ACL: COMPASS

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COMPASS/Mapping-National ID Database

by Niki Raapana, Revised 6/18/05

Everything in the world is being mapped and tracked in a global database, including animals, humans, and all their property.

COMPASS is the acronym for Community Mapping, Planning and Analysis for Safety Strategies. The new central government database is designed to gather, store and categorize every available scrap of personal information on Americans. COMPASS uses information from previously protected government records and all "other" sources. It was created by the U.S. Department of Justice in 1999 under the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS). COMPASS gathers data for the United States of America's Reinvented Government. COMPASS helps government agencies to protect and promote the new definition of the "public good." Seattle COMPASS Privacy Council members assured the ACL in the summer of 2001 that they were only using the COMPASS data as aggregate data (statistics). Later at that same meeting the Seattle Mayor's attorney admitted they may use the data to "help people find jobs."

The History of COMPASS

In the U.S., COMPASS is funded under the Department of Justice's Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS). In 1999, COMPASS was created by COPS' former Director of Grants, Gil Kerlikowskie. Throughout 1999, Seattle action teams experimented with innovative ways to gather private citizen's data, and then used their documented success inside their application to become a pilot test site for COMPASS. Seattle, WA was chosen as a designated pilot test for COMPASS in January, 2000, and a month later, "community cop" Gil Kerlikowskie was "chosen" to replace retiring Seattle Police Chief Norm Stamper. In September, 1999 Seattle City Councilmember Peter Steinbrueck proposed a transient tracking program that was challenged and stopped by local homeless groups. EPIC is reporting a new round of attempts to gather data on the nation's homeless and poor. Not suprising to the ACL is HUD's involvement in Homeless Management Information Strategies (HMIS) and it's listed under HUD Community Planning and Development. Mapitude is the updated version of HUD's Community 2020 Data Software.

Database news:

Dec 2006: This x-ray machine was tested on English patrons in a local pub a couple years ago. London police were looking for drugs and contraband and forced everyone to submit to a strip search or the optional "x-ray." The x-ray shows everything, and the image can easily be saved into a person's personal file. In the U.S., "Federal officials, however, have downplayed such concerns saying that screeners will be able to blur out a person's genitals and that the x-ray image will be erased from the screen once a passenger is cleared through the machine." Despite the fact that U.S. officials (such as the WA St Department of Motor Vehicles and the Seattle City Council) refuse all valid requests to review files stored in the COMPASS database and there is no oversight or privacy protection in COMPASS, we shouldn't be concerned about where these photos of our naked bodies will end up, since " The Transportation Security Officer operating the system will also not be able to print, store or transmit the image and will be viewing the x-ray in an area not visible to the public.Revealing x-ray machine raises privacy concerns in US Mon Dec 4, 2006, WASHINGTON (AFP)

Oct 2006: Checks NEWINGTON, CT, Oct 25, 2006 -- "ARRL President Joel Harrison, W5ZN, is urging Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) and other ham radio volunteers to tread cautiously when submitting information for background checks the American Red Cross (ARC) now requires. The ARC, with which the ARRL has a Statement of Understanding (SoU), this summer notified local chapters that volunteers and staff members must submit to criminal background checks by October 31. Harrison says the requirement extends to ARES volunteers who support Red Cross disaster relief efforts. In a statement October 24, Harrison said the League recommends that anyone submitting personal information for a background check very carefully read what they are giving the ARC permission to collect."

Iris Scanning For New Jersey Grade School By Laurie Sullivan TechWeb.com Mon Jan 23, 2006. "The platform provides entry-access controls, visitor management and the capability to scan a driver's license from 50 states and automatically import the information into the database. "The file size created when the camera takes a picture of the iris to match it against records in the database is about 512 kilobytes," said Raymond Bolling, co-founder of Eyemetric Identity Systems, a spin-off of New Jersey Business Systems Inc., which specialized in biometrics identification."

Mining for kids: Children can’t “opt out” of Pentagon recruitment database By Kathryn Casa | Vermont Guardian, posted January 17, 2006.

Animal ID rolls ahead with premises registration By Donna Farris, Special Sections Editor, Tri State News, Wednesday, December 21, 2005. Britain will be first country to monitor every car journey From 2006 Britain will be the first country where every journey by every car will be monitored, By Steve Connor, Science Editor, Independent Online Edition 22 December 2005.

