4 January 2012 / Pat Elder / openDemocracy - Almost immediately after the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) in 2001, antiwar groups across the country began organizing their communities in response to Section 9528 of the law. This section provides military recruiters the names, addresses, and phone numbers of high school students provided that parents and students are given the opportunity to "opt out" of the lists being forwarded to recruiters. The law directs schools to notify parents of the right to opt out, but many schools throughout the country failed to do so. Right away, programs sprung up across the country, encouraging parents to opt out and providing forms for them to do so.
Many became convinced that "opting out" kept recruiters at bay, but this counter-cultural cottage industry has been rendered largely inconsequential due in part to a quantum leap in the Pentagon's information gathering capabilities. From electronic trolling of social websites to purchasing information from yearbook and ring companies -- military recruiting services know what's in Johnny's head, if Johnny has a girlfriend, and what she thinks of his decision regarding enlistment. The laptops of local recruiters are loaded with personal information on youth. For instance, the Army's PrizmNE segmentation system combines demographic, consumer behavior, and geographic data pertaining to individual prospects. The information is merged with data from social media sites like Twitter and Facebook and the result is staggering. Recruiters know Johnny reads wrestling magazines, weighs 150 pounds, can bench press 230, drives a ten year-old Chevy truck, listens to "classic rock," and enjoys fly fishing.



