Wednesday, November 6, 2013

TSA to Pre-Screen Air Travelers’ Tax Info, Property Records, Travel History

Joe Wolverton, II, J.D. writes:
Owe money to the IRS? Having trouble making your mortgage payments? Ever been sued or been arrested?
Soon, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) will know the answers to these questions before you pass through security, and they might affect whether you are cleared for travel.
In a recently published article, the New York Timesreported:
The Transportation Security Administration is expanding its screening of passengers before they arrive at the airport by searching a wide array of government and private databases that can include records like car registrations and employment information.
The complete list of sources of personal data reviewed by the TSA also includes:
▪private employment information
▪vehicle registrations
▪travel history
▪property ownership records
▪physical characteristics
▪tax identification numbers
▪past travel itineraries
▪law enforcement information
▪“intelligence” information
▪passport numbers
▪frequent flier information
▪other “identifiers” linked to DHS databases
[...]Another unacceptable aspect of this massive intrusion into the personal lives of Americans is the universe of organizations that will have access to the data. As reported by the New York Times:

Much of this personal data is widely shared within the Department of Homeland Security and with other government agencies. Privacy notices for these databases note that the information may be shared with federal, state and local authorities; foreign governments; law enforcement and intelligence agencies — and in some cases, private companies for purposes unrelated to security or travel.

The federal government is not content to expose the private information of Americans within its own circle, but will now pass that data around to all those who could make use of it, including private companies for “purposes unrelated to security or travel."

“The average person doesn’t understand how much intelligence-driven matching is going on and how this could be accessed for other purposes,” said Khaliah Barnes, a lawyer with the Electronic Privacy Information Center, as quoted in the New York Times article. “There’s no meaningful oversight, transparency or accountability.”
Think about this. The same agency that saw its entire security protection plan blown to smithereens, by one lone nut with a shotgun at LAX terminal 3, wants to have access to all your background information. Shudder.

(ht lewrockwell.com)

7 comments:

  1. Talk about making a deal with the devil. No thanks. I will continue to force the TSA agents to feel me up, and I will be making it as uncomfortable as possible for them. I usually go with shades of the "blue is the new brown" comments. Sadly, most of them don't even get the reference.

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  2. Even though they don't come out and say it, I assume they can get Health records with Zerocare now in effect.

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  3. Pretty soon the TSA will be America's own Berlin Wall.

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  4. Ha ha! Capital controls in the land of the free. It's becoming really obvious now.

    America is dead. It's done.

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    1. You nailed it. Right on. Not even the pretense of liberty anymore.

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  5. Our very own Stasi! Progress no doubt.

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  6. the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) will know the answers to these questions before you pass through security, and they might affect whether you are cleared for travel. ricorso avviso di accertamento

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