July 6, 2006 11:36AM 

# Technology — er, Paying Attention — Will Save Us All 

By [Jim Harper](https://www.cato.org/people/jim-harper) 

---

<a class="js-popover-trigger cursor-pointer popover-trigger" data-bs-placement="bottom" data-bs-trigger="click" id="popover-trigger"> 

SHARE 

</a> 

With masterful dry wit, [ars technica skewers a new Defense Department research project](http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060705-7197.html). The idea? Using technology to find information.

The Air Force’s Office of Scientific Research has commenced a study called “Automated Ontologically-Based Link Analysis of International Web Logs for the Timely Discovery of Relevant and Credible Information.” In translation, that means, “[We’re going to pay attention to blogs](http://www.defenselink.mil/transformation/articles/2006-06/ta062906b.html).” Price tag: $450,000.

Talk about government waste. I would have sold them that idea for $399,000.

##### Related Tags 

[Defense and Foreign Policy](https://www.cato.org/defense-foreign-policy), [Technology and Privacy](https://www.cato.org/technology-privacy) 

[![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) 
This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).