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TSA

TSA Backpeddling on Suspicious Passenger List Story

August 14, 2008 at 11:15 AM | 0 Comments

This is why the TSA has a blog. Yesterday, USA Today revealed that the agency was collecting data on people who came to security checkpoints without ID. In the evening, the TSA posted a public reply to the piece:

An August 13 USA Today article overstated the Transportation Security Administration's interest in passengers who come to airport checkpoints without identification but cooperate in establishing their identity. The story gives the public the impression they might be put on a "list" if they forget their ID. That is false.

Passengers whose identity is confirmed will not be added to any watch list or face additional scrutiny during future checkpoint visits.

Well, not any longer anyway! While this misleading comment from the TSA jives with the newspaper's story, it fails to point out that up until yesterday, Kip Hawley and company *were* collecting data on passengers.

Fortunately the commenters on the TSA blog aren't dumb enough to buy this double talk. It took 57 minutes before "seth" wrote:

Kip says that the names were being collected and that the practice stopped yesterday. You're now saying that the names were never being collected. Which one is it?

Related Stories:
· You Won't Be Put on a "List" [TSA Blog]
· Fliers Without ID Placed on TSA List [USA Today]
· Are You on the TSA's Latest Watchlist? [Jaunted]
· TSA coverage [Jaunted]