Utah unplugs its MATRIX link

Gov. Olene Walker has pulled the plug on the state's participation in the controversial MATRIX database — at least until a joint governor- legislative oversight committee can hold public hearings about the program that collects comprehensive dossiers on every resident.

"In the interest of the public and in the interest of privacy concerns, we need to take a serious look at it," Walker said Thursday at a press conference with Department of Public Safety Commissioner Robert Flowers and Department of Corrections Director Mike Chabries. "When it becomes a concern to the public, we need to do so," the governor said.

The announcement came in the wake of a copyright Deseret Morning News report that former Gov. Mike Leavitt had signed Utahns up for the pilot information-sharing program without informing state lawmakers or other state leaders. The state received $22,000 in federal money to help transfer selected state databases to a central database operated by a Florida company.

Flowers said state officials planned to inform state lawmakers once they were satisfied it was working and worthwhile, and because they would need lawmakers to fund a request for $2 million to $3 million to implement MATRIX.

MATRIX has raised concerns across the nation among conservative groups and the American Civil Liberties Union, all of whom are distrustful of government and the potential abuse of the information collected about residents.

Officially, Utah provides MATRIX with only criminal history information, driver's license records, Department of Correction offender records and images, and motor vehicle title and registration information, Flowers said. The state database with the 57,044 Utahns who have concealed weapons permits, which is available to law enforcement but not to the general public, is not yet among those provided to MATRIX.

But there are scores of other public databases that can and are being "mined" by private companies for sale to super databases like MATRIX. Those databases include detailed financial information, vital statistics like birth, death and marriage records, real estate transactions, credit histories, hunting and fishing licenses, and a host of other public records.

MATRIX could have that information on Utahns, Flowers admitted.

"But as a state, we are not gathering that information," Walker insisted.

MATRIX was initiated by the Department of Homeland Security after the 9/11 terrorist attacks as a means for law enforcement officers around the nation to communicate faster and more effectively (only law officers have access to MATRIX). All of the information in MATRIX was accessible to law enforcement officers before, "but this lets us do it faster," Flowers said.