Stupidity Over “Spying”
There are lots of people running around acting all indignant over the government using data from Verizon and other companies to try to detect patterns that would indicate terrorist activity within the US borders. They think the government is “spying” on them. Many want the practice to stop. It violates their “civil rights.”
Those people are completely stupid.
Verizon lost a large chunk of their company when the South Tower of the World Trade Center collapsed after the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Phone service blanked out in New York City because of the attack. No one could call emergency services. Verizon and other telecommunications companies are part of the national critical infrastructure, and as such, they are responsible for working with the Department of Homeland Security under HSPD-7 to keep their infrastructure safe from attack.
If this means turning over data to the government for datamining, they will do it. But if they don’t want to turn it over? Well, they will just mine it themselves. They could do this with a federal grant at the Telecommunications ISAC (information sharing and analysis center). And according to the law, any analysis performed by an ISAC under the Department of Homeland Security is not only secret, but cannot ever be subpoenaed under a Freedom of Information Act request. This means that the ISAC can use all of their own data available for data mining- names, phone numbers, addresses, credit card information used to purchase the services, how many numbers people have, whether or not someone moves from one address to another, and even what type of data is being carried over the lines- which is a whole lot more than what the NSA has been reported to be doing.
There are 13 critical infrastructures in the country, and just about all of them have their own ISAC in which the share data and look for threats against the homeland. When they find a threat, they report it to Homeland Security offices in the state and federal governments, and even report threats to the National Infrastructure Coordination Center, which is a joint operation between the FBI and DHS.
And because most of the critical infrastructures in the country are privately owned, they are not restricted by the stupid shackles of government beaurocracy. The ISACS can engage in racial profiling if they like.
In fact, one of my favorite ISACS is the Real Estate ISAC. These guys are very protective over their investment property, which consists of shopping malls, supermarkets, highrise apartments, and other real estate. Whenever a member of the ISAC sees 9 arabs renting an apartment with just prayer rugs and no furniture, they report it to the ISAC and the FBI. If they see people snooping around after blueprints without authorization, or think someone is attempting to tamper with HVAC systems, the ISAC reports them.
People that work at the ISACS are real patriots who are keeping the Homeland safe. And they will do whatever it takes, in secret, spying on their fellow Americans, collecting and analyzing data, and reporting incidents to law enforcement in their efforts to prevent another attack.
My major concern is that EVEN IF I trusted (meaning I consider them both capable and honest) all those touching my info who didn’t already do so otherwise, those folks aren’t the same people now that they will be as times change. They will change, and programs and use of data will change. Even if I agreed with the current terrorist-sifting techniques, I believe they could change based on political currents.
And, I’m concerned about precent-setting. What if your own point of view on some topic were to become considered politically threatening, even if you intended the purest of patriotism? You wouldn’t still defend the use of your information against you.
I realize there is certainly more to this subject than I know, but I’d still rather not set my records up for abuse that I think could more easily follow from this way of organized record-gathering.
I agree with the potential danger of using data for political reasons. Presidents in the past have used the Federal government resources to punish their enemies- Nixon had his famous enemies list which he tried to have his FBI and justice department open up files on them.
Clinton used the IRS to look into the finances of his enemies.
Today there is more data mining going on than ever, and as Americans, there is a record of everything we do- what groceries we buy, we are filmed when we purchace gasoline, etc.
The government must strike a careful balancing act when using this data for law enforcement purposes and for intelligence gathering in times of war versus our civil liberties.
Is this balance being struck today? I believe it is, and I have some knowledge of how it works and the government employees that perform these duties. One of the cool things about living in Northern VA is that it is your own neighbors in most cases that work for the government, doing these duties, trying to look at data to keep us all safe.
Will these programs be sunsetted during the next administration regardless of political party? I dont think so. Not yet. We are going to be in the war on terror for a while yet. The Iranian President is a madman who is bent on wiping out Israel and is currently feeding the insurgency against the fledgling government of Iraq.
Maybe one day America will be able to breathe easier and we can kill off some of the more intrusive programs. But one question you have to ask, is who would you rather look at your data? The government or citizen groups? Private corporations? What about outsourcing data correlation overseas?
The best thing Americans can do is realize that they are exposing their personal data all the time and to try to be careful who we expose it to.