Tuesday, October 31, 2006

The Total Information Awareness Network Just Won't Go Away



I remember when they first issued those "discount cards" over at my local supermarket.

I got really angry. I was used to getting specials like 10 for a dollar Top Ramen without having to wave away all my privacy rights.

But maybe the desire to spy on me came from another source. Because Big Business is snooping on my privacy for no better reason than to gleam the counter-intuitive notion that they should have placed Kleenex next to the orange juice.

If this obsession with destroying my privacy boundaries isn't just another example Late Capitalism "in its final death throws," then perhaps we should look to someplace more sinister for our concerns.

Indy Media is now reporting that the Total Information Awareness program is back and still intact. It has just had its name changed and has now been classified top secret.

"The TIA is program also aimed to detect patterns of suspect terrorist behavior by data-mining huge stores of information about everyday transactions like credit card purchases, telephone calls and travel records."

I might add in a conspiratorial voice that Google's has links to the CIA, AT&T has cooperated with the NSA, we've passed a national i.d. card, and Halliburton is building internment camps for "terrorists" and democrats inside the US.

It's not that much of a stretch to imagine that all this activity is meant for the benefit of one entity. George W. Bush's Third Term Election Committee.™

No comments: