Homeland Security tests Supersnoop system

WASHINGTON, March 8 (UPI) -- Lawmakers are concerned about a Department of Homeland Security computer system that mines personal information about U.S. citizens as it looks for terrorists.

The U.S. Homeland Security Department is testing the ADVISE -- for Analysis, Dissemination, Visualization, Insight and Semantic Enhancement -- system, which the Government Accountability Office is investigating at the request of U.S. Rep. David R. Obey, D-Wis., to see if it violates privacy laws, The Washington Times reported.

Data the system can mine include credit card records, telephone and Internet usage, medical records and travel and banking information.

The newspaper said the system employs the same data-mining techniques developed by the Depaertment of Defense's Total Information Awareness project banned by Congress in 2003 because of privacy violations.

In January, lawmakers introduced legislation that would require federal agencies to report to Congress on data-mining use.

"Many Americans are understandably concerned about the idea of secret government programs analyzing their personal information. Congress needs to know more about the operational aspects and privacy implications of data-mining programs before these programs are allowed to go forward," U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., told the Times.