Mining for kids: Children can't opt out of Pentagon recruitment database

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Kurt Albershardt <kurt () nv net>
Date: January 17, 2006 4:23:04 PM EST
To: dave () farber net
Subject: Mining for kids: Children can't opt out of Pentagon  
recruitment database

<http://www.vermontguardian.com/national/012006/Pentagon.shtml>

Mining for kids: Children can't "opt out" of Pentagon recruitment  
database
By Kathryn Casa | Vermont Guardian

Parents cannot remove their children's names from a Pentagon database  
that includes highly personal information used to attract military  
recruits, the Vermont Guardian has learned.

The Pentagon has spent more than $70.5 million on market research,  
national advertising, website development, and management of the  
Joint Advertising Market Research and Studies (JAMRS) database — a  
storehouse of questionable legality that includes the names and  
personal details of more than 30 million U.S. children and young  
people between the ages of 16 and 23.

The database is separate from information collected from schools that  
receive federal education money. The No Child Left Behind Act  
requires schools to report the names, addresses, and phone numbers of  
secondary school students to recruiters, but the law also specifies  
that parents or guardians may write a letter to the school asking  
that their children's names not be released.

However, many parents have reported being surprised that their  
children are contacted anyway, according to a San Francisco-based  
coalition called Leave My Child Alone (LMCA).

"We hear from a lot of parents who have often felt quite isolated  
about it all and haven't been aware that this is happening all over  
the country," said the group's spokeswoman, Felicity Crush.

Parents must contact the Pentagon directly to ask that their  
children's information not be released to recruiters, but the data is  
not removed from the JAMRS database, according to Lt. Col. Ellen  
Krenke, a Pentagon spokeswoman.

Instead, the information is moved to a suppression file, where it is  
continuously updated with new data from private and government  
sources and still made available to recruiters, Krenke said. It's  
necessary to keep the information in the suppression file so the  
Pentagon can make sure it's not being released, she said.

Krenke said the database is compiled using information from state  
motor vehicles departments, the Selective Service, and data-mining  
firms that collect and organize information from private companies.  
In addition to names, addresses, Social Security numbers, and phone  
numbers, the database may include cell phone numbers, e-mail  
addresses, grade-point averages, ethnicity, and subjects of interest.

...








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