From: Toto <toto@sk.sympatico.ca>
Date: Mon, 31 Mar 1997 00:56:47 -0800 (PST)
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: National Citizen-Unit
In-Reply-To: <TCPSMTP.17.3.30.-9.12.24.2780269260.1589628@nycmetro.com>
Message-ID: <333F7949.EB0@sk.sympatico.ca>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


harka@nycmetro.com wrote:

>  In> Governor's Budget Includes Money to Set Up Gang-Tracking
>  In> Network

>  In> [A]s part of the governor's anti-gang proposals, he's
>  In> proposing to spend $625,000 worth of state and federal money
>  In> to set up a gang-tracking computer database and network.

   Are they going to start with members of the legislature and law
enforcement agencies? (Might as well clear out the worst of the
bunch first.)

>  In> Four agents of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation will be
>  In> assigned to do nothing but gather and maintain information
>  In> about gangs in the state's four regions.

  This plan was intially supposed to be introduced in Oakland, but
its designers soon realized that, outside of CIA operations, there
was very little criminal activity in the area.

>  -=> Quoting In:bdolan@usit.net to Harka <=-
>
>  In> The important thing to note is that - as I understand the
>  In> description of the program -  a person does not have to commit a
>  In> crime to be included in the database.  They just have to have
>  In> contact with a person or group which is already in it.

  This should put law enforcement officers at the top of the list.
  Theoretically, in order not to be included in the database, cops
would have to avoid all contact with criminals. (I think I'm starting
to like this idea!)

> This has been going on in Germany for several years now under the
> name "Raster-Fahndung" (cross-reference-search). What it means is as
> you write it: even mere contacts to suspected "terrorists,
> gang-members, drug-dealers" etc. is enough, to get you flagged as
> "suspected supporter of [see above]".

  I suppose they can merge in the voter registration database, for
starters, and round up all those supporters of the thugs on Capitol
Hill. (Even those who voted for the losers are guilty of 'attempted
commission of a crime', even if Donald, Mickey and Goofey entered
the fray with the best of intentions.)
--
Toto
"The Xenix Chainsaw Massacre"
http://bureau42.base.org/public/xenix/xenbody.html