A bit of good news

A few times over the last year - most extensively last August - I have mentioned MATRIX, the Multistate Antiterrorism Information Exchange, a privately-run program to link local, state, federal, and private information into one huge, searchable database available to police across the nation.

Information included in MATRIX, gathered from public and private sources, includes individuals current and past addresses and phone numbers, arrest records, real estate information, photographs of neighbors and business associates, car make, model and color, marriage and divorce records and voter registration records, hunting and fishing licenses.

And a lot more, even if you just consider that many such records will include pictures and physical descriptions.

Early on, MATRIX ran afoul of privacy concerns and most of the states that initially signed up, pulled out. Now, it's pretty much been shut down for lack of funding. The ACLU "applauded" the development.

"Another major assault on privacy has been turned back, thanks to the thousands of Americans around the country who helped us to fight this program," said Barry Steinhardt, Director of the ACLU’s Technology and Liberty Project. "In state capitols across the nation, in police headquarters, and in media newsrooms, the message was heard loud and clear: the Matrix program is not consistent with the American tradition that innocent citizens be ‘left alone’ by their government."

In a press release issued Friday afternoon, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which spearheaded the program, announced the program’s shutdown. ...

"We’re under no illusions that the long and hard fight against the growing surveillance society has been won," said Steinhardt. "Even here, part of the Matrix program will apparently continue to be available to individual states. But it is worth pausing to celebrate an important victory in that battle."

Indeed.