It looks like you're using an Ad Blocker.
Please white-list or disable AboveTopSecret.com in your ad-blocking tool.
Thank you.
Some features of ATS will be disabled while you continue to use an ad-blocker.
Homeland Security has a plan to expand its Watchlist Service by duplicating the FBI's existing system of watchlist records and then feed that info into a massive database in which more government people would have immediate access. According to the FBI, the consolidated Terrorist Watchlist is "one of the most effective counterterrorism tools for the U.S. government." But according to the ACLU, FBI spying on free speech is nearly at Cold War levels and that the FBI lied to the Justice Department about continuing improper surveillance of peace groups. So it's not some kind of conspiracy theory, it's a fact that innocent people end up on terrorist watchlists.
Privacy Groups Protest Massive DHS Database of Secret Watchlists
Source
Privacy is a major concern in today's day and age, whether regulators are calling Facebook out on its invasive features like facial recognition or consumers are worrying about new camera technology like license plate recognition and red light camera.
knowledge is power so knowing what the enemy is doing gives you power, plus if you know what you are doing you can seriously take the proverbial and cause them a load of agro by simply posting crap such as we're gonna do x at y place and watch as 10 black cars and men in suits spend the next 2-3 hours recording some poor guys barbeque thinking its a terrorist meeting and when they cant tell the good intel from the bad you know you're onto a winner
Homeland Security plans to operate a massive new database of names, photos, birthdays and biometrics called Watchlist Service ... DHS wants to exempt the Watchlist Service from Privacy Act provisions, meaning you will never know if you are wrongfully listed.
DHS Watchlist Service will combine four different DHS systems of records including the TSA-managed Transportation Security Threat Assessment System and TSA's Secure Flight Records, Treasury Enforcement Communication System (TECS) managed by Custom and Border Protection (CBP) Passenger Systems Program Office, and IDENT which is managed by the US-VISIT Program.
In case you were unaware, according to the July 13th testimony before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security, the US-VISIT's IDENT is "fully interoperable" with the FBI's "10-fingerprint-based" identity system to run against the watchlist and the "FBI's entire criminal master file of over 69 million identities in near real time."
- from above - meaning you will never know if you are wrongfully listed.
DHS has admitted that it "does not control the accuracy of the information in system of records" and that "individuals do not have an opportunity to decline to provide information."
~~ true, but that only applies when it is enforced.
Congress also emphasized that "the right to privacy is a personal and fundamental right protected by the Constitution of the United States."
"At this rate, there will be about 550,000,000 people on the watch list by 2019, which exceeds the population of the United States and then some. By 2023, the watch list will actually exceed the population of the entire earth - at which point one can speculate that the government of the U.S. will restrict all air travel."