December 31, 2003 News & Views » Cover

Pin It
Submit to Reddit
Favorite

Big Brother's little helper 

How an Atlanta-based company won millions of federal dollars to mine information on Americans in the name of toppling terrorism

By
click to flip through (3) news_cover-4507.webp
   

Page 6 of 6

Currently, Bode does accept DNA samples, Lee claims, but only from law enforcement agencies conducting an open investigation where DNA is an issue. Those samples arrive at the lab bearing a number rather than a name and are destroyed after ChoicePoint tags them with a 13-digit code that's handed over to investigators. "We have no knowledge whatsoever of whose DNA it is," Lee says.

As for creating government-accessible biometric databases, Lee anticipates it will be the distant future before the feds embrace such technology.

That's not quite the picture of biometrics recently offered to investors by Curling, however. "We're also pleased with the progress in our biometrics initiative," Curling said, "in integrating those into our PATRIOT Act offerings."

He did not elaborate. But Curling's words cement the notion that biometrics smacks of military and Homeland Security intrigue, and that ChoicePoint is a stranger to neither department.

There are in fact countless new methods of surveillance that technology has made -- or will soon make -- real. And we might know nothing about them, or the unintended tasks for which they might one day come in handy.

Already, some airports have installed face-recognition systems programmed to find fugitives. The ACLU has expressed concern about technology allowing cell phone providers to receive signals tracking their clients' every move. Stanley, at the ACLU, says he's also concerned that private companies may be poised to record and sell buying patterns, or even an individual's every credit card purchase.

"The fact that somebody has on record that you went to the Gap on Oct. 10, 2003, and bought a sweatshirt is not a big deal," Stanley says. "But that's like one pixel. When you start to put together every single purchase you've ever made and everywhere you've traveled and your educational records and your financial records ... it's like putting all those pixels together into a very high-resolution image of how you live your life."

If your exact location could be revealed by your cell phone, would you start thinking twice about where you go? Would you quit carrying the phone? If your purchases were monitored, would you reconsider what you're buying? Would you carry cash instead of plastic?

And would those seemingly small decisions mark the start of a major sacrifice: the moment when you first began forgoing the opportunity to live your life freely for the government's promise of living it securely?

Cell phones and credit cards were created for a legitimate purpose and, without restrictions, could be adapted for another, highly intrusive end. That bodes poorly for advancements in, say, harnessing the very essence of you -- be it your DNA or public records bearing your name.

About his protagonist in 1984, Orwell writes: "He knew in advance what O'Brien would say. That the Party did not seek power for its own ends, but only for the good of the majority. That it sought power because men in the mass were frail cowardly creatures who could not endure liberty or face the truth, and must be ruled over and systematically deceived by others who were stronger than themselves. That the choice for mankind lay between freedom and happiness, and that, for the great bulk of mankind, happiness was better."

Full text

1 2 3 4 5 6

More Cover »

Tags: ,

Pin It
Submit to Reddit
Favorite

Latest in Cover

More by Mara Shalhoup

Calendar

More »

Search Events

all events
concerts
restaurants
movie times

Most Popular
Most Shared
Most Commented

© 2019 Womack Digital, LLC
Powered by Foundation