106 lines
5.3 KiB
Plaintext
106 lines
5.3 KiB
Plaintext
PALO ALTO, Calif.-- For the first time in more that a decade,
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civil libertarians and computer professionals are banding
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together to stop what many consider a Big Brotherish attempt
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by the FBI to keep track of peoples lives.
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A Palo Alto-based group, Computer Professionals for Social
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Responsibility, has been instrumental in preventing the FBI
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from expanding its data base to include information such as
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credit card transactions, telephone calls and airline
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passangers list.
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"We need computer professionals acting like public
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interest lawyers to make sure the FBI is acting responsibly"
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said Jerry Berman, chief legislative counsel for the American
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Civil Liberties Union.
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Mr Berman was part of a panel Saturday at Stanford
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University that went head-to-head with the FBI's assistant
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director for technical services, William Bayse, over
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expansion of the National Crime Information Center (NCIC).
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Law enforcement officials use the NCIC system's 19.4
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million files about 700,000 times a day for routine checks on
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everyone from traffic violators to Peace Corps applicants.
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"The FBI would like us to believe that they are protecting
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us from the hick Alabama Sheriff who wants to misuse the
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system, " said Brian Harvey, a computer expert at the
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University of California, Berkeley, "The FBI is the problem."
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Not since the fight to pass the Privacy Act of 1974 have
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computer experts, civil libertarians and legislators come
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together on the issue of citizen rights and access to
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information.
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In the early 1970s, the government's efforts to monitor
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more than 125,000 war protesters sparked concerns about
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privacy. The 1974 law limited the movement of information
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exchanged by federal agencies.
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But computers were not so sophisticated then, and the
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privacy act has several exceptions for law enforcement
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agencies, said Marc Rotenberg, one of the computer group's
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experts on the data base.
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Two years ago, the FBI announced its plan to expand the
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data base, and came up with 240 features to include a sort of
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"wish list" culled from the kinds of information law
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enforcement officials who use the system would like to have.
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Rep. Don Edwards (D-Calif.) balked at moving ahead with
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the plan without suggestions from an independent group, and
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put together a panel that includes members of the Palo Alto
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computer organization.
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Working with Mr. Bayse, FBI officials eventually agreed to
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recommend a triuncated redesign of the data base. It drops
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the most controversial features, such as plans to connect the
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data base to records of other government agencies - including
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the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Internal Revenue
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Service, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the Social
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Security Administration and the State Department's passport office.
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FBI director William S. Sessions could reject those
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recommendations, however, and include all or part of the wish
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list in the redesign. he is expected to decide soon just how
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much to expand the system.
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Based in the Hoover Building in Washington, D.C., the
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computer system already fills a room half the size of a
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football field. The $20 million to $40 million redesign will
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"establish record-keeping at the FBI for the next 10 years,"
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said Mr. Rotenberg. The 20-year-old system has 12 main
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files containing information on stolen vehicles, missing
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people, criminal arrests and convictions, people who are
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suspected of plotting against top-level government officials
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and people for whom arrest warrants have been issued.
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In Los Angeles, police squad cars have computer terminals
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connected to NCIC data that allow them to check a person's
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fingerprints on the scene.
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But the system is far from infallible - and that's what
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worries civil libertarians.
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One Michigan man, Terry Dean Rogan, was arrested five
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times for crimes he did not commit. His wallet had been
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stolen and he was repeatedly confused with a murder suspect
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who had used Mr. Rogan's identification. Mr. Rogan sued, and
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eventually received a $55,000 settlement from Los Angeles
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because the city had failed to remove his name from the data
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base.
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"If the informationis inaccurate or incomplete, it creates
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a stigmatizing effect,"
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Mr. Rotenberg said. "If you're recorded in the NCIC,
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there's a presumption of criminal activity."
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Mr. Bayse told the audience Saturday that the system is
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inefficient and outdated, and that the FBI wants to improve
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the technology to prohibit occurrences such as the Rogan
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case.
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"We need a new system, if nothing else, to implement
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internal security and privacy controls as a stopper for
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someone maliciously trying to take information out of the
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system," he said.
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Civil libertarians are not arguing about the system's
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usefulness, but many are wary about the FBI's motives and
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about safeguarding sensitive information.
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"Computer systems today are very vulnerable," said
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panelist Peter Neumann, an employee of the SRI International
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"think tank" in Menlo Park and member of the computer group.
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"There are trap doors. Even the best-designed systems have
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crackable internal controls."
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The FBI spends about $1 million a year auditing the system
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to correct inaccuracies and has managed to reduce its error
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rate by 25 percent. But evey Mr. Bayse agreed that it's not
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perfect.
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"With up to 900,000 queries a day, lots of things can
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happen there."
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Copyright: Knight/Ridder
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