FC: Dick Armey, former House Maj. Leader, blasts Poindexter's TIA

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

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Date: Thu, 26 Jun 2003 15:57:35 -0500
To: declan () well com
Subject: CSE Calls for TIA Program Termination
From: bhapes () cse org

CSE News Alert for Declan McCullagh      June 26, 2003
Dick Armey, co-Chair

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YOU CAN CHANGE THE NAME, BUT THE PRIVACY THREAT IS THE SAME
CSE Calls for Termination of the TIA program

Washington, D.C. -- In a report released to Congress delivered May 20, 
2003, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) attempted to 
address paramount privacy concerns with its controversial TIA program.  TIA 
aims to aggregate a massive amount of personal information into a central, 
government controlled database for military, intelligence, and law 
enforcement use.

Last month, DARPA also changed the system's long name from "Total 
Information Awareness" to the "Terrorism Information Awareness" project.

CSE Co-Chairman and former House Majority Leader Dick Armey commented:

"You can change the name, but the danger is the same.  TIA is a real menace 
to our privacy, and it is an expensive distraction from the real 
on-the-ground intelligence that will actually root out terrorists and their 
cells.

"While DARPA plans privacy safeguards now, history shows that once this 
type of system is in place, there will be ever mounting pressure to expand 
it. The opportunity for abuse is astounding, whether it's renegade federal 
employees or outside hackers.

"Build it, and it will be abused.  Tens of millions of your tax dollars are 
at work to develop the ultimate Big Brother platform.  TIA has the 
potential to undermine our privacy and our freedom.  The only real 
safeguard with TIA is program termination."


                           -- 30 --

For more information, call Brenna Hapes at (202) 942-7629 or visit 
http://www.cse.org

About CSE

Citizens for a Sound Economy recruits, educates, trains, and mobilizes 
hundreds of thousands of volunteer activists to fight for less government, 
lower taxes, and more freedom.  Founded in 1984, CSE has 280,000 members 
nationwide.  Former House Majority Leader Dick Armey is co-Chairman.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Citizens for a Sound Economy...Advancing Freedom through Citizen Action




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