Fergie's Tech Blog

'Surveillance-Industrial Complex' Turbo-Charging Government Monitoring

Via the Science Blog.

The government is rapidly increasing its ability to monitor average Americans by tapping into the growing amount of consumer data being collected by the private sector, according to a major report released today by the American Civil Liberties Union.

"The U.S. security establishment is reaching deeper and deeper into our private lives by forcing the corporate sector to inform on the activities of individuals," said Anthony D. Romero, Executive Director of the ACLU. "The government has always recruited informers to help convict criminals, but today that recruitment is being computerized, automated, and used against innocent individuals on a massive scale that is unprecedented in the history of our nation."

The release of the 38-page report, entitled "The Surveillance-Industrial Complex: How the American Government is Conscripting Businesses and Individuals in the Construction of a Surveillance Society," marks the launch of the ACLU's Surveillance Campaign, which is designed to regain consumers' personal privacy rights by mobilizing people to contact prominent companies - such as drugstore chains, insurance companies and retailers - to ask them to take a "no-spy pledge" to defend their customers' privacy against government intrusion. A list of suggested companies for consumers to contact is available online at www.aclu.org/privatize.

posted by Fergie @ 2/09/2008 07:04:00 PM