No sequel for "MATRIX" data-mining project

[liveoaktx]

http://news.com.com/2061-10789_3-5676596.html?part=rss&tag=5676596&subj=news

A little-known but powerful government database, which had featured information on millions of Americans, is no more.

The Justice Department created the pilot project, which went by the contrived acronym of MATRIX (Multistate Anti-TeRrorism Information eXchange), and made it available to state and local police starting in 1998. Now the grant has expired.

Data was provided by Seisint, a data-mining firm recently embroiled in a flap over an intrusion into its databases that may have compromised the information of about 310,000 Americans. Seisint is owned by Lexis-Nexis.

While MATRIX officially concluded as a federal pilot project on April 15, it could live on if states decide to cough up the cash necessary to keep it going. Some say they will. Florida says it's "independently negotiating the continued use" of the application.

[EVDebs]

1. CAPPS II and the Bahamas based co. with Ben Bell III will get the info

It's all part of Total Information Awareness which hasn't gone away.

[librechik]

2. that's what they want us to believe, anyway. n/t