Maryland Police Put Activists' Names On Terror List 426
aaandre writes with word of a Washington Post story which begins:
"The Maryland State Police classified 53 nonviolent activists as terrorists and entered their names and personal information into state and federal databases that track terrorism suspects, the state police chief acknowledged yesterday. The police also entered the activists' names into the federal Washington-Baltimore High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area database, which tracks suspected terrorists. One well-known antiwar activist from Baltimore, Max Obuszewski, was singled out in the intelligence logs released by the ACLU, which described a 'primary crime' of 'terrorism-anti-government' and a 'secondary crime' of 'terrorism-anti-war protesters.'"
According to the article, "Both [former state police superintendent Thomas] Hutchins and [Maryland Police Superintendent Terrence] Sheridan said the activists' names were entered into the state police database as terrorists partly because the software offered limited options for classifying entries." Reader kcurtis adds "The State Police say they are purging the data, but this is one more example (on top of yesterday's news that datamining for terrorists is not feasible due to false positives) of just how badly the use of these lists can be abused."
Re:Check yourself, (Score:3, Funny)
Maybe they didn't have a category for "not guilty" in their database?
Re:All these lists are insane (Score:5, Funny)
All innocent people should be equal in the eyes of the law.
But some are more equal than others.....
Sincerely,
Mr. G. Orwell
New Categories (Score:2, Funny)
Next categories for database:
terrorism-does-not-watch-Fox-News
terrorism-no-flag-pin
terrorism-no-support-the-troops-magnet
terrorism-fringe-person
Violent passivists (Score:3, Funny)
Those idiots should be a lot more worried about violent passivists, not non-violent activists. Granted, the passivists don't do much, but when they do it's a lot bloodier.
Re:no surprise (Score:4, Funny)
Caller: Hi, is Tony there?
Answerer: Tony Cocaine?
Caller: No, Tony Jones.
Answerer: Heroin rifles blowing up New York!
Caller: Um...
Answerer: Bin Laden plastic explosive Tonka Trucks! Eat Presidential kidneys with Senate explosive snacks!
Caller: I've got the wrong number, don't I?
Re:Terrorists? (Score:3, Funny)
They sure don't seem to be terrorists from what anyone has presented. Everyone has the right to be a left-wing, right-wing, religious, gay, slashdot, anti-slashdot, or whatever other type of wingnut they want.
Except those EMACS people ....
Re:In Soviet-America... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:"fringe people" (Score:3, Funny)
What, you haven't figured out its all a popularity contest to make people fit in and conform to idealised stereotypes.
Didn't High School teach you that?
Re:In every country ... (Score:5, Funny)
Yeah, yeah, but are you for or against abortion???