"While many details about the program remain secret, officials familiar with it say the N.S.A. eavesdrops without warrants on up to 500 people in the United States at any given time. The list changes as some names are added and others dropped, so the number monitored in this country may have reached into the thousands since the program began, several officials said." Bush Lets U.S. Spy on Callers Without CourtsBy JAMES RISEN and ERIC LICHTBLAU, New York Times, December 16, 2005

Florida cop misused data, ChoicePoint claims Two other incidents involving private investigators also revealed By Bob Sullivan Technology correspondent, MSNBC, Sept. 16, 2005.

Database 'will undermine child protection' by David Batty, January 24, 2005, The Guardian, UK. " The government's proposed national child database is misguided because it will undermine the protection of those at risk of abuse, a committee of MPs heard today."

June 18, 2005 -- MasterCard: Only 68,000 cards at high risk Accounts among 40 million exposed in security breach at MSNBC News online. "ATLANTA - Credit card users, don’t fret. Only a small fraction of the 13.9 million credit cards accounts at MasterCard exposed to possible fraud were considered at high risk, the company said Saturday."

Information Technology Initiatives-Department of Justice

Winter 2005 Biometrics Summit:"Attend the 12th updated international forum for advanced identification solutions including...Finger Print Technology, Facial Recognition Systems, Signature Verification, Iris and Retina Scan, Smart Cards, Hand Geometry and Voice Verification Systems."

The LEIU Conference by Amy Jenniges, Seattle Stranger, June 2003.

Community Mapping and Planning is directly tied to building Sustainable Communities and environmental land use plans.

COMPASS uses the Geographical Information System (GIS) to combine data from all available sources, including controversial methods for obtaining anecdotal data about neighbors submitted to COMPASS by neighborhood "action" teams.

From an NRA newsletter: "A June 3 AP article appearing on Newsday.com reported that New York state`s much-lauded ballistic "fingerprinting" database, designed to match handguns in New York to crime scene evidence, has not solved a single crime in the more than three years since its debut.

These results are consistent with the findings of several studies that have already determined that existing ballistic imaging systems are flawed and have not been effective law enforcement tools. Despite these findings, anti-gun extremists continue to promote these ballistic "fingerprinting" schemes--which are little more than an attempt to impose a nationwide registration system for all law-abiding gun owners."

Mapping is also used by the ACL to define both Crime Mapping and Asset Based Community Development (ABCD) Community Mapping. Capacity building is a primary goal of a communitarian central government planning office. Northwestern University's ABCD programs include training Neighborhood Watch groups to go door to door "Mapping and Mobilizing Community Capacity." ABCD mapping interviews are 11 pages long, and they ask numerous questions about your lowest level service oriented skills and abilities (Can you change a six month baby? or Can you bathe an elderly person?). The ABCD interview asks for your personally identifiable information and also asks you to list your frateral, religious and political affiliations. These ABCD interviews are performed by Community Citizen Teams who work with COPS-Mental Health Officers. The new communitarian government goes door to door "building neighborhood capacity," using our neighbors to decide what hidden talents we might be hiding.

We think this data will be used when we are all conscripted into Volunteer America under the new draft. Here's the Selective Service's Alternative Service for Conscientious Objectors: "A major part of the contingency planning for Alternative Service is to identify agencies and associations which could assist the Selective Service System in placing conscientious objectors in suitable alternative service jobs. Conscientious objectors who are to be placed in the Alternative Service Program will be asked to describe their skills, aptitudes and interest in order to facilitate their placement. An attempt will be made to match the objector's skills and aptitudes to an eligible job, while at the same time ensuring that his service makes a meaningful contribution to the national interest. All assignments will be made within 30 days of reclassification to conscientious objector status." Examples of alternative service work are "conservation, caring for the very young and the very old, educational projects and health care." Does conservation service tie the selective draft to the environmental agenda? Does caring for the very young and the very old explain why the ABCD interviews ask us for so many details about our skills and abilities? Who is best suited for caretaking jobs? What do babysitting and elderly sitting have to do with homeland security?

The new database includes all private citizen's data that is currently gathered, stored and disseminated by local governments, federal agencies, and affiliated NGO stakeholders involved in "rebuilding community." This includes everything from homeowner data to employment and unemployment records, and COMPASS can map out every resident in the neighborhood according to their personal data. Based on the Rebuilding Communities mandate under Homeland Security, this previously restricted data is now available without restrictions. ALL government and affiliated private security agents now have privileged access to the deepest "layers" of our most private information, including the consumer information available by Experian. Experians' household database holds personal data on 40 million individuals.

The only people in American government who DO NOT have privileged access to this private data about American people are the American people. The Privacy Act of 1974 is overturned in every way except publically by the new community government's COMPASS program. COMPASS is a defendant in my PDA lawsuit.

