Never a bad idea to know as much as possible about how our privacy is being invaded, and how governments mine and use personal data and, especially, internet activity.
On Frontline tomorrow:
<tt><tt>FRONTLINE
http://www.pbs.org/frontline/
- This Week: "Spying on the Home Front" (60 minutes),
Tuesday, May 15, 2007 at 9.00 pm (wned/channel 17) on PBS
- Live Discussion: Chat with correspondent Hedrick Smith, Wed., May 16,
at 11 am ET
After 9/11 former Attorney General John Ashcroft says President Bush told
him, "Never let this happen again." Ashcroft tells FRONTLINE how he
interpreted the president's injunction, "Now not letting something happen is
different from proving something happened. The old business of the Justice
Department to be able to prosecute the criminal and declare victory is not
good enough when you lose 3,000 people and the criminals purposefully
extinguish themselves in the perpetration of the crime."
In "Spying on the Home Front" this Tuesday, correspondent Hedrick Smith
and producer Rick Young investigate what the new 'prevention' paradigm means
to civil liberties here at home. In one case, the FBI conducted a data
sweep on 250,000 Las Vegas vacationers after receiving a non specific threat
that Al Qaeda was interested in Vegas as a target.
In another case, a curious employee at AT&T in San Francisco learned that
the whole flow of internet traffic in that office was being diverted to
the National Security Agency which had installed a 'black box' in a super
secret room. One expert says that it appears NASA set up these boxes in
10-15 AT&T sites across the country with the ability to intercept about 10 per
cent of all internet traffic.
There's much more. The Government Accounting Office found 50 government
agencies with nearly 200 data mining projects underway. In the age of the
super computer, private companies are amassing vast amounts of data about
all of us. From home mortgages to spending habits, virtual digital dossiers
are being created every day. Correspondent Smith wonders what happens when
the government does this kind of data mining, moving from our tradition of
individualized suspicion, to checking out everybody to find who are the
bad guys.
The former head of counter terrorism for the FBI, Larry Mefford, told
FRONTLINE: "I can give you more security, but I've got to take away some
rights. And so there's a balance." For a look at how the balance is being
struck today, we hope you will be able to join us Tuesday, but if not, "Spying
on the Home Front" will be up and streaming the day after broadcast on our
Web site, where you'll also find more background on this story and the
opportunity to express your opinion about the report at
http://www.pbs.org/frontline/homefront/
Louis Wiley, Jr.
Executive Editor
This program will re-air at the following time(s):
Thursday, May. 17, 2007 at 12.00 am (wned/channel 17)
Thursday, May. 17, 2007 at 12.00 am (wned/channel 17)</tt></tt></pre>
On Frontline tomorrow:
<tt><tt>FRONTLINE
http://www.pbs.org/frontline/
- This Week: "Spying on the Home Front" (60 minutes),
Tuesday, May 15, 2007 at 9.00 pm (wned/channel 17) on PBS
- Live Discussion: Chat with correspondent Hedrick Smith, Wed., May 16,
at 11 am ET
After 9/11 former Attorney General John Ashcroft says President Bush told
him, "Never let this happen again." Ashcroft tells FRONTLINE how he
interpreted the president's injunction, "Now not letting something happen is
different from proving something happened. The old business of the Justice
Department to be able to prosecute the criminal and declare victory is not
good enough when you lose 3,000 people and the criminals purposefully
extinguish themselves in the perpetration of the crime."
In "Spying on the Home Front" this Tuesday, correspondent Hedrick Smith
and producer Rick Young investigate what the new 'prevention' paradigm means
to civil liberties here at home. In one case, the FBI conducted a data
sweep on 250,000 Las Vegas vacationers after receiving a non specific threat
that Al Qaeda was interested in Vegas as a target.
In another case, a curious employee at AT&T in San Francisco learned that
the whole flow of internet traffic in that office was being diverted to
the National Security Agency which had installed a 'black box' in a super
secret room. One expert says that it appears NASA set up these boxes in
10-15 AT&T sites across the country with the ability to intercept about 10 per
cent of all internet traffic.
There's much more. The Government Accounting Office found 50 government
agencies with nearly 200 data mining projects underway. In the age of the
super computer, private companies are amassing vast amounts of data about
all of us. From home mortgages to spending habits, virtual digital dossiers
are being created every day. Correspondent Smith wonders what happens when
the government does this kind of data mining, moving from our tradition of
individualized suspicion, to checking out everybody to find who are the
bad guys.
The former head of counter terrorism for the FBI, Larry Mefford, told
FRONTLINE: "I can give you more security, but I've got to take away some
rights. And so there's a balance." For a look at how the balance is being
struck today, we hope you will be able to join us Tuesday, but if not, "Spying
on the Home Front" will be up and streaming the day after broadcast on our
Web site, where you'll also find more background on this story and the
opportunity to express your opinion about the report at
http://www.pbs.org/frontline/homefront/
Louis Wiley, Jr.
Executive Editor
This program will re-air at the following time(s):
Thursday, May. 17, 2007 at 12.00 am (wned/channel 17)
Thursday, May. 17, 2007 at 12.00 am (wned/channel 17)</tt></tt></pre>
