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AKcrab · Jul 7, 2002, 06:21 PM

An article in <a href="http://www.popsci.com/popsci/science/article/0,12543,260388,00.html" target="_blank">July's Popular Science</a> discusses how we are all leaving 'digital DNA' scattered around as we live our lives. There is a lot of interesting information, although I'm pretty sure that most people on this forum are well aware of the kinds of eTrails we leave.

I noticed this interesting tidbit relating to 9/11.
<blockquote>quote:<hr />Meanwhile, Larry Ponemon, the CEO of Privacy Council, says that since September 11 he's been hired by at least one major supermarket chain to oversee the handing over to law enforcement agencies of the buying records of customers with specific ethnic backgrounds. The authorities requested the data, Ponemon says, because they were trying to compile a profile of "terrorist eating habits."<hr /></blockquote>I hope I'm not alone in thinking this is a bit "over the top".

cdhostage · Jul 7, 2002, 06:28 PM

Why should I respect someone who chose the moniker Pokemon?

Oh, wait (rereading) silly.

I think it's pretty stpud anyonway.

Millennium · Jul 7, 2002, 06:28 PM

Feh. Secretly trying people in absentia who've never even been accused of any wrongdoing, for no better reason than their ethnicity.

Still think the FBI isn't going too far?

philzilla · Jul 7, 2002, 06:44 PM

Freakin' Bumbling Idiots

starman · Jul 7, 2002, 08:18 PM

<blockquote>quote:<hr />
Still think the FBI isn't going too far?
<hr /></blockquote>I don't understand this. You'd rather just let these people continue their reign of terror? I just want these idiots caught.

Millennium, when they knock on your door, then I'll say I was wrong. Something tells me you're just be severely paranoid.

Mike

AKcrab · Jul 7, 2002, 08:58 PM

<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by starman:
 <blockquote>quote:<hr />
Still think the FBI isn't going too far?
<hr /></blockquote>I don't understand this. You'd rather just let these people continue their reign of terror? I just want these idiots caught.

Millennium, when they knock on your door, then I'll say I was wrong. Something tells me you're just be severely paranoid.

Mike<hr /></blockquote>If Millenium "eats like a terrorist" based on their supermarket profile, they can come knocking on his door. Eating like a terrorist does not a terrorist make. Talk about wasted resources...

scaught · Jul 7, 2002, 10:09 PM

i just want to know whats on the average terrorists shopping list.

frosted mini wheats?
half gallon of 2% milk?
couple fresh tomatoes?

do they really think this info is going to help them?

OldManMac · Jul 7, 2002, 10:29 PM

<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by starman:
 <blockquote>quote:<hr />
Still think the FBI isn't going too far?
<hr /></blockquote>I don't understand this. You'd rather just let these people continue their reign of terror? I just want these idiots caught.

Millennium, when they knock on your door, then I'll say I was wrong. Something tells me you're just be severely paranoid.

Mike<hr /></blockquote>Are we going to profile people by the type of car they drive, or by the TV programs they watch, or any of a number of other possibilities? What's next? We're constantly reminded that terrorists are under our beds, by a government which is largely guided by a man who's family has a stake in military hardware manufacture! What will you do when they come knocking on your door? I don't know if you were around in the 1950s, when there was supposedly a communist under every bed; a lot of people's lives and reputations were ruined during the witch hunts, and they were ruined to satisfy the paranoid egos of a few nutcakes! I'm not saying we shouldn't be vigilant; but these constant warnings and alerts have yet to show any fruit!

rampant · Jul 7, 2002, 11:24 PM

Hah.

The FBI will never catch me that way.

BlackGriffen · Jul 8, 2002, 12:28 AM

The real danger in this type of profiling is that they are essentially making benign behaviors illegal. If you get a knock on your door from the cops because of your buying habits, how long will you continue to shop that way? Police attention isn't legally supposed to be a punishment, but it is an unpleasant deterrent just the same. Have you ever read 1984? Do you remember what the girl in the red sash said (can't recall her name)? "You can do the big stuff wrong if you make sure to do all of the little stuff. That way you avoid drawing attention to yourself," or something like that. Do you want to live in a police state where you have to do all of the little things right to avoid drawing uncomfortable attention from the authorities?

