THE SPIES WHO SHAG US
 THE TIMES AND USA TODAY HAVE MISSED THE BIGGER STORY -- AGAIN
 By Greg Palast
 gregpalast.com / Buzzflash
 Friday, May 12, 2006

 http://www.gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=502&row=1

 I know you're shocked -- SHOCKED! -- that George Bush is listening in on
all
 your phone calls. Without a warrant. That's nothing. And it's not news.

 This is: the snooping into your phone bill is just the snout of the pig
of a
 strange, lucrative link-up between the Administration's Homeland
Security
 spy network and private companies operating beyond the reach of the laws
 meant to protect us from our government. You can call it the
privatization
 of the FBI -- though it is better described as the creation of a private
 KGB.

 The leader in the field of what is called "data mining," is a company
 called, "ChoicePoint, Inc," which has sucked up over a billion dollars
in
 national security contracts.

 Worried about Dick Cheney listening in Sunday on your call to Mom? That
 ain't nothing. You should be more concerned that they are linking this
info
 to your medical records, your bill purchases and your entire personal
 profile including, not incidentally, your voting registration. Five
years
 ago, I discovered that ChoicePoint had already gathered 16 billion data
 files on Americans -- and I know they've expanded their ops at an
explosive
 rate.

 They are paid to keep an eye on you -- because the FBI can't. For the
 government to collect this stuff is against the law unless you're
suspected
 of a crime. (The law in question is the Constitution.) But ChoicePoint
can
 collect it for "commercial" purchases -- and under the Bush
Administration's
 suspect reading of the Patriot Act -- our domestic spying apparatchiks
can
 then BUY the info from ChoicePoint.

 Who ARE these guys selling George Bush a piece of you?

 ChoicePoint's board has more Republicans than a Palm Beach country club.
It
 was funded, and its board stocked, by such Republican sugar daddies as
 billionaires Bernie Marcus and Ken Langone -- even after Langone was
charged
 by the Securities Exchange Commission with abuse of inside information.

 I first ran across these guys in 2000 in Florida when our Guardian/BBC
team
 discovered the list of 94,000 "felons" that Katherine Harris had ordered
 removed from Florida's voter rolls before the election. Virtually every
 voter purged was innocent of any crime except, in most cases, Voting
While
 Black. Who came up with this electoral hit list that gave Bush the White
 House? ChoicePoint, Inc.

 And worse, they KNEW the racially-tainted list of felons was bogus. And
when
 we caught them, they lied about it. While they've since apologized to
the
 NAACP, ChoicePoint's ethnic cleansing of voter rolls has been amply
rewarded
 by the man the company elected.

 And now ChoicePoint and George Bush want your blood. Forget your phone
bill.
 ChoicePoint, a sickened executive of the company told us in confidence,
 "hope[s] to build a database of DNA samples from every person in the
United
 States ...linked to all the other information held by CP [ChoicePoint]"
from
 medical to voting records.

 And ChoicePoint lied about that too. The company publicly denied they
gave
 DNA to the Feds -- but then told our investigator, pretending to seek
work,
 that ChoicePoint was "the number one" provider of DNA info to the FBI.

 "And that scares the hell out of me," said the executive (who has since
left
 the company), because ChoicePoint gets it WRONG so often. We are not
 contracting out our Homeland Security to James Bond here. It's more like
 Austin Powers, Inc. Besides the 97% error rate in finding Florida
"felons,"
 Illinois State Police fired the company after discovering ChoicePoint
had
 produced test "results" on rape case evidence ... that didn't exist. And
 ChoicePoint just got hit with the largest fine in Federal Trade
Commission
 history for letting identity thieves purchase 145,000 credit card
records.

 But it won't stop, despite Republican senators shedding big crocodile
tears
 about "surveillance" of innocent Americans. That's because FEAR is a
 lucrative business -- not just for ChoicePoint, but for firms such as
 Syntech, Sybase and Lockheed-Martin -- each of which has provided
lucrative
 posts or profits to connected Republicans including former Total
Information
 Awareness chief John Poindexter (Syntech), Marvin Bush (Sybase) and Lynn
 Cheney (Lockheed-Martin).

 But how can they get Americans to give up our personal files, our phone
 logs, our DNA and our rights? Easy. Fear sells better than sex -- and
they
 want you to be afraid. Back to today's New York Times, page 28: "Wider
Use
 of DNA Lists is Urged in Fighting Crime." And who is providing the
 technology? It comes, says the Times, from the work done on using DNA
 fragments to identity victims of the September 11 attack. And who did
that
 job (for $12 million, no bid)? ChoicePoint, Inc. Which is NOT mentioned
by
 the Times.

 "Genetic surveillance would thus shift from the individual [the alleged
 criminal] to the family," says the Times -- which will require, of
course, a
 national DNA database of NON-criminals.

 It doesn't end there. Turn to the same newspaper, page 23, with a story
 about a weird new law passed by the state of Georgia to fight illegal
 immigration. Every single employer and government agency will be
required to
 match citizen or worker data against national databases to affirm
 citizenship. It won't stop illegal border crossing, but hey, someone's
going
 to make big bucks on selling data. And guess what local boy owns the
data
 mine? ChoicePoint, Inc., of Alpharetta, Georgia.

 The knuckleheads at the Times don't put the three stories together
because
 the real players aren't in the press releases their reporters re-write.

 But that's the Fear Industry for you. You aren't safer from terrorists
or
 criminals or "felon" voters. But the national wallet is several billion
 dollars lighter and the Bill of Rights is a couple amendments shorter.

 And that's their program. They get the data mine -- and we get the
shaft.