In reading the April issue of Wired(the first time in awhile I have read an issue in it's publication month), I was just reading an article by Howard Bloom about the Total Information Awareness. He opens explaining that since the TIA initiative was revealed last summer by the EFF, thousands of sites have tossed out their thoughts on the Darpa funded program, and the majority has been negative. The author then goes on, in fine follower fashion, and points out all the good things that TIA will bring about, like a 'search engine that will consign Google to the Stone Age.'
I don't know about you, but I have several times forced myself to search on my email address, and other info to see if anyone on the web is posting this live, and to be honest it scares me to imagine a system that is more comprehensive than Google. Do you want a fully, or even government only accessible search engine that can tell the user what you do in your spare time, what you like to do in bed, or what stores you shop at? Such personal information does not belong in a database, and the TIA program is destined to bring about a time when no one has any privacy, even in their own home, and when a simple, and possible innocent mention of someone being a terrorist, in jest or in anger, can cause that person to be treated worse than those held and interrogated in the Guantanamo Bay facility.
This has already been shown by the treatment of Arabs and Muslim's who have done nothing wrong but have been born a specific skin color or to have found faith in a certain religion. I do not want my info being stored by anyone, and while some may not see this as a problem, when they or their friends are treated like Mike Hawash and other rightful American citizens, immigrated and those born there, perhaps they will see the failure of their government and the police state that the US, and by lack of choice the rest of the world is moving towards.
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