If You Have Nothing to Hide, What Are You Worried About?
From the Washington Post:
The U.S. government is collecting electronic records on the travel habits of millions of Americans who fly, drive or take cruises abroad, retaining data on the persons with whom they travel or plan to stay, the personal items they carry during their journeys, and even the books that travelers have carried, according to documents obtained by a group of civil liberties advocates and statements by government officials…
But new details about the information being retained suggest that the government is monitoring the personal habits of travelers more closely than it has previously acknowledged. The details were learned when a group of activists requested copies of official records on their own travel. Those records included a description of a book on marijuana that one of them carried and small flashlights bearing the symbol of a marijuana leaf…
The DHS database generally includes “passenger name record” (PNR) information, as well as notes taken during secondary screenings of travelers. PNR data — often provided to airlines and other companies when reservations are made — routinely include names, addresses and credit-card information, as well as telephone and e-mail contact details, itineraries, hotel and rental car reservations, and even the type of bed requested in a hotel…
Ann Harrison, the communications director for a technology firm in Silicon Valley who was among those who obtained their personal files and provided them to The Post, said she was taken aback to see that her dossier contained data on her race and on a European flight that did not begin or end in the United States or connect to a U.S.-bound flight…
Zakariya Reed, a Toledo firefighter, said in an interview that he has been detained at least seven times at the Michigan border since fall 2006. Twice, he said, he was questioned by border officials about “politically charged” opinion pieces he had published in his local newspaper. The essays were critical of U.S. policy in the Middle East, he said. Once, during a secondary interview, he said, “they had them printed out on the table in front of me.”
Not only is it invasive, you’re being forced to pay for it.
Also, I think it’s great when security notices that passengers are carrying “small flashlights bearing the symbol of a marijuana leaf”, but can’t find fake bombs. Don’t you?
on September 25th, 2007 at 7:19 pm
Not sure what I think about this in general, but I found out more about the newspaper story from another blog post on this at http://wc0.worldcrossing.com/WebX?14@@.1de36f39/82
(How do I make this a hyperlink?)
They make it sound like the officer just googled the guy’s name on his own.
“Second, another agent asks him about a letter to the editor Reed wrote to the Toledo Blade back on September 8, 2006. It was entitled, “The World Sees an Arrogant America,” and it was critical of Israel’s invasion of Lebanon and its occupation of Palestinian land, as well as Bush’s invasion of Iraq. “These are but a few reasons that have put America on the most hated’ list,” he wrote.
“I see you like to write for the newspaper,” the agent told Reed, he recalls. And the agent had downloaded a copy of the letter, which was on the table, Reed says.
“Yeah, so?”
“Nothing, I’m just curious. I googled your name and saw these things that were printed in the newspaper.”
This unsettled Reed.”
Who hasn’t googled random people’s names they come across? I do it all the time. (Although I couldn’t find the article right now)
on May 26th, 2008 at 3:27 pm
Soma….
Soma. Pornstar soma….