Backdraft

Here’s a nice little story that might be of interest
to the younger readers out there…

"PENTAGON CREATING STUDENT DATABASE"
By Jonathan Krim, Washington Post Staff Writer

The Defense Department began working yesterday
with a private marketing firm to create a database
of high school students ages 16 to 18 and all
college students to help the military identify
potential recruits in a time of dwindling
enlistment in some branches.

The program is provoking a furor among privacy
advocates. The new database will include personal
information including birth dates, Social Security
numbers, e-mail addresses, grade-point averages,
ethnicity and what subjects the students are studying.

And in typical Washington Post fashion, they buried the most
important information in the 21st paragraph:

The system also gives the Pentagon the right, without
notifying citizens, to share the data for numerous uses
outside the military, including with law enforcement,
state tax authorities and Congress.

Is it just me, or do you kids feel a bit of a draft?

Fortunately, President Bush has ruled out such measures
happening on his watch. So, as long as he stays in the
White House for the next twelve years, you and your
parents should have nothing to worry about.