In an article here yesterday, we mentioned a report earlier this month by Andrej Hunko, a member of the German national legislature (“Bundestag”) , based on responses to his information access requests to the German government about its collaboration with DHS and use of PNR data. There was more about this in DHS testimony at […]
A troika of officials from the DHS appeared today before the Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence of the House Committee on Homeland security to make a joint sales pitch for the proposed agreement between the US and the European Union on DHS access to PNR data (airline reservations). Today’s hearing appears to have been staged […]
From the Identity Project mailbag: My life has been basically destroyed because I don’t have a valid state-issued photo ID. Thanks to terrorists, it is illegal for any employer in my state to hire me. I am a natural-born citizen of the United States, born and raised in the State of New Jersey. I have […]
In the latest step in the implementation of the REAL-ID Act and the establishment of a de facto national ID card and database, the Department of Homeland Security has requested OMB approval for the collection of additional information from states and individuals. The public response to the DHS request, particularly these comments submitted by the […]
Yesterday the Bay Area Rapid Transit district (BART) held its first public discussion of BART’s recent actions to shut off wireless telephone and data service in parts of the BART system, and to close certain BART stations on the approach of certain groups of individuals, in order to prevent the use of those communications and […]
In a new twist on the control of movement through control of issuance of ID credentials, the Associated Press reports that a U.S. citizen has been trapped in Kuwait after the local U.S. Embassy summarily confiscated his passport: Aziz Nouhaili, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Morocco, has been trying for nearly four months to get […]
A leaked copy of the latest draft of a proposed “Agreement between the United States of America and the European Union on the use and transfer of Passenger Name Record [PNR] data to the United States Department of Homeland Security” has been published by the civil liberties watchdog and investigative reporting group Statewatch. The leaked […]
Several readers (among the thousands who submitted comments) have forwarded copies of the email message the State Department is sending as an auto-response to all mail to the point of contact for their proposed new “Biographical Questionnaire” for passport applicants, Form DS-5513. For your entertainment, and so we won’t be accused of quoting out of […]
The most frequently asked question in the ongoing discussion about the State Department’s proposed new “Biographical Questionnaire” for (some) passport applicants has been, “Is this a hoax?” We wish this were a joke, but it’s for real. The proposed Form DS-5513 that we published is the one we and others who requested it received from […]
Highlighting what will happen — and already is happening — when other countries follow the bad example of the USA in restricting freedom of movement, the Canadian Press news service reported last night on the situation of, “A British man … stranded in Canada after being denied permission to fly home because he’s on the […]