As my biography notes, I am presently researching the alleged chilling effect of post-9/11 government security measures on the use of technology, principally the Internet, by Muslim-Americans. I intend to use my blog as a means to discuss relevant reports and news articles, and to update interested individuals on my research progress and results.
That said, I'd like to bring your attention to two interesting items that I came across today. The first is an article on a Washington Post-ABC News poll released yesterday. According to the article: {C}
Sixty-six percent of [polled Americans] said that the FBI and other agencies are "intruding on some Americans' privacy rights" in terrorism investigations, up from 58 percent in September 2003. Thirty percent think the government is not intruding on privacy.
The second, more substantive item, is a report released Monday by the Cato Institute. The report, entitled, "Effective Counter-Terrorism and the Limited Role of Predictive Data Mining," argues that:
[P]redictive data mining, while well suited to certain endeavors, is problematic and generally counterproductive in national security settings where its use is intended to ferret out the next terrorist....
It would be unfortunate if data mining for terrorism discovery had currency within national security, law enforcement, and technology circles because pursuing this use of data mining would waste taxpayer dollars, needlessly infringe on privacy and civil liberties, and misdirect the valuable time and energy of the men and women in the national security community. [Hat Tip: Noah Shachtman]