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Delivered-To: dfarber+@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Wed, 24 Sep 2003 15:48:44 -0700
From: "Meeks, Brock (MSNBCi)" <Brock.Meeks@xxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Civillian "TIA"
To: "'dave@xxxxxxxxxx'" <dave@xxxxxxxxxx>
[Sorry I don't have the AP reporter's name that wrote the story. -- Brock
Associated Press
States build terror database resembling controversial federal project
NEW YORK (AP) - While privacy worries are frustrating the Pentagon's plans
for a far-reaching database to combat terrorism, a similar project is
quietly taking shape with the participation of more than a dozen states --
and $12 million in federal funds.
The database project, created so states and local authorities can track
would-be terrorists as well as criminal fugitives, is being built and
housed in the offices of a private company but will be open to some federal
law enforcers and perhaps even U.S. intelligence agencies.
Dubbed Matrix, the database has been in use for a year and a half in
Florida, where police praise the crime-fighting tool as nimble and
exhaustive. It cross-references the state's driving records and restricted
police files with billions of public and private data, including credit and
property records.
But privacy advocates, officials in two states and a competing data vendor
have branded Matrix as playing fast and loose with Americans' private details.
They complain that Matrix houses restricted police and government files on
colossal databases that sit in the offices of Seisint Inc., a Boca Raton,
Fla., company founded by a millionaire whom police say flew planeloads of
drugs into the country in the early 1980s.
``It's federally funded, it's guarded by state police but it's on private
property? That's very interesting,'' said Christopher Slobogin, a
University of Florida law professor and expert in privacy issues. ``If it's
federally funded, the federal government obviously has a huge interest in it.''
Matrix was initially intended to track terrorists, as was the Pentagon's
Terrorism Information Awareness project, which sparked a congressional
uproar and got watered down.
As a dozen more states pool their criminal and government files with
Florida's, Matrix databases are expanding in size and power. Organizers
hope to coax more states to join, touting its usefulness in everyday policing.
But California and Texas dropped out, citing, among other things, worries
over housing sensitive files at Seisint. And a competing data vendor,
ChoicePoint Inc., decided not to bid on the project, saying it lacked
adequate privacy safeguards.
Aspects of the project appear designed to steer around federal laws that
bar the U.S. government from collecting routine data on Americans.
For instance, the project is billed as a tool for state and local police,
but organizers are considering giving access to the Central Intelligence
Agency, said Phil Ramer, special agent in charge of the Florida Department
of Law Enforcement's intelligence office.
In the 1970s, Congress barred the CIA from scanning files on average
Americans, after the agency was cited for spying on U.S. civil rights leaders.
``The CIA doesn't have this now,'' Ramer said. ``That's a major political
issue we'll have to cross.''
Florida officials have acknowledged that users of Matrix, which stands for
Multistate Anti-Terrorism Information Exchange, can ``monitor innocent
citizens.''
Ramer and others say, however, that unscrupulous spying will be prevented
through Florida police oversight of Matrix users, along with audits and
background checks on people with access to the database.
Officials stressed that Matrix data is already available to police, but
Seisint has figured out how to do in a few minutes what normally takes weeks.
The Matrix system was created as a tangled amalgam of private and state
ownership and federal funding. It gives investigators access to personal
data, like boat registrations and property deeds, without the government
possibly violating the 1974 Privacy Act by owning the files.
Unlike the Pentagon project, Matrix is governed by rules that don't let
police sift aimlessly through records. Rather, analysts are supposed to
focus on actual crimes and suspects, Ramer said.
``It's not some secret undercover operation,'' Ramer said. ``We just want
to be more efficient using technology.''
A bill in Congress seeks to restrict the government's data mining on
Americans. The bill, sponsored by Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Russ
Feingold, D-Wis., wouldn't bar the type of focused searches done in
Florida, but would require federal agencies to report their use of these
types of private databases.
Privacy advocates say police tools like Matrix can undermine a free society
because they're often used beyond their intended purposes.
Because the databases often contain inaccuracies, they increase the
potential for wrongful arrests and employment discrimination, said Evan
Hendricks, publisher of Privacy Times, based in Bethesda, Md.
``There's no oversight for this type of stuff,'' Hendricks said.
Matrix is headquartered in Florida, a state known for its open public
records laws. Criminal history files in the database are maintained by 15
Seisint employees, watched over by Florida state police, Ramer said.
Yet a Florida Department of Law Enforcement memo obtained by The Associated
Press shows potential lapses in oversight. The memo says background checks
on Seisint's Matrix workers took place only last month, more than a year
into the program, and a privacy policy governing the database's use has yet
to be finalized.
Privately held Seisint landed a contract to build Matrix -- and receive
$9.5 million in federal funds -- without having to compete against similar
vendors.
Seisint declined to comment for this story, referring a reporter to
Seisint's public relations representative, Amber Zentis of Qorvis
Communications, who asked that questions be e-mailed. The company did not
answer those questions.
Ramer and other organizers say Matrix's spur-of-the-moment roots and
efforts to keep it affordable are responsible for much of the controversy.
The project was not designed to skirt federal laws, Ramer said.
In the weeks after Sept. 11, Florida police demonstrated Matrix to federal
officials including Vice President Dick Cheney. Seisint won federal grants
and exclusive development rights because of ``time limitations, costs to
develop, and search methodologies'' that work better than competitors',
said Justice Department spokeswoman Sheila Jerusalem.
The Department of Homeland Security is paying Seisint $8 million for data
analysis and will have direct access to Matrix, Jerusalem said. Justice has
spent another $4 million.
FBI task forces in Florida already use Matrix, and agents elsewhere will
get access through the states, Ramer said.
There are other potential users. One is the Transportation Security
Administration, which oversees the forthcoming CAPPS II program to screen
airline passengers for terror ties, Ramer said.
``Everyone who's seen it wants it, believe me,'' he said.
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