"Does Controversial Police Network Violate Rights?" ("The Matrix")

[wildflower]

I haven't seen this posted before.

Does Controversial Police Network Violate Rights?

11/9/04- Ever since 9/11, law enforcement agencies have been looking for ways to stay 1 step ahead of terrorists. One method Michigan State Police turn to is a massive multi-state database called the Matrix, b ut some civil rights groups are now criticizing the Matrix. They say the information collected could infringe on the rights of law abiding people.

When Michigan State Police want to solve a crime,they search through tips and physical evidence, but they also have a mine of information at their fingertips, it's called the Matrix, an online collection of criminal and public information.

Shelli Weisberg: "The site, run by a private company, is a huge database full of 20 billion records, a collection of information from every single Secretary of State's office, courthouse and police agency, but the database also collects information such as your race, gender, religious background, political affiliations and any organizations you join, and if you have a pilot's license. From all this information, the Matrix goes to work finding potential terrorists by making connections between crimes and every name and group in the database. W e want to find the terrorists, and we want them to solve crimes, we don't want them to simply have these huge databases and sweep people in."

Shelli Weisberg, with the ACLU, is concerned that innocent people may be swept in as well. The civil rights group is now suing the Michigan State Police over Matirix. Shecompares it to the red scares of the 50s and 60swhen Americans, many with loose affiliations to communist groups, were investigated, questioned and their lives ruined.

http://www.wlns.com/Global/story.asp?S=2539623&nav=0RbQSuO5

Also see this article:

Welcome to the Matrix - Inside the Government’s Secret, Corporate-Run Mega-Database

Jul 9 - In what civil liberties advocates call the most massive database surveillance program in US history, the Multistate Anti-Terrorism Information Exchange, or Matrix, continues to compile billions of records on law-abiding citizens and receive federal funding, despite public outcry and suspicion."

http://newstandardnews.net/content/?action=show_item&itemid=662

[Ranec]

1. And the intelligence reforms will put this all in the hands of the feds

The main impulse after 9/11 has been to collect more information, and centralize it more and more.