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Posted on 10/09/2003 7:30:26 AM PDT by the_greatest_country_ever
MIT Project Undertakes Intelligence War Abandoned By the Govt To Monitor Everyone In the US
Citizens Strike Back in Intelligence War
Citizens Strike Back in Intelligence War With the recent demise of the Bush administration's controversial Terrorist Information Awareness (TIA) programme to monitor everyone in the US, citizens now have a chance to get their own back.
A website to be launched later in 2003 will allow people to post information about the activities of government organisations, officials and the judiciary.
The two MIT researchers behind the project face one serious problem: how to protect themselves against legal action should any of the postings prove false.
The answer, they say, is to borrow a technique from the underground music-swapping community.
Instead of storing the data in one place, they plan to distribute it around the internet in a similar way to the notorious Napster software that got music file-sharing under way. Just like TIA, the new website, called Government Information Awareness (GIA), is designed to collect snippets of information to build a database that can later be searched to reveal patterns of suspicious behaviour.
It is based on a site that Chris Csikszentmihályi and Ryan McKinley of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Laboratory set up in July. That site encourages members of the public to post information about organisations, officials and politicians, such as their business links and the source of their campaign donations.
The original site was hosted on one of MIT's servers. But soon after the site was launched it had to be dramatically scaled back after being overwhelmed with traffic and because of legal worries.
The researchers do not edit the content, and became worried that if any of the postings were malicious or untrue MIT could be held responsible.
Peer-to-peer
They hope that following the Napster approach will get them round this problem. Instead of storing the data on a single server, so-called peer-to-peer networks hold data in a number of locations around the internet, from where it can be downloaded directly. This strategy thwarted the music industry's attempts to sue some of the groups that organise the swapping of digital music files. For the relaunched site, MIT will simply provide the facilities to post data and search for it. "It will be a sort of citizens' intelligence agency," says Csikszentmihályi.
"It's an interesting tactic in the battle for civil liberties," says Lee Tien, a lawyer at the Electronic Frontier Foundation in San Francisco. He believes the site has value, even if it appears to be stooping to the government's level.
"A lot of people do know bits and pieces - we are handicapped in not being able to connect them."
But whether MIT will be immune from legal action remains unclear.
Some lawyers say that as long as the organisers do not edit the content, they cannot be held responsible for any libellous material.
Others are more cautious. "Whoever hosts something that is defamatory and untrue takes a risk," says Mike Godwin, technology adviser for the public interest group Public Knowledge in Washington DC. The researchers' strategy may minimise that risk, he says.
"Peer-to-peer is probably the best way."
Government Information Awareness Knowledge will forever govern ignorance, and a people who mean to be their own governors, must arm themselves with the power knowledge gives. A popular government without popular information or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy or perhaps both." - James Madison (Fourth President of the United States)
Mission To empower citizens by providing a single, comprehensive, easy-to-use repository of information on individuals, organizations, and corporations related to the government of the United States of America.
To allow citizens to submit intelligence about government-related issues, while maintaining their anonymity. To allow members of the government a chance to participate in the process. In the United States, there is a widening gap between a citizen's ability to monitor his or her government and the government's ability to monitor a citizen. Average citizens have limited access to important government records, while available information is often illegible.
Meanwhile, the government's eagerness and means to oversee a citizen's personal activity is rapidly increasing.
As the government broadens internal surveillance, and collaborates with private institutions to access data on the public, it is crucial that we maintain a symmetry of accountability.
If we believe the United States should be a government "of the people, by the people, and for the people" it is of central importance to provide citizens with the power to oversee their government.
At least as much effort should be spent building tools to facilitate citizens supervising their government as tools to help the government monitor individuals.
Technology
The Open Government Information Awareness suite of software tools acts as a framework for US citizens to construct and analyze a comprehensive database on our government. Modeled on recent government programs designed to consolidate information on individuals into massive databases, our system does the opposite, allowing you to scrutinize those in government.
Citizens are able to explore data, track events, find patterns, and build risk profiles, all in an effort to encourage and motivate action. We like to think of it as a Citizen's Intelligence Agency, giving people similar tools and technologies to those held by their government.
Central to GIA is its extensible model of data: Everything in its system is either an entity or a link -- a thing or a relationship. This allows the system to grow in any direction, and accommodate as-yet unimagined institutions, organizations, or threats.
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God Bless This Man! |
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FreeRepublic , LLC PO BOX 9771 FRESNO, CA 93794
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AND SAY THANKS TO JIM ROBINSON! It is in the breaking news sidebar! |
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Wouldn't a legal disclaimer work, similar to the one FR uses?
I guess it never occurred to them that this service could also provide some extremely valuable intel to al Qaeda if it is not carefully managed, which they show no interest in doing.
Yeah, this is what concerns me about this. For example, someone could witness a police raid, not be aware of what it is about and post the address where it happens - but if the raid involved an al Qaeda member, other AQ types might be able to use the database to realize that their comrade was arrested and scatter. That's just one example.
I know these guys mean well, and if it had something resembling a moderator to review submitted info prior to releasing it, I would be less worried. But creating a distributed, unreviewed medium - it could easily be used as a tool against us.
Social Security meant well, but it's become a way of life for the "physically" lazy youthful.
Wefare meant well, but it became a left wing lifestyle choice.
Environmentalism meant well, and it's become a hostile private property take over.
Medicade and Medicare meant well, but it's become a demand for "free" health care for all.
Public Education meant well, but now it's become a dumbing down socialist indoctrination institution.
"Tolerance for the sexually malfunctional meant well, but thousands have died because of it's diseases.
They may mean well with this idea, but I feel the left wing extremists will use it as a propaganda machine, and political correctness will become the law. Those who do not obey the Marxist lifestyle will become the hunted.
Don't open doors that can't be shut.
This is a bad idea. Let our nations laws handle the public hangings. Replacing it with a mob mentality will create chaos and the lawlessness it was orininally devised to prevent!!!!
Ah, lets play connect-the-dots, a favorite Freeper hobby.
FreeRepublic theoretically could get around the LAT/WP restrictions via P2P.
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