Homeland Security Tests Snoop Computer System 233
Parallax Blue writes "The Washington Times reports that Homeland Security has developed and is testing a new computer system called ADVISE (Analysis, Dissemination, Visualization, Insight and Semantic Enhancement) that collects and analyzes personal information on US citizens. Relevant data 'can include credit-card purchases, telephone or Internet details, medical records, travel and banking information.' The program apparently uses the same process as the Pentagon's Total Information Awareness project, which was aborted in 2003 due to privacy concerns."
Aborted? (Score:5, Insightful)
If by aborted you mean "renamed, swept under the rug and kept secret this time", yes, it has been "aborted".
Re:Aborted? (Score:4, Insightful)
Obviously they just made an announcement to divert public attention from it. Nothing new I would say.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
So? (Score:3)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Newspeak (Score:4, Interesting)
Comment removed (Score:4, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
ADVISE (Score:5, Funny)
1) Choose a word you like. Or better, that the boss/sponsor likes.
2) Reverse engineer an acronym to fit. Sort of.
3)
4) Profit!!!!!
Don't tell me it ain't so.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Very, very irritatingly, instead of referring to acronyms by saying the letters, people try to say "the word" that the acronym is trying to spell out. For acronyms that have been designed for this
Re:ADVISE (Score:5, Funny)
Personally, I detest acronyms. If you dislike writing something out all the time, use a macro. If you need to say something, please don't use some ridiculous string of consonants as a word. It's insulting to your audience.
I for one, welcome your non-acronym agenda and from 12:00 post meridian today I shall no longer use acronyms, Exempli Gratia I shall hereby only refer to Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation devices, Radio Detection And Ranging devices, Et Cetera.
I think the above proves how much better it is to not have acronyms. Anybody with an Intelligence Quotient over 50 could see this, so Quod Erat Demonstrandum. Using my International Business Machines Corporation computer, I have created an HyperText Markup Language docuemnt linked to a My Structured Query Language database showing this which can found at the following Uniform Resource Locator:
HypertextTransferProtocol:\\worldwideweb.letsallp
Re: (Score:2)
Perhaps we could make an embedded auto-correct feature to browsers that lets you type in acronyms which are automatically converted to spelled-out words? Many people use variations of this already when they have to type in the same phrases over and over. Or a feature that lets you toggle between acronyms and full spelling, just like the Traditional/Simplified toggle that the Mac has for C
Re: (Score:2)
See here for more info. [pluto.it]
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Just a couple nits, SQL isn't an acronym. It actually doesn't stand for anything, just three letters. Sort of like how ISO doesn't stand for anything either. And PM is an abbreviation not acronym.
Funny, ever since I learned Structured Query Language I always considered SQL to be its acronym.
I usually pronounce it "sequel", but that's only because everyone else in the industry does. If that's what the DBAs and Microsoft reps and trainers and everyone else wants to call it, it's good enough for me. I would actually be suspicious of someone claiming to be an expert in SQL but never having come across that pronunciation -- it implies they have never been to a meeting with other "experts".
Tthen
Re: (Score:2)
We don't even use the good ones we have! RADAR and LASER reminded me of my favorite casualty, LIDAR. We end up calling it "laser scanning" or, what is far worse, "LASER RADAR".
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
The Client: Realtime Automated Trading System
The Server: Automated Revaluation System Enterprise Server
aka RATS ARSES
Re:ADVISE - true story (Score:2, Funny)
I am not at all exaggerating when I report that the team of four/five spent approximately two full weeks of 7 hour days 'brainstorming' an acronym for the 'Business Process Re-Engineering' project they were working on.
I never did find out what they came up with.
Re: (Score:2)
I'm sure they had a tough time decidig between BPR, BPRE, BPR-E, and BPRe. I'm also sure that they had an easy time billing the client for those hours.
I'd bet plenty of PHBs pronounce it as "beeper", which I'd also bet leads to all kinds of confusion as the sales force long ago upgraded from beepers to cell phones to crackberries.
That, and "Beeper" sounds like the name of a muppet.
Oh well, I suppose I'll log off and go watch whate
Re: (Score:2)
Purposely Reusing Old but Funny Insights Tediously [PROFIT].
Or how about: Periodically Reposting an Oldie, Forgetting It's Tiresome.
