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Man Put On "No-Fly List" While In Air To NYC

Posted by samzenpus on from the beware-the-list-refresh dept.

An unnamed man flying from Nigeria to New York City found out he was added to a no-fly list somewhere above the Atlantic Ocean, when the plane stopped to refuel in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Officials won't say what he did or why he was added to the list after he had already boarded a flight. He was not immediately charged with a crime and Customs and Border Protection will only say that he is a "potential person of interest." From the article: "The man, a citizen of Gambia, was not on the no-fly list when he boarded the aircraft in Dakar, Senegal, said a US official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the issue publicly."

6 of 300 comments (clear)

  1. No fly list is a dumb idea by surmak · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Perhaps this case is an exception, but I have always fest that the no-fly list is one of the dumbest ideas out there. In a criminal case (which terrorism and conspiracy are) you do not want to let the suspect know you are on to them until the cops come to arrest them. With the watch lists, all a sleeper has to do is take a commercial flight, and they will immediately know if they are on a watch list.

    Not to mention the civil liberties abuses that result when someone is denied the right to travel (by air) with due process, no notification, and no effective means of appeal.

    1. Re:No fly list is a dumb idea by Enderandrew · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Are you suggesting me make it illegal to associate with others, or to pursue information?

      I think that is a far worse offense to civil liberties than a no-fly list.

      --
      http://blindscribblings.com - Tasty pop-culture in conceptual fashion.
    2. Re:No fly list is a dumb idea by zill · · Score: 3, Interesting

      you have no right to travel by air.

      Does any article of the Constitution specifically deny me the right to air travel?

      If not, then the Ninth Amendment grants me that right.

    3. Re:No fly list is a dumb idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

      So I'm sure you'll ignore this as it doesn't fit into your dogma, but I live in a pretty rough neighborhood. I never thought so until the police told me that there is more crime in my area than in what I thought was the bad part of town. There is a soup kitchen at the end of my street and a pretty much non-stop stream of homeless people wondering between there and the library (apparently the library is a convenient place where young girls can be found).

      For a period of time, I had a roommate. He had an extremely stupid girlfriend who lived here with him. There were a number of times I would come home after work and find the front door wide open with the A/C blaring. Nobody was home. Apparently she'd known enough to realize that you should lock the door when you leave, but wasn't so clever as to actually close the door as well.

      I also order a lot of stuff via mail order and always have the packages left on my front doorstep. In the open. With homeless people always wondering by. Half the time the boxes aren't even plain brown boxes, but regular product boxes with a mailing label stuck on them so you can clearly see what they are.

      I've lived here for almost 10 years. In all that time, my house has been burglarized once - by my landlords' crackhead sister's crackhead boyfriend, who stole the key from my landlord and then just walked in. They took some tools and some coin rolls. I changed all the locks.

      I'm not saying you should be completely reckless in your security, but if you want to live in your comfortable police state please move to somewhere like Albania and leave the rest of us in the U.S. alone.

      TYVM.

  2. Re:And people wonder... by gyrogeerloose · · Score: 5, Interesting

    And people wonder why airline travel is down in the US. Or, to the US for that matter.

    I'll give you an example of why airline travel is down in the US:

    I flew from San Diego to San Francisco last weekend and got pulled aside because of some ham radio equipment (two small VHF hand-held transceivers) in my carry-on bag. I explained what they were while the TSA guy ripped everything out of my bag and ran it all through the X-ray machine again. Then I explained it all again to his supervisor. Took about a half hour but, "fortunately," my flight was delayed two hours so I was okay.

    Any other old greybeards out there remember when flying was fun? An adventure, rather than a big PITA only slightly better than traveling on a Greyhound bus?

    --
    This ain't rocket surgery.
  3. Yeah, I remember... by IANAAC · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Any other old greybeards out there remember when flying was fun? An adventure, rather than a big PITA only slightly better than traveling on a Greyhound bus?

    Yeah, I remember. It used to be ungodly expensive to fly, and we actually dressed nice just to get on a plane. It actually felt civilized.

    Now we have cut-rate prices and slobs in flip-flops and mustard-stained t-shirts belching all around us. Sorry if that sounds elitist. It isn't. Lower prices ALWAYS bring the hoards, civilized or not.

    The PITA, slightly better-than-Greyhound travel isn't really all due to the nonsense security we have now, though. Let's be clear on that.