---
Date: Thu, 26 Jun 2003 15:57:35 -0500
To: declan_at_well.com
Subject: CSE Calls for TIA Program Termination
From: bhapes_at_cse.org
CSE News Alert for Declan McCullagh June 26, 2003
Dick Armey, co-Chair
-------------------
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
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list
You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html
This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/
Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/
Like Politech? Make a donation here: http://www.politechbot.com/donate/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Received on Jun 27 2003