Re: (Score:2)
"We need a snappy acronym"
"How about 'CARE'? It would stand for Concerned...Area...ummmm...Reaching...ahhhh..."
Yeah, but it's ok (Score:4, Funny)
But TIA was part of the military. This is for the defense of our homeland, so the trade-off in liberty must be worth it.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Ah, so this is the Semantic Enhancement part, right?
Supposing the Insight part is taken caren of by the moderators (hint, hint) because of my Analysis and Slashdot's Dissemination, we're only lacking the Visualisation part.
So do you think they've actually put up a fancy name for a bunch of Slashdotter-equivalents, who Visualize scantily clad girls during their short and scarce breaks?
Bad, bad, bad... (Score:5, Insightful)
Granted, data mining can dig a lot of interesting info out of big databases. But to me, there are two big problems with these type of programs:
1. Guilt by association: When they are doing "linkage analysis" using your phone records etc, how many people will be swept up in the "terrorist" net because they visit the same library as a "terrorist", or got called by accident, or shop at the same Wallmart?
2. Mandate drift: We all know that now it is "the terrorists", soon it will be "the terrorists, the child abusers, the drug dealers, the guys who hit little old ladies, ...". But with the sorts of data mining they are doing, they could just as easily pick out groups of probable (insert political affiliation here). How would you like the FBI showing up at your door because some data mining program thinks that you are probably going to protest a visit to your hometown by the president?
Everyone is a terrorist. (Score:3, Insightful)
Did you ever forget to report that extra income you made mawing lawns in that summer, well you hid money from Uncle Sam and you probably used it to fun al-Qaeda which makes you a terrorist.
Did you ever think bad thoughts about the president? Well are definetly a terrorist.
Did you ever use encryption? Only pedophiles and terrorists use encryption so you are probably a terrorist.
Taking all this into consideration, we (the D
Re: (Score:2)
In my case it was the Secret Service.
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah, think how much havoc you can wreak as a suspected terrorist by just opening up the local phone book, picking seven "tough guy" sounding names and incessently harrassing them? They'd never board a plane again
Re: (Score:2)
my big problem with this program in particular is that the Department of Homeland Security is notorious for not protecting its data (example #1 [eweek.com], example #2 [americasnetwork.com]). so even if you feel confident that they have a good reason for mining this data, you can't possibly have confidence that someone else isn't mining the DHS's data for their own uses.
aside from that point, they've already cancelled one project [com.com] like this because they weren't taking any sort of privacy measures and lying about it on top of that, i suppo
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Wouldn't that be like going back in time before you were born and murdering your own parents?
Right. Except....not. (Score:4, Insightful)
Honestly -- lay off the Kool Aid. Take a look at the amount spent on the Iraq war sometime. It's a vast sum; easily enough to have just bought Saddam's cooperation (and let's face it, he was desperate for friends anyway) and all the oil under Iraq.
If you're going to come up with conspiracy theories, at least make them plausible. The "OMG it's blood for oil BLOOD FOR OIL" thing just doesn't fly. If oil had been the goal, it could have just been purchased. It's not like the U.S. has a ethical problem with funding repressive dictators when it suits us.
I'm not really justifying the war per se, but you're going to have to look a little harder if you want to find its root causes. As usual, it's not something that can be rendered down to a three-word slogan. I think in large part, it had to do with the American populace wanting their government to kick the living shit out of some brown-skinned somebody's (and the government only too happy to oblige -- war being a far easier condition to manage than peace), and when the whole thing in Afghanistan didn't look like it was going to go anywhere satisfying in a hurry, Iraq was a convenient target for our collective spleen-venting: it was big, flat, filled with people we either didn't like or didn't care about, and we had good maps from the last time we'd taken a stroll through. Kind of a no-brainer.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
It's an academic argument, I suppose, but I think you're underestimating the role of the good old Mob in politics; the "defense sector" (or 'military-industrial complex' or whatever you want to call it) is always ready and looking
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
You forgot, Bush's administration initially stated [house.gov] that Iraqi Oil would pay for reconstruction, of course, he also initially believed that we were going to be greeted as liberators and that this would be a walk in the park.
Naturally, now we've poured far more mone
Re: (Score:2)
Nothing to see here, move along. (Score:5, Insightful)
http://infowars.net/articles/march2007/080307TIA.h tm [infowars.net]
The part I really love, is their logo. A giant eye of Horus with beams coming out of it encompassing the Earth.
