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Report Casts Doubt on Anti-terrorism Tools
10/10/2008
A new report from the National Academy of Sciences, part of which was co-authored by an Indiana University School of Law-Bloomington professor, casts doubt on the effectiveness, lawfulness, and appropriateness of using data-based tools such as data-mining and biometrics to fight terrorism.The report, "Protecting Individual Privacy in the Struggle Against Terrorists: A Framework for Program Assessment," is the product of a three-year study by the Academy's Committee on Technical and Privacy Dimensions of Information for Terrorism Prevention and Other National Goals. It was requested in 2005 by the Department of Homeland Security and the National Science Foundation.
According to the report, automated data-mining techniques that search databases for unusual patterns of activity--widely used in the private sector for spotting consumer fraud--"will be extremely difficult" to use successfully for counterterrorism because of legal, technological, and logistical problems.
The report notes that there is "no scientific consensus" about whether behavioral surveillance techniques, which try to identify terrorists by observing behavior or measuring physiological states, are ready for use at all in counterterrorism. At most, the committee concluded, behavioral surveillance techniques should be used for preliminary screening to identify those who merit follow-up investigation.
According to the report, counterterrorism programs that use personal data inherently raise privacy issues, and if those programs don't work, privacy invasions are likely to be unwarranted.
The report offered two specific recommendations. The first is that all counterterrorism programs that rely on personal data should be evaluated for their effectiveness, lawfulness, and impact on privacy. The second recommendation is for Congress to examine and update privacy laws to reflect dramatic technological changes.
The report provided a detailed framework for performing that analysis, primarily authored by Fred Cate, a professor of law at Indiana U and director of the Center for Applied Cybersecurity Research. Cate also served as a committee member.
The committee's framework divides the analysis of data-based programs into two sets of inquiries: those designed to determine whether a program is or will be effective, and those designed to determine whether it complies with legal requirements and is consistent with American values.
In the wake of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the United States government has conducted intelligence gathering programs--some classified, some not--that are designed to thwart any future attacks. But the report argues that such tactics often bring innocent people into the process, whether being screened at the airport or being put on a watch list because of a Web site the individual has visited.
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