Full Version: Georgia Won't Join Anti-Terror Database
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...rror_database_4
What do you think of the "Matrix Project"? Will it help against terrorism or is it infringing on our rights? Will it be a failure if not all states join the project?
QUOTE
ATLANTA - Amid cost and privacy concerns, state officials backed away from an anti-terrorism database that officials initially considered joining — a decision that makes Georgia the sixth state to abandon the Matrix project.
The move also casts doubt on the future of a database that tracks personal details of all citizens, not just those accused of a crime.
"I have held serious concerns about the privacy issues involved with this project all along, and have decided it is in the best interest of the people of Georgia that our state have no further participation," Gov. Sonny Perdue said in a statement Tuesday.
Perdue's decision not to join the database came a day after the state attorney general said it would be illegal for Georgia to release its driver's license records to the private company putting the database together.
The move also casts doubt on the future of a database that tracks personal details of all citizens, not just those accused of a crime.
"I have held serious concerns about the privacy issues involved with this project all along, and have decided it is in the best interest of the people of Georgia that our state have no further participation," Gov. Sonny Perdue said in a statement Tuesday.
Perdue's decision not to join the database came a day after the state attorney general said it would be illegal for Georgia to release its driver's license records to the private company putting the database together.
What do you think of the "Matrix Project"? Will it help against terrorism or is it infringing on our rights? Will it be a failure if not all states join the project?
QUOTE
What do you think of the "Matrix Project"? Will it help against terrorism or is it infringing on our rights? Will it be a failure if not all states join the project?
1. What do i think of the matrix project.
I do not claim to have a complete understanding of all the Matrix project entails, but from perusing the Matrix site, it seems like a useful tool that will expedite transfer of information within departments of federal/state/local enforcement agencies, and all the information is never a bad thing when it comes to law enforcement inquiries.
2. Will it help against terrorism or is it infringing on our rights?
well, probably both to some degree. i will say that it should prove a useful tool, but like any other system, there is room for abuse.
but having the ability to call up all information on any person you might suspect, especially if the information is almost instantaneously delivered to you, will help speed up verifying the identity of terrorists/criminals/legitimate travellers, and make everything more convenient.
3. Will it be a failure if not all states join?
No, it will still have the resources of whatever states are in the system at its disposal.
but its chances of zeroing in on information are reduced immensely, for there are immense potential gaps in information when you cannot know what california has on whoever you are investigating (for example).
we can expect it to get more efficient the more states join, and less efficient the more states leave.
Quane
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