Is it me or does anyone else find that just the slightest bit odd?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Nothing to see here, move along. (Score:5, Insightful)
I hope you all realize how many Congressional representatives are being blackmailed. Those phone taps aren't going to waste. Look how effective J. Edgar Hoover was blackmailing people, and he didn't even have computerized help gathering dirt. So, yeah, creepy eyeball.
Re: (Score:2)
As a Mason, I'm always a little bit amused by these comments. The reality of a Lodge meeting is that we have a business meeting, grouse about the price of postage for our newsletter, then go downstairs to eat pie and drink coffee (decaf because it's late). I wish that Lodge was as glamorous as TV and countless conspiracy theories make it, but then, "House" also is a lot cooler than yo
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Are you serious?
Really, are you serious? Because that sure sounds like you're saying that the problem revolves around people not accepting your Judeo-Christian system of morality...which sort of borders on being insulting to most of the world.
OK, assuming that you're serious, the Ten Command
Re: (Score:2)
I think that "clean honest people" are extremely rare. Even if you do stick to the ten commandments you will end up being guilty of something. There are a lot of laws, and beyond laws, there are a lot of things that are not illegal but would nevertheless kill a political career if exposed. It is basically impossible to live a life that is completely free of sin, because if you look far enough
Re: (Score:2)
On the other hand, while Newt Gingrich was leading the Republican Charge to get President Clinton impeached for a blowjob, Newt Gingrich was also having an extramarital affair.
So - while even the cleanest among us can still be blackmailed for trivialities - the blackmailers themselves can get away with the same, and often far more heinous crimes. Because
Re: (Score:2)
Does that mean perhaps that humans need some outside help? In part of that story (Isaiah 7:14) we are also told that God will help us in the person of someone called Immanuel, "God with us" and how He will help us (Isaiah 53)
The story continues in the New Testament where that help receives the name 'Jesus', who alone conquered death. However, no one can be helped unless they first believe that help is available and then acc
Re: (Score:2)
The Jewish one?
The Muslim one?
The Catholic one?
The Protestant one?
Come on - which immutable and perfect set of the One True God's ten laws are you talking about?
That's not an eye of Horus (Score:2)
It's Masonic, or maybe Theosophist if you prefer. As long as it's in the Capstone, I don't think the actual look of the eye matters much. An Eye of Horus or 'udjat' looks much more gothicky. You can google it easily enough.
The Illuminati Logo (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Chris Mattern
just more stupidity on top of stupidity (Score:2)
U.S. Democracy (Score:5, Interesting)
As long as good (old) Europe is free(until you bring us democracy too;) I'll just stick to my side of the atlantic (and the channel).
But seriously, U.S. citizens, aware of their surroundings, must be pretty frustrated by these moves.
Re: (Score:2)
U.S. citizens
aware of their surroundings
Yeah. They must be.
As long as good (old) Europe is free(until you bring us democracy too;)
One day they will realise we need salvation too
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
The problem is we're *copying* it (Score:3, Interesting)
There's examples with SWIFT.
SWIFT violated Belgium banking law and EU privacy law, and USA FISA law when it handed all it's data to the NSA & CIA. UK banks were complicit in this, and would also face prosecution.
Instead, the EU Commission took over the case from the Belgiums to 'coordinate the response', and are curre
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Second, with regards to Europe, I refer you to the ubiquitous surveillance cameras in the UK, the new law in France forbidding non registered journalists from photographing street violence, etc. The list goes on. Europe is no more free than the US, and probably less in many respects.
Coward for what ? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Stupid tab button... (Score:2)
Face it, the laws being passed by democracies around the globe to 'defend ourselves from (terrorists who hate freedom/pedophiles who love nine year olds/teenagers who are just naughty' make it seem like fascism won the second game...
More to help corporates (Score:2)
Such mining of data by any single corporation is almost impossible without the HP-Pretext suits.
Hence, if the corporates pay the politicians to make the Govt. to undertake such a study, they can benefit from it.
Why else do we need to analyze credit card statements, spending patterns, etc?
Since politicians, especially republicans have no qualms about spending our tax money on such a thing, they give it a sinister (FUD) name that talks a
Re: (Score:2)
"file charges" under the illegal Patriot act and ligitimise it?
