State-by-State Breakdown on Participation in MATRIX

State Involvement in the MATRIX Program

 

State	Status of Involvement in Program	Status of ACLU FOIA Request
Alabama	Withdrawn from program (10/17/2003, Atlanta Journal-Constitution)	N/A
Arizona	Interested in Participating (11/5/2003 Meeting Minutes)	N/A
Arkansas	Interested in Participating (11/5/2003 Meeting Minutes)	N/A
California	On 10/7/2002 was elected member of Executive Committee governing program Withdrawn from program (9/23/2003, AP)	Filed (1/21/04)
Colorado	Interested in Participating (11/5/2003 Meeting Minutes)	N/A
Connecticut	Active Participant (1/8/2004, Connecticut Law Tribune) Citizen of Connecticut? Click here to send a fax asking your state legislator to pull out.	Filed (10/30/2003) Response: Official MATRIX FAQ An Introduction to FACTS Follow-up response
Florida	Active Participant Founding Member[1] Citizen of Florida? Send a fax asking your state legislator to pull out.	Filed (10/20/2003) Response: MATRIX Project Brochure MATRIX "Success Stories" Seisint's contract with the Fla. Dept. of Law Enforcement MATRIX meeting minutes from 04/22/2003 Justification for Seisint to become the sole source of data integration for MATRIX Texas's letter of withdrawl from MATRIX Original Objectives for MATRIX Slide show excerpt Grant application excerpt Budget document concerning MATRIX Budget Excerpt
Georgia	Withdrawn from program (1/30/2004, Atlanta Journal-Constitution).  Still listed as a participant on MATRIX webpage.	Filed (01/30/2004) Response: Georgia DMV Security Concerns with MATRIX Documents pertaining to Georgia's involvement in MATRIX MATRIX meeting minutes from 02/06/2003    MATRIX meeting minutes from 11/05/2003 MATRIX Board of Directors Meeting Minutes from 01/16/2004 Georgia Homeland Security Bulletin
Indiana	"Working with" Florida law enforcement (3/18/04 Meeting Minutes)	N/A
Iowa	Not interested in Participating (3/17/2004, Des Moines Register)	N/A Iowa CLU letter to governor about reported intention to join MATRIX
Kentucky	Withdrawn (10/4/2003, Palm Beach Post)	N/A
Louisiana	Withdrawn from program (10/17/2003, Atlanta Journal-Constitution)	N/A
Maryland	Not Interested in Participating (1/31/2004, AP)	N/A
Massachusetts	Potential Participant (3/18/04 Meeting Minutes)
Michigan	Active Participant (1/31/2004, AP) Considering withdrawing according to press account (3/19/2004, AP) Citizen of Michigan? Click here to send a fax asking your state legislator to pull out. Denial of involvement in letter to the ACLU Minutes of 11/5/2003 meeting indicate involvement	Filed (10/30/2003) Response: Slide show on MATRIX                Brochure on FACTS data mining software
Minnesota	Potential Participant (3/18/04 Meeting Minutes)
Missouri	"Working with" Florida law enforcement (3/18/04 Meeting Minutes)	N/A
New York	Elected member of Executive Committee governing program (10/7/02) Withdrawn from program (NY State Police letter expressing intent to withdraw, 3/10/2004)	Filed (10/30/2003)
North Carolina	Potential Participant (11/5/2003 Meeting Minutes)
Ohio	Active Participant (2/1/2004, AP) Citizen of Ohio? Click here to send a fax asking your state legislator to pull out.	Filed (10/30/2003)
Oregon	On 10/7/02 was elected member of Executive Committee governing program Withdrawn (10/4/2003 Palm Beach Post)	Filed (1/26/2004)
Pennsylvania	Active Participant (2/1/2004, AP) On 10/7/02 was elected member of Executive Committee governing program Citizen of Pennsylvania? Click here to send a fax asking your state legislator to pull out.	Filed (10/30/2003) Response: Various MATRIX documents                     MATRIX Board of Directors Meeting Minutes from 10/07/2002 Appeal Filed  (1/14/2004)
South Carolina	Withdrawn (10/4/2003, Palm Beach Post)	N/A
Tennessee	Potential Participant (2/3/2004, AP)	N/A
Texas	Withdrawn from program (5/21/2003, from Florida's response to the ACLU's FOIA request)	Filed (02/03/2004) Partial repsonse received (3/5/2004)
Utah	Withdrawn (1/29/2004, AP)	Filed (11/18/2003) Response: Seisint's FACTS for The MATRIX Project          Florida's Original Objectives for MATRIX Proposal for MATRIX Expansion Opportunities MATRIX Data Sharing Chart
West Virginia	Potential Participant (11/5/2003 Meeting Minutes)	N/A
Wisconsin	Joined program on 2/11/04 according to press report Withdrawn (3/10/2004)	N/A

 

A few facts of note:

• The MATRIX contains 20 billion records from private databases.  It is the largest database on the planet.  (USA Today, 11/11/03)                                           
• It has been supplied with information from at least 4 states.  (Palm Beach Post, 10/4/03)                                           
• It as already received $12 M in funding from the federal government. (USA Today, 11/11/03)                                           
• It is expected to cost $34 M annually to run and $1.7 M per state.  (Palm Beach Post, 10/4/03)                                           
• Hank Asher, the founder of Seisint, has been implicated as a drug smuggler and it was Asher's former company, Database Technologies, that administered the contract that stripped thousands of African Americans from the Florida voter rolls before the 2000 election, erroneously contending that they were felons.  (Free Exchange Policy Project, quoting Lucy Morgan, "Troubled Business May Lose Contract with State," St. Petersburg Times, August 13, 2003)                                           
• And a competing data vendor, ChoicePoint, decided not to bid on the project, saying it lacked adequate privacy safeguards. (Toronto Globe & Mail, 9/24/03)                                           
• The project is billed as a tool for state and local police, but organizers are considering giving access to the Central Intelligence Agency, said Phil Ramer, special agent in charge of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement's intelligence office.  (Toronto Globe & Mail, 9/24/03)                                           
• Criminal history files in the database are maintained by 15 Seisint employees, watched over by Florida state police, Mr. Ramer said.  Yet a Florida Department of Law Enforcement memo obtained by The Associated Press shows potential lapses in oversight. The memo says background checks on Seisint's Matrix workers took place only last month, more than a year into the program, and a privacy policy governing the database's use has yet to be finalized.  (Toronto Globe & Mail, 9/24/03)