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Pentagon Plans a Computer System That Would Peek at Personal Data of Americans

By JOHN MARKOFF

The Pentagon is constructing a computer system that could create a vast electronic dragnet, searching for personal information as part of the hunt for terrorists around the globe — including the United States.

As the director of the effort, Vice Adm. John M. Poindexter, has described the system in Pentagon documents and in speeches, it will provide intelligence analysts and law enforcement officials with instant access to information from Internet mail and calling records to credit card and banking transactions and travel documents, without a search warrant.

The kind of system they're wanting has not been completely developed yet, they're still working on a prototype, but what it would allow them to do is very broad-based, and more than a bit disconcerting.  Through this system, law enforcement officials would be able to search any number of records about you, and pull all that information together to see if there are any patterns in your activities that might point to you being a terrorist.

What's worse, in some places, the article strongly implies that the system would have the ability to scan the databases in order to find what it thinks are questionable patterns, and, as a result of those searches, bring you to the attention of law enforcement.  In other words, not only would they be able to check a lot of databases and gather considerable information about what you're doing if you become a suspect, but you could actually become a suspect based on what these automatic searches turn up.  All without a search warrant or any need to indicate if there's even probable cause to think you might be guilty.

The new system will rely on a set of computer-based pattern recognition techniques known as "data mining," a set of statistical techniques used by scientists as well as by marketers searching for potential customers.

The system would permit a team of intelligence analysts to gather and view information from databases, pursue links between individuals and groups, respond to automatic alerts, and share information efficiently, all from their individual computers.

As of right now, some of what they're wanting to do with this system - comfortingly named "Total Information Awareness" - is still illegal, but the Pentagon and other proponants are hoping to get the rules changed through the Homeland Security Act and other legislation.

In order to deploy such a system, known as Total Information Awareness, new legislation would be needed, some of which has been proposed by the Bush administration in the Homeland Security Act that is now before Congress. That legislation would amend the Privacy Act of 1974, which was intended to limit what government agencies could do with private information.

The possibility that the system might be deployed domestically to let intelligence officials look into commercial transactions worries civil liberties proponents.

"This could be the perfect storm for civil liberties in America," said Marc Rotenberg, director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington "The vehicle is the Homeland Security Act, the technology is Darpa and the agency is the F.B.I. The outcome is a system of national surveillance of the American public."

The good news here is that since the system is not yet fully developed and since there is a need for additional legislation to be passed, there is time to try and fight the "Total Information Awareness" project.  I urge each of you, if this kind of a system concerns you -- if the idea that the police or FBI could look through your email, banking transactions, phone usage records and travel information without first showing any probable cause or obtaining a warrant, or the idea that records like these could be randomly searched by an automated, computerized system, and your name kicked out as someone to "check out", bothers you -- then please, take a moment to scroll down this page a bit and look for the box labeled "Contact your Congresscritters", enter your zip code, find out who to contact and let them know what you think.

From an email sent out by the Democratic National Committee:

Out of a total nearly 79 million votes cast nationwide, a shift of just 41,000 votes would have kept the Senate in Democratic hands.

Now, I imagine they had to do at least a little bit of fun math to come up with that statistic (I generally don't trust statistics from a biased source unconditionally), but there is no denying that many races were very close, and that it wouldn't have taken too many votes to have changed the overall outcome.  Something for the party faithful from both sides to keep in mind over the next two years, as we approach the 2004 Presidential Elections.

Here's a very, well, odd, anti-war website, with a rather unique idea on how to fight against the war:  Masturbation.

The site is sponsored by places that sell Viagra, so there are a few advertisements about, but the basic goal behind the site is the idea is for people to focus on peace and love while masturbating, in order to combat the hatred and anger that is creating this atmosphere in which we're about to go to war. 

Their theory is that love is necessary to combat hate, but true love can only come if you love yourself.  And, as they put it, masturbation is the greatest expression of self-love there is. 

Technically, the process they're describing is an act of sexual magick.  When Witches or other spiritually-based magick practitioners do magick, the goal is to build up energy - typically through focused meditation, rhythmic breathing, chanting, drumming or dancing (or sometimes several of these at once) - then infuse that energy with a specific goal.  Once you're raised as much energy as you can handle, you focus your thoughts on your goal and release all of it into the world.  That energy then goes forth to manifest according to the goals you put into it.  Sex magick is just variation of the same theme - energy is built up through sexual stimulation, the mind focuses the goal into that energy and the energy - with the goal embeded - is released at climax.

The site itself doesn't call what they're promoting as "magick" - possibly because they don't want to scare people off (though I'm not sure who there is that would be comfortable with doing focused mastrubation for peace but not with calling it "magick" - one pretty much sounds as loony as the other), or perhaps they don't realize that's what they're suggesting.  But, while the whole concept may sound funny, in terms of the practice of Witchcraft or other spiritually-based magickal systems, it makes perfect sense.  And, at worst, even if it doesn't work, for whatever reason, it certainly isn't going to cause any harm....

And that's our lesson on Magick 101 for today, class.  Be sure to read pages 10 through 527 in your Grimoire tonight and be prepared for a pop quiz tomorrow.  Class dismissed!  :)

[ The Masturbate for Peace website ]