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Can Someone Make Sure The FBI's New Multimillion Computer System Connects To Google?
from the just-a-request dept
The FBI's computer problems have been well documented. They've spent hundreds of millions of dollars on computer systems that didn't actually work and had to be scrapped. Apparently, many things are still done via the old paper methods. Thus, it should come as no surprise that folks at the FBI wouldn't even think to try to use Google when doing some research. In this case, someone had made a Freedom of Information Act request for the recording of a tape made in an investigation over 25 years ago. The FBI turned down the request, using an exemption concerning violating the privacy of people -- which is only supposed to apply to people who are alive. The FBI claimed they could not determine if the people on the tape were alive, because neither participant stated their birth date or social security number on the tape. Hence, case closed, the FBI had no clue if they were dead or alive, and therefore the tapes could not be released. An appeals court has ruled that (not surprisingly) this suggested that the FBI had not taken "reasonable steps" to determine the living status of the people involved, even noting: "Why, in short, doesn't the FBI just Google the two names? Surely, in the Internet age, a 'reasonable alternative' for finding out whether a prominent person is dead is to use Google (or any other search engine), to find a report of that person's death." Obviously, that might not be enough -- but it does seem clear that the FBI could have done much more. So, just a small suggestion for the team now spending $500 million of taxpayer money on a new FBI computer system: make sure it at least alerts FBI agents to this thing called "the internet."
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"However....."
In this case I lean more toward believing that the FBI was simply looking for any lame excuse they could to avoid complying with a request for information.
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A) Yes, I agree, this was probably an excuse because the FBI just didn't want to hand it over.
B) You can google my name FOREVER and you'll never find me. I'll even help, my full name is Matthew Michael Bennett. Doesn't help, there are like 10,000 of us, at least.
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Google used as a verb by the Court
see: Google Acts to Prevent Genericide:
http://www.techknowledgyblog.squarespace.com/techknowledgy-blog/2006/8/14/google-acts -to-prevent-genericide.html
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*o*
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MMB
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Marriage
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informing the FBI
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Re:
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The FBI does use Google
This was around three years ago, I assume they are still doing this and I found this quite troubling as Google is NOT a completely reliable source of information. Had they done a little more research, it would have been blantly clear that they had the wrong person. Luckly it was not an arrest warrant.
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Tell me your birth year and the state you live in, and I'll bet I can give you your current or most recent address, and I'll get it off the internet in a free search engine.
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The answer is simple
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Erroneous information on internet.
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Any additional work for FBI?
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The Government Should Fear Its People...
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Ciao.
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