Wednesday, February 28, 2007

TIA phoenix rises from the ashes

It seems the Total Information Awareness surveillance system lives again, having been canned by Congress in 2003, allegedly due to privacy concerns but primarily due to its cost and lack of effectiveness. The new version is to be called Analysis, Dissemination, Visualization, Insight and Semantic Enhancement (ADVISE). When they've burnt through a few million more US taxpayers dollars they'll find out that this one doesn't work either. When will they get the message that statisitically the false positives and false negatives make it impossible for these systems to be of any practical use apart from being wielded as security theatre.

Thanks to HJ Affleck at FIPR for the link.

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