I do not mean to dump on you or any poster, but my own system capacity in the face of the current trend to shift constitutional burdens that were meant to restrain government onto individual citizens has been running low of late.

The data will be kept permanently, allowing more intricate and refined searches to be done over time as more sophisticated analysis software is developed. The progression may be like moving from finding the tree rings aesthetically pleasing to being able to determine the tree’s age, growth rates and local weather and climate conditions (including chemical contaminants) throughout its life.

We have had precious little debate about what’s being done and how it ought to be regulated and, most especially, what the parameters should be for public/private analysis and use of this data should be, and what rights the private citizen should have in connection with use and misuse.

The Bush administration wants no rules binding the executive branch for any purpose. It doesn’t want its citizens to know what’s being done, much less to participate in the process or have enforceable rights concerning it. Civil society cannot survive that policy. What will we do about it?

“One small step for man, one giant leap for surveillance state Amerika.”

Lockheed Martin Orincon and Authentica to Develop Solution to Mitigate Insider Threats within Intelligence Community

Lockheed Martin Orincon, a diversified systems integration and information technology company, and Authentica, a leading provider of content security software for enterprise messaging and document sharing environments, today announced that the Advanced Research and Development Activity (ARDA) has contracted with them to protect the intelligence community from insider threats to information security.

The companies will work together on a joint program, VOLTAIRE, a system that will provide next-generation protection against information attacks by insiders – specifically with respect to document access – by reasoning about insiders’ behavior…

Leakers and Whistleblowers, look out!

Compare that to the article I linked to @ 10. I think CACI has a subcontract in this overall project.

FBI awards Lockheed Martin $1B biometrics contract

…The FBI said the new system will move beyond what it called a “dependency on a unimodal (fingerprints) biometric identifier” and incorporate multimodal biometrics such as iris and facial imaging. Indeed the deal is a major upgrade to the FBI’s Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System because it lets the agency more easily share anti-terrorism information with domestic and international partners and may include other identifiers, including palm prints, iris scans and facial recognition, an Associated Press story stated.

It also will include data on known criminals and terrorists, as well as information on foreign visitors to the U.S. whose fingerprints and digital photographs were collected under a separate Department of Homeland Security program that monitors people entering the U.S. via air, land and sea, the AP said…

So some of the lobbying was for faith-based initiatives and low-powered broadcast, as well as media consolidation. There also had to be a counterpart to St. John in the House on these fronts.

When young Kevin took over as FCC chairman from Colin Powell’s son a few years back, he froze all decision making for weeks. Even routine actions such as one or two-day filing extensions had to be approved by the chairman’s office. This was purportedly so that he could “get a handle” on his agency, even though he had been a commissioner, and before that, the commission’s top lawyer.

It’s normal for a commissioner to change his or her top staff, revise procedures and adjust priorities, but this action seemed well outside the norm. Scuttlebutt explained it to Cheney – who is obsessed with controlling his bureaucrats – wanting to get a better handle on things. In any event, more matters went up to the chairman’s office and decisions took longer to come down. Pundits claimed this was owing to conflicts in Cheney’s schedule and his need to network with his media network.

Apart from a series of major telecoms mergers, Martin has presided over a string of media consolidations. He recently held a nationwide dog ‘n pony show, in which he sought input about enhancing media consolidation. In hastily scheduled visits across the country, he repeatedly heard the case against consolidation. Needless to say, on returning to Washington, he put enhanced consolidation on the fast track.

Nothing like a guy who listens to his constituency. And Kevin Martin is nothing like a guy who listens to his constituency.