What's In A Name?

The Pentagon has given its controversial, Admiral Poindexter-led "Total Information Awareness" program of electronic eavesdropping a new moniker, "Terrorism Information Awareness." DARPA reported to Congress that the Pentagon "has expressed its full commitment to planning, executing and overseeing the TIA program in a manner that protects privacy and civil liberties." [SpaceWar.com] In a wonderful bit of understatement, DARPA says that the name was changed because it "created in some minds the impression that TIA was a system to be used for developing dossiers on US citizens."

But as a new CDT analysis shows, existing laws place few limits on the government's use of commercial information for anti-terrorism purposes. According to the Washington Post:

So since the purpose of TIA is to gather everything about everyone before sifting electronic databases for subtle indications of terrorists, isn't that the same thing as creating "dossiers" on ordinary Americans?

 Posted by glenn