A key technologist on the project says Americans must be prepared to trade some privacy for security. Pentagon researchers this month completed the first set of test data for the controversial Total Information Awareness system, a key technologist for the project says. Lt. Col. Doug Dyer, a program manager at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa), said at an IBM-sponsored conference on data privacy in Almaden, Calif., this week that Americans must trade some privacy for security. “Three thousand people died on 9/11. When you consider the potential effect of a terrorist attack against the privacy of an entire population, there has to be some trade-off,” Dyer says. Total Information Awareness, an experimental computer system being developed by Darpa under Vice Adm. John Poindexter, seeks to scan information about passport, visa, and work-permit applications, plus information about purchases of airline tickets, hotel rooms, over-the-counter drugs, and chemicals–both here and abroad–to discern “signature” patterns of terrorist behavior. Congressional leaders have criticized the system’s potential to spy on Americans and agreed to restrict further research and development without consulting Congress. Full Story
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