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echo: consprcy
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from: Steve Asher
date: 2006-02-12 01:59:34
subject: Acxiom Internet Scanning System

From the current issue of EPIC Alert, re Acxiom's proposed system
to scan the internet & identify "extremist" websites. While it is
not clear if the proposal was ever funded, the PDF file below
gives a list of possible "Marker Words and Phrases" that might
cause a web site to be seen as suspicious.

( http://epic.org/privacy/choicepoint/acxiominternet.pdf )

--------------------------------------------------------------------

E P I C  A l e r t
Volume 13.03   February 10, 2006
http://www.epic.org/alert/EPIC_Alert_13.03.html

[...]

======================================================================
News in Brief
======================================================================

[...]

Acxiom Proposed Massive Internet-Scanning System

Documents obtained by EPIC from the Department of Justice under the
Freedom of Information Act show that commercial data broker Acxiom
proposed a system to automatically scan the Internet and identify
websites "belonging to advocates of extremist views and actions..." The
plan proposed to extract personal information from websites and use it
"to establish possible connections between extremist groups" and to
collect data for an "Identity Verification System to be used by
airlines, rental car agencies, and other business and government
agencies." Prior releases of FOIA documents showed that Acxiom was
considered as a source of data for the Total Information Awareness
program. The $1,000,000 proposal was submitted to the Justice Department
through Representative Vic Snyder (D-AR) on behalf of Acxiom and
University of Arkansas's Department of Computer Science. It is unclear
whether the proposal was ever funded.

Acxiom FOIA Documents (pdf):

      http://epic.org/privacy/choicepoint/acxiominternet.pdf

EPIC Commercial Data Broker Page:

      http://www.epic.org/privacy/choicepoint/

[... ...]

Cheers, Steve..

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