[From EPIC's newsletter... --Declan] ======================================================================== [1] Transportation Agency Drops Commercial Data From Prescreening Plan ======================================================================== The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has abandoned plans to use commercial data to check the identities of airline passengers in the government's proposed passenger prescreening system, Secure Flight. TSA announced the decision shortly before a government-appointed working group is expected to issue a critical report on the program's privacy implications. As envisioned, Secure Flight would compare Passenger Name Records against information compiled by the Terrorist Screening Center, which includes expanded "selectee" and "no fly" lists. Further, the program would seek to identify suspicious travel behavior in passengers' itineraries. As originally planned, TSA would have also used commercial databases to verify the accuracy of information provided by travelers. The contractor conducting the test was EagleForce Associates, Inc., which obtained commercial data from data aggregators Acxiom, InsightAmerica and Qwest. According to documents obtained by EPIC under the Freedom of Information Act last year, Acxiom pushed to water down key federal privacy laws immediately after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. According to the documents, Acxiom sought broader access to "credit headers" and drivers information in order to develop a system for "identity and information verification that can be used by organizations such as airlines, airports, cruise ships, and large buildings and other applications to better determine whether a person is actually who they say they are." The agency began testing the system earlier this year. In June, however, TSA admitted that it had collected and maintained detailed commercial data about thousands of travelers in violation of a notice published last fall stating it wouldn't do so. The disclosure came just days after the Department of Homeland Security Privacy Office announced that it was investigating whether TSA violated a federal privacy law during the program's testing. In related news, the Justice Department Inspector General recently concluded that TSA's missteps have made it difficult for the government office responsible for the terrorist watch list to prepare for the launch of Secure Flight. The Terrorist Screening Center maintains the government's consolidated watch list, which is planned to be a vital part of the prescreening program. According to the Inspector General's report, Terrorist Screening Center officials "believe that their ability to prepare for the implementation of Secure Flight has been hampered by the TSA's failure to make, communicate, and comply with key program and policy decisions in a timely manner." The Inspector General cited several issues as potentially problematic, including costs, redress, and data accuracy. Transportation Security Administration's Page on Secure Flight: http://www.tsa.gov/public/display?theme=5&content=09000519800cf3a7 EPIC documents on Acxiom's lobbying and proposed amendments (pdf): http://www.epic.org/privacy/drivers/acxiomlobby.pdf EPIC's Secure Flight Page: http://www.epic.org/privacy/airtravel/secureflight.html Justice Department Inspector General's Report (pdf): http://www.usdoj.gov/oig/reports/FBI/a0534/final.pdf _______________________________________________ Politech mailing list Archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Moderated by Declan McCullagh (http://www.mccullagh.org/)
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