US to boost surveillance spending
p2pnet.net News:- Speaking of compulsory electronic ID cards for all Americans, US president George W. Bush’s proposed $2.57 trillion federal budget for 2006 not only spells the death of the Hubble space telescope, it greatly increases spending on surveillance technology.
And while it does so, it cuts about 150 programs, “many from the departments of health, education, farming, housing and the environment,” says EPIC (Electronic Privacy Information Center).
The Department of Homeland Security wants $847 million to create the Office of Screening Coordination and Operations, “which would oversee vast databases of digital fingerprints and photographs, eye scans and personal information from millions of Americans and foreigners,” it says, going on:
“The National Science Foundation would receive $5.6 billion, which includes a 2.4 percent increase in research funding, but a decrease in its education budget. This continues a dramatic shift in the research priorities of the traditional science organizations.”
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See:-
compulsory – US to adopt electronic ID cards, p2pnet, February 11, 2005
Hubble – Hubble space telescope axed?, p2pnet, February 7, 2005
vast databases - Federal Budget Ups Surveillance Spending, EPIC, February 10, 2005
