Alan Grimes wrote: > > In 2003, our data entry activities will be emphasized as a result of > > our participation in Darpa's Total Information Awarenesss program for > > which we will construct a Terrorism Knowledge Base, containing all the > > open-source terrorist individuals, organizations and events that we and > > our sub-contractor experts can input. It is hoped that the TKB will > > prove useful, by answering interesting paramertized questions, for US > > defense and intelligence communities. > > Working for the Ministry of Information, I see... > I DON'T EVEN WANT TO KNOW YOU. =\ > > This is serious stuff. I would say that you have an ethical duity _NOT_ > to aid in this monsterous abuse of power.
Alan, I agree that the TIA program is an ethical minefield. However, the situation doesn't seem as clear to me as it apparently does to you. On the one hand, terrorism is a real threat, and there's a real value in using information technology -- including AI -- to combat it. On the other hand, once a terrorism-focused DB is created, it's hard to argue that the intelligence community will necessarily ALWAYS use it ONLY for "good" purposes focusing on defense against terrorism. I think that if TIA databases and AI programs are constructed responsibly, they can serve as a force of net good, even though abuses will always be possible. -- Ben G ------- To unsubscribe, change your address, or temporarily deactivate your subscription, please go to http://v2.listbox.com/member/?[EMAIL PROTECTED]
