The CBC has an interesting story that exemplifies a significant problem with the watch lists: It is very easy to get around the lists. Mario Labbé, an executive with a Montreal-based record company, says his Canadian passport triggers a red alert on the computers of U.S. customs agents every time he tries to board a […]
Today we filed comments with the Department of Homeland Security objecting to a newly-defined DHS “system of records” containing logs of everyone who crosses U.S. borders, including those who cross by car or on foot. “Border Crossing Information” (BCI) about innocent U.S. citizens not suspected of any crime would be kept for 15 years, while […]
In a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) in the Federal Register on June 9, 2008 (73 Federal Register 32440-32453), the Department of Homeland Security has proposed a new system for foreign citizens intending to visit the U.S without visas, and to enter the U.S. by air or sea, to apply for and receive an additional […]
The New York Times has obtained a report showing that US and European negotiators are nearing an agreement on international sharing of private data. The United States and the European Union are nearing completion of an agreement allowing law enforcement and security agencies to obtain private information — like credit card transactions, travel histories and […]
When the rubber meets the road, people do things you’d never expect…or would you? We all know apparently normal, well-educated people whose commitment to democracy went out with the bathwater after NineEleven. In this Harper’s Magazine piece from August of 1941, the authoress speculates as to whom in her circle would go Nazi in a […]
Effective today, the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) requires passports for all air travel between the U.S., Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Latin America. Today the New York Times reports on the problems the new rule has caused for would-be last-minute travellers from the U.S., especially business travellers, who find out they need to travel […]
Even while trying to defend the Automated Targeting System that is being used to deny travelers their rights on the basis of secret “risk assessments” that give each of us a terror score from secret databases of third-party and government information about us, the Department of Homeland Security has admitted to more and more violations […]
Other than us here at the Identity Project, it seems like nobody in Congress, nobody in the Department of Homeland Security, and nobody else bothers to read the law, or pay attention to whether the surveillance state is following the rules that are supposed to limit their intrusions on our lives and movements. In comments […]
If you are a citizen or resident of the European Union, and have travelled to the United States, now is the time to ask for copies of your travel records. Unlike Americans, Europeans have the right to know who is keeping records about you, what information is in your records, and to whom it has […]