Homeland Security breaking US law?
The US’s Department of Homeland Security is breaking privacy laws by failing to tell how it uses personal information to target passengers leaving or entering this country, says the draft of a government report.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) said the department’s Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency has never has not publicly disclosed sources of date such as names and other information.
“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 said. It added:
“As a result, passengers are not assured that their privacy is protected during the international prescreening process.”
The GAO, Congress’ auditing agency, also said Customs has not disclosed publicly all the sources of data it reviews about passengers, including information obtained from commercial sources. It did not explain what those commercial sources may be. Government officials would not comment, said the AP
DHS officials say the agency is complying with privacy laws.
Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke defended the program.
“The GAO in this case is woefully uninformed, and I think that Congress and the public are being poorly served by this report,” Mr Knocke said. This program, he added, “has been the subject of more than 20 speeches or testimonies at hearings.”
But the GAO says Customs has failed to fully describe its methods to the public.
The lack of disclosure has become an issue as US and European officials renegotiate an agreement, due to expire in July, to share air passenger data.
“European officials are concerned that the data they already share are not adequately protected by the US government,” said The Washington Post.
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, David Sobel, senior counsel for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, told the Post. The Foundation last year 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.
The federal government requires international carriers to share information — including name, address, credit card data and travel itinerary — about travelers before they leave or enter the US.
The result is a risk assessment for each passenger, US citizen or otherwise, which Customs keeps for up to 40 years to track patterns by individuals and by larger classes of travelers. The assessment, created by the Automated Targeting System, is based on “indicators of possible illegal or other activities.”
The data can also be used to create “lookout” flags on passengers of interest, to decide whether to deny someone permission to board and to gather more information about the traveler, according to the GAO.
Report by David Wilkening
David
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