On April 18, US Air Force Chief of Staff General John Jumper signed a memorandum endorsing a new citizen-snoop program, Eagle Eyes.
According to the Air Force's office of special investigations, the "Eagle Eyes program is an anti-terrorism initiative that enlists the eyes and ears of Air Force members and citizens in the war on terror."
Eagle Eyes gives Operation TIPS new wings.
The program creates a network of local, 24-hour telephone numbers for voyeuristic citizens to call whenever they observe "suspicious activities".
Eagle Eyes regards the use of still or video cameras, note-taking, drawing diagrams, using binoculars or annotating maps as suspicious activities that should be reported.
Under its guidelines, most tourists visiting Yellowstone National Park could be regarded as suspicious persons.
Operation TIPS exists under a different name, nothing has changed.
The US Department of Defense recently renamed its Total Information Awareness project, a far-reaching surveillance and data collection program, to something it believes to be less threatening to American citizens. TIA now stands for Terrorism Information Awareness. Dropping the word "total" gives the project the appearance of being less universal, less inclusive.
A good citizen might be lulled into thinking he or she wouldn't be targeted by the project. Wrong. The goals of TIA haven't changed. The project will still be data mining.
Three months ago, Congress imposed a ban on funding for the TIA project until privacy safeguards were in place. Changing the name of the project didn't erect any privacy-protection barriers. TIA can collect medical records, credit card and financial data, travel, education and housing records.
The Defense Department hopes its TIA project will predict terrorist attacks by detecting patterns of behaviour in the vast array of electronic records it collects on individuals.
Despite the congressional ban on funding, the Defense Department continues to research and test TIA. It continues to provide other agencies with system/network infrastructure, software analytical tools, training in their use and evaluating the performance of the software.
The Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003, a bill written by the Department of Justice, continues to loom. The DSEA has been nicknamed Patriot Act II, because it builds upon the provisions of the first act but is even more draconian in the powers it grants to law enforcement agencies of the Government.
The DSEA would provide the Government with a carving knife with which to gut the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights. If liberty is still important to the American people, now is the time for Congress and the administration to hear our cry of outrage.
This article first appeared in the Casper (Wyoming) Star-Tribune.
FULL VERSION...
http://theage.com.au/articles/2003/06/02/1054406120265.html
