[Texgreen] Texas Gov. Rick Perry's Dangerous Database

[Alfred Molison]

I'm more concerned about this phrase:
The narrative that emerged
from the records--disputed by McCraw--is a headlong pursuit of
control through information hoarding for a project in search of a
purpose. Along the way, money has been squandered, sensitive data
potentially lost, and security warnings unheeded.

When political appointees are entirely in charge you get something sloppy, 
unprofessional, wildly dangerous and potentially useless.  Appointees can be 
truely useful (or dangerous) in alliance or charge of a standing 
institution.

The Perry Project is supposed to be a smoothly operating SWAT team but 
instead it's bunch of crazy Barney Fife's running into each other carrying 
nitro.  They'd be funny if they weren't so dangerous.  Could the Perry 
administration be the Bush administration writ small?

Alfred


>From: "Margaret" <max104@io.com>
>To: texgreen@gp-us.org
>Subject: [Texgreen] Texas Gov. Rick Perry's Dangerous Database
>Date: Sat, 14 Apr 2007 20:41:55 -0500 (CDT)
>
>http://www.alternet.org/rights/50517/
>
>The Governor's Database
>Texas Is Amassing An Unprecedented Amount Of Information On Its
>Citizens
>By Jake Bernstein, Executive Editor Texas Observer
>April 20, 2007 (posted April 14, 2007)
>
>Piece by piece, Gov. Rick Perry’s homeland security office is
>gathering massive amounts of information about Texas residents and
>merging it to create the most exhaustive centralized database in
>state history. Warehoused far from Texas on servers housed at a
>private company in Louisville, Kentucky, the Texas Data
>Exchange--TDEx to those in the loop--is designed to be an
>all-encompassing intelligence database. It is supposed to help catch
>criminals, ferret out terrorist cells, and allow disparate law
>enforcement agencies to share information. More than $3.6 million
>has been spent on the project so far, and it already has tens of
>millions of records. At least 7,000 users are presently allowed
>access to this information, and tens of thousands more are
>anticipated.
>
>What is most striking, and disturbing, about the database is that it
>is not being run by the state's highest law enforcement agency--the
>Texas Department of Public Safety. Instead, control of TDEx, and the
>power to decide who can use it, resides in the governor's office.
>
>That gives Perry, his staff, future governors, and their staffs
>potential access to a trove of sensitive data on everything from
>ongoing criminal investigations to police incident reports and even
>traffic stops. In their zeal to assemble TDEx, Perry and his
>homeland security director, Steve McCraw, have plunged ahead with
>minimal oversight from law enforcement agencies, and even DPS is
>skittish about the direction the project has taken.
>
>In researching TDEx, the Texas Observer reviewed more than a
>thousand pages of documents from the Office of the Governor, DPS,
>and the Department of Information Management. We interviewed law
>enforcement officials as well as McCraw. The narrative that emerged
>from the records--disputed by McCraw--is a headlong pursuit of
>control through information hoarding for a project in search of a
>purpose. Along the way, money has been squandered, sensitive data
>potentially lost, and security warnings unheeded.
>
>continues, w/links . . .
>
>
>read and share your comments!
>i.e., "Can the other 49 states hit the eject button on this
>dysfunctional state?"
>
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>texgreen mailing list
>texgreen@lists.gp-us.org
>http://lists.gp-us.org/mailman/listinfo/texgreen

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