People like you piss me off because you know somethings wrong with your country but your ent
Re: (Score:2)
The British Version (Score:4, Insightful)
We've got something similar to this, it's called:
Assimilating,Reasoning,
Statistical,
Enhancement,
Highlighting,
Online,
Linkage and
Encryption
Luckily no-one cared about our version as we've already got CCTV everywhere [bbc.co.uk].
Welcome to the surveillance society. Come on in, just don't say anything that might result in your arrest. Things like: 'I'm not too fond of our current administration, I may vote for someone different next time,' are a definite no-no. Just stay on-message, never have anything to hide and you will be fine!
Re: (Score:2)
Surveillance is not the problem. CCTV doesn't mean squat, as it does nothing a policeman on the corner can do. The big problem is when CCTV, your bank statements, travel records, phone records, shopping history, TV channel preference, online history, etc. are automatically linked together and assumptions made. THAT's dangerous, as that can NOT be performed by a single policeman, thereby terribly shifting power towards the authorities and anonymity away from the public.
This "surveillance society" tag is
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
The question that should be asked... (Score:5, Insightful)
If the answer to this question is NO then the question must be asked, is it worth giving up our civil liberties for a program or law that would not have stopped the terrorists in the first place. And the answer to that should be a resounding NO.
Unfortunately as long as we have politicians who are more willing to listen to a man named after a plant than after the people who voted for them in the first place, we will continue to see anti-terrorism programs and legislation that erode our civil liberties without even doing anything that would have actually had an effect on the September 11 hijackers in the first place.
I would say "thank god I don't live in America" but given that our prime minister will do anything Bush says and then some, we too are seeing all sorts of nasty laws that we don't need and that do nothing to benefit our country or stop terrorism. Thankfully there is an election coming up later this year or so and I can go and do my bit to vote the bastard Howard and his party out of office (I just hope more people follow suit)
how about just putting AA batteries on buildings?. (Score:2)
put aa batteries in buildings with:
1 - proximity censors
2 - automated radio warnings for unwitting pleasure pilots
jets travel at some 600 mph.. in crashes usually the largest pieces left (besides the tail which almost always survives) are the size of dinner plates..
so, it's a question of the greater good.. shred a plane full of already doomed passengers with AA fire to mitigate the damage it will do to the building it is about to impact.
i'd say one battery on each c
Just another Loyalty Card (Score:5, Insightful)
The sooner Homeland Security start offering discount points and a frequent flyer program the better - to reward loyal citizens - otherwise it's just a rip-off.
Americas view of itself... (Score:2, Insightful)
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
+1 to that. This all seems more about using the public's fear to grab more power than a move to make the country a safer place.
Thoughtcrime (Score:2, Insightful)
People are going to say "well, if you're doing nothing wrong, then you have nothing to worry about". As if people have the right to judge me, of course. And that's the problem: who's doing the judging? Just what is "wrong" and "right"? Yes, we know that something that hurts another person is definately wrong, I'm not debating those issues. What I'm debating i
Fo shizzle (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
In my wild an totally unsubstanciated opinion, I tend to think that if you offered enough money say >$100 million, or equivilent incentives, for someone to kill their own family, children and all, getting away scott free guaranteed, perhaps somewhere in the region of 30% of human beings would take you up on your offer. I don't honestly believe this estim
Re: (Score:2)
Do you honestly believe that? I think that says something about you. Would you be really surprised if I told you that a lot of people do honestly love their spouses and children more than life. I know I would give my life up for my wife or child without thinking twice about it. I like to believe that most average/normal individual would. Maybe I am optimistic but your point of view is disturbing
Re: (Score:2)
Yes I do. Throughout history people have connived and backstabbed their way to success. Serious marital disputes are with us even to this day, with domestic violence still a very common problem. Historically, people have been quite merciless to their offspring, with "death by exposure" the commonly used method to rid oneself of unwanted children. Now offer a once in a lifetime reward and a new life, fresh slate etc, and I estimate that 30% of those polled would agree to murder t
Re: (Score:2)
There are some interesting recent experiments in economics and games theory. Less than ten percent of the population will generally act in an unfair and unjust manner unless the whole system is unfair and unjust. Most people are far more motivated by notions of reciprocity and fairness than by self interest.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
he never said that he himself would do it And where did I say that he would do it?
