[EMAIL PROTECTED]
This is way overstepping boundaries!
Amy
Jun. 23) - As U.S. military action in Iraq and Afghanistan continues, the
Pentagon -- which has fallen short of its recruitment goals -- is using new
means to find potential recruits.
Working with the private marketing firm BeNow, Inc. of Wakefield, Mass., the
Pentagon has created a huge database of millions of high school students,
aged 16 to 18.
The database includes names, dates of birth, genders, addresses, Social
Security numbers, e-mail addresses, ethnicity, telephone numbers, and even
grade
point averages.
The purpose, according to a Defense Department statement, is "to assist" in
"direct marketing recruiting efforts."
Privacy Advocates Concerned
But privacy advocates say it violates a federal law that restricts the
government's ability to gather personal information. They say they
understand the
military's need to recruit but this type of information-gathering goes too
far.
"It's very secretive," said Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the
Electronic Privacy Information Center. "It feels a lot like a big brother
proposal,
and it really should be stopped."
The Pentagon -- struggling to recruit in the face of the daily violence in
Iraq -- says the database is a way to remain competitive in a marketplace
where young people have a lot of choices.
Officials say they will handle the data with care.
"We always worry about privacy issues," Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld
said.
A growing number of parents were already upset about the military's
recruiting techniques. A little-known provision in the 2002 "No Child Left
Behind"
education law requires every public school to provide the military with the
names, addresses and phone numbers of students.
Last month, Louise Wannier went to her daughter's high school to submit an
opt-out letter, which prohibits recruiters from accessing personal
information.
She learned today about the new database, which may have much more
information on her daughter than she'd ever imagined.
"I thought I had protected my kid," she said. "This is a direct violation of
family privacy and parental rights."
Privacy advocates and at least one congressman are now fighting to stop the
gathering of information for the database.
ABC News' Dan Harris filed this report for "World News Tonight."
Copyright 2005 ABC News. All rights reserved. This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Carole McDonnell
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