Poll: Antiterror tech plans are flawed

R.A. Hettinga rah at shipwright.com
Fri Oct 22 14:44:56 PDT 2004


<http://news.com.com/2102-1009_3-5401058.html?tag=st.util.print>

CNET News


 Poll: Antiterror tech plans are flawed
 By Charles Cooper
 http://news.com.com/Poll+Antiterror+tech+plans+are+flawed/2100-1009_3-5401058.html


 Story last modified October 18, 2004, 4:00 AM PDT



Americans don't believe the government is doing enough with technology to
improve homeland security, according to a national survey conducted jointly
by CNET News.com and Harris Interactive.

 Drawn from a poll of 1,133 people in late August, the results portray a
nation eager to embrace technology to reduce security threats but unsure
how best to proceed. Only 15 percent of those polled believe they are safer
today than they were a year ago, and just 20 percent predict that they will
be safer in the future.
 Despite widespread confidence in technology itself, only 45 percent agreed
that the government's current technology initiatives are working, according
to the survey. The results reflect concerns raised by taxpayer
organizations and other government watchdog groups. Such groups have been
critical of technology spending and related operations since the creation
of the Department of Homeland Security.

 "From the beginning, we were concerned that this reorganization had gone
the way of the Department of Energy--bigger bureaucracy and few results to
show for it," said Pete Sepp, vice president of the nonprofit National
Taxpayer Union. "The picture isn't complete, but the brush strokes we've
seen so far are pretty ugly."

 The survey indicates that the issue could be a pivotal factor in the
elections next month. About 92 percent of the poll's respondents said a
presidential candidate's position on security would affect their vote, and
62 percent said they would support a tax increase to pay for new security
measures.

 The support for security is so strong that the survey's respondents were
apparently willing to back measures that have been sharply criticized by
civil libertarians as too intrusive. About 53 percent of respondents
expressed at least some willingness to repeal certain privacy laws, while
70 percent favored the legalization of more aggressive interrogation
methods.

 More than 80 percent of respondents indicated a willingness to carry some
type of national ID card, and about 70 percent said such a card would be a
useful tool to improve security. The poll also revealed support for the
greater use of cameras and advanced surveillance technologies in public
places, including hand and eye scanners.

 Some technology experts attributed the response at least partly to a
limited knowledge of technology and what it can accomplish.

 "People are putting too much faith in technology," said Bruce Schneier,
founder of Counterpane Internet Security. "They don't understand how eye
scanners work or how authentication fits into security. They don't
understand what a national ID card means or haven't read any of the studies
about the effectiveness of security cameras. They're giving opinions based
on superstition, not real facts."

 Nevertheless, the poll's results seem to reflect a general erosion of
public confidence in the federal government, a trend that began decades
ago. For homeland security in particular, nearly 53 percent of respondents
said the government could do more with the technology it already has.

 Zoe Baird, co-chair of the Markle Foundation's Task Force on National
Security in the Information Age, said the lack of faith in the government's
ability to use technology was understandable, until recently. But she said
recent changes in Washington have made her more optimistic.
 "Over the last year, the government, at very senior levels, has finally
come to terms with how technology can make us safer," Baird said. "I hope
that over the course of the next year, the public's faith in government to
use technology to make us safer will increase."

 Party affiliations of respondents to the CNET News.com-Harris Interactive
Poll spanned the political spectrum. About 32 percent said they were
Democrats, and roughly 35 percent identified themselves as Republicans.
Another 11 percent were registered as independents, and the rest gave no
party affiliation.

 Other findings in the poll:

 * 80 percent expressed varying degrees of support for a closed-border policy.

* 69 percent believe that more security at home would improve the nation's
diplomacy.

 * 55 percent say press reports exaggerate the threat of terrorism to their
security.

This survey was conducted online within the United States between Aug. 25
and Sept. 1 among a nationwide cross-section of 1,133 adults of voting age,
all of whom have Internet access. The results carry a statistical sampling
error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

  

-- 
-----------------
R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah at ibuc.com>
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'





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