Shostack + Friends Blog Archive

 

Is the Database Half-Wrong, or Half-Right?

half-full-glass.jpg
More than 8,000 people have been mistakenly tagged for immigration violations as a result of the Bush administration’s strategy of entering the names of thousands of immigrants in a national crime database meant to help apprehend terrorism suspects, according to a study released on Thursday.

The study, conducted by the Migration Policy Institute, a research group in Washington, relied on statistics released by the Department of Homeland Security that covered 2002 to 2004. The study found that the national crime database was wrong in 42 percent of the cases in which it identified immigrants stopped by the local police as being wanted by domestic security officials.

From “Crime Database Often Wrong on Immigration, Study Finds.” (The 42%-full glass picture is from Lemonlight, who has a gorgeous photo blog [http://www.lemonlight.org/weblog/].)

Friday Star Wars security blogging will be late today, and will cover separation of privilege.