On Thursday, January 30, 2003, at 02:41 PM, Bill Stewart wrote:
Washington: In a daring attempt to avoid identification by the
Ministry of Total Information Awareness, the Senate resorted to a
voice vote when blocking TIA's funding, hoping that without
a written record, individual Senators might not be caught.
TIA cameras ###.###.#### and ###.###.#### [redacted], however,
observed ## of the Senators during the vote, and estimates
are that the voiceprint recognition systems can resolve
the identities of the other ## ungood terrorist sympathizers,
so they can have the impact on their civil liberties explained
more .... directly.
--------------
http://reuters.com/ newsArticle.jhtml?type=technologyNews&storyID=2101454
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Saying they feared government snooping against
ordinary Americans, U.S. senators voted on Thursday to block funding for a
Pentagon computer project that would scour databases for terrorist threats.
By a voice vote, the Senate voted to ban funding for the Total Information
Awareness program, under former national security adviser John Poindexter,
until the Pentagon explains the program and assesses its impact on civil
liberties.
The history of nearly all such statist encroachments is that first there is curiosity, then outrage, then a demand for more details, then closed hearings, then "If you only knew what we know" comments on the Sunday talk shows, then a vote to approve a stronger version of the original statist plan.
--Tim May