Recent developments

June 6, 2005 -- Citigroup Loses Data on 3.9 Million Customers- Urges customers to protect identity after computer tapes with personal info don't arrive. by Robert McMillan, IDG News Service, on PCWorld.com, Monday, June 06, 2005.

The REAL ID passed the Senate on May 10, 2005. WANT TO SEE THE FUTURE OF NATIONAL ID?
by Jews For The Preservation of Firearms Ownership, Inc. May 12, 2005

Wayne State University Census Resources

Stolen Computers Expose Personal Data By Rachel Konrad, AP, 04/08/05 3:44 PM PT, posted at Technewsworld.

Nearly 10 million Americans were victims of identity theft in 2004, costing the nation roughly $5 billion, not including lost productivity, according to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. The Federal Trade Commission ranks identity theft as the No. 1 fraud-related complaint. 180,000 warned credit-card data exposed Theft reportedly originated at Polo Ralph Lauren by The Associated Press, April 14, 2005.

The National ID Trojan Horse by Rep Ron Paul, February 14, 2005.

March 9, 2005 -- Another big data broker reports breach LexisNexis says records on 32,000 people accessed The Associated Press on MSNBC.

Global Vision: Sustainable City: "Sustainable City is an international collaborative research endeavour to develop the world's first GIS (Geographical Information Systems) computer simulation programme for any town or city to see itself - and its surrounding environment - as a whole system. The project is now in development by Global Vision Corporation, a Non Governmental Organisation accredited to the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD). It is part of the international follow-up to Habitat II - the Second United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (June 1996), where it was nominated as a Corporate Best Practice at the World Business Forum on Enterprise, the City, and Sustainable Development.

Sustainable City is designed as a practical tool for sustainable development planning. It is intended to facilitate the local implementation of Agenda 21, the blueprint for the sustainable development of our planet which was agreed at the United Nations Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. It is meant to be used in conjunction with the exellent Local Agenda 21 Planning Guide published by the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC).

Microchip to allow wallet-free drinking By Auslan Cramb, Scottish Correspondent (Filed: 17/01/2005),

The Senate passed the New Intelligence Bill. Our entire miltary-policing structure has changed so radically that they're merging under one appointed position in the White House. We have effectively created a Gestapo in the U.S. and the database is wide open for their use. Here's a pdf of a Newsweek article, Pentagon Spying in America.

Letter to James Elmer from Senator Enzi regarding the new MATRIX database pilot test on January 10, 2005. The MATRIX defined explains: " The Multistate Anti-Terrorism Information Exchange (MATRIX) pilot project leverages proven technology to assist criminal investigations by implementing factual data analysis from existing data sources and integrating disparate data from many types of Web-enabled storage systems. This technology helps to identify, develop, and analyze terrorist activity and other crimes for investigative leads. Information accessible includes criminal history records, driver's license data, vehicle registration records, and incarceration/ corrections records, including digitized photographs, with significant amounts of public data records. This capability will save countless investigative hours and drastically improve the opportunity to successfully resolve investigations. The ultimate goal is to expand this capability to all states." (This is the first we heard of this. Thanks James!)

"ACHTUNG! YOUR PASSPORT, BITTE" NewsWithViews.com - By Charlotte Iserbyt - October 14, 2004 -

DHS and EU Sign Agreement to Allow Collection of Passenger Data Homeland Security Press Office, Contact: Bill Strassberger 202-282-8010, May 28, 2004

Fact Sheet: Strengthening Intelligence to Better Protect America from the White House,January 2003. Statement for the Record of John O. Brennan Director, Terrorist Threat Integration Center Before the House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary and the House of Representatives Select Committee on Homeland Security Washington, D.C.

Database firm tagged 120,000 terrorism 'suspects' for feds By Brian Bergstein AP Technology Writer at SunHerald.com on May 20, 2004. "Seisint Inc., is a Boca Raton, Fla., company founded by a millionaire, Hank Asher, who stepped down from its board of directors last year after revelations of past ties to drug smugglers."

Senator says US may need compulsory service to boost Iraq force Tue Apr 20,12:34.

Could the Draft Come Back? "As military operations continue in Iraq and forces are stretched thinner, President Bush and his Democratic challenger are getting more questions about the revival of a military draft." by Jennifer Barrett, Newsweek, Updated: 8:15 p.m. ET June 04, 2004. Jennifer calls people ( like Scott Kohlhaas, the state chair of Alaska’s Libertarian Party who launched a Web site called DraftResistance.org in late 2002) who think the draft will be reinstated "conspiracy theorists." Scott links us to Agency initiates steps for selective draft by Eric Rosenberg, Hearst Newspapers.Troop strain renews draft debate,'Stop-loss' efforts signal US military's struggle to shore up forces. by Tom Regan | csmonitor.com, June 4, 2004.

