FACEBOOK
IS PENTAGON`S
PROJECT LIFELOG
By
Søren Nielsen
2021
Project LifeLog.
In May 20, 2003 is the deadline for researchers to submit bids to build the Pentagon's so-called "LifeLog" project, an experiment to create an all-encompassing über-diary.
"Lifelog" is the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's (DARPA) effort to gather every conceivable element of a person's life, dump it all into a database, and spin the information into narrative threads that trace relationships, events and experiences.
Researchers who receive "LifeLog" grants will be required to test the system on themselves. Cameras will record everything they do during a trip to Washington, D.C., and global-positioning satellite locators will track where they go. Biomedical sensors will monitor their health.
All the e-mail they send, all the magazines they read, all the credit card payments they make will be indexed and made searchable.
Darpa claims that LifeLog could help develop more realistic computerized training programs and robotic assistants for battlefield commanders.
"LifeLog" could become the ultimate profiling tool, they fear.
A firestorm of criticism ignited after "LifeLog" first became public in May. Some potential bidders for the "LifeLog" contract dropped out as a result.
"I'm interested in LifeLog, but I'm going to shy away from it," said "Les Vogel", a computer science researcher in Maui, Hawaii.
A firestorm of criticism ignited after "LifeLog" first became public in May. Some potential bidders for the "LifeLog" contract dropped out as a result.
"I'm interested in LifeLog, but I'm going to shy away from it," said "Les Vogel", a computer science researcher in Maui, Hawaii.
"Who wants to get in the middle of something that gets that much bad press?".
What national security experts and civil libertarians want to know is, why would the Defense Department want to do such a thing?
The embryonic "LifeLog" program would dump everything an individual does into a giant database: every e-mail sent or received, every picture taken, every Web page surfed, every phone call made, every TV show watched, every magazine read.
All of this – and more – would combine with information gleaned from a variety of sources: a GPS transmitter to keep tabs on where that person went, audio-visual sensors to capture what he or she sees or says, and biomedical monitors to keep track of the individual's health.
This gigantic amalgamation of personal information could then be used to "trace the 'threads' of an individual's life," to see exactly how a relationship or events developed, according to a briefing from the Defense Advanced Projects Research Agency, LifeLog's sponsor.
Someone with access to the database could "retrieve a specific thread of past transactions, or recall an experience from a few seconds ago or from many years earlier ... by using a search-engine interface."
And some people, such as Steven Aftergood, a defense analyst with the Federation of American Scientists, are worried.
With its controversial Total Information Awareness database project, DARPA already is planning to track all of an individual's "transactional data" – like what we buy and who gets our e-mail.
While the parameters of the project have not yet been determined, "Aftergood" said he believes "LifeLog" could go far beyond "TIA's" scope, adding physical information (like how we feel) and media data (like what we read) to this transactional data.
"LifeLog has the potential to become something like 'TIA cubed,'" he said.
But before these grand plans get underway, "LifeLog" will start small.
What national security experts and civil libertarians want to know is, why would the Defense Department want to do such a thing?
The embryonic "LifeLog" program would dump everything an individual does into a giant database: every e-mail sent or received, every picture taken, every Web page surfed, every phone call made, every TV show watched, every magazine read.
All of this – and more – would combine with information gleaned from a variety of sources: a GPS transmitter to keep tabs on where that person went, audio-visual sensors to capture what he or she sees or says, and biomedical monitors to keep track of the individual's health.
This gigantic amalgamation of personal information could then be used to "trace the 'threads' of an individual's life," to see exactly how a relationship or events developed, according to a briefing from the Defense Advanced Projects Research Agency, LifeLog's sponsor.
Someone with access to the database could "retrieve a specific thread of past transactions, or recall an experience from a few seconds ago or from many years earlier ... by using a search-engine interface."
And some people, such as Steven Aftergood, a defense analyst with the Federation of American Scientists, are worried.
With its controversial Total Information Awareness database project, DARPA already is planning to track all of an individual's "transactional data" – like what we buy and who gets our e-mail.
