Centers Tap Into Personal Databases

[flashl]

State Groups Were Formed After 9/11

Intelligence centers run by states across the country have access to personal information about millions of Americans, including unlisted cellphone numbers, insurance claims, driver's license photographs and credit reports, according to a document obtained by The Washington Post.

...

Dozens of the organizations known as fusion centers were created after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks to identify potential threats and improve the way information is shared. The centers use law enforcement analysts and sophisticated computer systems to compile, or fuse, disparate tips and clues and pass along the refined information to other agencies. They are expected to play important roles in national information-sharing networks that link local, state and federal authorities and enable them to automatically sift their storehouses of records for patterns and clues.

Though officials have publicly discussed the fusion centers' importance to national security, they have generally declined to elaborate on the centers' activities. But a document that lists resources used by the fusion centers shows how a dozen of the organizations in the northeastern United States rely far more on access to commercial and government databases than had previously been disclosed.

Those details have come to light at a time of debate about domestic intelligence efforts, including eavesdropping and data-aggregation programs at the National Security Agency, and whether the government has enough protections in place to prevent abuses.

Washington Post

Everyone is watching the Feds who is watching the states?

[formercia]

1. Not to worry

Most of them use the databases to see who their ex is boinking.

[flashl]

2. Wasn't this how Choice Point got a leg up to become the #1 provider of info to govt?

[formercia]

5. Stalking on the cheap

Stalk your ex without leaving your desk.

With the price of gas these days, it's going to become even more popular.

[flashl]

7. True. There are many stories about unauthorized use. nt

[ThomWV]

3. Here is a link to a list of the states that have them

http://epic.org/privacy/fusion/state-fusion.pdf

and other information that should have any reasonable person up in arms.

[flashl]

6. Thanks for the post. Those fusion centers? Guess what ...

ChoicePoint Government Services is a leading provider of fusion center technology and implementation. Our flexible approach allows us to create a fusion


ChoicePoint (NYSE: CPS) is a data aggregation company based in Alpharetta, near Atlanta, Georgia, USA, that acts as a private intelligence service to government and industry ... The firm maintains more than 17 billion records of individuals and businesses, which it sells to an estimated 100,000 clients, including 7,000 federal, state and local law enforcement agencies (30 March 2005 estimates) ... ChoicePoint's database of personal information contains names, addresses, Social Security numbers, credit reports, and other sensitive data. In 2005, this database contained 250 terabytes of data on 220 million people ... The company's acquisition of publicly listed investigative database company - DBT Online of Boca Raton, Florida - for US$444 million in 2000 led to its involvement in the Florida Election Controversy in the 2000 US presidential elections ... ChoicePoint was "the number one" provider of DNA info to the FBI.

The Spies Who Shag Us: HR 811, ChoicePoint, and our elections For the government to collect this stuff is against the law unless you're suspected of a crime. (The law in question is the Constitution.) But ChoicePoint can collect it for "commercial" purchases -- and under the Bush Administration's suspect reading of the Patriot Act -- our domestic spying apparatchiks can then BUY the info from ChoicePoint.

[ThomWV]

4. Look at the Governmental network this creates and think about the line of authority

Look at the list of the states that have these monsters and notice which state agency they reside under. In some it is the State Police, in others its the State's National Guard. They are all tied together by 25 (soon to be 30) coordinators in the centers who come from the Department of Homeland Security. So we have the police tied directly to the National Guard which is now directly under the authority of the President under his supposed Article 2 authority. In short we have the perfect alignment for the Police-State all if it outside of the purview of the Congress or any other legislative body - federal or state.

[nashville_brook]

8. does anyone even know HOW MANY so-called "agencies" have access to my PERSONAL EFFING INFORMATION?

"fusion centers?" give me a break.