My story yesterday in Wired News focused on an anti-spam company that folded after riling a spammer in control of a huge botnet and re-invented itself as a platform for citizen activism. Privacy
Alert Network is one of the first implementations, and launched with a way to submit official comments about the government's newly detailed program to screen travelers into and out of the country. The process of commenting on the Automated Targeting System is predicatibly cumbersome (hell, you can't even link to comments already submitted).
So what have citizens said using the tool?
Technorati Tags: ats, automatedtargetingsystem, privacy, privacyalertnetwork
It's a mixed bag. Some have simply cut-and-pasted talking points, others have intelligent things to say, and one guy used his CAPS LOCK key to write NEW WORLD ORDER 12 times.
Garrison L. said
I do not doubt the admirable intention of the DHS ATS–to protect us, and to make us safer. I do not doubt that perceived threats require agile and imaginative responses, and that the analysis of diffuse information silos may yield novel insight. But if the DHS finds so much promise in the data, then the DHS must also foresee–perhaps better and more fully than any others–the frightening implications of its inevitable misuse. The unwillingness of the government to acknowledge this suggests, at best, hubris and naivete; at worst, a dark and fearful future.
Owen said:
I am not opposed to a risk assessment system, as long as it has gone through public review and that sufficient oversight of the program exists through both the legislative and judicial branches of government. As well, individuals who have been targeted as high risk need a path of recourse to challenge such a rating.
Please bring all such programs into the public eye for public review and comment. If they are indeed righteous, then they should withstand such scrutiny.
Larry K.'s message was simpler:
Homeland security is run by the Devil.
But David H. thinks the young whippersnappers doth complain too much:
I am 79 years old. I lived during WWII. We lost a lot of our freedoms and rights during that war. When it was over, we got them back. This is WWIII and if we don't take it seriouly, we will be living under Islamic Law. You young people with high testosterone titers just don't get it. You better soon before we lose what we have.
