Customs Breaks Privacy Laws in Data Collection, GAO Says

[cal04]

Source: 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.

The Government Accountability Office, in a report to be released tomorrow, says DHS's Customs and Border Protection agency has never publicly disclosed all the sources of data such as name, credit card number and travel history that it uses to detect passengers who may pose a security risk.

"CBP's current disclosures do not fully inform the public about all of its systems for prescreening aviation passenger information, nor do they explain how CBP combines data in the prescreening process, as required by law," the report says. "As a result, passengers are not assured that their privacy is protected during the international prescreening process."

DHS officials say the agency is complying with privacy laws. The GAO's position on the issue "is incorrect and without merit," Steven J. Pecinovsky, a DHS liaison officer, wrote in a letter to the GAO. "CBP has collected the same type of identity information, method of travel and trip details for all its history and that of its predecessor agencies, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the U.S. Border Patrol and the United States Customs Service," he wrote.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/15/AR2007051502037.html?hpid=moreheadlines

[maddezmom]

1. hmmm, incorrect and without merit

guess we'll see

[truthisfreedom]

2. Typical right-wing phrase, "without merit." Every time they get caught, they spit out one of these.

Kinda like how bushco "rejected" and "blasted" accusations for so many years without "denying" anything.