What the DHS Knows About You 402
Sherri Davidoff writes "Here's a real copy of an American citizen's DHS Travel Record, retrieved from the US Customs and Border Patrol's Automated Targeting System and obtained through a FOIA/Privacy Act request. The document reveals that the DHS is storing: the traveler's credit card number and expiration; IP addresses used to make Web travel reservations; hotel information and itinerary; full airline itinerary including flight numbers and seat numbers; phone numbers including business, home, and cell; and every frequent flyer and hotel number associated with the traveler, even ones not used for the specific reservation."
Hush, citizen. (Score:5, Insightful)
Your full, unencrypted credit card information available in our logs to every DHS employee is necessary for us to fight the evil terrorists.
Re:Hush, citizen. (Score:5, Insightful)
Technology has changed, therefore it's necessary for the Supreme Court to rethink some of its past decisions. "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects..." should apply to ALL papers/data even if it's not in the citizen's immediate possession. The government should not be able to obtain your personal credit cards numbers from a 3rd party without first getting a warrant from a judge.
And people bitch about British intrusiveness. (Score:4, Insightful)
I'd rather have all the CCTV in the world than giving my entire identity, credit cards and all, to any DHS cocaine addict who happens to need a fix. At least CCTV can't read my passport and credit cards.
Re:Reminds me... (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah, I liked travelling to the US better when all I had to do was check the correct boxes on the amusing green form:
[x] I am not a terrorist
[x] I am not planning a child abduction in the US
Re:And people bitch about British intrusiveness. (Score:5, Insightful)
"At least CCTV can't read my passport and credit cards."
Yet.
Re:Hush, citizen. (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Hush, citizen. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Reminds me... (Score:3, Insightful)
What if you don't HAVE a credit card? What THEN? "Sorry, we can't let you enter the country without a credit card."
If the sole purpose is to fund advertising (as you say they claim), then cash should be an acceptable form of payment. If it is really a ruse to get a credit card number, then one shouldn't have to pay it if one doesn't have one. I, for one, refuse to get into a drawn-out discussion with Border Patrol about my financial decisions.
Re:And people bitch about British intrusiveness. (Score:3, Insightful)
Do you keep your passport in a Faraday cage?
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Reminds me... (Score:5, Insightful)
then canceling my card and getting a new one
Assuming U.S. authorities are using your credit card information to track behavioral patterns, that won't help you much if the card is issued by the same bank. Even banks in Switzerland are routinely turning over information on account holders these days.
Re:Every time I do that I wonder... (Score:1, Insightful)
There's a solution for that [eturbonews.com] [yes, SFW], and an appropriate safety video has already been done for at least one airline [youtube.com] [marginally SFW].
Re:Reminds me... (Score:3, Insightful)
If you don't have a credit card, then it must mean that you're trying to do things with untraceable cash. And that means you're a terrorist!
Re:Question: How does any of this stop terrorism? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Every time I do that I wonder... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Reminds me... (Score:2, Insightful)
If I've been caught waterboarding someone, is is isn't otherwise it's is and vice-versa. How about you?
Re:Question: How does any of this stop terrorism? (Score:3, Insightful)
It stops terrorism about as well as the Canadian Gun Registry, London CCTV, and the Patriot Acts combined = 0, at least officially according to the General Accounting Office or their countries equivalent. Of course the real number they say, is secret, and zero isn't a real number...
Re:Other nuggets (Score:5, Insightful)
Silly Europeans always have such a skewed sense of geography. Newark to Tampa is 1,000 miles, exactly. It's a two and a half hour flight and a 20 hour train ride.
Re:Other nuggets (Score:3, Insightful)
2. Didn't eat your meal on the way back from Central or South America? Expect to be stopped at re-entry
The flight crew on your average longhaul flight do not give a flying fuck what you eat, whether you eat, or how much untouched food you leave on your tray. They are not logging everybody's mealtime performance on some secret touchscreen in the forward galley.
Well, if you don't have anything to hide... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Question: How does any of this stop terrorism? (Score:5, Insightful)
How does the Govt. having this information help the govt. stop terrorism? Anyone?
Their job is not to stop terrorism, but rather to make people "feel" safer.
Value Added: Information NOT Stored (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Reminds me... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Reminds me... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Unfortunately, nothing new... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Reminds me... (Score:5, Insightful)
...And don't think for a minute that the issuing bank doesn't keep records of which accounts were issued to what customers and when.
Re:Every time I do that I wonder... (Score:1, Insightful)
If you uttered the word "bomber" aloud, in any context whatsoever, while standing in an airport security line, then you're not very bright.
Re:Hush, citizen. (Score:3, Insightful)
The amazing thing about Frankling is that he seems to have been completely the fat, balding, pony-tailed hacker, and he *still* got all the chicks he could want. Guy was some kind of geek god.
Re:Funny thing is (Score:3, Insightful)
I read all of the none Americans gripping about America and all this procedures. Yet, back in the 70 and 80, Germany, Spain, France, Israel, etc. had issues with terrorists and implemented FAR FAR harsher procedures.
So, are you generally mocking non-Americans for being hypocrites, or are you saying that it's OK for the DHS to be like they are because the Stasi was worse...?
Re:Value Added: Information NOT Stored (Score:2, Insightful)