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Terror Watchlist "Crippled By Technical Flaws"
I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "The database used by the government to generate lists like the No-Fly List is 'crippled by technical flaws,' according to the chairman of a House technology oversight subcommittee. And the upgrade may be worse than the original. Rep. Brad Miller (D-NC) says that 'if actually deployed, [the upgrade] will leave our country more vulnerable than the existing yet flawed system in operation today.' It seems that the current database doesn't have any easy way to do plain-text matching, forcing users to enter SQL queries. That might not sound so bad until you learn that the database contains 463 poorly indexed tables. How long until there's a terrorist named Robert'); DROP DATABASE; —?"
Since he flew a lot for work, the unfortunate consequence was being FULLY searched EVERY time he went through the airport. He finally called up the TSA once and told them, "How about I just come into your office. If I am your man, ARREST ME! If I'm not, then get me off of this list!" to which they responded, "I'm sorry sir, but it doesn't work that way."
All in all, it took him over 3 years to finally get his name off. I think the criteria for being on the terror watch list are pretty well summed up here:
-If you have the same name, initials or hair color as a felon, you're on the list.
-If you've ever lived withing a 5 mile radius of a felon, you're on the list.
-If you've ever flown on an airline that a terrorist has ever attacked before, you're on the list. and finally.
-If airport security is bored, you're on the list.
Any thoughts?
"Thank you for using Stop-n-Drop, America's favorite suicide booth since 2008"
Err... yes. Just FEMA, the CIA, and nearly every other major department. Bush's loyalty test brought us the Katrina aftermath fiasco, and mass resignations at the CIA. He even tried to appoint his personal lawyer to the Supreme Court. As they say, "sh-t flows down-hill." When the man in charge is a complete moron, the entire government suffers.
Sorry, you were probably making a joke. A lot of us on this forum don't get sarcasm as easily as we should.
Beer is proof that God loves us, and wants us to be happy.
One could wonder whether the project was set up to adress terrorism OR it was setup to generate media-attention ?
It was both and then some.
I'm trying to find the link of the guy who started this BS. It was a private citizen who, IIRC, was the one who was involved with Choicepoint. He wrote some code and his algorithm pulled up most of the 9/11 hijackers and then some. He had some false positives even then, but it was the Government's wet dream and it solved some of their problems (such as that pesky little Constitutional problem of spying on Americans. It's OK if a private company does it -Choicepoint.) and it makes great security theater and it creates some big fat Governemtn contracts for some big fat cats with Government connections.
Need more caffeine and I'm getting tons of false hits from Google trying to find the cite - it is over 7 years old, ya know.
My uncle had a similar experience to your relative when he was returning from Jamaica (he was there for his anniversary). He had the exact name (middle too) of a wanted felon and was detained in customs for hours before they finally figured out he was from the other side of the country as his evil name-twin. As he pointed out at the time, "If I was the person they were looking for, would I be quite so stupid as to travel under my real name with genuine IDs in my name?" It's not like the guy was just "suspected"...he was pretty much a known criminal/fugitive.
Yeah! I fail to see the problem here. So, due to design flaws the terrorist watch list is difficult to do searches on. Maybe they can just get the California Cobol programmers to fix it.
I fail to see how the terrorist watch list is ANY different from the communist black list of the 60s. All it takes to get put on there is a neighbor that doesn't like you. In order to get taken off, an agent has to be assigned to your case and you have to be investigated so that they are sure you're not a terrorist. With the current size of the list, good luck with that.
CNN has had several articles in the last few weeks dealing with the terrorist watch list. My favorite was about three people named "James Robinson". The article mentions that one of the Jameses would just get tickets using the first name "Jim" and he wouldn't be hassled. Another would just run his first and middle name together and it wouldn't get flagged. Of note from that article, "The TSA has said the problem lies with the airlines and threatened to fine airlines that tell passengers they are on the watch list." Yeah. Wow. They're trying to make it illegal to tell someone why they're being held and discomforted. If you don't want the information to get out, don't share it. Keep it to yourself.
Article V says, "[you can't be] deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law..." This list deprives liberty (and sometimes property) and is missing a key element.
Article XI says, "The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others by the people." Isn't that EXACTLY what's happening?
This post approved by Shampoo.
After all, since all terrorists use their real names when flying, it is sure to catch them all.
The irony of your post is that most of the perpetrators of recent terrorist attacks in the West had valid ID and were, in many cases, citizens of the country they attacked. Even with all the intrusive surveillance, vast databases and draconian security measures, they still got through, just by keeping a low profile until they were ready to attack. Which tells you exactly how much measures like the list we're talking about are actually worth in practice...
If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.