Russ Feingold: “I support the Wyden-Feinstein Amendment. This amendment would represent a critical first step towards addressing the…”

“I support the Wyden-Feinstein Amendment. This amendment would represent a critical first step towards addressing the concerns that so many of our citizens have about one specific data-mining system, the Total Information Awareness program in the Department of Defense. The amendment would require specific congressional authorization before the Total Information Awareness program could be deployed. Time after time at listening sessions I told throughout my home State of Wisconsin people have expressed serious concerns about the prospect of data mining. People want a government that can protect us, but not at the expense of our most cherished liberties. The untested and controversial intelligence procedure of data-mining is capable of maintaining and accessing extensive files containing both public and private Government records on each and every American. The Total Information Awareness program represents a dangerous step that threatens some of the very freedoms that we are fighting to preserve in the fight against terrorism. Through comprehensive data mining, as envisioned by the Information Awareness office at the Department of Defense, everything from people's video rentals or drugstore purchases made with a credit card to their most private health concerns could be fed into a computer and monitored by the Federal Government. It is important to emphasize that this amendment is only a first step.”