Friday, August 08, 2003

Karl Malone Day in Utah Governor Leavitt declared today as "Karl Malone Day" to recognize the contributions that Malone has made to Utah and its citizens.  Among the many recognitions were those by Utah law enforcement and wildlife officials.  Bob Flowers, the Commissioner of Public Safety, even presented Karl with an application for employment with the Utah Highway Patrol (Karl has been prominently featured on UHP billboards).  Now he moves on to LA. Governor Leavitt Signs Karl Malone Day Proclamation 12:56:39 PM    comment []

Terrorist Databases Online RAND has been working with the Oklahoma City National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism to put several databases online: Terrorism Chronology Terrorism Incident MIPT Indictment (coming soon) This is a very interesting resource.  As far as chronology, terrorists generally like to maximize the impact of their actions, so they pay careful attention to dates and anniversaries.  The database identifies 845 terrorist incidents in Spain from 1997 to the present, which is the most for any country in Europe.  Most of these are attributable to ETA and the Basque movement. Tulsa University of Tulsa is designated as a Center of Excellence in Information Assurance by the National Security Agency and offers advanced degrees in information assurance.  The University is working on ways to protect national telecommunications networks. I3P R&D 2003 agenda 8:39:44 AM    comment []

More Commentary on Matrix Some positive comments on MATRIX: Phil Carter - Put simply, this is a local version of the Pentagon's Total Information Awareness program. It does almost the same things, except the Matrix does not integrate as much information from as many sources. Matrix also does not tie-in to the intelligence community the way TIA was supposed to. Nonetheless, the concept is the same: to use a large, sophisticated database to sift through large numbers of "indicators" in order to put the dots together for counter-terrorism analysts. I think this is a good system and that the civil liberties risks can be managed. I also think it's a great idea to put this system in the hands of local police where the real anti/counter-terrorism takes place. Spartacus -  While civil libertarian types will complain (the WaPo article predictably quoted a staffer at the Center for Democracy and Technology bellyaching about how Matrix is "going to make fishing expeditions so much more convenient"), this should be a big help in the war against terror here in the US.   And while I am as libertarian as the next guy (and maybe more so), the alternative to using technologies like these are either accepting terrorism as a fact of life here in America, or resorting to more heavy-handed, traditional law enforcement techniques (for example, putting Arab Americans in internment camps, as was done by liberal icon FDR during WWII, or extensive use of surveillance, bugging and searches of "suspicious" people).   As for me, I'm happy to see that the cops and Feds are finally getting the same technology that's been used by all those folks mailing you pre-approved credit cards for years. Charyl - It would let authorities, for example, instantly find the name and address of every brown-haired owner of a red Ford pickup within a 20-mile radius of a suspicious event. . . . Florida officials say the system will be used only by authorized investigators under tight supervision. 7:53:22 AM    comment []

© Copyright 2003 David Fletcher.