Senator Blacklisted by No-Fly List

[Bob Hubbard]

From Slashdot.org

Senator Blacklisted by No-Fly List


Posted by michael on Friday August 20, @08:55AM
from the accidents-happen dept.
sig writes "Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) was turned down for a flight from Washington, D. C. to Boston because his name turned up on the TSA No-Fly list. He eventually got on a flight, but was again denied on his way back to D.C. It took 3 weeks of calls to Tom Ridge and the Department of Homeland Security for the ordeal to get straightened out. But what are ordinary citizens supposed to do if the Secretary of Homeland Security won't take their calls?" There's also a New York Times story.

 

[michaeledward]

The Senior Senator from Massachusetts was denied ticket purchases by ticketing agents on five different occassions. Supervisory personel at the airlines in each case eventually over-ruled the ticketing agents.

Michelle Malkin is enjoying this (She has a book proposing that racial profile was correct when the japanese were interred in WWII ... and should be used against terrorists now).

Of course, the good Senator was denied flight because a 'suspected terrorist' has been using a similiar name to book travel.

Hmmm...let's think about this. The suspected terrorist adapted to the situation; he figured that Husiem Hussien might have a problem getting a ticket, but Edwin Kennedy certainly doesn't sound like a terrorist. Hmmm.

Boy, that whole being able to adapt throws a wrench in the racial profiling thing, doesn't it.

Good think Senator Ted is interested in National Security, and has a sense of humor.

Here's your 3 cents change - Mike

 

[Brother John]

That's kinda funny.
:ultracool
Your Brother
John

 

[Melissa426]

I am not sure I'd mind if they kept Sen. Kennedy out of Washington D.C.:ultracool

 

[Brother John]

I am not sure I'd mind if they kept Sen. Kennedy out of Washington D.C.:ultracool

:drink2tha :lol:







Your Bro.
John

 

[OULobo]

It's okay to let him in, just don't let him drive for god's sake.

This is just another example of how rediculous the whole security process is getting. I doubt a terrorist would try this method again anyway. They are smarter than to try the same thing twice. Next everyone with the last name's Smith, Johnson, Cooper, Miller, Wilson, Nelson, Richards, Jones, Harris, Barnes and Gooberstananagowitz will be ristricted from air travel due to possible terrorist use of their names. At least the lines at security should be shorter.

 

[Bob Hubbard]

Damn it, he mighta been Osama!

Again, from Slashdot.

[font=arial,helvetica]Defending The Skies Against Congress And The Elderly[/font]


Posted by michael on Sunday August 22, @07:30PM
from the turning-the-corner dept.
theodp writes "After watching a burly airport screener search her lymphoma-stricken father, forcing the frail and faltering 78-year-old to hand over his oxygen meter, stand at attention with arms spread for a wand search, take off the Velcro strap shoes that he'd struggled to put on, and strain to keep his balance as his belt was tugged repeatedly, a Newsweek columnist wonders: have we lost our common sense when it comes to passenger screening?" An anonymous reader writes "CNN reported that Kennedy wasn't alone in being listed in the airport watch list as reported in a Slashdot article. Rep. John Lewis, D - Georgia, a nine-term congressman, has been stopped many times because his name appeared on an airline watch list as told to Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on border security. He contacted the Department of Transportation, the Department of Homeland Security and executives at various airlines in an effort to get his name off the list, but failed. Instead, he received a letter from the TSA indicating he has cleared an identity check with the agency even though he might still be subject to extra security checks."


( Read More...

 

[Bob Hubbard]

There are reasons I refuse to fly.
This is one. I refuse to yeild to the Gestapo and will take the 5 days to drive cross country, rather than put myself through that kind of abuse. Yes, we must be cautious, and yes, we must remain vigillent, but we must not sacrifice what we are, to defend against what may be.

In a lawsuit filed in federal court in San Francisco, John Gilmore, co-founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said that requiring ID from travelers who are not suspected of being a threat to airport security violates several amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

...

Airline officials were unable to identify the specific regulation requiring identification, calling it an "unwritten" rule," the lawsuit says. Passenger trains and buses have similar restrictions, the suit said.

The Web sites of the Federal Aviation Administration and the Transportation Security Administration both say photo ID is required to travel, according to the suit.

...

"There is no evidence against the vast majority of Americans," as to criminal activity, he said. "Yet they are being identified, tracked, and searched nevertheless.

"This policy violates decades and centuries of court decisions about the rights of innocent Americans," he said. "The mere demand for an ID is a search, which the Fourth Amendment protects us from."

The lawsuit claims the government, under CAPPS II, is preparing to combine travel booking and payment information with data from banks, credit-reporting agencies and other sources and integrate it with lists of suspected terrorists and criminals.

"Your life history will be gathered and scanned, using secret criteria, whenever you book a flight or arrive at an airport," said William Simpich, Gilmore's attorney. "This is the kind of data aggregation people have been fighting for 50 years or more and it's completely unacceptable."

 

[OUMoose]

"This policy violates decades and centuries of court decisions about the rights of innocent Americans," he said. "The mere demand for an ID is a search, which the Fourth Amendment protects us from."

That's semantics. The demand for an ID is a request. The acceptance/denial of showing said ID is the fullfilment of that request.

Now if someone pat me down looking for my drivers license, that's a search.

I consider myself a big privacy advocate, but I think BOTH sides of the coin tend to blow things out of proportion.

I don't consider showing my drivers license before getting a plane ticket too unreasonable. I would if they wanted 6 distinct forms of photo ID, with DNA samples attached. Then again I would also be disturbed if everyone and their brother was let on a plane with no regard to safety, in the "preservation" of privacy.

*shrug*

As with everything in life, this is a balancing act that we have failed as yet to get right.