News Monitoring and database system that DARPA is proposing

[Dissident Dan]

I ran across http://www.defensetech.org/archives/000427.html It talks about an ambitious (to say the least!) monitoring and database system that DARPA is proposing. It makes TIA (Total Information Awarenes...well, now "Terrorism" Information Awareness) look like small potatoes.

The embryonic LifeLog program would take every e-mail you've sent or received, every picture you've taken, every web page you've surfed, every phone call you've had, every TV show you've watched, every magazine you've read, and dump it into a giant database.

All of this -- and more -- would be combined with a GPS transmitter, to keep tabs on where you're going; audio-visual sensors, to capture all that you see or say; and biomedical monitors, to keep track of your health.

This gigantic amalgamation of personal information could then be used to "trace the 'threads' of an individual's life," to see exactly how a relationship or events developed, according to a briefing from the Defense Advanced Projects Research Agency, LifeLog's sponsor.

Someone with access to the database could "retrieve a specific thread of past transactions, or recall an experience from a few seconds ago or from many years earlier … by using a search-engine interface."

That was from the first link. You can also read more at http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,58909,00.html. (It seems that defensetech.org plagiarized with material from Wired).

Now, obviously, I have been very skeptical and disbelieving. I am still in awe. It seems unreal. However, it was wired.com. More importantly, it was on DARPA's web page! http://www.darpa.mil/ipto/Solicitations/PIP_03-30.html

I find this very scary...scarier than anything al queda could cook up.

 

[Zero]

Originally posted by Dissident Dan


I find this very scary...scarier than anything al queda could cook up.

This is good news for people who think they have nothing to fear...until the brownshirts come for them.

 

[drag]

Greetings !

I invite everyone, and indeed humbly ask, with
the appropriate technical skills to hack
into the relevant US defence computer
networks and crash them and physicly destroy
the relevant data banks. And if you can
concieve of other kind of ONLY material damage
you can do to the relevant parts of that agency,
please do it !
Thank you very much !

Peace and long life.

 

[kat]

This is why so many people in my area (crunchy granola, hippy throwbacks ) live completely off grid.

 

[jb]

if the government keeps all this data, probably with everyone cross-referenced to everyone else, who's keeping them from "deleting" a person, as in 1984?

and what would stop an incumbent president from finding every dirty magazine an opponent has published, who they've offended/insulted, etcetera, basically crippling their chance at winning an election? bush could pull off another watergate without his CREEP breaking and entering.

 

[schwarzchildradius]

We're all going to jail, especially Zero.

Nothing about this story is too shocking, except the GPS part, that's really creepy. Seriously we could be investigated for things we say on little old PF. Watch your back.

 

[FZ+]

You know, if this goes on, I might be forced to rethink my stance on controlling guns and weapons in general.

Looks like we might need them.

 

[Phobos]

I have no idea about the truth in that story, but at a gut level, I don't see how this is feasible. The amount of info would be HUGE and 99.999whatever% of it would be uninteresting/useless. Never mind the technical complication of sifting through that much info, I think the expense would simply outweigh the potential benefit. It would be cheaper to simply spy (old school) on a few thousand people that you were specifically concerned about rather than watching everyone all the time.

What scares me is that ANYONE would be comfortable with the idea of this system. It goes against human nature's desire for freedom, IMHO.

 

[drag]

Greetings !

Originally posted by Phobos
I have no idea about the truth in that story, but at a gut level, I don't see how this is feasible. The amount of info would be HUGE and 99.999whatever% of it would be uninteresting/useless. Never mind the technical complication of sifting through that much info, I think the expense would simply outweigh the potential benefit. It would be cheaper to simply spy (old school) on a few thousand people that you were specifically concerned about rather than watching everyone all the time.

I believe you're greatly underestimating modern and aspecialy
future computer capabilities. But, that's just my subjective
opinion for the time being.

Originally posted by Phobos
What scares me is that ANYONE would be comfortable with the idea of this system. It goes against human nature's desire for freedom, IMHO.

Just a few centuries ago the kind of limmitations we
know today would seem like real invisible prison bars
to most people. Further more, never underestimate the
will of the people to limmit themselves to stop what
they consider "bad". The mob is the one in control in a
democracy and the mob just sees black & white. Crime -
black, no crime - white, the price is complicated so
they wouldn't waste their time thinking about it.
Besides, the government itself would certainly be interested.

Live long and prosper.

 

[Kerrie]

Originally posted by Phobos
I have no idea about the truth in that story, but at a gut level, I don't see how this is feasible. The amount of info would be HUGE and 99.999whatever% of it would be uninteresting/useless. Never mind the technical complication of sifting through that much info, I think the expense would simply outweigh the potential benefit. It would be cheaper to simply spy (old school) on a few thousand people that you were specifically concerned about rather than watching everyone all the time.

What scares me is that ANYONE would be comfortable with the idea of this system. It goes against human nature's desire for freedom, IMHO.

i would have to agree with you phobos...i don't think the common law abiding citizen has that much of an interesting life that the government would want to monitor...and i think that those who have nothing to hide and yet are a little paranoid about it need to deflate their ego some...

 

[Zero]

Originally posted by Kerrie
i would have to agree with you phobos...i don't think the common law abiding citizen has that much of an interesting life that the government would want to monitor...and i think that those who have nothing to hide and yet are a little paranoid about it need to deflate their ego some...

On the other hand, Kerrie, if you are an activist, your form of activism could be designated as terrorism later on down the line. What then?

 

[Kerrie]

Originally posted by Zero
On the other hand, Kerrie, if you are an activist, your form of activism could be designated as terrorism later on down the line. What then?

at this point, it is still an "if"...

"Worry is the interest paid by those who borrow trouble" - George Washington Lyon

 

[Zero]

Originally posted by Kerrie
at this point, it is still an "if"...

"Worry is the interest paid by those who borrow trouble" - George Washington Lyon

Is it really an 'if', Kerrie? In a time where the government claims more and more powers to arrest and detain people without charges and legal representaion? In a time where a person can be stripped of citizenship for belonging to the wrong group? Once the door is opened, how do we close it?

 

[Kerrie]

you need to evaluate where your souce of this information is coming from...if it's the typical american media (including those anti-government websites that induce more-then-necessary paranoia), then i would use more skepticism of that reality...

 

[Dissident Dan]

You can find info on DARPA's website, as well as www.fedbizopps.gov

I did post a link to the proposal on DARPA's website in the first post.

 

[drag]

Originally posted by Kerrie
and i think that those who have nothing to hide and yet are a little paranoid about it need to deflate their ego some...

I see what you meant Phobos.
Personally, that's frightening !

Live long and prosper.