ACLU of Wisconsin Applauds Attorney General's Decision to Drop Out of MATRIX

March 11, 2004

According to media reports, Wisconsin's Attorney General, Peg Lautenschlager, has decided to drop her department's short-lived intention to join the controversial Multistate Anti-Terrorism Information Exchange or MATRIX. This data-mining project, funded for now by the federal government and controlled by a private Florida company, gives participating agencies unprecedented access to vast amounts of public and commercially available
data on Americans.

Several of the original participating states have already dropped out of the program. The State of New York announced today that it was also dropping out.

"The Attorney General apparently has now seen the unintended consequences of participating in this out-of-control project. MATRIX is a project, which has more to do with secretly amassing information on innocent Americans than cost-effective technologically sound law enforcement. Her commitment to effective law enforcement instead of potentially harmful gimmicky is commendable, " said Ahmuty today.

"Hopefully, Wisconsin and others states will learn that the saying "caveat emptor" applies to them when presented with incomplete and misleading marketing pitches from purveyors of quick fixes for our legitimate concerns regarding terrorism," Ahmuty continued.

"It appears as if the Attorney General has stopped this program in Wisconsin before any harm has been done. We should learn, that the privacy of innocent Americans need not be sacrificed. We need to look at our policies and laws to make sure that we won't have any more close calls -- because once Wisconsin joins any overly intrusive insecure computerized network -- it is next to impossible to repair the damage done to innocent Americans
right to be left alone," Ahmuty concluded.

The ACLU of Wisconsin made calls seeking clarification and expressing concern to the Department and has sent a letter to Attorney General Lautenschlager. The ACLU of Wisconsin pointed out the problematic history and inadequate safeguards of the MATRIX. Ahmuty's letter also compares the MATRIX system to the discredited Total Information Awareness program, which Congress refused to fund.

Ahmuty's letter to Attorney General Lautenschlager regarding MATRIX is attached.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin is a membership organization having over 6,000 members in Wisconsin.

ACLU's Letter to the Attorney General PDF