‘Total Information Awareness’ surveillance program returns, bigger than ever

[tonybaldwin]

new feature story in this month’s Wired blows the lid off plans for a massive new National Security Agency data center in Utah that represents the resurrection of a program that Congress killed in 2003, known as “Total Information Awareness,” targeting literally all electronic communications all over the world — including those made by American citizens.



The proposal was to build computing systems that could suck up every electronic communication on the planet and filter them through a smart super-computer that would flag certain conversations, emails, transactions and other items of interest for further review. It was a program so monstrous in scope that after a brief legislative battle, Congress imposed strict regulations on the type of technology that could accomplish those ends, prohibiting it from ever being used against Americans.



But if well sourced intelligence reporter James Bamford is to be believed, as of this year, their efforts to stop it are moot.

read the rest of the story on rawstory.com and on Wired.com