How Much Privacy Are We Willing to Sacrifice?

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As head of the Pentagon-s Office of Information Awareness, former national security advisor John Poindexter has proposed a vast electronic dragnet that would sift through massive government and commercial databases for suspicious patterns that might be clues to terrorist activities. Total Information Awareness would scan driver-s license and passport applications, school records, bank statements, divorce decrees and complaints from nosy neighbors. Critics call it a waste of money or, a potential Orwellian spy machine that would destroy the privacy rights of Americans. We explore the applications and implications of such a system with technology experts from the press and Princeton, a Heritage Foundation homeland security analyst, a privacy advocate, and Congresswoman Jane Harman, the ranking member of the House Subcommittee on Terrorism and Homeland Security.
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Total Information Awareness Office

Center for Democracy and Technology

Defense Advances Research Projects Agency (DARPA)

Department of Homeland Security

Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA)

USA Patriot Act of 2001

Evangelical Environmental Network campaign

Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers

Corporate Average Fuel Economy Standards (CAFE)

Credits

Host:

Warren Olney