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A Peek At DHS's Files On You
kenblakely writes "We've known for a while that the Department of Homeland Security was collecting travel records on those who cross US borders, but now you can see it for yourself. A Freedom of Information Act request got this blogger a look at DHS's file on his travels. Pretty comprehensive — all the way down to the IP address of the host he used to make a reservation."
You might find the e2 node about getting your FBI records useful, as was posted above.
SIGSEGV caught, terminating
wait... not that kind of sig.
The person made his request under FOIA. That was not the best vehicle for this.
A much better law to use to get information about yourself is the Privacy Act.
The two laws have confusingly similar numbers: 5 USC 552 for FOIA and 5 USC 552a for the Privacy Act.
The Privacy Act is a much bigger hammer for getting information about yourself. Agencies have many fewer excuses and the deadlines are far shorter. And agencies generally can't make you pay for you to get their information about you.
Yes, the Privacy Act has many loopholes, but they are much fewer than those in FOIA.
So, if people are going to do this they should make sure that they make their request under the Privacy Act. They can still use FOIA, but they should do so under a separate cover because the agencies will intentionally conflate the two laws so that they can avoid fully complying with either.
See: http://www.cavebear.com/archive/nsf-dns/laws.htm
dhs.org is a dns redirector. I have an account with them.
LOL i actually got asked once if i worked for DHS when i provided someone with an email address using that redirector. I've had the account with them long before the DHS office ever existed.
The entire point of bomb & drug dog training is to make them ignore the things that interest normal dogs (dogs of the opposite sex, food, dogs of the same sex, and people, generally in that order) and pay attention to the things that their trainers are interested in (high-nitrate compounds, processed coca leaves, or even DVDs).
If a detection dog is getting distracted by other scents while on duty, it calls into question whether or not they should be used as a cause for further investigation.
Have you been touched by his noodly appendage?
Access to records are ruled by the Freedom of Information Act. For non-personal information requests, you need give your name, address, daytime telephone number, information on the records you are looking for, and an agreement on amount of fees you are willing to pay. For personal information, you also need a bunch of info on the person (subject), a notarized signature or Under Penalty of Perjury Statement (see third link), and a statement authorizing you to receive the subject's personal information (assuming you are not the subject).
Sources:
http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/privacy/privacy_pia_cbp_ats.pdf (section 7.1)
http://www.state.gov/m/a/ips/
http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/103067.pdf
There was a case from Ohio, I believe, where a prison inmate had kept a diary. This person, IIRC, was a sex offender. In this diary, he wrote down a fantasy he had involving minors. The diary wasn't private, but part of his therapy, and of course the authorities read it. He was charged with creating and possessing child pornography, IIRC. It went either to the Ohio Supreme Court, I believe --
Actually, I got a lot of the details wrong. It was a private diary, and it went to the common pleas court. But he did get charged 11 years for posession.
Story.
So it was a win for privacy and rationality. But, you can see where the law enforcement folks want this to go. Maybe you'll be arrested for owning a copy of the movie "The Aristocrats".
Computers are useless. They can only give you answers.
-- Pablo Picasso