[Infowarrior] - Fliers without ID placed on TSA list

[Richard Forno]

Find this article at:
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/surveillance/2008-08-12-tsa_N.htm

Fliers without ID placed on TSA list

By Thomas Frank, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — The Transportation Security Administration has collected  
records on thousands of passengers who went to airport checkpoints  
without identification, adding them to a database of people who  
violated security laws or were questioned for suspicious behavior.

The TSA began storing the information in late June, tracking many  
people who said they had forgotten their driver's license or passport  
at home. The database has 16,500 records of such people and is open to  
law enforcement agencies, according to the TSA.

Asked about the program, TSA chief Kip Hawley told USA TODAY in an  
interview Tuesday that the information helps track potential  
terrorists who may be "probing the system" by trying to get though  
checkpoints at various airports.

Later Tuesday, Hawley called the newspaper to say the agency is  
changing its policy effective today and will stop keeping records of  
people who don't have ID if a screener can determine their identity.  
Hawley said he had been considering the change for a month. The names  
of people who did not have identification will soon be expunged, he  
said.

Civil liberties advocates have been fearful that the database includes  
passengers who have done nothing wrong yet may face extra scrutiny at  
airports or questioning by authorities investigating possible  
terrorism. "This information comes back to haunt people," said Barry  
Steinhardt of the American Civil Liberties Union.

The TSA has been expanding an electronic database that started a  
couple of years ago to keep track of people who violated security  
regulations, most often by bringing a dangerous item to a checkpoint.

The agency then began adding names of people who were questioned by  
police but not necessarily charged after an airport screener saw them  
acting suspiciously. In those cases, the TSA can keep records for 15  
years of someone's name, address, Social Security number, nationality,  
race and physical features, as well as identifying information about a  
traveling companion, according to a report by the Homeland Security  
Department privacy office.

Hawley said the database will still be used but it will not contain  
people's names who forgot their identification. Such a database helps  
the TSA spot patterns of activity that may indicate terrorist planning  
and refer people to the FBI for possible questioning. "It's just like  
if a police officer chats to somebody. It's part of the investigative  
process," Hawley said.

Travelers without ID were added in June after the TSA barred them from  
airplanes. The agency wanted to identify all passengers to check them  
against watch lists. Previously, passengers without ID could board  
airplanes after facing additional searches.

Hawley said the TSA will stop tracking people without ID because they  
do not automatically represent a security threat. The TSA will still  
keep records of people who go to checkpoints without ID and then give  
a false name to screeners.



Find this article at:
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/surveillance/2008-08-12-tsa_N.htm