Privacy Villain: No-fly stonewallers at FBI, TSA [priv]

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [NCCP] Privacy Villain: No-fly stonewallers
Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2004 16:59:12 -0400
From: J Plummer <jplummer () consumeralert org>


Privacy Hero of the Week:
No-fly stonewallers

By James Plummer

US District Court Judge Charles Breyer for Northern California ruled this
week that the FBI and the Transportation Security Agency have been
illegally stonewalling Freedom of Information Act requests by travelers
demanding details on the so-called "no-fly" list which grounded them.
<http://www1.law.ucla.edu/~volokh/blog_data/gordon.pdf>

The action was brought by two antiwar activists and journalists who were
detained at San Francisco International Airport because their names were on
the list. Rebecca Gordon and Janet Adams demanded information about the
list, including how many people are on it, and how travelers get added or
removed.

Both agencies repeatedly claimed such information was classified and
"sensitive." Judge Breyer ruled such claims were "frivolous" and said the
government "has not come close" to meeting its legal obligations.

The government even redacted a copy of a letter sent to them by a Wall
Street Journal reporter who detailed the treatment of the plaintiffs and
other activists at the hands of the TSA. Also redacted was the name of the
FBI employee in charge of handling public complaints, among other employees
who are responsible for the no-fly list.

Judge Breyer demanded the government agencies re-review their claims and
provide a detailed affidavit detailing why each exempted piece of
information is in fact exempt.

This level of accountability should not be acceptable as the federal
government further takes over the airline security market, with the
profiling CAPPS II system
<http://www.nccprivacy.org/handv/040409villain.htm> and UN-mandated
biometric passports <http://www.nccprivacy.org/handv/040409villain.htm>
coming online over the coming months and years. With bureaucratic
command-and-control supplanting consumer choice, travelers are forced from
the marketplace and ticket counters to the courtroom to resolve their
grievances.

It is unfortunate, and it is made more so when the agencies in charge act
as Privacy Villains and refuse all accountability.

The Privacy Villain of the Week and Privacy Hero of the Month are projects
of the National Consumer Coalition's Privacy Group and Consumer Alert. For
more information on the NCC Privacy Group, see www.nccprivacy.org or
contact James Plummer at 202-467-5809 or jplummer () consumeralert org .


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