It was only three weeks ago that the U.S. Senate had voted to defund the Pentagon's Terrorism (nee Total) Information Awareness program. But like the mythological Medusa, two new heads are sprouting up for the one removed. Two very similar programs have suddenly popped up this week at the (supra)state level. One would connect Washington, D.C, and four states in a government data-sharing network. The other, based in Florida, would connect 13 states and link both government and commercial databases.

Washington Mayor Anthony Williams and Homeland Secretary Tom Ridge announced on Tuesday the creation of the "Justice Information System," wherein D.C., Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and New York will share law enforcement databases in an Internet-based system that will also have access to federal databases. The system was originally designed for DC and it is claimed the other four will only be participating as part of a 30-day "pilot program." Williams said at the press conference the system would be used for "garden-variety crime." The Washington Post reported that, according to the DC deputy mayor for public safety, "the system would enable detectives to comb through motor vehicle records to find photographs and information about red-haired owners of red Hondas within 20 miles of a particular spot."

Meanwhile, down in Florida, another suprastate TIA system was announced from an eerily similar script. The new "Matrix" database, according to another report in the Washington Post, "would let authorities . . . instantly find the name and address of every brown-haired owner of a red Ford pickup truck in a 20-mile radius of a suspicious event." The report did not indicate if a search was made for lazy government copywriters within 20 miles of the suspiciously similar press releases.

"Matrix" is short for "Multistate Anti-Terrorism Information Exchange" and like TIA, Matrix will search not only government databases, but consumer databases as well. According to an Associated Press report, 13 states have signed on to the Matrix. The roster of states is mostly southern, but also includes double-dipping New York.

It gets even better. The man who designed the Matrix system, according to that same AP report, "was identified by [Florida Department of Law Enforcement] FDLE informants as someone who provided police protection for [drug] smuggling operations." This is a case study of the fox guarding the henhouse. Or to use the lingo of public choice economics, this is Baptists and Bootleggers taken to a whole other level. The interim director of FDLE has asked for a full review of the man in question, one Hank Asher, who has donated more than $735,000 to political parties and candidates over the last five years.

The announcement of these new control-grid tracking programs should be worrisome for consumers concerned about the integrity of the data gathered by those they do business with. The sudden appearance this week of the latest heads of the gorgon is an object lesson in the fact that we must all be vigilant when it comes to watching and slaying Privacy Villains.

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