BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU!

Big Brother Is Watching You Shop The Independent 3-31-3

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- The U.S. government has discovered a powerful resource in its war against terrorism -- credit-card records, hotel bills, grocery lists and other records detailing the private lives of its citizens.

Government investigators are turning to commercial databases to track down and isolate possible hijackers and suicide bombers before they strike, raising fear among privacy advocates that long-standing protections against government snooping may be eroded.

The Transportation Security Administration is developing an airline passenger-screening program that would check private records such as credit reports to assess risk, prompting a fierce debate about the merits of such "pattern recognition" systems.

Officials and many security experts say such data mining techniques are necessary to flush out a foe that does not wear a uniform but blends in with ordinary civilians to infiltrate and undermine American society.

Civil-liberties advocates on the left and the right say the tactic could lead back to the bad old days when law-enforcement agencies like the FBI conducted routine, unfettered surveillance on law-abiding citizens like civil-rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.

"People in the government, very much so in the Justice Department, have been playing out a lust for information that is not consistent with who we have been as a nation," former Republican House Majority Leader Dick Armey said recently. The connection between private and government surveillance is likely to be a hot topic as computer scientists, policy experts and government officials meet this week in New York at the 13th annual Computers, Freedom and Privacy conference.

Congress has imposed limits on one particularly controversial Defense Department program, but few doubt that investigators will increasingly rely on pattern-recognition techniques and private business records in their efforts to root out extremists. A range of laws limits how government can collect and use information on its citizens. Tax returns and census data are protected from misuse by stiff criminal penalties, while the Privacy Act of 1974 prevents agencies from indiscriminately passing around Social Security records or other personal data. Law-enforcement agencies must get court approval before monitoring phone conversations or e-mail messages.

The private sector, by contrast, operates under fewer restrictions.

Grocery stores offer discounts for shoppers who allow them to track their purchases, while credit bureaus gather consumer financial records so lenders can determine whether a borrower is likely to keep up with mortgage payments. Online retailers tracking customer browsing and purchasing habits have added to the warehouse of personal information.

Following the Sept. 11, 2001, hijacking attacks, law enforcement agents subpoenaed many of these private databases in a bid to flush out al Qaeda members, said Stewart Baker, a Washington lawyer who formerly served as general counsel to the National Security Agency.

In the process, they have gathered records of people who are not suspects, he said. "Once they get it they like to keep it, because you never know when it might turn out to be useful."

Other pattern-recognition projects such as TSA's passenger screening program are able to sidestep privacy laws because they do not actually collect information but rely on outside databases to reach a decision, experts say. TSA officials have declined to say how they will determine whether a passenger should be allowed on an airplane or singled out for arrest, saying that would allow extremists to alter their behavior to avoid detection.

The agency has met with privacy experts as it designs the system, and promises that government employees will never see personal data.

But innocent people could be harassed or detained if security screeners rely on faulty data, the experts say.

Several travelers have already been kept off planes because they have the same name as someone on government watch lists, according to complaints obtained by the Electronic Privacy Information Center.

Data mining systems work well if set up properly, said Terry Pittman, a privacy consultant who helped develop marketing systems throughout the 1990s. Those that have failed in the private sector did so because their sponsors ran out of money -- not a likely problem for the government, he said.

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