A Peek At DHS's Files On You 241
kenblakely writes "We've known for a while that the Department of Homeland Security was collecting travel records on those who cross US borders, but now you can see it for yourself. A Freedom of Information Act request got this blogger a look at DHS's file on his travels. Pretty comprehensive — all the way down to the IP address of the host he used to make a reservation."
Re:I'm going to request mine (Score:1, Informative)
Heh - you moved to a much more repressive country. The UK probably already has thousands of pictures of you. Good luck getting those or any other info from the government there.
Re:Who can request that? (Score:2, Informative)
From what I gathered from TFA, all that's required is enough information to identify one single person, and for you to not be a private corporation or group. I.e., anyone who found your passport laying forgotten at an airport could find out where you had been in the last 15 years, and who knows how much more (and scarier) info.
CAPTCHA: answers
Re:Sent off for mine this morning.... (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Is this busy work or an effective measure? (Score:2, Informative)
And two of these are always US Air Marshals.
I'm being facetious, but not that much: http://www.cnn.com/2008/TRAVEL/03/25/siu.air.marshals/index.html [cnn.com].
Should have used the Privacy Act, not FOIA (Score:5, Informative)
The person made his request under FOIA. That was not the best vehicle for this.
A much better law to use to get information about yourself is the Privacy Act.
The two laws have confusingly similar numbers: 5 USC 552 for FOIA and 5 USC 552a for the Privacy Act.
The Privacy Act is a much bigger hammer for getting information about yourself. Agencies have many fewer excuses and the deadlines are far shorter. And agencies generally can't make you pay for you to get their information about you.
Yes, the Privacy Act has many loopholes, but they are much fewer than those in FOIA.
So, if people are going to do this they should make sure that they make their request under the Privacy Act. They can still use FOIA, but they should do so under a separate cover because the agencies will intentionally conflate the two laws so that they can avoid fully complying with either.
See: http://www.cavebear.com/archive/nsf-dns/laws.htm
Re:I noticed a dhs.org redirect once (Score:3, Informative)
dhs.org is a dns redirector. I have an account with them.
LOL i actually got asked once if i worked for DHS when i provided someone with an email address using that redirector. I've had the account with them long before the DHS office ever existed.
Then that's not a well-trained dog (Score:4, Informative)
The entire point of bomb & drug dog training is to make them ignore the things that interest normal dogs (dogs of the opposite sex, food, dogs of the same sex, and people, generally in that order) and pay attention to the things that their trainers are interested in (high-nitrate compounds, processed coca leaves, or even DVDs [wikipedia.org]).
If a detection dog is getting distracted by other scents while on duty, it calls into question whether or not they should be used as a cause for further investigation.
This is a standard CO PNR (Score:3, Informative)
Before everyone gets all tinfoily, this is merely a PNR (Passenger Name Record) from Continental Airlines reservation system (System One) made through their online website. Most employees at Continental would have access to this.
Its relatively easy to decode:
1 CO 40H 20JUN FR EWRFCO HK1 525P 745A 27B
1 -1st leg
40H -Flight number + ?
CO -Continental Airlines
20Jun -Departs June 20
EWRFCO -Flight is Newark to Rome
525P -Departs 5:25 pm
745A -Arrives 7:45 am
27B -Seat number
2 ARNK -ARrival uNKnown, means legs are not continuous
3 CO 103V 06JUL SU AMSEWR HK1 920A 1150A 27b
AMSEWR -Return flight is Amsterdam to Newark
IP Address stuck in case of credit card fraud.
Most airlines have something very similar that is created every time you make a reservation.
Re:Who can request that? (Score:5, Informative)
Access to records are ruled by the Freedom of Information Act. For non-personal information requests, you need give your name, address, daytime telephone number, information on the records you are looking for, and an agreement on amount of fees you are willing to pay. For personal information, you also need a bunch of info on the person (subject), a notarized signature or Under Penalty of Perjury Statement (see third link), and a statement authorizing you to receive the subject's personal information (assuming you are not the subject).
Sources:
http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/privacy/privacy_pia_cbp_ats.pdf [dhs.gov] (section 7.1)
http://www.state.gov/m/a/ips/ [state.gov]
http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/103067.pdf [state.gov]
Re:Time to recycle a "meme". (Score:4, Informative)
Actually, I got a lot of the details wrong. It was a private diary, and it went to the common pleas court. But he did get charged 11 years for posession.
Story. [aclu.org]
So it was a win for privacy and rationality. But, you can see where the law enforcement folks want this to go. Maybe you'll be arrested for owning a copy of the movie "The Aristocrats".
Re:Schnitzel (Score:3, Informative)
Schnitzel is an Austrian dish, not German.
Just an FYI.
So was Hitler, so I think it's kind of appropriate.
Re:Time to recycle a "meme". (Score:3, Informative)
Well, sorry, I don't feel bad. Parents are constantly bleating how "we" need to "protect the children." Well, guess what? Statistically speaking, parents ARE the biggest threat to their children. So, sorry I don't feel bad when parents are put over the coals.
Even when they are innocent? Hmmm interesting concept there.