The report makes an iron-clad case that data mining might be an effective counter-terrorism tool if used judiciously, but it is not the silver bullet that the architects of Total Information Awareness and its relatives believe it to be. In short, betting the safety of the country on data mining is effectively a bet on the operational incompetence of terrorists. And, given what we know of our enemies' increasing sophistication, that's not a bet that we should make.
Is there even the remotest possibility that those in charge of promoting and selling the "Total Information Awareness" to the ever-fearing congress will actually give weight to this report? I wonder. After all the tax-payers paid for the organization's report... it must therefore be a worthless.
For those of you wondering what the the National Research Council does :
The mission of the NRC is to improve government decision making and public policy, increase public education and understanding, and promote the acquisition and dissemination of knowledge in matters involving science, engineering, technology, and health. The institution takes this charge seriously and works to inform policies and actions that have the power to improve the lives of people in the U.S. and around the world.
sites.nationalacademies.org...
arstechnica.com
(visit the link for the full news article)
