Pentagon building teen database for military recruiting

[UpInArms]

http://www.startribune.com/stories/484/5471542.html

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Defense Department began working Wednesday with a private marketing firm to create a database of all U.S. college students and high school students between 16 and 18 years old, to help the military identify potential recruits in a time of dwindling enlistment in some branches.

The program is provoking a furor among privacy advocates. The new database will include an array of personal information including birth dates, Social Security numbers, e-mail addresses, grade point averages, ethnicity and what subjects the students are studying.

The data will be managed by BeNow Inc. of Wakefield, Mass., one of many marketing firms that use computers to analyze large amounts of data to target potential customers based on their personal profiles and habits.

"The purpose of the system ... is to provide a single central facility within the Department of Defense to compile, process and distribute files of individuals who meet age and minimum school requirements for military service," according to the official notice of the program.

Privacy advocates said the plan appeared to be an effort to circumvent laws that restrict the government's right to collect or hold citizen information by turning to private firms to do the work.

...more...

[SCRUBDASHRUB]

1. I feel a Draft in the air...

[whistle]

2. That sounds like a draft to me....

...and there are 20.9 million both sexes between 15 to 19 years old

[DBoon]

7. And with this database draft evasion will be almost impossible

nt

[Lars39]

46. Yep, the borders will be closed to those on the list.

And those on the list will also be on a special "no fly" list, too.

[Mountainman]

3. Should be called cannon fodder data base, What can a PNACer do with no

kids to send to war.

Hell just build a data base of all the kids of republican contributers and enlist them forcibly.

You want to support the war support the troops? Send you kid and support him/her. Repuke college kids say the best thing they can do for their country is to get a good education and a high paying job so they can contribute to the economy and create jobs for us poor folk.

[whistle]

13. How about just one national democratic candidate switching...

...over to the republican side and keeping democratic affiliation. Isn't that person entitled to the entire registered democratic database also? That makes the whole database available to repukes to use as they wish.

[earthboundmisfit]

4. A PRIVATE MARKETING firm?!? Access to MILLIONS of kids' SS Nos? Oh good.

Lovely. Just fuckin' lovely.
So you get to opt out of it, yeah - AFTER you're in the system, and you're actually still in the file, just in a "special area". Uh-uh. Fuck this shit. This had better not happen. :grr:

[Dark]

44. And don't forget about the 40 million CC#s stolen from another

private firm. What's to prevent someone like that from stealing people's SS#s?

[TwilightZone]

5. Most of this information was already readily available thanks to NCLB.

Automatic reporting of high school student info was an item quietly buried in No Child Left Behind.

You can opt of the NCLB's reporting of your kids' info to the Pentagon, but that cuts off reporting to colleges, too.

It should have been called No Child Left Undrafted.

[trogdor]

30. They don't just want your name and phone #

They want your email address, what games you play online, who you IM, what websites you visit, what garbage you got Dad to order for you from Amazon, all that shit. It's marketing - the more they know about you, the better they can target your ass.

[liveoaktx]

6. Outrageous- the Pentagon would keep the info of those who opt out, too

in a "suppression" file. I'm about to loudly complain tomorrow.

[GiovanniC]

17. Isn't That Some Shit?

You don't want us to keep your name, social security number, date of birth, GPA, classes, and other information that a state government entity collected and turn over to a federal government entity which then turned it over to a private corporation on file?

Okay, we'll just put all that information into a file for people who don't want to be part of the other file.

HELLO, DIPSHITS...

[wellst0nev0ter]

8. Can't They Just Stick To The Membership Rolls

of College Republicans and Young Americans for Freedom??

I mean, go where the demand is high, right??

[saigon68]

9. More waste of Tax Money

Its a good thing we have solved

Homelessness

Hunger

and

Drugs for Seniors

Problems.

[bemildred]

28. Yep, complete bullshit.

The problem is not that they don't have enough data.
The problem is that they don't have enough volunteer cannon fodder.

[noamnety]

10. Ethnicity?

Why exactly would they need that?

[ClintonTyree]

19. The poor....

are most likely to join the military out of necessity. Most of the poor in our nation are among minorities. Ergo; Blacks, Hispanics etc. will be targeted more forcefully than non-poor (White) young adults.

