[Peace-discuss] Database issues

[Bob Illyes]

Exactly, Jenifer.

The problem with such databases, even if they are put together lawfully, is 
that they amount to a fishing expedition. There are two problems with this:

1) False positives, as they are called in medicine. As Officer Davis 
testified, multiple entries of a person in the database are used to flag 
that person as a possible criminal, absent any actual criminal activity.

2) Blackmail. The state, with a complete enough database on citizens, can 
blackmail almost anyone via either actual or apparent impropriety by them 
or by people they care about. This effectively nullifies the Bill of 
Rights. The East Germans tried something like this, with an unhappy outcome.

Bob