Dept Of Homeland Security FORCED To Admit They VIOLATED PRIVACY LAW

[kpete]

Report Says TSA Violated Privacy Law
Passengers Weren't Told That Brokers Provided Data to Screening Program in '04

By Ellen Nakashima and Del Quentin Wilber
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, December 22, 2006; Page A07

Secure Flight, the U.S. government's stalled program to screen domestic air passengers against terrorism watch lists, violated federal law during a crucial test phase, according to a report to be issued today by the Homeland Security Department's privacy office.

The agency found that by gathering passenger data from commercial brokers in 2004 without notifying the passengers, the program violated a 1974 Privacy Act requirement that the public be made aware of any changes in a federal program that affects the privacy of U.S. citizens. "As ultimately implemented, the commercial data test conducted in connection with the Secure Flight program testing did not match (the Transportation Security Administration's) public announcements," the report states.

The finding marks the first time that the Homeland Security Department has acknowledged that the problem-plagued Secure Flight program has violated the law. It comes at a time when a separate program to screen international passengers is under attack for officials' failure to disclose until recently that they were creating passenger profiles that would be stored for 40 years.

The report on Secure Flight says that "the disparity between what TSA proposed to do and what it actually did in the testing program resulted in significant privacy concerns being raised. . . . Privacy missteps such as these undercut an agency's effort to implement a program effectively, even one that promises to improve security."

more at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/21/AR2006122101621.html

[seafan]

1. Catch this little nugget as well, in today's Washington Post:

It seems to be critically important for the paranoid occupant of the White House to identify and track his political opponents.

From today's Washington Post: Report Says TSA Violated Privacy Law.

Passengers Weren't Told That Brokers Provided Data to Screening Program in '04

In 2004, the TSA published a Federal Register notice on a data-test phase of the program, saying that "strict firewalls" would prevent any commercial data from mixing with government data. However, this was based on the notion that the Secure Flight contractor, EagleForce Associates Inc. of McLean, would ensure that no commercial data were used, the report said.

But by the time the EagleForce contract was finalized, "it was clear that TSA would receive commercial data," the report says. If, for instance, TSA data for an individual passenger lacked an address or date of birth, EagleForce would obtain the missing information from commercial data brokers.

"The fact that EagleForce had access to the commercial data did not create a firewall," the report says, because under the Privacy Act, in effect, "EagleForce stands in the shoes of TSA."

Moreover, commercial databases provided Eagle Force with data for some individuals who were not air passengers. These people were never notified -- a violation of the privacy act, the report says.

Ms. Pelosi, clean off a place on this table for impeachment proceedings.




(emphasis mine)

[indepat]

2. Methinks the DHS doesn't give a rat's ass what laws they violate in keeping us safe from

terra. :7

[WestMichRad]

3. Oops! Yeah, we were breaking the law...

...but we were doing it for your safety, so please forgive us!

(and we'll keep doing it, but find better ways to keep it quiet, so...)

There's nothing to see here folks, but how about that American Idol/Survivor winner, eh?

[Higans]

4. who didn't see this coming?

[Jose Diablo]

5. Bu$h says....heckofajob Chertoff

The part of eliminating individual freedom here is coming along nicely as we have determined the reason 9-11 happened is our society has too much freedom, so to fight the bad guys we must expand the police state to resemble something more like the East German STASI, yes, that's the ticket and of course those pesky representatives in Congress, well with the information your TSA can give Rove and me, I'll have them all by the short hairs.

Bu$h and his cohorts need to be impeached, convicted and incarcerated, I don't give one good god damn about partisanship in the political process, if you come across a criminal, you don't negotiate, you put them away. Any negotiating with a criminal will only encourage them to try for more. Put the bastards in jail, it's the only way to regain our country.