U.S. Backs Florida's New Counterterrorism Database...Access to Americans'

U.S. Backs Florida's New Counterterrorism Database
'Matrix' Offers Law Agencies Faster Access to Americans' Personal Records

By Robert O'Harrow Jr.
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, August 6, 2003; Page A01

Police in Florida are creating a counterterrorism database designed to give law enforcement agencies around the country a powerful new tool to analyze billions of records about both criminals and ordinary Americans.

Organizers said the system, dubbed Matrix, enables investigators to find patterns and links among people and events faster than ever before, combining police records with commercially available collections of personal information about most American adults. It would let authorities, for instance, instantly find the name and address of every brown-haired owner of a red Ford pickup truck in a 20-mile radius of a suspicious event.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A21872-2003Aug5.html

Well....if it's good for us. Maybe we should start organzing and publishing OUR OWN DATABASE on everyone one of these criminals

* Who made contributions to them...investigations into their wealth
* Where they go...who they meet...what they ...how they lie
* etc...etc.. etc...

Here is a post I put up a few days ago. This Hank Asher is an interesting guy, on the board of directors of Seisent. I notice your article does not mention Asher's connections.

http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2003308030415

SNIP...."TALLAHASSEE -- A man implicated two decades ago in a Bahamian drug smuggling ring has been hired by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to help create a 13-state anti-terrorism network being launched with $4 million in Justice Department funding.

Millionaire Hank Asher of Boca Raton, a friend of recently retired FDLE director James "Tim" Moore and a major political contributor, was never charged with drug smuggling. He served as an informant and witness in several trials, and was identified by other FDLE informants as someone who provided police protection for smuggling operations....."END SNIP

This is with Justice Department money, and they did not even know about the guy's past.

On Edit:
Someone posted this link to 1999
http://www.polkonline.com/stories/070499/sta_contracts.shtml
SNIP...."The Drug Enforcement Administration and the FBI suspended their contracts with one of the nation's largest database companies partly because of the reputation of the company's founder and major stockholder, a newspaper reported Saturday.

DBT Online, based in Boca Raton, compiles public records worldwide and provides dossiers on investigative targets for about 1,500 police agencies.

The DEA and FBI halted their contracts with the company in May, partly over concern that Henry Edward Asher, founder of DBT, was once suspected of having ties to Bahamian drug smugglers....."