# PROMIS PROMIS (Prosecutor's Management Information System) was case-management software developed in the 1970s by Bill Hamilton's Institute for Law and Social Research -- the predecessor of [[Inslaw]] -- originally with federal law-enforcement (LEAA) funding, to track cases, defendants, and caseloads for prosecutors. For its era it was a notable relational case-management system. It became infamous through the [[Inslaw]] affair and the allegation that a secret "back door" turned it into a global surveillance tool -- the technological keystone of [[The Octopus]] theory. ## The legitimate software and the dispute PROMIS did real, mundane work: tracking legal cases across prosecutors' offices. A public-domain version (LEAA-funded) existed; the central legal fight was over the proprietary rights to Inslaw's privately funded *enhanced* version, which the Justice Department was found by a bankruptcy court to have taken improperly. ## The "back door" allegation The claim that intelligence operatives inserted a covert back door and sold modified PROMIS to foreign governments (alleged recipients included Canada, South Korea, Israel, Iraq, and others) comes essentially from [[Michael Riconosciuto]]'s contested 1991 affidavit, which named Reagan-era figure Earl Brian as directing the scheme. Brian was later (1996) convicted of securities fraud and conspiracy -- but for unrelated business dealings, nothing to do with PROMIS. ## Epistemic status The back door, Brian's involvement, and covert foreign distribution are not proven. The Bua report (1993) found "no credible evidence" connecting Brian to PROMIS and called the fraud/illegal-distribution evidence "woefully insufficient." PROMIS is also frequently and speculatively tied to later surveillance programs ([[PRISM]] and others); such lineage claims are conspiracy lore, not established fact. ## See also - [[The Octopus]] - [[Inslaw]] - [[Michael Riconosciuto]] - [[Danny Casolaro]]