more on Who they're spying on DO READ

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Ian Stoba <ian () babcockbrown com>
Date: June 16, 2006 7:13:30 PM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Subject: Re: [IP] more on Who they're spying on DO READ

I have an additional question for the collective wisdom of the IP  
list, if you see fit.

Much like Mrs. Anonymous, I am on the TSA selectee list. I had at one  
point ten consecutive flights for which I received a boarding pass  
with SSSS in the corner. This included flights on multiple airlines  
purchased with different payment methods and varying degrees of  
advance purchase.

Recently, I took a trip with my wife and three children. To my  
surprise, all five of us received the SSSS mark on our boarding  
passes. We were all pulled aside for additional screening. I was very  
surprised that the TSA screeners told me that my children would not  
be patted down, because apparently there is a TSA policy against  
performing extended physical searches of children under the age of  
12. We did all have our baggage and our shoes swabbed for explosive  
residue. My family was kept in the selectee area for approximately 30  
minutes while I was searched very extensively.

Our our return trip, my daughter was in tears approaching the  
security checkpoint knowing that she would be pulled aside and  
wondering how long her father would be detained. As before, I had a  
longer and much more thorough search than my wife and children.

Based on this experience, I had two questions:

	1. Are the members of my family now "tainted" by having traveled  
with a selectee? Will they now face additional screening every time  
they fly, perhaps for the rest of their lives?

	2. I suppose I can understand treating children differently, but I  
am very surprised that I was searched so much more thoroughly than my  
wife. This and several other experiences, like being pulled out of  
the check-in line for extra screening _before_ I had even been issued  
a boarding pass, makes me think that there may be some additional  
criteria for separating out gradations of selectees. Has the TSA made  
any public indication that this is the case? Have any other frequent  
travelers noticed this phenomenon?

While I was being searched on our return trip, my wife asked a TSA  
screener why I was constantly singled out. The screener asked if I  
happened to be an employee of the federal government, or a government  
contractor. The answer was no in both cases, but this seems like an  
interesting selection criterion.

--Ian


On Jun 16, 2006, at 2:23 PM, David Farber wrote:

> Begin forwarded message:
>
> From: Jeff Jonas <jeffjonas () us ibm com>
> Date: June 16, 2006 8:10:10 AM EDT
> To: dave () farber net
> Subject: Re: [IP] Who they're spying on DO READ
>
>
> Dave, feel free to post or just share with your anonymous friend  
> directly ... your call.
>
> =======================
>
> Dear Anonymous,
>
> It is more likely that your wife has been "wrongly matched" (i.e.,  
> false positive) rather than "wrongly named" (i.e., she is actually  
> the person named on the list).  Paul Rosenzweig and I wrote about  
> this in greater detail in this Heritage Foundation paper (http:// 
> www.heritage.org/Research/HomelandDefense/lm17.cfm).
>
> The challenge is preventing your wife from repeated infringements.   
> This highlights the need for watch list redress and remedies to the  
> growing false positive problem which is being caused by the ever  
> growing size of the watch list and ongoing lack of watch list  
> fidelity (i.e., sparse attributes) which result in many false  
> matches based on name similarity alone.
> Jeff Jonas
> Distinguished Engineer and
> Chief Scientist
> IBM Entity Analytics
> 702.851.4697
> JeffJonas () us ibm com
> My blog: www.jeffjonas.typepad.com
>
> -------------------------------------
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> <mime-attachment.jpeg>
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>
>
>
>
> David Farber <dave () farber net>
> 06/15/2006 12:09 PM
> Please respond to
> dave () farber net
>
>
> To
> ip () v2 listbox com
> cc
> Subject
> [IP] Who they're spying on  DO READ
>
>
>
>
>
>
> From: Anonymous
> Date: June 15, 2006
> Subject: Re: Who they're spying on
>
> There are many unknown consequences from the recent laws
> circumventing privacy and security constraints on the government.
> For example, the TSA "Do Not Fly" (DNF) list is being used by law
> enforcement agencies to capture anyone with an outstanding want or
> warrant.  As we all know TSA will not tell you why your name is on
> the list.  Moreover, they will not say where the names come from that
> are on the list.
>
> My wife ended up on the list, which lead to a 2+ hour wait to be
> cleared at the airport. During that time we talked with several TSA
> people and one police officer.  After TSA finally decided she could
> fly, they invoked the standard procedure to clear someone which was
> to have a local police officer run a warrant/want check.  I mentioned
> to the TSA officer that the DNF list sounds like a good way to
> capture anyone wanted for a crime. He said yes, and I believe he said
> that some law enforcement organizations were putting many names on
> the list.
>
> I asked Dave to make this posting anonymous because after this
> problem with the DNF list, which went on for several months/trips, my
> wife and I are much less willing to publicly confront our government.
>
>
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