

Intelligence Improperly Collected on U.S. Citizens - d4ft
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/17/us/17disclose.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

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tsally
I think what's scary is that this doesn't get me nearly as angry as it used
to.

EDIT: Actually the incidents in the article are fairly tame. There are much
more egregious examples.

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johnl
Doesn't sound good at first glance. In defense of their actions is that by
studying different groups (and I mean that in the mathematical sense) you will
make whatever you are looking for stand out much clearer. Creating patterns of
each group might make forecasting their actions a bit easier and be able to
pick up an unknown group within the general population. Just my thoughts.

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clavalle
I am shocked. SHOCKED!

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drhowarddrfine
"In all three cases, after other Homeland Security Department officials raised
concerns, copies of the reports were destroyed. The agency also held a
workshop on intelligence-gathering “while ensuring the protection of civil
rights and civil liberties”

Someone made an error. They corrected themselves. iow, nothing happened.

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bediger
It's great that they corrected themselves and all, but why didn't this come
out in public? It seems to have taken an FOIA to get it out there.

Also, the "error" is particularly egregious and Stasi-like: collect info on
people doing something legal, nay, constitutionally protected. It's also very
typical for US Secret Police to do. The COINTELPRO program infiltrated Quaker
organizations in the 60s, some DoD office did it before Gulf War I, and
someone seems to be trying it today:
<http://www.afsc.org/ht/display/ContentDetails/i/5264/pid/268>

I suspect the Secret Police tries to infiltrate Quaker organizations because
it's so easy: they welcome just about anyone, and do all their work out in
public, unlike less trustworthy organizations like the DHS and TSA.