ID cards 'compulsory by 2008' by Andrew Grice, Political Editor Independent.co.uk, 05 April 2004. [Community policing originated with the British Democratic Leadership Council (Clinton 1994).]

March 12, 2004- FBI pushes for broadband wiretap powers ISPs, Net phone services would all have to rewire by Ben Charney on MSNBC news.

January 11, 2004- U.S. to push airlines for Passenger Records, reported by Sara Kehaulani Goo in the Washington Post on January 11, 2004, and also back in September 2003. Explaining the communitarian's more moral programs that plan to use the databases, Kehaulani Goo tells us "Business travelers who typically pay high prices for their seats will likely get an easier pass through security in the "registered traveler" program." What is the new system? Goo almost says it all: "The TSA said the new computerized system is to provide a more thorough approach to screening passengers. It will collect travelers' full name, home address and telephone number, date of birth and travel itinerary. The information will be fed into large databases, such as Lexis-Nexis and Acxiom, that tap public records and commercial computer banks, such as shopping mailing lists, to verify that passengers are who they say they are. Once a passenger is identified, the CAPPS 2 system will compare that traveler against wanted criminals and suspected terrorists contained in other databases... The two-step process will result in a numerical and color score for each passenger. A "red" rating means a passenger will be prohibited from boarding. "Yellow" indicates that a passenger will receive additional scrutiny at the checkpoint and a "green" rating paves the way for a standard trip through security. Also factored into one's score will be intelligence about certain routes and airports where there might be higher-rated risks to security."

Links worthy of further investigation (especially for those debunking conspiracy theories):

Northwest Crime and Social Research, Inc.

In Service of a Boondoggle Published in The Freeman: Ideas on Liberty September 1996 by Doug Bandow.

Bind Us Together! by William Norman Grigg March 21, 1994 in the New American.

Markle Foundation Task Force on National Security in the Information Age. Amitai Etzioni is a member, as is Robert D. Atkinson, vice-president of the Progressive Policy Institute (the Third Way think-tank).

This link is to an April 22, 2004 Anchorage Daily News article that tells us about the Communitarian Network's "study" of all the state driver's licenses security precautions. Institute rates Alaska DMV as one of most lax in U.S. LICENSES: State disputes claim that it deserves an "F" in verifying applicants' identities. by RICHARD RICHTMYER. The ADN provides a link to GWU's entire study. Richtmyer tells us: "The institute established four steps it said states should take, at a minimum, to ensure effective screening for fraudulent applications and assigned a grade based on how many they used. "The steps were verifying Social Security numbers using an online database system; requiring proof that the applicant is legally in the United States and a resident in the state; linking license expiration dates to visa expiration dates for foreigners; and using biometric information, such as fingerprints or retinal scans, to verify identity." [emphasis added] We wonder how much the Anchorage Daily News knows about the Communitarian Network. This is basically all they tell their Alaskan readers: "The institute, which promotes a balance between individual rights and social responsibility, looked into the subject because driver's licenses are widely used as the definitive ID, and the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorists got theirs through other lax states, namely Florida and Virginia, Etzioni said."

Driver's License Debate at the Government Technology website April 2003 over Digital Facial Recognition Technology.

VeriChip Mobile inserts Miniaturized, Implantable Identification Technology.

DARPA's got a great idea for expanding the COMPASS database called LifeLog.

Senator calls for reports on government data searches, By Grant Gross, IDG News Service, 07/31/03.

Text of proposed Citizen's Protection in Federal Databases Act, Current Version

Human Subjects Protection Requirements.

DARPA's Terrorism Information Awareness System (TIA) was formerly called Total Information Awareness.

Wikipedia, the Free Enclylopedia has a nice overview of TIA with interesting links.

DARPA leaders defend TIA after Senate cuts funding, Journal of Aerospace and Defense Industry News July 25, 2003.

Human Assets Database.

Corporation for National Community Service

Crime Mapping: GIS Goes Mainstream, posted by the GIS Lounge, Oct 11, 2001.

"What's Next for the Database?" Cover Story for Intelligent Enterprise, May 9, 2002.

USDOJ Restorative Justice Network

Crime Mapping Analysis Program, NIJ's Justice Technology Information Network.

Crime Mapping and Data Confidentialty Roundtable, 1999, presented by NIJ's Crime Mapping Research Center (CMRC).

13 million on terror watch list, By JAMES GORDON MEEK, DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU

The President's DNA Initiative.

