>From the EFFector 17.45 (21 Dec 04)
9/11 Legislation Launches Misguided Data-Mining and Domestic Surveillance
Schemes
On Friday, President Bush signed into law the Intelligence Reform and
Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 (IRTPA), launching several flawed
"security" schemes that EFF has long opposed. The media has focused on turf
wars between the intelligence and defense communities, but the real story is
how IRTPA trades basic rights for the illusion of security. For instance:
~ Section 1016 - a.k.a. "TIA II" ~
A clause authorizing the creation of a massive "Information Sharing
Environment" (ISE) to link "all appropriate Federal, State, local, and
tribal entities, and the private sector."
This vast network would link the information in public and private
databases, posing the same kind of threat to our privacy and freedom that
the notorious Terrorism Information Awareness (TIA) program did. Yet the
IRTPA contains no meaningful safeguards against unchecked data mining other
than directing the President to issue guidelines. It also includes a
definition of "terrorist information" that is frighteningly broad.
~ Section 4012 and Sections 7201-7220 - a.k.a. "CAPPS III" ~
A number of provisions that provide the statutory basis for "Secure Flight,"
the government's third try at a controversial passenger-screening system
that has consistently failed to pass muster for protecting passenger
privacy.
The basic concept: the government will force commercial air carriers to hand
over your private travel information and compare it with a "consolidated and
integrated terrorist watchlist." It will also establish a massive
"counterterrorist travel intelligence" infrastructure that calls for travel
data mining ("recognition of travel patterns, tactics, and behavior
exhibited by terrorists").
It's not clear how the government would use the travel patterns of millions
of Americans to catch the small number of individuals worldwide who are
planning terrorist attacks. In fact, this approach has been thoroughly
debunked by security experts. (See
<http://www.schneier.com/essay-052.html>.) What is clear is that the system
will create fertile ground for constitutional violations and the abuse of
private information. The latest Privacy Act notice on Secure Flight shows
that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) still doesn't have a
plan for how long the government will keep your private information, nor has
it mapped out adequate procedures for correcting your "file" if you are
wrongly flagged as a terrorist.
~ Section 6001 - a.k.a. "PATRIOT III" ~
Straight from the infamous "PATRIOT II" draft legislation leaked to the
public last year comes a provision that allows the government to use secret
foreign intelligence warrants and wiretap orders against people unconnected
to any international terrorist group or foreign nation. This represents yet
another step in the ongoing destruction of even the most basic legal
protections for those whom the government suspects are terrorists.
~ Sections 7208-7220 - a.k.a. "Papers, Please" ~
Just as EFF, the ACLU, and a number of other civil liberties groups feared,
IRTPA creates the basis for a de facto national ID system using biometrics.
Driven by misguided political consensus, the law calls for a "global
standard of identification" and minimum national standards for birth
certificates, driver's licenses and state ID cards, and Social Security
cards and numbers. It also directs the Secretary of Homeland Security to
establish new standards for ID for domestic air travelers.
Identification is not security. Indeed, the 9/11 Commission report revealed
that a critical stumbling block in identifying foreign terrorists is the
inability to evaluate *foreign* information and records. Yet we are placing
disproportionate emphasis on domestic surveillance, opening the door to a
standardized "internal passport" - the hallmark of a totalitarian regime.
For this piece online: <http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/002172.php>
For the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 (IRTPA):
<http://news.findlaw.com/usatoday/docs/terrorism/irtpa2004.pdf>
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