NSA trying to get more hi-tech

UPI | February 25, 2006

WASHINGTON, DC, United States (UPI) -- The National Security Agency wants to move forward in technology used in data mining of communications it deems important in the war on terrorism.

The New York Times reports NSA officials met with business heads in Silicon Valley earlier this month to look at various new ways to explore trillions of pieces of data.

The meeting -- which was revealed by anonymous company officials and dismissed with a \'no comment\' by NSA heads -- is the latest admission in the controversy surrounding the Bush administration`s controversial eavesdropping program that civil rights groups and some members of Congress have called questionable.

Mark Rasch, a former Justice Department official turned computer security company executive, said the theory of government data mining programs doesn`t violate any laws.

In practice, he said, \'anytime a tool or a human is looking at the content of your communication, it invades your privacy.\'

Although the corporate world uses the technology -- such as credit card companies preventing fraud or advertisers looking to corner a market -- the government is looking for the as-yet-unidentified criminal.

Last modified February 27, 2006