While the parameters of the project have not yet been determined, "Aftergood" said he believes "LifeLog" could go far beyond "TIA's" scope, adding physical information (like how we feel) and media data (like what we read) to this transactional data.
"LifeLog has the potential to become something like 'TIA cubed,'" he said.
But before these grand plans get underway, "LifeLog" will start small.
Right now, "DARPA" is asking industry and academics to submit proposals for 18-month research efforts, with a possible 24-month extension. (DARPA is not sure yet how much money it will sink into the program.)
Pentagon Kills Project LifeLog.
On the 02.04.2004 the Pentagon canceled its so-called "LifeLog project", an ambitious effort to build a database tracking a person's entire existence.
Run by "DARPA", the Defense Department's research arm, "LifeLog" aimed to gather in a single place just about everything an individual says, sees or does: the phone calls made, the TV shows watched, the magazines read, the plane tickets bought, the e-mail sent and received.
Out of this seemingly endless ocean of information, computer scientists would plot distinctive routes in the data, mapping relationships, memories, events and experiences.
"LifeLog's" backers said the all-encompassing diary could have turned into a near-perfect digital memory, giving its users computerized assistants with an almost flawless recall of what they had done in the past.
But civil libertarians immediately pounced on the project when it debuted last spring, arguing that LifeLog could become the ultimate tool for profiling potential enemies of the state.
Researchers close to the project say they're not sure why it was dropped late last month. "DARPA" hasn't provided an explanation for "LifeLog's" quiet cancellation. "A change in priorities" is the only rationale agency spokeswoman Jan Walker gave.
By 2007, a year after the Island Forum meeting that included "Louie Gilman", Facebook received it`s second round of 12.7 million dollars worth of funding from "Accel Partners".
Pentagon Kills Project LifeLog.
On the 02.04.2004 the Pentagon canceled its so-called "LifeLog project", an ambitious effort to build a database tracking a person's entire existence.
Run by "DARPA", the Defense Department's research arm, "LifeLog" aimed to gather in a single place just about everything an individual says, sees or does: the phone calls made, the TV shows watched, the magazines read, the plane tickets bought, the e-mail sent and received.
Out of this seemingly endless ocean of information, computer scientists would plot distinctive routes in the data, mapping relationships, memories, events and experiences.
"LifeLog's" backers said the all-encompassing diary could have turned into a near-perfect digital memory, giving its users computerized assistants with an almost flawless recall of what they had done in the past.
But civil libertarians immediately pounced on the project when it debuted last spring, arguing that LifeLog could become the ultimate tool for profiling potential enemies of the state.
Researchers close to the project say they're not sure why it was dropped late last month. "DARPA" hasn't provided an explanation for "LifeLog's" quiet cancellation. "A change in priorities" is the only rationale agency spokeswoman Jan Walker gave.
And "LifeLog" became "Facebook", on the same day.
By 2007, a year after the Island Forum meeting that included "Louie Gilman", Facebook received it`s second round of 12.7 million dollars worth of funding from "Accel Partners".
"Accel" was headed up by "James Breyer", former chair of the "National Venture Capital Association" (NVCA) where "Louis" also served on the board while still CEO of "In-Q-Tel".
Both "Louis" and "Breyer" had previously served together on the board of "BNN Technologies" - whice had recruited ex-DARPA chief and "In-Q-Tel" trustee "Anita Jones".
Facebook`s 2008 round of funding was led by "Greylock Venture Capital" whice invested 27.5 million dollars.
The firm`s senior partners include "Howard Cox", another former "NVCA" chair, who also sits on the board of "In-Q-Tel".
Apart from "Breyer" and "Zuckerberg", Facebook`s only other board member is "Peter Thiel", co-founder of defense contractor "Palantir" which provides all sorts of data-miming and visualization technologies to US Government, military and intelligence agencies, including "The NSA" and "FBI", and which itself was nurtured to financial viability by "Highlands Furum" members.
Ingen kommentarer:
Send en kommentar