Oh well no need to waste my time with you. Go take English 101 again then come back.
Re: (Score:2)
Canada seems pretty reasonable. I'm going through the immigration process as have married a Canadian. As you're probably an American (judging by the reaction to that article!) you'll be able to integrate very well up here. In many ways the countries are very similar (the kinds of shops, the cars people drive etc.) Europe and the UK were a big culture shock for my wife and probably would be for you too (I'm from the UK). More importantly: in a study on privacy rights [www.cbc.ca] Germany then Canada were the top two.
To
Re: (Score:2)
Projects such are these are FUN. They pose a great challenge and you get to shape the system as you wish, as very often the project goals are dictated by people that have no idea how to implement it, so developers dictate the budget and the actual implementation.
Most people get over the ideological technology crap after a certain age.
Re:Where do they find the assholes... (Score:5, Insightful)
i love this stentence..
as a college student i get something similar where they say "oh you need some 'real world' perspective".
apparently "ideology" stands for having a soul, while "real world perspective" stands for selling it down the river for a quick buck.
i dont know but im really considering remaining poor simply to retain some modicum of morality... maybe start a business building real wood furniture (even major vendors are using particle board now adays)
Re: (Score:2)
It's especially wacked because most youth don't have an ideology, at least not in its root meaning of having some Platonic Ideal of the world that they wish society would conform to. Fresher, younger eyes aren't comparing what they see in the world to some grandly worked out set of ideals so much as just taking a real look at it and using common sense and feeling to discern wh
Just follow the algorithm (Score:5, Insightful)
Welcome to our 'democracy'.
You cannot control a democratic country by force but you can easily do it with fear and lies. Here is the algorithm:
--Fuck up a country algorithm:--
Input: Country founded on freedom, democracy, individual privacy
Output: Complete government control, 0 rights, 0 privacy
1. Make the people afraid. Could be anything, terrorists, communists, mexicans, chinese, witches etc.
2. Tell them that you can make the fear go away if they just willingly relinquish a little bit of their rights and freedoms.
3. Repeat 3 until no more rights and freedoms remain
4. Done.
Re: (Score:2)
Right here, my friend, right here.
Watching the recent Libby trial, it appears there is a long line of people who will do just about any dirty job the administration wants done. Lying? no problem. Torture? OOh, Ooh, ME, ME. Smear a critic of the administration? (hundreds of right-wing bloggers raise their hands). Call a decent liberal candidate who has been married 29 years and has 5 kids a "faggot"? Ann Coulter.
There is never a shortag
Re: (Score:2)
one more round of genocide, but this time get rid of the people who actually promote iniquity and genocide themselves..
in this case i really do think 2 wrongs would make a right.
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
not to burst your bubble or anything, but it's not about a partisan attack.
there are certain people in this world who will fulfill any morally reprehensible task they are requested (and those people who request them).
these people are pure unmitigated evil and a cancer upon our species, and should be removed.
Re: (Score:2)
Actually, in order to work on such projects, you usually have to be a US citizen and pass plenty of US government tests of loyalty to US principles.
And you seem to forget that these projects were created by US governments elected by US citizens. This is what the majority of Americans want, either because they voted for it, or they didn't bother to vote and they didn't bother t
Re: (Score:2)
In contrast
Re: (Score:2)
If you're born a US citizen, you don't. If you're a foreigner being hired for these jobs (as the posting suggested), then you do, either as part of your immigration process, or as part of your hiring process, or both.
Re: (Score:2)
I'm guessing they hired developers from other countries just like MS does, they have no adversions to spying on the american people
Yes, because the only people on earth to object to this
Town hall meeting (Score:2)
someone really needs to convince the public to stop being so afraid so that politicians will stop pulling the wool over their eyes and pushing bad legislation through in the name of "protecting the people".
I remember a town hall meeting in days after 9-11, lot of people spoke but two stuck out in my mind. One was a single mother with two kids who got up and started bawling about who was going to protect her. Nauseating enough but she was followed by another man who volunteered to give up his privacy in
Re: (Score:2)
Think about the software that controls weapons, e.g. missiles. Written by people just like you. How do they justify making software that is intended to kill people? Well, they tell themselves that it will only be used when necessary. The contract isn't with the "War Ministry", it's with the "Department of Defence". So that's all right then. The missiles aren't inherently evil, they just enable evi