FC: TIPS informaant program: On hold or already underway?

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

Let's get the chronology right. The Sydney Morning Herald publicized the 
TIPS informant plan one month ago:
http://www.politechbot.com/p-03749.html

Then came the odd Salon report about America's Most Wanted 
(http://www.politechbot.com/p-03861.html), a suggestion last week that it 
was mistaken (http://www.politechbot.com/p-03867.html), and a possible 
explanation (http://www.politechbot.com/p-03879.html).

A top Justice Department official defended TIPS ("We're not looking for a 
community of snoops") in a presentation to the American Bar Association 
annual confab over the weekend:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,1282,-1939951,00.html

And the Associated Press reported that, because of the controversy, TIPS 
"will not be put into effect until Congress returns in September. The idea 
is to allow time for consultation with lawmakers." See:
http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/08/10/operation.tips.ap/index.html

But an anonymous Politechnical forwards an article that says otherwise. The 
Philadelphia Inquirer reports that the component of the TIPS program aimed 
at truckers is going forward as scheduled, saying that "2,000 truckers 
nationwide are authorized to report activity to a toll-free number..." See:
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/3830417.htm

So which is it? Is TIPS on hold or not? Or is the "Highway Watch" program 
technically unrelated, though practically very, and dangerously, similar?

-Declan




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