Something about this seems excessive to me... Aren't High School kids already forced into the "selective service"? -------------------------- http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/nation/3237413 Database targets teens as recruits for military System would collect personal information on students 16-18 By JONATHAN KRIM Washington Post RESOURCES UNCLE SAM WANTS YOU The military is building a database of potential recruits that gets information from a variety of sources: •Commercial data brokers •State driver's license records •E-mail addresses •Social Security numbers WASHINGTON - The Defense Department began working Wednesday with a private marketing company to create a database of all U.S. college students and high school students between 16 and 18 years old, to help the military identify potential recruits in a time of dwindling enlistment in some branches. The program is provoking a furor among privacy advocates. The new database will include an array of personal information including birth dates, Social Security numbers, e-mail addresses, grade-point averages, ethnicity and what subjects the students are studying. The data will be managed by BeNOW Inc. of Wakefield, Mass., one of many marketing companies that use computers to analyze large amounts of data to target potential customers based on their personal profiles and habits. "The purpose of the system ... is to provide a single central facility within the Department of Defense to compile, process and distribute files of individuals who meet age and minimum school requirements for military service," according to the official notice of the program. Privacy advocates said the plan appeared to be an effort to circumvent laws that restrict the government's right to collect or hold citizen information by turning to private firms to do the work. Some data on high school students already is given to military recruiters in a separate program under provisions of the 2002 No Child Left Behind Act. Recruiters have been using the information to contact students at home, angering some parents and school districts around the country. From multiple sources School systems that fail to provide that data risk losing federal funds, although individual parents or students can withhold information that would be transferred to the military by their districts. John Moriarty, president of the PTA at Walter Johnson High School in Bethesda, Md., said the issue has "generated a great deal of angst" among many parents participating in an e-mail discussion group. Under the new system, additional data will be collected from commercial data brokers, state driver's license records and other sources, including information already held by the military. "Using multiple sources allows the compilation of a more complete list of eligible candidates to join the military," according to written statements provided by Pentagon spokeswoman Lt. Col. Ellen Krenke in response to questions. "This program is important because it helps bolster the effectiveness of all the services' recruiting and retention efforts." The Pentagon's statements added that anyone can "opt out" of the system by providing detailed personal information that will be kept in a separate "suppression file." That file will be matched with the full database regularly to ensure that those who do not wish to be contacted are not, according to the Pentagon. But privacy advocates said using database marketers for military recruitment is inappropriate. "We support the U.S. armed forces, and understand that DoD faces serious challenges in recruiting for the military," a coalition of privacy groups wrote to the Pentagon after notice of the program was published in the Federal Register a month ago. "But ... the collection of this information is not consistent with the Privacy Act, which was passed by Congress to reduce the government's collection of personal information on Americans." Chris Jay Hoofnagle, West Coast director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, called the system "an audacious plan to target-market kids, as young as 16, for military solicitation." He added that collecting Social Security numbers was not only unnecessary but posed a needless risk of identity fraud. Theft of Social Security numbers and other personal information from data brokers, government agencies, financial institutions and other companies is rampant. "What's ironic is that the private sector has ways of uniquely identifying individuals without using Social Security numbers for marketing," he said. The Pentagon statements said the military is "acutely aware of the substantial security required to protect personal data," and that Social Security numbers will be used only to "provide a higher degree of accuracy in matching duplicate data records." Gives the right to share data The Pentagon said it routinely monitors its vendors to ensure compliance with its security standards. Krenke said she did not know how much the contract with BeNOW was worth, or whether it was bid competitively. Officials at BeNOW did not return several messages seeking comment. The company's Web site does not have a published privacy policy, nor does it list either a chief privacy officer on its executive team. According to the Federal Register notice, the data will be open to "those who require the records in the performance of their official duties." It said the data would be protected by passwords. The system also gives the Pentagon the right, without notifying citizens, to share the data for numerous uses outside the military, including with law enforcement, state tax authorities and Congress. "It's just typical of how voracious government is when it comes to personal information," said Jim Harper, a privacy expert with the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank. "Defense is an area where government has a legitimate responsibility ... but there are a lot of data fields they don't need and shouldn't be keeping."
Army recruiters learn the ways of the force. Join the Army now young recruit; your going to love it and like it. College isn't the fun you are looking for.
So now the liberals are against the military's recruiting efforts. You guys are great Americans. Be proud of yourselves.
And you support the gathering of personal information on American teenagers so the military can target them for recruitment. You are a pathetic blowhard idealogue. That's why this Administration loves you. You don't ask even the obvious questions.
Bigtexxx, It is obvious to me you have no f*cking clue what it means to be an American. No doubt this coincides with your patriotism-induced inability to think for yourself. What irony. I'll go back to ignoring your idiotic tripe now.
If you bought a car from a car salesman who used illegal techniques to make the sale, you would have legal avenues to right the wrong. If you bought the enlistment sale pitch from a military recruiter using fraudulent tactics, you get to dodge bullets in Iraq while wondering what the f*ck went wrong. As an added bonus, your tour from h*ll will get endlessly extended by a President who actively avoided combat action himself (he was not that stupid) and who gets his staff to cough out gems like "insurgency is in its last throes".
So join the military, bigtexxx. Help them out. Be a great American. Why is it necessary for the military to delve even further into our private lives by collecting this information? Every male has to sign up for Selective Service by the age of 18. Isn't that enough information? By the way, why are we not great Americans when we fight for the privacy guaranteed to us be the Constitution? I think it is those that want to take away our constitutionally guaranteed rights that are un-American.
Didn't Bush have a mandate? I am sure his supporters would send their kids to the army and marine if he calls out for them to enlist.
Blind Faith. It's the Neocons favorite behavior pattern, and 1,700 American soldiers are dead because of it.
