FC: EFF's Brad Templeton and Norm Singleton on TIA's true threat

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

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From: "Singleton, Norman" <Norman.Singleton () mail house gov>
To: declan () well com
Subject: RE: What's so bad about Total Information Awareness? by Ben Brunk
Date: Tue, 10 Dec 2002 08:52:16 -0500

good analysis except he misses how this system will be sued to further the
use of the SSN as a uniform identifier and further the war on cash, begin in
the freedom-loving Regan administration as part of the war on drugs, in
order to more efficiently identify terrorists.

Norman Kirk Singleton
Legislative Director
Congressman Ron Paul
US House of Representatives
202-225-2831 (ph)

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Date: Mon, 9 Dec 2002 23:58:24 -0800
From: Brad Templeton <brad () templetons com>
To: Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>
Cc: Ben Brunk <brunkb () ils unc edu>
Subject: Re: FC: What's so bad about Total Information Awareness? by Ben Brunk
Organization: http://www.templetons.com/brad

Why is TIA scary?  First off, let me say that I wonder how real it is.
It's so scary that I can't quite figure out why its proposal is public.
The amount of money being asked for whould normally be easily placed in
any agency's classified "black budget."   I wonder if it's a diversion.

But if it's not a diversion, it surely is to be worried about.
The fact that corporations can't track us that well for their
credit card offers is no reason to feel safe.  Indeed, that's what
Admiral Poindexter claims he will develop, a better system, with AI
techniques, that can do a better job.   The cost of sending out a
magazine offer to the wrong John Smith is insignificant.  The cost of
arresting the wrong John Smith until he can be cleared is immense.

The system need not be super accurate.  All it will do is identify
the "suspicious" activity it finds and sort the identified leads by
some score.  If agents have time to look at 200 leads, then the top
200 scoring leads will be investigated.   They hope the terrorist
is in there -- if not, they are wasting the time of those agents.
In the meantime, 199, and probably 200 innocents are subjects of
investigations.

And everybody's under surveillance.  That has a deep cost, which I
detail in my short essay at www.templetons.com/brad/watched.html.
When we become afraid our every activity is watched, we are less free.

I agree, by the way, that terrorists will work to bypass such systems,
to not be in the top 200 leads.  They may or may not succeed.  However,
this does not appear to deter the intel agencies from wanting to try.
They feel their ass is in the fire if they do nothing.  Our asses are in the
fire when they do too much.

> All in all, I can't see how TIA will do anything except harm innocent
> people and create new jobs for bureaucrats.  Any numerate person who spends

This should not make you feel less afraid of TIA.  Indeed, it's exactly
what to be afraid of.




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