Reassuring news... not!
Nov. 19th, 2002 08:59 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alexpgpThis morning's The Wall Street Journal devotes two columns above the page-one fold to a story on how a "watch list" develped by the FBI in the wake of September 11 has developed "a life of its own."
"Shortly after Sept. 11, the FBI had entrusted a quickly developed watch list to scores of corporations around the country," says the story, continuing on to note how the list was circulated to banks, car rental companies, travel reservation systems, consumer data collection firms (presumably these are credit agencies) and casino operators.
"A year later, the list has taken on a life of its own, with multiplying - and error-filled - versions being passed around like bootleg music. Some companies fed a version of the list into their own databases and now use it to screen job applicants and customers." And despite the fact that the list included people the FBI didn't suspect but just wanted to talk to, the WSJ notes that a web page in South Africa carreis a copy of the list, obtained from Venezuela, titled "List of suspected terrorists sent by the FBI to financial institutions."
And from today's USA Today, in a story about how a court has cleared the way for implementing domestic spying provisions that had earlier been struck down, AG Ashcroft is quoted as saying how this decision "revolutionizes" the government's ability to "catch terrorists."
While such language can be expected of any prosecutor, it should be noted that what has really been revolutionized is the state's ability to catch anyone doing anything.
I need to go on a news-free diet...
Cheers...
"Shortly after Sept. 11, the FBI had entrusted a quickly developed watch list to scores of corporations around the country," says the story, continuing on to note how the list was circulated to banks, car rental companies, travel reservation systems, consumer data collection firms (presumably these are credit agencies) and casino operators.
"A year later, the list has taken on a life of its own, with multiplying - and error-filled - versions being passed around like bootleg music. Some companies fed a version of the list into their own databases and now use it to screen job applicants and customers." And despite the fact that the list included people the FBI didn't suspect but just wanted to talk to, the WSJ notes that a web page in South Africa carreis a copy of the list, obtained from Venezuela, titled "List of suspected terrorists sent by the FBI to financial institutions."
And from today's USA Today, in a story about how a court has cleared the way for implementing domestic spying provisions that had earlier been struck down, AG Ashcroft is quoted as saying how this decision "revolutionizes" the government's ability to "catch terrorists."
While such language can be expected of any prosecutor, it should be noted that what has really been revolutionized is the state's ability to catch anyone doing anything.
I need to go on a news-free diet...
Cheers...
