3 replies to this topic

[spy1]

http://www.foxnews.c...,218483,00.html :

"Report: Thousands Wrongly Listed on Terror Watch List

WASHINGTON — Thousands of people have been mistakenly linked to names on terror watch lists when they crossed the border, boarded commercial airliners or were stopped for traffic violations, a government report said Friday.

More than 30,000 airline passengers have asked just one agency — the Transportation Security Administration — to have their names cleared from the lists, according to the Government Accountability Office report."

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Felony stop, anyone? Pete

[Susan528]

"The watch list was the first stage of building a security net for the aviation system," Chertoff said.

He said an agreement reached Friday between the U.S. and the European Union would help prevent people from being misidentified.

The agreement calls for airlines to submit 34 pieces of data — including names, addresses and credit card details — about passengers flying from Europe to the United States.

The report said agencies are working to minimize the effect on people who are frequently misidentified.

It is regrettable that misidentification has and does occur. What do you think should be done?

[spy1]

At the very least, the names on the list need to be verified (to make sure they're not the names of dead persons, foreign officials or Ted Kennedy! <g> ).

The "common names" are useless unless matched with specific identifying information (age of actual "suspect" supposedly using that name, SSN, etc.) which really shouldn't be too hard for our super-efficient government to come up with the right answers to.

(You'll want to read this, too, BTW - http://www.aclu.org/...rs20060727.html )

What should be done is to have it made mandatory that every single person mis-identified have their story published in the Congressional Record, and that they be able to sue in court for any mis-identification and be awarded damages.

But getting the information out in public is the key - that, and getting the TSA to adhere to clear-cut duties and responsibilities with clear-cut, open rules and regulations that are available to the public being most affected by them.

Check out also these articles:

http://www.slate.com/id/2109922/
http://www.fas.org/s...06/dhs-ssi.html
http://papersplease....more/index.html

[spy1]

If you have the time to actually read a sober, dis-passionate assessment of both the "watch-list" problem (and, by extension, the "SecureFlight" program) check this out:

http://www.aclu.org/...es20061006.html

It's a fairly long read, but well worth a thinking individuals' time. Pete