The American Civil Liberties Union warned yesterday that government and business are combining forces to create a total surveillance society.
"Database inefficienceis can’t be expected to protect our privacy," said Barry Steinhardt, director of the ACLU’s Technology and Liberty program and co-author of the report in a statement. "Eventually, businesses and government agencies will settle on standards for tying together information—and gain the ability to monitor many of our activities—either directly through surveillance cameras, or indirectly by analyzing the information trails we leave behind us as we go through life."
Steinhardt cited the Pentagon’s Total Information Awareness program (TIA), which will enable government sleuths to sift through any number of databases for information on individuals.
The report cites "erosions in protections against government spying, the increasing amount of tracking being carried out by the private sector, and the growing intersection between the two."
Steinhardt added, "Many people still do not grasp that Big Brother surveillance is no longer the stuff of books and movies. "Given the capabilities of today’s technology, the only thing protecting us from a full-fledged surveillance society are the legal and politcal institutions we have inherited as Americans. Unfortunately, the Sept. 11 attaks have led some to embrace the fallacy that weakening the Constitution will strengthen America."