It's always been that way. The poor fight the rich man's wars for him. It's as American as apple pie! :grr:

[noamnety]

22. I know, but

it's one thing to go to an inner city or poor rural school because it's the average income is low ... it's another to specifically target blacks no matter what their income is.

It's racist either way, but this is so blatant and trackable that I would hope we can prove discrimination and nail them for it. There's no legitimate reason for them to treat someone different because they are black, hispanic, etc.

[ClintonTyree]

24. Exactamundo.....

but WILL anyone call them on it? I certainly hope so, but I wouldn't bet one nickel that someone will and succeed in doing so. It tears at my heart to see minorities fight for so hard for this country and then be denied equal opportunities when they return from doing so. They're starting to wake up to reality now, the Army is having a devil of a time reaching their enlistment quotas. Their seemingly endless supply of poor, minority cannon fodder is drying up, and they're getting panicked because of it.

[IndianaGreen]

11. We need someone impacted by this to file suit against the Pentagon

We should also start thinking about organizing an underground railroad to help young men escape conscription when that time comes. Check among your fellow peace activists! I know that there has been talk around where I live about this.

Protect human life! Save a young man from the draft!

[ngGale]

12. Draft is getting chilly...

wonder if their are any Repub kids on the list. Or, does the top 1% not have to serve. How are they parsing out this illegal info?

[Qanisqineq]

14. Pentagon Creating Student Database

Pentagon Creating Student Database
Recruiting Tool For Military Raises Privacy Concerns

By Jonathan Krim
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, June 23, 2005; Page A01

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/22/AR2005062202305.html?referrer=email&referrer=email

The Defense Department began working yesterday with a private marketing firm to create a database of high school students ages 16 to 18 and all college students to help the military identify potential recruits in a time of dwindling enlistment in some branches.

The program is provoking a furor among privacy advocates. The new database will include personal information including birth dates, Social Security numbers, e-mail addresses, grade-point averages, ethnicity and what subjects the students are studying.

<snip>

"The purpose of the system . . . is to provide a single central facility within the Department of Defense to compile, process and distribute files of individuals who meet age and minimum school requirements for military service," according to the official notice of the program.

Privacy advocates said the plan appeared to be an effort to circumvent laws that restrict the government's right to collect or hold citizen information by turning to private firms to do the work.

[leftofcool]

15. Can you spell DRAFT???????????

Of course, they won't call it that........."operation patriotism"?

Left of Cool

[cornermouse]

16. They should call it "operation cannonfodder".

It would be more honest.

[YankeyMCC]

18. How do the freepers

reconcile this? Shouldn't their heads be exploding over the intrusion of government into private lives? Or am I expecting to much logic and consistency of thought from them?

[ClintonTyree]

23. They don't care....

you see, they're part of the "winning team", or at least, they THINK they are. It's the same type of reaction to sports teams. If your team is winning, everyone comes out of the woodwork to support them.

Bush won (?) the election, so they associate themselves with the "winning" team. Their team can do NO wrong and they'll back them until they start losing. When they lose, they're not nearly as supportive. The Cons' "losing season" is approaching rapidly. Many will jump off the band wagon as soon as they can't identify with the "winners" any more.

It all boils down to that childish " winners and losers" mentality. What they don't understand is that even though they're the "winners", they're LOSING because their "winning team" doesn't give one crap about them. They're screwing their supporters royally, but they're too stupid to realize it because they're basking in the glory of being on the "winning team".

[converted_democrat]

25. That is one of the best analogies I've ever heard. n/t

[Solly Mack]

20. Compiling a list of the vulnerable and

the poor

Heartless fucks.

[BiggJawn]

21. I deface recruiting flyers.

They pop up on campus and on the bullrtin boards at the grocery and other places.Mostly from the Guard and Reserves.

"Money for COLLEGE!!!!" "Just ONE weekend a MONTH!!!!"
"BIG BONUS! $$$$$$$ FOR SIGNING UP!!!!"

I write "Sign up for the 'weekend' that NEVER ends and DIE in Iraq" on them.

And don't lecture me about how that's "vandalism", because I don't give a rosy rat's ass, unnerstan? these are our KIDS I'm trying to save. What, you think a sheet of laser-printed cheap-assed GSA office paper is worth MORE than a young person's LIFE?

I don't. And I hope one of those used-car salesmen catches me marking up his sheet of lies, too.

