DHS keeping track of carry-on reading material

[Oilwellian]

The U.S. government is collecting electronic records on the travel habits of millions of Americans who fly, drive or take cruises abroad, retaining data on the persons with whom they travel or plan to stay, the personal items they carry during their journeys, and even the books that travelers have carried, according to documents obtained by a group of civil liberties advocates and statements by government officials.

The personal travel records are meant to be stored for as long as 15 years, as part of the Department of Homeland Security's effort to assess the security threat posed by all travelers entering the country. Officials say the records, which are analyzed by the department's Automated Targeting System, help border officials distinguish potential terrorists from innocent people entering the country.


But new details about the information being retained suggest that the government is monitoring the personal habits of travelers more closely than it has previously acknowledged. The details were learned when a group of activists requested copies of official records on their own travel. Those records included a description of a book on marijuana that one of them carried and small flashlights bearing the symbol of a marijuana leaf.

The Automated Targeting System has been used to screen passengers since the mid-1990s, but the collection of data for it has been greatly expanded and automated since 2002, according to former DHS officials.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/21/AR2007092102347.html

If you read the entire article, you'll see border guards also questioned a man crossing from Michigan into Canada about published LTTE's he wrote criticizing the Bush administration. In other words, they are now keeping a dossier on ANYONE who publically criticizes

[napi21]

1. Well, I don't travel, but if I did, they'd love me!

I always take books like "Armed Madhouse", What's the Matter with Kansas"", "Dude Where's My Country", etc.

I just received Jack Cafferty's new book "It's getting Ugly Out There' yesterday. Jack did a GREAT JOB on this book, and I've oly read the first 25 pages so far!

Hell, they probably already have a dossier of all of us DUers already!

[Oilwellian]

2. LOL Napi

I've had 8 LTTE's published so far that have been very critical of Bushco. I suspect I'm on a list as well. Plan to fly next summer so I guess we'll see. I'd love to see all of my LTTE's spread across a table and be questioned about them. :D

[Oilwellian]

3. Here's what I'm referring to from the WP article:

Zakariya Reed, a Toledo firefighter, said in an interview that he has been detained at least seven times at the Michigan border since fall 2006. Twice, he said, he was questioned by border officials about "politically charged" opinion pieces he had published in his local newspaper. The essays were critical of U.S. policy in the Middle East, he said. Once, during a secondary interview, he said, "they had them printed out on the table in front of me."

[HysteryDiagnosis]

6. You'll probably be able to fly but someone will probably have to

get you on the plane as checked luggage. :)

[RC]

4. I flew with-in the last couple of weeks and no one checked my reading material.

[kestrel91316]

7. It snowed yesterday in Canada, so I KNOW global warming is a myth.

[MadHound]

5. Oh I've got to get a copy of "In the Shade of the Qu'ran" by Sayyid Qu'tb.

Just to watch their heads explode at the airport.