Privacy Safeguards Deep-Sixed

Two computer projects designed to preserve the privacy of Americans were quietly killed while Congress was restricting Pentagon data-gathering research in a widely publicized effort to protect citizens from futuristic anti-terrorism tools.

As a result, the government is quietly pressing ahead with research into high-powered computer data-mining technology without the two most advanced privacy protections developed to police those terror-fighting tools.

This one's a little tricky. Here's the deal: The Pentagon was researching the Total Information Awareness program (later renamed to something related to terrorism). They were also, according to Wired, researching privacy safeguards that would have preserved anonymonity until concrete evidence was discovered. When the TIA stink occurred, Congress canceled funding for the program. True to form, the Pentagon renamed it and put it somewhere else. But they dropped the privacy safeguards in the process.

Should we start a clamor for those safeguards? No. If we clamor for "Total Information Awareness with safeguards" that's what we'll get. The party line is clear: we do not want TIA at all. Stop it. Kill it dead. Fuck the "safeguards".