FBI Accused of Abusing Criminal Database

Peace protesters were unable to leave the country to speak in Canada because their names had been added to a database of criminals. There's a serious due-process violation here because a listing in this database is equivalent to an "infamous" conviction. "'The FBI's placing of peace activists on an international criminal database is blatant political intimidation of US citizens opposed to Bush administration policies,' says Colonel Wright, who was also Deputy US Ambassador in four countries. 'The Canadian government should certainly not accept this FBI database as the criteria for entering the country... The list is supposed to be for felony and serious misdemeanor offenses. We don't qualify — it's for sex offenders, foreign fugitives, gang violence and terrorist organizations, people who are on parole...'"

Comments

Re:Wait one minute...

[betterunixthanunix]

Plenty of people have been arrested and not put on the list, and that is the problem. The list does not reflect all arrests, and it is at the discretion of the FBI whether or not someone's name will appear on the list. I could be on the list right now, because my friends and I were arrested when I was 16 for running around on halloween with a fake gun; I'm probably not, but suppose I did something legal yet frowned upon by the government.

Combined with the fact that this list is used to determine immigration and visitation status is other countries, and you have something that invites abuse. My question is this: can you be added to the list even if your arrest itself is questionable? That is, if you are arrested while minding your own business, could your name be added to the list?