They Watch What You Read, Where You Go

It's called "micro-targeting" and it was used by the Republicans in 2004 to great effect by identifying potential supporters based on records of what magazines they read and what they bought.

It turns out that this year they're using micro-targeting for a more sinister purpose, to flag their opponents. It's even suggested in Slate that the Repugs have developed a nation-wide screening list.

At a stump speech given last night in Idaho, this screening list was employed to keep lifelong indepedent, Melodee Watt from getting a ticket because her profile identified her as a potential Democrat.

Micro-targeting obviously has far more applications than simply keeping hecklers away from Dick Cheney. According to the Washington Post, you'll go through a form of micro-targeting called the Automated Targeting System every time you cross the American border.

ATS will data-mine "every possible type of information" on a traveller and will then spit out a "terrorist risk assessment" in the form of a numerical value. The riskier you're considered, the higher your number. Terrorism risk profiles will be maintained for 40-years.

Naturally the ATS programme is exempt from U.S. privacy protection laws meaning you'll never be able to get a look at your personal assessment which pretty much leaves you powerless to challenge any mistakes or excesses.

"They are assigning a suspicion level to millions of law-abiding citizens," said David Sobel, senior counsel of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "This is about as Kafkaesque as you can get."