The title is pretty misleading. It makes it sound like the TSA was paying "third party" bloggers to shill for them on their behalf, under a false pretense.
In fact, this was just on the TSA blog. Doesn't make it okay, but let's try to keep sensationalist, misleading titles off of HN.
The article content was interesting, but the title is highly link-bait. I don't cwan though, because it is the exact title of the actual article.
[EDIT] I'll make the additional comment that claiming that "there are no children on the No-Fly List" is dodging the issue. Just because terrorist "John Smith" is on the No-Fly List and isn't a child doesn't mean that a child named "John Smith" won't be hassled because the name "John Smith" is on the No-Fly List.
They aren't. Not in any useful way. You are always responsible for yourself, and flying is risky. Not as risky as driving a car, or showering, but there is a risk at putting yourself in a tin can 30k feet up etc...
But yes, the TSA is a mockery of actual security, and the general american public is the one being laughed at.
Why is it "disturbing to think that these people are responsible for the safety of our flights"? Did something about the blog-post in question disturb you, or just what you know in general about the TSA? I'm not being sarcastic. I just want to know what prompted your comment.
The TSA is apparently working on a fix for this sort of situation. I fly a lot, and recently on Southwest's booking system, I've started to see a form field for entering a special "I am not a terrorist" ID for people with coincidental identifying information. I don't know what it takes to get one, but I'll copy-paste the help file:
> The Redress # is a unique number issued by the DHS (Department of Homeland Security) that is used to facilitate passenger clearance for persons who have the same name as someone on the TSA (Transportation Security Administration) watch list.
And to be fair, the blog that does poke fun at the media's sensationalism does point out that a) children under 8 should be automatically de-selected, and b) there is a redress option in place for those that are afraid they may have a similar name. It's obvious this TSA guy just doesn't have anyone proof reading his post for air-headed comments. The rest of his post was informative.
The title is very misleading. It almost sounds like TSA paid some random blogger who was anonymously mocking people stopped by TSA. (which is not the case). The guy is an official TSA blogger. And I sense more exasperation in his entry, than mocking. Also "harassed" is a little harsh. The Airport security screening system is far from perfect. But the actual agents at the airport have no choice but to screen a person, when there is a match, or a near match on someone's name. They have been told to err on the side of caution (after the Underwear bomber security breach).
I request the person who posted this entry to edit the title and make it less sensational.
What I've never understood about this situation is the fact that the list, apparently, only contains names to identify people. Someone would have thought that in a country of 300m and a world of 6b, there would be multiple people with the same name.
Atleast the last 4 digits in the SSN or the passport/visa number should be used to identify people when needed.
When traveling from Canada, you're required to give your name, gender and birthdate. You would think the birthdate would actually be significant, but apparently not.
Given the attitudes of the previous administration who set this up I would think it likely that there is a correlation between being on the list and being as it were 'left-wing'.
The suggestion that the list was set up to hassle lefties rather than stop terror is not untenable.
Be interesting to see if in fact this list is not a great danger to America by subverting its advertised purpose for political ends.
A nice mashup perhaps would be party membership of those on the list.
People are prepared to give up liberty in emergencies - the abuse of such powers to harass pacifists, enviromentalists in the UK anyway puts us all in danger for when a real emergency requires fast action.
Similar to the fable of the boy crying wolf (but a more sinister young fellow with political ambitions).
[+] [-] DavidSJ|16 years ago|reply
In fact, this was just on the TSA blog. Doesn't make it okay, but let's try to keep sensationalist, misleading titles off of HN.
[+] [-] billymeltdown|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pyre|16 years ago|reply
[EDIT] I'll make the additional comment that claiming that "there are no children on the No-Fly List" is dodging the issue. Just because terrorist "John Smith" is on the No-Fly List and isn't a child doesn't mean that a child named "John Smith" won't be hassled because the name "John Smith" is on the No-Fly List.
[+] [-] philk|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] modoc|16 years ago|reply
But yes, the TSA is a mockery of actual security, and the general american public is the one being laughed at.
[+] [-] dpatru|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pyre|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] lmkg|16 years ago|reply
> The Redress # is a unique number issued by the DHS (Department of Homeland Security) that is used to facilitate passenger clearance for persons who have the same name as someone on the TSA (Transportation Security Administration) watch list.
> For more information about the Secure Flight program, visit TSA's Secure Flight Web site: http://www.tsa.gov/what_we_do/layers/secureflight/index.shtm
[+] [-] invisible|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pinstriped_dude|16 years ago|reply
I request the person who posted this entry to edit the title and make it less sensational.
[+] [-] param|16 years ago|reply
Atleast the last 4 digits in the SSN or the passport/visa number should be used to identify people when needed.
[+] [-] ojbyrne|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] redwax|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] redwax|16 years ago|reply
The suggestion that the list was set up to hassle lefties rather than stop terror is not untenable.
Be interesting to see if in fact this list is not a great danger to America by subverting its advertised purpose for political ends.
A nice mashup perhaps would be party membership of those on the list.
People are prepared to give up liberty in emergencies - the abuse of such powers to harass pacifists, enviromentalists in the UK anyway puts us all in danger for when a real emergency requires fast action.
Similar to the fable of the boy crying wolf (but a more sinister young fellow with political ambitions).
[+] [-] tlrobinson|16 years ago|reply
She even made a Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Get-Mikey-OFF-The-List/2971719...
[+] [-] qeorge|16 years ago|reply