San Francisco - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) today asked the Department of Homeland Security to reconsider new regulations authorizing maritime vessel owners, such as cruise ship operators, to subject their passengers to indiscriminate I.D. checks and invasive searches.
EFF, together with cosigners PrivacyActivism, Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, and travel writer Edward Hasbrouck, argued that the Department of Homeland Security's interim regulations on maritime vessel security raise significant concerns for individuals' privacy, civil liberties, and the freedom to travel guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.
"Under these new rules, cruise ship passengers must produce I.D. and submit to a full search in order to board, while remaining subject to searches and demands for their 'papers' throughout the trip," noted EFF Attorney and Equal Justice Works Fellow Kevin Bankston. "I.D. checking and invasive searches are quickly becoming the norm for every mode of public transportation, and if this trend continues, Americans will soon be unable to exercise their right to travel without first surrendering their right to privacy."
PrivacyActivism Executive Director Deborah Pierce added, "Given the lack of any demonstrated security benefit from indiscriminate I.D. checking, the Department of Homeland Security's new regulations are a wholly unwarranted invasion of traveler privacy."
Kevin Bankston
Attorney, Equal Justice Works / Bruce J. Ennis Fellow
Electronic Frontier Foundation
bankston@eff.org
+1 415 436-9333 x126
Deborah Pierce
Executive Director
PrivacyActivism
dsp@privacyactivism.org
+1 415-225-1730
The Electronic Frontier Foundation is the leading civil liberties organization working to protect rights in the digital world. Founded in 1990, EFF actively encourages and challenges industry and government to support free expression and privacy online. EFF is a member-supported organization and maintains one of the most linked-to websites in the world at http://www.eff.org/
PrivacyActivism is a nonprofit organization dedicated to informing and empowering individuals about their privacy rights on the Internet. Through a mixture of education (using graphics such as posters and video games), activism, and the law, we strive to make complex issues of privacy law, policy, and technology accessible to all. We can be found on the Internet at www.privacyactivism.org
