FBI & Dept Of Educ - Mining Student's Records In Anti-Terror Op

[kpete]

Thursday, August 31, 2006
Education Department Mined Hundreds of Students' Records as Part of FBI Antiterrorist Operation
By JEFFREY SELINGO

The U.S. Education Department has given the Federal Bureau of Investigation information on hundreds of students who applied for financial aid over the past five years as part of the federal government's antiterrorism investigations following the attacks of September 11, 2001.

The program, known as Project Strike Back, was aimed at finding out if suspected terrorists were financing their operations through federal student aid obtained by using other students' identities. The secret effort was uncovered by a journalism student at Northwestern University, Laura McGann.

Under the program, the FBI provided names to the Education Department to cross-check in the department's database of applicants for student financial aid. The repository keeps information on some 14 million students per year who apply for federal financial aid by completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or Fafsa, the standard application form that the federal government, state governments, and most colleges use to determine students' eligibility for financial aid. Included in the database are students' names, addresses, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, and driver's-license numbers.

Fewer than 1,000 names were checked in the database over five years, Mary Mitchelson, general counsel to the Education Department's inspector general, said in an interview today. The project was run through her office.

more at:
http://chronicle.com/free/2006/08/2006083105n.htm

[Joanne98]

1. Spying on students now. 1000 names and no arrests!

[Nikki Stone 1]

2. What are they really looking for?

?

[AnneD]

3. They are looking for the location

of the next keg party.

[BadgerKid]

4. Reminds me of college wiretapping

IIRC, the FBI wanted to install internet traffic monitors that could be activated with the flick of a switch. I do remember that some campuses outright refused.

Now, I can't remember how it all turned out. Maybe the feds simply stepped-up the program with the whole NSA/telecom wiretapping.

[BadgerKid]

5. A double standard

So the Feds get to know who they are giving money to, but citizens can't find out who the feds are giving our tax revenues to(*). (well, other than to themselves and "friends")

(*) see e.g.Stevens Blocked Creation of Federal Spending Database http://thinkprogress.org/2006/08/30/stevens-caught/

Edited to provide link.

[Rex]

6. They would rather harass people who don't have the money to legally

fight back. The FBI is now an embarrassment to America. Hey Agent Mike, why the fuck don't you guys try and find out what happen on 9/11? This kiddy shit is sad and pathetic.

Start here:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2001/09/19/eveningnews/main311834.shtml?CMP=ILC-SearchStories