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

[Craig MIller]

I'd love to know how to file a request for disclosure of how I am listed and
what information has been compiled on me.  Surely the freedom of information act
applies.  

C D Miller




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---- On Sat, 14 Apr 2007, Margaret (max104@io.com) wrote:

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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