TSA Now Investigating Boarding Pass Hacker

An anonymous reader writes "A week after the Justice Department cleared him of any wrongdoing, Chris Soghoian, the Indiana University PhD student who created an online boarding pass generator for Northwest Airlines to highlight security holes is on the government's 'no-fly' list. The Transportation Security Administration has now launched its own investigation, says Wired blog 27strokeB. The TSA is claiming that Soghoian 'attempted to circumvent an established civil aviation security program established in the Transportation Security Regulations,' violations of which carry fines of up to $11,000 per violation. That could be a steep fine, says Washingtonpost.com's Security Fix blog: 'Something like 35,000 people viewed and possibly used the boarding pass generator during the less than 72 hours that it was live on his site in November. Soghoian told WaPo: "If they decide that the only safe way for me to leave the country is by boat, then that's pretty much the end of my career here in the States. It's one thing to harass researchers, but if they can chase them out of the country, then that's a real chilling effect."'"

Comments

Fair is fair

[The Clockwork Troll]

The fine seems reasonable, will they accept cash?

go to bed without supper!

[zeromorph]

Chris Soghoian [...] is on the government's 'no-fly' list.

Does that mean he is grounded for being naughty?

That's unfair. Obviously he did his homework.

Re:He can still travel

[griffjon]

The popping sound you heard after parent post was made were hundreds of small brains at TSA HQ.

Re:What's the fine?

[JohnnyGTO]

Can they fine themselves?

I was in line behind a TSA employee from a local small airport. She was telling the cashier that she had left the check to pay for a number of photocopied documents in her car and must retrieve it to pay. BUT she could not leave the documents and had to take them with her to the car as they were VERY VERY sensitive. Here's the kicker, she left them at Staples overnight to be copied.

I wonder if they let her sleep there and then shot the copier tech out in the alley?