BlackGriffen

ink · Jul 8, 2002, 01:13 AM

<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by KarlG:
[I'm not saying we shouldn't be vigilant; but these constant warnings and alerts have yet to show any fruit!<hr /></blockquote>And yet there was endless criticizm that the administration "knew about 9/11" before it happened. I think we've gone over the line, but that this is a natural reaction to national threats. Much like the McCarthy-era stuff, this will oscillate until we reach an acceptable level of each side (but not without dialog like this, so keep it up!).

Subzero Diesel949 · Jul 8, 2002, 01:33 AM

I think it's time the average Joe American wakes up and realizes that the government has evolved into a tyranny with these anti-terrorist measures as the Trojan Horse. What's to stop the FBI from knocking down the door just because you eat like a terrorist? It sounds ridiculous but let's really think about it. We are losing our rights left and right in the name of National Security and we're just nodding our heads because the bureaucrats are doing what's best for us.

ink · Jul 8, 2002, 01:59 AM

<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by Subzero Diesel949:
We are losing our rights left and right in the name of National Security and we're just nodding our heads because the bureaucrats are doing what's best for us.<hr /></blockquote>Actually, I hardly think people are just nodding their heads; my observations are that we're not doing that at all. There will be hell to pay at election time if some of this crap starts getting implemented at a draconian level (which is why I'm fairly confident that it won't). But at the same time, we should raise hell to make sure that it doesn't happen.

Cipher13 · Jul 8, 2002, 02:10 AM

"Mr. Pop, do you know why you're here?"
"...cause I like curry..."
"Don't play dumb with us, Mr. Pop."

[ 07-08-2002, 03:15 AM: Message edited by: Cipher13 ]

rampant · Jul 8, 2002, 02:24 AM

"Why don't you play in the other room, Stewie."
"Why don't you burn in hell!"

Millennium · Jul 8, 2002, 06:01 AM

<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by starman:
 <blockquote>quote:<hr />
Still think the FBI isn't going too far?
<hr /></blockquote>I don't understand this. You'd rather just let these people continue their reign of terror? I just want these idiots caught.<hr /></blockquote>Life in exchange for the very thing that makes it worth living. You really don't see the bargain you're making, do you?

No one will be caught by this. It's completely absurd. Will you allow them to do anything for the illusion of safety? And that's all it is; an illusion. In the end, the government can't really do very much.
<blockquote>quote:<hr />Millennium, when they knock on your door, then I'll say I was wrong. Something tells me you're just be severely paranoid.<hr /></blockquote>Even if I am, you're the same. The only difference between our respective paranoia is in its target.

rjenkinson · Jul 8, 2002, 07:51 AM

<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by BlackGriffen:
The real danger in this type of profiling is that they are essentially making benign behaviors illegal. If you get a knock on your door from the cops because of your buying habits, how long will you continue to shop that way? Police attention isn't legally supposed to be a punishment, but it is an unpleasant deterrent just the same. Have you ever read 1984? Do you remember what the girl in the red sash said (can't recall her name)? "You can do the big stuff wrong if you make sure to do all of the little stuff. That way you avoid drawing attention to yourself," or something like that. Do you want to live in a police state where you have to do all of the little things right to avoid drawing uncomfortable attention from the authorities?<hr /></blockquote>"all fathers are men, but not all men are fathers." i'm sure the point of the profile is to help locate known suspects using this additional information. i very much doubt it's the case that the FBI thinks that everyone who eats a particular food is a terrorist.

-r.

ringo · Jul 8, 2002, 09:28 AM

This is the silliest damn thing I've read for weeks. Taxpayers should be outraged that they're paying someone in the government to keep track of "Terror Food."

So what? If I eat couscous does that make me a terrorist? What about Count Chocula? Is he part of the supermarket conspiracy too because he has an foreign accent? Am I funding the IRA if I buy a box of lucky charms?

Stupid.