What is the TIA?
The Total Information Awareness program is probably the closest thing to a "Big Brother" program that has been seriously contemplated in our country.
The program was started in February of 2003, shortly after the tragedy of 9/11. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, a branch of the Department of Defense that works on military
research, initiated this program that called for recording and analyzing all digital information from U.S. citizens. The program is based on a vision of pulling together as much information as possible with as many people as possible into a humongous database. The TIA is headed by John Poindexter who once famously said that it was his job to withhold information from Congress.
The TIA makes our information available to government officials so they can sort through it to identify terrorists. However, the amount of public and private information in our lives is continuously growing every second and a government project that seeks to put all that information together is terrifying.
After American citizens extensively expressed their concerns and news reports provoked criticism of the program, it was officially discontinued. But it was never actually discontinued. The TIA is/was a government program, so new surveillance programs were created and simply just provided a new form of surveillance.
It's been speculated (and proven) that these programs can incorporate not only government records but individuals' medical and financial records, political affiliations, travel history, prescriptions, purchases, phone calls, emails, internet searches, school records, even personal and family information.
That's insane.
In the last decade, there has been an explosion in the amount of tracking and data and information stored in the United States. Experts state this is because of two factors;
1) Technology
The growing expansion of technology with things like computers, cameras, location trackers, wireless communications, and others, makes it that much easier to track, store, analyze and sell any information about an individual.
2) Commercialized Use of Our Data
Corporations big and small have discovered that detailed information about their consumers is extremely valuable. They squeeze every last penny out of this revenue resource. This is why when you visit a website for the first time, you are almost immediately asked for your email, phone number, or address if not all three. After being forced to enter this information to view a product, as a result, private-sector incentives are aligned with the governments' interest to track everyone. The government has not been very quiet about buying that data either, and it is seen as a primary source for databases and programs like the TIA.
Do we really want that?
If it isn't already clear enough, let's visit some of the issues these surveillance programs bring.
First, it would kill privacy in America. Under these programs, every single aspect of our lives would be readily available to government officials. If anything, we would have the right to expect our lives will become an open book when we have not done and are not even suspected of wrongdoing. We'd be living in constant fear.
Secondly, it harbors a strong potential for abuse of power. The motto of the TIA is that "knowledge is power" but how much power is too much? I say that personal data being handed to government officials so they can track people is a bit extreme and inevitably, some of those officials will abuse that power. It's already happening. Even if the American people were to speak against it more, experience has shown that when large numbers of people challenge the government, some parts of the government react by increasing surveillance and using it against critics. The undeniable truth is that super-databases would only lead to super-abuses.
Fourthly, it simply wouldn't be effective. The program is based on highly questionable assumptions about how our data can be tapped to prevent terrorism. There are pretty good reasons to suspect that that wouldn't work...it would all be based on subjective conclusions. If that isn't enough to prove this issue, then I don't know what is.
Finally, the programs fail basic balancing tests. Balancing tests are tests in which the court weighs competing interests to decide which interest prevails. The benefits of this program being able to stop terrorism are speculative but the damage it would do to American freedom is crystal clear.
One current issue that really demonstrates how these issues of surveillance have been ignored by the government is the CIA. As of February 10, 2022, The Associated Press announced that the CIA has a program that collects American data. While neither the agency nor lawmakers would disclose specifics about what data they were collecting, it was alleged that the CIA has been hiding details about this program from both the public and Congress for a long time.
In the course of any lawful collection, the CIA may acquire information about people who are in contact with foreign nationals. But I think we can safely say that that is not the only case in which they acquire information, they have the ability to abuse their power and I have no doubt they do.
Intelligence agencies are also subject to guidelines on handling the destruction of Americans' data. While those guidelines and laws have evolved over time to adapt to the changes in technology, response to previous revelations, and domestic spying, I can only assume that our data is not destroyed but put away 'just in case' they need it in the future.
This information and new reports raise serious concerns about the kind of information the CIA is tackling in bulk and how these agencies use that information to spy on Americans. Patrick Toomey, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union, said "The CIA conducts these sweeping surveillance activities without any court approval, and with few, if any, safeguards imposed by Congress."
Knowing that this is happening right now, today, I can't think of any other word to describe this other than terrifying.
While the cons of these surveillance agencies are extensive, there is a positive aspect. These programs were created with the intent of being a safety measure for Americans, and while that's not really true anymore, the programs benefit defense research objectives in ways that likely would not happen if any other type of technology were used. If these programs were not implemented by our government, we would not have the ability to communicate and monitor potential threats to our country.
Now knowing a bit more about the Total Information Awareness program and other surveillance programs, I think the key takeaway is to be careful with the data you share. We can't control what other people, or the government, does with our data, but we can be careful with the data we share. Power is a delicate privilege and we continuously see people and agencies abusing that power. Our privacy is important and we need to take as many measures as we can to protect it. It may seem odd, but it's a great way to protect not only ourselves but also our loved ones.
