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Crime

FBI Set To Turn Up Advanced Security Search Engine 56

coondoggie writes "The FBI says it is set to roll out is N-DEx search engine and information sharing program to a wider swath of the federal, state and local law enforcement community. The FBI has been developing N-DEx since 2008 and says that once this latest round of development is complete, law enforcement agencies will be able to search, link, analyze, and share information such as case reports on a national basis to a degree never before possible, the agency stated."
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FBI Set To Turn Up Advanced Security Search Engine

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  • by RazzleFrog ( 537054 ) on Tuesday February 01, 2011 @05:58PM (#35073284)

    Shouldn't something like this have existed 10 years ago? I understand it takes time to collect the data that goes into it but the engine itself? Be interesting to see if it turns any isolated murder cases into serial killer cases.

    • Well in fairness to the FBI they had a huge project failure under SAIC called the Virtual Case File project. That failure most likely impacted this roll out significantly: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_Case_File [wikipedia.org]

      • by Thud457 ( 234763 )
        what's wrong with PROMIS or main core ? not enough bloody prok involved?!!

        Slow Down Cowboy!

        Slashdot requires you to wait between each successful posting of a comment to allow everyone a fair chance at posting a comment.

        It's been 1 hour, 2 minutes since you last successfully posted a comment

        Chances are, you're behind a firewall or proxy, or clicked the Back button to accidentally reuse a form. Please try again. If the problem persists, and all other options have been tried, contact the site administrator.

        goddamit /. , you're gonna get my throat slit in a bathtub for making joking about the wrong stupid sheet
        let my people post as AC!

        • If you mean pork yeah you nailed it. DC is all about the next project. I worked for 3 years on a project only to see it get rolled out and then the next administration heads came in and immediately wanted it replaced by their own vision. Who benefited most? The contractors who build systems of course. It's a never ending dance where these same people that give these companies work retire from the government and go get a cushy job with them as a kickback.

          If people knew how DC really worked they'd be much mo

    • Shouldn't something like this have existed 10 years ago? I understand it takes time to collect the data that goes into it but the engine itself? Be interesting to see if it turns any isolated murder cases into serial killer cases.

      ...Or that arrest that you had at age 19 when you were living across the US and just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. A crowd goes rowdy, the cops arrest everyone, and you can't get a job because you were arrested. Makes it kind of hard for those who have made a few mistakes here and there to ever leave something in the past.

      Also, as I understand it, this information was more or less available to begin with. Now the FBI makes it a lot easier for LE to hassle you for nothing or to do a m

      • Don't most employers ask if you've ever been arrested before anyway? And I doubt employers will have access to this information.

        • employers do a 'background check' on you these days. its as damned invasive as they are willing to pay for.

        • Don't most employers ask if you've ever been arrested before anyway?

          Negative. You are asked if you have ever been convicted of a felony, in most cases.

          And I doubt employers will have access to this information.

          Unless your employer is a LEO, or you require a security clearance, or NASA, or you want to work for any other government agency, or...well, you get the idea.

          • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

            In theory the same applies to the UK, but unfortunately paranoia over child sex offenders has created a situation where rumour and speculation can be disclosed. Not just to employers either, but to friends and family.

            Any job where an adult can be in charge of children requires a Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) check. Individuals can also request them if someone has access to their kids, e.g. a mother who starts a relationship with a man. In fact even the mother's family can request the checks.

            The CRB check n

      • Re:Finally? (Score:5, Funny)

        by mangu ( 126918 ) on Tuesday February 01, 2011 @06:09PM (#35073406)

        You don't tend to think about these things until you've actually been in LE..

        I don't know why, but I feel worried when someone who has been in law enforcement picks the username "TrisexualPuppy"

      • You mean, like when you can't get a job anymore just because they found a few dead hookers in your basement? Man, I HATE it when that happens!
      • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

        It is classic lazy policing, much like we had back in the 60s/70s when coppers would just round up the "likely suspects". The only difference now is that the computer spits out names based on some pseudo-science process that legitimises them.