[ClintonTyree]

27. Good for you....

it's about time some 60's radicalism crept back onto College Campuses everywhere. Question everything, DO NOT allow the corporate war machine to gain a foothold on your Campus!

I know, I'm an old Hippie that did the same as you and MUCH more in those days. Those were heady times, and YOUR time in NOW!

[BiggJawn]

35. That was almost "my time" too....

I'm almost 50...:-)

[Cerridwen]

26. And beyond the draft....

Once the need for cannon-fodder has come and gone, if ever, they will have the beginnings of a national database of U.S. citizens.

I guess it's finally true when a teacher or parent warns an "indiscretion" will go on our "permanent record."

[WhiteTara]

29. Sounds like take your children and run for your life!

Learn a new language and find a safe place to keep your children safe from these monsters.

[liveoaktx]

31. BeNow -their phone number

800-660-5125
Call and complain and ask why they are collecting data on MINORS without parental notification and permission.

[liveoaktx]

33. It appears to me BeNow took themselves OffLine CALL THEM

and complain. Maybe they didn't want people online to see their client list, which contained at LEAST Hamm Schl (can't spell it but the gadget people)

[Postman]

32. Now you know why "privatization" is so coddled by republicans...

they can violate the Constitution at will.

Same logic behind "private" contractors in Iraq. To circumvent and violate established law.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

34. Fixed: replace "recruits" with "conscripts"

The Defense Department began working Wednesday with a private marketing firm to create a database of all U.S. college students and high school students between 16 and 18 years old, to help the military identify potential recruits in a time of dwindling enlistment in some branches.

[annabanana]

36. Bypassing parents.........

When the study showed that parents are running interference to protect their kids from recruiters, they had to find some way to "get" to them without the meddling of wiser heads.

[maddezmom]

37. kick

:kick:

[Quetzal]

38. Pentagon Creating Student Database

Pentagon Creating Student Database

The Defense Department began working yesterday with a private marketing firm to create a database of high school students ages 16 to 18 and all college students to help the military identify potential recruits in a time of dwindling enlistment in some branches.

The program is provoking a furor among privacy advocates. The new database will include personal information including birth dates,
Social Security numbers, e-mail addresses, grade-point averages, ethnicity and what subjects the students are studying.

The data will be managed by BeNow Inc. of Wakefield, Mass., one of many marketing firms that use computers to analyze large amounts of data to target potential customers based on their personal profiles and habits.

more...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/washpost/20050623/tc_washpost/pentagon_creating_student_database

[Atman]

39. Ahem...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=1878698&mesg_id=1878698

[Moderator]

40. Kick

:kick:

[For PaisAn]

41. Tom Toles does it again

"Can we tell them it's a field trip?"

Toles is one of the best.

[MountainLaurel]

45. Thanks for sharing.

I *heart* Tom Toles.

[brokensymmetry]

42. Important information!

:kick:

[SlavesandBulldozers]

43. kicking

:kick:

[liveoaktx]

47. Lt Col Eileen Krenke- 703-697-5134 - Contact person at the Pentagon

given this person by BeNow, the marketing company doing the Pentagon's dirty work for filthy lucre.

[Dr Fate]

48. Why would you need this for an "all volunteer" army?

The answer is blowing in the draft!

[Lerkfish]

49. more to the point, why would you need social security numbers...

...unless you were planning on hunting down draft dodgers.
If it were only for recruiting, an address would be sufficient.

[Danieljay]

50. this is in ADDITION to the new national ID database which slipped

through in a military appropiations bill.

Was it just me or were the republicans against national ID's and for less government back in the 90's. I seem to remember fears of jackbooted thugs with blue helmets invading American's homes, etc. Now..it seems...this is the VERY thing they are wanting.

[Danieljay]

51. My short email to BeNow.....(and email link)

Your website states....

"Welcome. In virtually any industry, you can point to companies that challenge perceptions and redefine the price/value ratio. Think Southwest Airlines, Starbucks, Charles Schwab....

(you forgot to add "Pentagon" here)

"At BeNOW, that's what we've done to Database Marketing."

My question for you is...what is the price/value ratio on the lives of teenagers of whom's personal information you are providing the Pentagon to support the war in Iraq?? The blood of Americas young will now be on your hands for an unjust war based all on a pack of lies.

Congratulations on your new contract.

[email protected]