Careful not to walk over civil liberties
I suppose this would fall under the "but if we don't do it, the terrorists will have won" argument, no? The theory behind this plan makes sense, but the possible execution of it is what scares the hell out of me.
Call me a civil liberties prude, but I don't want John Poindexter tracking my body part contours.
Or my silhouette pixels, for that matter.
Not since Monty Python's Ministry of Silly Walks has a government devoted so much money and study to watching our steps.
Adm. Poindexter, who supervised the strutting Oliver North during the Iran-Contra machinations, is now supervising the Pentagon's attempt to create an Orwellian "virtual, centralized grand database," which could put a spyglass on Americans' every move, from literally the way Americans move to their virtual moves, scanning shopping, e-mail, bank deposits, vacations, medical prescriptions, academic grades and trips to the vet. (Sometimes pets are the first to go in biological warfare.)
One of the technologies the Pentagon is working on, as The Associated Press' Michael Sniffen reported, is a radar-based device that can identify people by the way they walk for use in a new antiterrorist surveillance system.
"Operating on the theory that an individual's walk is as unique as a signature, the Pentagon has financed a research project at the Georgia Institute of Technology that has been 80 to 95 percent successful in identifying people," he wrote.
It's easy to wonder if any part of what defines our individuality will be safe before long. Yes, I understand the need for increased security and to identify potential or known terrorists- but at what price to our civil liberties?
