US Government Compiling Personal Data of Travelers

WASHINGTON DC, United States of America - The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is collecting the personal information of unsuspecting travelers into and out of the United States and compiling it in databases in an effort to monitor the activity of potential terrorists and other criminals. 

The Washington Post reports that DHS is collecting information ranging from “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.”  The data is then imported in to DHS’s Automated Targeting System, which is used by border officials to monitor the activity of suspected criminals.

Critics have known about the government’s efforts to screen and collect the personal information of travelers, but now contend that the program has intensified beyond the limits established by law.  Civil liberties activists argue that the program violates the Privacy Act, “which bars the gather of data related to Americans’ exercise of their First Amendment rights, such as their choice of rading material or persons with whom they associate.”  For example, one civil liberties activist, who provided to The Washington Post the file of personal information the government kept on him, maintains that the Customs and Border Patrol recorded information on reading material, including a book on marijuana, he had in his possession while traveling.

A similar program run by the Transportation Security Administration was severely criticized by the Senate in March of 2003.  At that time, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore) said, “A system that seeks out information on every air traveler or anyone who poses a possible risk to US security, and then use that information to assign a possible threat score to each one, raises some very serious privacy question.  It’s a matter of good public policy for the privacy and civil liberties implications of this program to be reported to Congress.”

The Department of Homeland Security has dismissed complaints directed at the program.  The DHS claimed that the program does not violate any laws, is transparent, and does afford effective means of redress for those people who are improperly obstructed. 

The government has claimed that they are not interested in the personal information of people that is unconnected with a violation of the law.  Russ Knocke, DHS spokeman, said, “if there is some indication based upon the behavior or an item in the traveler’s possession that leads the inspection officer to conclude there could be a possible violation of the law, it is the front-line officer’s duty to further scrutinize the traveler.”

For more information, please see:

The Washington Post – Collecting of Details on Travelers Documented – 22 September 2007

The Washington Post – US Plans to Screen All Who Enter, Leave Country – 3 November 2006

CNET News – Senate Scrutinizes Air Travel Database – 13 March 2003

CBC.ca -  ‘Big Brother’ Travel Database Restricted – 9 April  2003 [Canadian equivalent of US program]