethical and political conundrums.

"It sounds like smart card but a lot scarier," said Gayle Ruzicka of the
conservative Utah Eagle Forum. "In this case, people don't know their
very personal information is available to law enforcement. I think we
have been hoodwinked."

Ruzicka was familiar with the MATRIX controversy through e-mails with
other conservatives around the country. But she had no idea Utah was a
charter member of the program.

"Utah needs to get out of it. The question is who can get us out,"
she said.

Company officials are tight-lipped about what data it collects, and
Utah officials have been mum about the extent to which the state is
participating.

Utah was one of 13 states that hopped on board the pilot program last
June — funded with $12 million in federal grants. But since tthen,
several states have pulled out of the project, citing privacy and
financial concerns.

Officials with the American Civil Liberties Union both in Utah and
the national headquarters in New York say they can't be sure how
deep the state is involved because the state has ignored requests for
information. "What is Utah collecting? We have been trying to find that
out for weeks," said Jay Stanley, ACLU national spokesman.

Stanley said a Freedom of Information request was submitted Nov. 18,
2003, but there has been no reply. The Utah ACLU also submitted a state
records request to learn what records are being compiled, who has access,
the number of times MATRIX has been used, the circumstances under which
it has been used and what procedures are in place to assure privacy.

"It seems to us this kind of system has enormous implications for
American freedom," Stanley said. "It should not be like pulling teeth
to get information about how it is going to work."

White said the information should be turned over to the ACLU this week
and that officials had been in touch with ACLU attorneys.

Stanley worries that MATRIX combines private police records with
commercially available data compiled by a multibillion-dollar industry
that specializes in "data mining."

"They claim to cover 98 percent of Americans — you, your neigghbors,
your family members, your demographics, your lifestyle and purchasing
habits," he said.

It isn't clear whether legislative leaders would have even recognized
those concerns within a federal grant to set up a test information-sharing
program between the states and federal government.

House Speaker Marty Stephens, R-Farr West, said Leavitt "mentioned"
the program to leaders as part of Homeland Security discussions
last year. But MATRIX apparently was never brought to the Executive
Appropriations Committee as a specific discussion, either last session
or during the interim.

"I don't know a lot about it or how it works," said Stephens, "and I
never heard of any of these concerns."

A bigger concern is that Big Brother could be watching every move,
every purchase, every wrong turn.

"Do I want the government compiling all these records on me through a
super database to come up with a dossier?" queried one legislative staffer
who should have known about MATRIX but didn't. "Not only no, but hell no."

E-mail: spang () desnews com; amyjoi () desnews com; bbjr () desnews com

© 2004 Deseret News Publishing Company
--
"Ignorance may be bliss,
but that will not keep one
from being run over by the train"

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