        • How is a searchable and shared database lazy policing any more then using a computer spreadsheet instead of pencil and paper lazy accounting or SVN/eclipse instead of floppy disks and VI lazy programming?
          • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

            Instead of bothering to investigate properly they just pull up a list of people who might be connected to the crime and lean on them. The police in the UK already do that regularly with DNA evidence. It changes the default assumption of innocence too because if they find a bit of your DNA at a crime scene then you have to prove you are not connected to the misdeed.

  • by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 01, 2011 @05:58PM (#35073292)

    ...the Bing team announced they would copy the results...

  • by Kozar_The_Malignant ( 738483 ) on Tuesday February 01, 2011 @06:11PM (#35073432)

    >search, link, analyze, and share information such as case reports on a national basis to a degree never before possible

    Since their current ability is essentially zero, this goal should not be too tough to achieve. Although given past failures, they could still manage to screw it up.

    • by icebike ( 68054 )

      Since their current ability is essentially zero, this goal should not be too tough to achieve. Although given past failures, they could still manage to screw it up.

      Wait... I'm pretty sure they have my shoe prints in the National Shoe Print Database since I visited a US Forest recently.
      Why do they need to build such a thing, can't they just Call Horatio Caine and get this info?

    • Sorry, the many people whom it still scares can't hear you, what with their tinfoil hats covering their ears and all...
  • by failedlogic ( 627314 ) on Tuesday February 01, 2011 @06:13PM (#35073470)

    One would hope that with such a powerful system in place, there would be safety measures to prevent a Wikileaks type incident with the investigation information. I would also hope extensive background checks are done on the people that have access to this information. With police corruption at hand and perhaps organized crime paying its way into departments, this seems like an ample opportunity for org. crime to influence the local PD to see if they have an FBI file or find out what's in their rival's FBI files.

    • by icebike ( 68054 )

      I suspect Wikileaks is the least of your problems.
      I would be more worried about the *cough* legal uses of the data.

    • You might as well hope for a pony too, as long as you're at it...
    • by blair1q ( 305137 )

      The only data security is to have only trustworthy people securing the data. The mechanisms involved are irrelevant once that second person gets involved. It also helps if, while you are trusting them, they know they can trust you to use the system to secure the right information.

    • There's already so much misuse of existing police databases that gets reported in the press, and presumably a lot more that doesn't. Some of it's cops stalking ex-lovers, or cops doing a "favor" for somebody to help them stalk somebody (with or without bribes attached to the favor), in ways that are blatantly illegal. Some of it's cops helping their friends in more-or-less-organized crime find out who's after them, or find business partners who are snitching or otherwise about to become ex-partners. Some

  • by TENTH SHOW JAM ( 599239 ) on Tuesday February 01, 2011 @06:18PM (#35073526) Homepage

    Wikileaks + google = FBIs new search engine?

  • Why build a search engine and database? Just plug in a name and it should just give you a live stream from the person's phone, GPS location and nearby surveillance cameras. Can add a checkbox for promising to follow up with a warrant later in case some civil rights namby-pambys get in office. No sign of any at the moment

  • by Anonymous Coward
    who is disappointed that the handcuff icon doesn't mean this is a story about bondage?
    • by Thud457 ( 234763 )
      Hey, you're free to submit stories yourself.

      We haven't had any really juicy geek gossip since Stefan Eriksson [wikipedia.org] and Hans Reiser [wikipedia.org] are out of circulation. (That's not entirely true, Julian Assange is working hard at keeping things interesting...)
    • Exactly what part of the complete lack of connection between "news for nerds" and "bondage" are you unclear on?
  • "Showing results for suppress dissent [wikipedia.org]. Search instead for safeguard democracy [google.com]."
  • law enforcement officers will be able to search databases for information on everything from tattoos to cars

    this sounds like Carmen Sandiego crime computer

  • Is it called the intersect?
  • Does this mean we can get rid of Homeland Security which was initially purported to have been created simply to bridge the gap between all the agencies that already existed?

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