May 16th, 2007

Customs Breaks Privacy Laws in Data Collection, GAO Says

Ellen Nakashima, Washington Post

The Department of Homeland Security is breaking privacy laws by failing to tell the public all the ways it uses personal information to target passengers boarding flights entering or leaving the United States, according to a draft government report...

When government officials will not discuss what the uses and data sources are, it is hard to know whether travelers have been harmed by the screening program, said David Sobel, senior counsel for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which in December sued the government under the Freedom of Information Act for disclosure on the Automated Targeting System, which Customs uses to screen for high-risk travelers.

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