OUTRAGEOUS Tens of thousands mistakenly put on terrorist watch lists

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Richard M. Smith" <rms () computerbytesman com>
Date: December 6, 2005 10:11:36 PM EST
To: EPIC_IDOF () mailman epic org
Subject: [EPIC_IDOF] Tens of thousands mistakenly put on terrorist  
watch lists

http://www.nytimes.com/cnet/CNET_2100-7348_3-5984673.html? 
pagewanted=print

Tens of thousands mistakenly put on terrorist watch lists

Anne Broache, Staff Writer, CNET News.com
December 6, 2005

WASHINGTON--Nearly 30,000 airline passengers discovered in the past year
that they were mistakenly placed on federal "terrorist" watch lists, a
transportation security official said Tuesday.

Jim Kennedy, director of the Transportation Security Administration's
redress office, revealed the errors at a quarterly meeting convened  
here by
the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Data Privacy and Integrity
Advisory Committee.

Marcia Hofmann, staff counsel at the Electronic Privacy Information  
Center,
said this appeared to be the first time such a large error has been
admitted. "It was a novel figure to me," Hofmann said. "The figure shows
that many more passengers than we've anticipated have encountered  
difficulty
at airports. The watch list still has a long way to go before it does  
what
it's supposed to do."

Kennedy said that travelers have had to ask the TSA to remove their  
names
from watch lists by submitting a "Passenger Identity Verification  
Form" and
three notarized identification documents. On average, he said, it takes
officials 45 to 60 days to evaluate the request and make any necessary
changes.

Travelers have been instructed to file the forms only after experiencing
"repeated" travel delays, he said, because additional screening can  
occur
for multiple reasons, including fitting a certain profile, flying on a
one-way ticket, or being selected randomly by a computer.

...
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