Web activists keep constant eye on Pentagon's data-mining point man

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Web activists keep constant eye on Pentagon's data-mining point man

Date: Saturday, December 21 @ 09:17:26 EST

Topic: The Constitution & Civil Liberties

Join the Poindexter Awareness Office

By Jim Puzzanghera, San Mercury News

WASHINGTON - Internet activists have a message for Poindexter, the

head of a controversial Pentagon research project to find terrorists by

searching the everyday transactions of Americans: Threaten to invade our

privacy, we'll invade yours.

They've plastered Poindexter's e-mail address and home phone number on

dozens of Web sites, forcing him to block all incoming calls. They've

posted satellite images of his suburban Washington house and maps showing

how to get there. And they've created online forms to collect even more

personal data on him.

" If you are a store clerk, study the photos above. Learn this face. If you

are a shipping clerk, study this name, " reads a site titled " The

Poindexter Awareness Office, " a play on Poindexter's Information Awareness

Office at the Pentagon. " When and if you see Mr. Poindexter purchase

something, travel somewhere or do, well, anything -- send us a tip

describing your observations. We will display the information received

right here on this Web site. "

It's all an attempt to turn the tables on Poindexter, who is trying to

create a vast database of information, from credit-card purchases to

medical files, and develop software to search it for signs of terrorist

activity. The project, called Total Information Awareness, has outraged

civil libertarians since it became widely known last month -- and spurred

some people to do a little database surfing of their own.

" This is sort of a way of making him feel watched in the same way other

people would feel watched, " said DeVoy, 40, a computer scientist

who created the Poindexter Awareness Office site last month.

Calls to Poindexter's house are now greeted by a phone company " do not

disturb " message that says the person is not available. The Pentagon also

has removed the résumés of Poindexter and other Information Awareness

Office officials from its Web site.

Jan , a news officer for the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research

Projects Agency, which oversees Poindexter's office, said the Web site is

periodically revised and would not comment when asked if Poindexter or

others have been harassed.

DeVoy said he's not trying to harm Poindexter or other Information

Awareness Office officials whose personal information is listed on his

site, adding that he has obtained Poindexter's Social Security number but

has not posted it because he doesn't want to help identity thieves. DeVoy

was employed by a private contractor doing information-technology work for

the Pentagon until being fired in June, he believes, for other Web writings

critical of U.S. policies.

" My goal is to simply let them know what they are doing affects other

people and they should think about the consequences " of Total Information

Awareness, DeVoy said.

He's not alone.

Matt , a columnist with SF Weekly, facetiously published Poindexter's

phone number last month and encouraged readers to call. The column quickly

circulated around the Internet and sparked a flood of responses.

Gilmore, co-founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a San

Francisco-based electronic-privacy group, has published not only

Poindexter's home phone number but those of some of his neighbors as well

in a column that has been posted on several Web sites.

" Some people are suspicious that the . . . Total Information Awareness

system will be used to harass and track the activities of people who some

significant fraction of society don't agree with, " wrote Gilmore. " It would

be good to have an early public demonstration of just how bad life could

become for such targeted citizens. "

Poindexter makes an inviting target for such a demonstration, said

McCullagh, editor of the Politech mailing list, which focuses on politics

and technology.

Poindexter was national security adviser to former President Reagan from

1985 to 1986 and was a key figure in the covert plan known as Iran-Contra

to trade weapons for Americans held hostage by Iran. He was convicted of

five felony counts of lying to Congress, destroying official documents and

obstructing the congressional inquiry into the affair. His convictions were

overturned on appeal, because testimony given by Poindexter to Congress

under a grant of immunity was unfairly used against him at trial.

McCullagh said the Total Information Awareness project has sparked far more

outrage than previous projects with privacy implications, such as the FBI's

" Carnivore " Internet surveillance software.

" This anger is manifesting itself in this strange sort of Internet

activism, " McCullagh said. " I think there's a sense of, if you want to

watch us, then be prepared to be watched yourself. "

The Poindexter Awareness Office can be found at

www.breakyourchains.org/jpao.htm.

Reprinted from The San Mercury News:

http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/4774016.htm