Police Foundation Library is a great source for crime mapping and community policing archived news.

eStrategy, Government Smart Cards

Living Cities, The National Communities Development Initiative.

Job Maps, Career Development and Community Capacity.

Putting the Blinders Back on Big Brother By Jane Black, Business Week Mar 27 2003 7:21AM

Senate panel demands merged terror watch lists
forwarded from Peter Myers, 05/06/03

By Wilson P. Dizard III, GCN Staff
http://gcn.com/cgi-bin/udt/im.display.printable?client.id=gcndaily2&story.id=22007

The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence last week unanimously approved an intelligence authorization bill for fiscal 2004 that calls for increased information sharing and data consolidation.

The committee met in a secret session to approve the bill. The bill provides the funding necessary to establish a single, government wide terrorist watch list. It also increases funding to standardize databases to facilitate access to information, according to a committee statement.

The committee said it wants to encourage all-source fusion ofintelligence by requiring the CIA to launch a pilot giving its intelligence analysts access to raw information from databases run by other agencies that gather intelligence.

Some of these agencies include the National Reconnaissance Office,National Security Agency, National Imagery and Mapping Agency and Defense Intelligence Agency.

The committee’s chairman, Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), said he was particularly pleased by the panel’s May 1 passage of the bill because it emphasizes information sharing and the restoration of the[intelligence] community’s analytical function.

Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.V.), the committee’s ranking minority member, said his "goal with this bill is to take the first step in improving information sharing, collaboration and domestic intelligence."

The General Accounting Office last week issued a report calling for a coordinated terrorist watch list and detailed hurdles to creating a single database.

Meanwhile, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge has identified a consolidated list as a priority IT project at his department. A factor that has led to the proliferation of listsis that a lot of terrorism information comes from law enforcement agencies, not intelligence agencies, said James Lewis, director of the technology and public policy program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

"That is why everybody has their own list. Another problem is, if you have a single list, who is going to own it?" Lewis said.

The bill is "the Senate select committee staking out who is going to lead on list management," he said. [end post]

More Good Links

Here's a 1999 site, Winners and Losers.... State by State Analysis of Current Driver's License Laws and Requirements; Which States are Promoting the New "National ID" Standards?

A recent example of how twisted the data-gathering for mapping dialectic is getting, Note the title of this article at Refuse and Resist!. Why call it "McCarthy Watch?"

Surveil Me! Layers of public and private online, by Julian Sanchez, Reason Magazine, July 29, 2003. A nice explanation of the problems with our Fourth Amendment privacy expectations in the digital age.

Report: Privacy Issue Forces Rethinking of Data-Gathering Methods,By Erika Morphy, CRMDaily.com, January 25, 2002.

CS 105: Data Gathering v. Privacy Computer Science course offering at Williams College.

COTSE.net, Privacy Watch.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, Defending Freedom in the Digital World.

An email forward:

January 10, 2005

James Dobson
Patriots Corner
C/O 280 H K Road
Moorcroft, WY 82721
Dear James:

The internet can be a tremendous resource for research and sharing of information. However, it can also rapidly spread misinformation. Such is the case with the Multi-State Anti-Terrorism Information Exchange (MATRIX).

One of the critical recommendations from the recently released 9/11 Commission Report was the need for greater information sharing between law enforcement agencies. The MATRIX pilot program could provide this critical resource for state and federal law enforcement agencies. It is imperative that you understand the MATRIX system will not involving any "data mining" as some individuals have alleged. The system will only use public records to generate leads, expedite criminal investigations and possibly prevent terrorist attacks.

The MATRIX would compile a database of the following information: pilot licenses issued by the Federal Aviation Administration; aircraft ownership; property ownership; U.S. Coast Guard-registered vessels; state sexual offender lists; corporate filings; Uniform Commercial Code filings or business liens; bankruptcy filings; and, state issued professional licenses. It will also include: criminal history records; department of corrections information and photo images; sexual offender criminal history files; driver's license information and photo images; and, motor vehicle registration information. All of this information is currently available to law enforcement.

The MATRIX will use public information combined with information that law enforcement already has legal access to utilize. In a recent test, the MATRIX was able to flag five of the 9/11 hijackers without any additional identifying information provided by federal investigators. It also helped draw connections between three sexual assault cases in neighboring states that led to convictions.

I am committed to protecting our privacies and civil liberties. I am also committed to preventing another terrorist attack against the United States. I will continue to monitor the development of the MATRIX system and ensure that it does not infringe upon any of our rights.

Sincerely,

Michael B. Enzi
United States Senator
MBE:ej