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| National Dragnet Is a Click Away |
| 2008-03-07 |
| Authorities to Gain Fast and Expansive Access to Records Several thousand law enforcement agencies are creating the foundation of a domestic intelligence system through computer networks that analyze vast amounts of police information to fight crime and root out terror plots. As federal authorities struggled to meet information-sharing mandates after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, police agencies from Alaska and California to the Washington region poured millions of criminal and investigative records into shared digital repositories called data warehouses, giving investigators and analysts new power to discern links among people, patterns of behavior and other hidden clues. Those network efforts will begin expanding further this month, as some local and state agencies connect to a fledgling Justice Department system called the National Data Exchange, or N-DEx. Federal authorities hope N-DEx will become what one called a "one-stop shop" enabling federal law enforcement, counterterrorism and intelligence analysts to automatically examine the enormous caches of local and state records for the first time. Although Americans have become accustomed to seeing dazzling examples of fictional crime-busting gear on television and in movies, law enforcement's search for clues has in reality involved a mundane mix of disjointed computers, legwork and luck. These new systems are transforming that process. "It's going from the horse-and-buggy days to the space age, that's what it's like," said Sgt. Chuck Violette of the Tucson police department, one of almost 1,600 law enforcement agencies that uses a commercial data-mining system called Coplink. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #3 Thank you, N/A. I do love Rantburgers! |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2008-03-07 22:21 |
| #2 Data feeds are NOT real time and are secured. All submissions have MULTIPLE audit trails. Law enforcement officials are not permitted to act on info in the repository without contacting the originating agency. |
| Posted by: N/A 2008-03-07 17:04 |
| #1 This promises to be an utter nightmare for a simple reason. Local police should be able to use such toys, but should not be allowed to directly modify them. It should have information clearinghouse nodes for them to submit data. Very high security nodes. With something comparable to "surety" for data entry. Right now, there is a terrible problem at the local law level with cops misusing the existing databases to do things like spy on ex-wives and celebrities. They have no more self control than an equivalent number of truck drivers. The potential for "authorized" abuse is enormous, and that is before even considering "unauthorized" or hacker attacks. Every villain and government on the planet is going to want a back door to this system, and will be able to get one. Organized crime will have a field day. And heaven help us all if they figure out some way of accessing the FBI's high security criminal databases. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2008-03-07 10:09 |