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xchrom

(108,903 posts) Fri Dec 14, 2012, 08:13 AM Dec 2012

CONFIRMED: US Counterterrorism Agency Can Amass Data On Any Citizen

http://www.businessinsider.com/us-counterterrorism-agency-collects-data-on-every-us-citizen-2012-12

As of March 2012, the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) can copy and examine entire government databases to predict possible criminal behavior of any U.S. citizen, Julia Angwin of The Wall Street Journal reports.

Previously the agency didn't have the authority to keep data about unsuspected Americans or to analyze it for suspicious patterns of behavior.

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials resisted the enactment of what amounts to an unprecedented domestic surveillance dragnet, but in the end the overarching desire to combat terrorism won out over the privacy of U.S. citizens.

Angwin details how Mary Ellen Callahan, chief privacy officer of the DHS, argued to the White House that the NCTC new authority would constitute a "sea change" because, whenever citizens interact with the government, the first question asked is now: "Are they a terrorist?"

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/us-counterterrorism-agency-collects-data-on-every-us-citizen-2012-12#ixzz2F1mTau2E

6 replies

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Highlight:

CONFIRMED: US Counterterrorism Agency Can Amass Data On Any Citizen (Original Post) xchrom Dec 2012 OP

Lovely. PETRUS Dec 2012 #1

This needs to be front and center on the front page hootinholler Dec 2012 #2

The campaigns are all about what the parties *disagree* on Fumesucker Dec 2012 #4

kr HiPointDem Dec 2012 #3

Does this mean the TSA screeners will finally find their first terrorist? Coyotl Dec 2012 #5

Of course not hootinholler Dec 2012 #6

PETRUS

(3,678 posts)

1. Lovely.

Reply to xchrom (Original post)

Fri Dec 14, 2012, 09:54 AM

Dec 2012

hootinholler

(26,449 posts)

2. This needs to be front and center on the front page

Reply to xchrom (Original post)

Fri Dec 14, 2012, 10:21 AM

Dec 2012

From the ACLU:

All of this amounts to a reboot of the Total Information Awareness Program that Americans rejected so vigorously right after 9/11. While some outlets like the Washington Post and New York Times and bloggers such as emptywheel have written excellent pieces about these changes, due to their complexity and obscurity they haven’t gotten nearly the attention they deserve.

Oddly, we heard nothing about this in the election cycle, lol.

Fumesucker

(45,851 posts)

4. The campaigns are all about what the parties *disagree* on

Reply to hootinholler (Reply #2)

Fri Dec 14, 2012, 10:25 AM

Dec 2012

Imagine the electoral implications of having this sort of data available on everyone, your campaign can bring a whole new meaning to the term "targeted".