US divided over proposed crime database project

[dArKeR]

Although privacy worries led several US states to pull out of a federally funded crime and terrorism database project called the Matrix, others are actively considering joining and thereby sharing information on their citizens, The Associated Press has learned.

Law enforcement officials say the Matrix project is an ultra-efficient way for investigators to get information about suspects that authorities previously had to obtain from disparate sources. They insist it includes only public records and does not make predictions about crime or terrorism.

But privacy advocates say Matrix gives law enforcement too much access to private details on millions of people, resembling the Pentagon terrorism data-mining program that drew public rebuke and lost Congressional funding last year.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2004/02/02/2003097206

[ixion]

1. TIA did NOT lose funding

It went through as a rider on that Medicare bill, I believe.

[frank frankly]

2. i didn't know that

we are so deep into the fall...