Need another reason govt shouldn't be in the airport security business?

[JTM]

From: http://gothamist.com/2010/01/14/8-year-old_boy_cant_get_name_off_ai.php

Mikey Hicks, an 8-year-old Cub Scout from Clifton, NJ, dreads flying out of Newark because airport security is always pulling him aside for frisking and interrogation, explaining that his name is \"on the list.\" He was first patted down at the age of 2, and cried like a baby. His mother would like everyone to feel sorry for him, but the other passengers probably felt a lot safer knowing no surprises were waiting inside his Pampers, hey-o. Of course, the Transportation Security Administration says just it's a myth that this kid is on their \"No-Fly\" list, which is technically true—Mikey is actually one of 13,500 people on the larger \"selectee\" list, which automatically triggers a high level of security screening. But for almost seven years, this snafu (which the TSA won't comment on) has gotten increasingly annoying for the family, because they get tied up with security and are usually the last to get seat assignments and board the plane, preventing them from sitting together. Mikey's mother, who actually got clearance to fly on Air Force One as a photojournalist, is well-armed with zingers for the Times:

Up your arms, down your arms, up your crotch — someone is patting your 8-year-old down like he’s a criminal. A terrorist can blow his underwear up and they don’t catch him. But my 8-year-old can’t walk through security without being frisked... I understand the need for security. But this is ridiculous. It’s quite clear that he is 8 years old, and while he may have terroristic tendencies at home, he does not have those on a plane.​

81,793 travelers have submitted formal requests demanding their names be taken off the watch list; more than 25,000 of their cases are still pending. Mario Labbé, a Canadian record-company executive, was stopped so many times since 9/11 he finally got fed up and just changed his name. Now they don't bother him anymore! The system works! \"We can’t just throw a bunch of names on these lists and call it security,” Representative William J. Pascrell Jr., a New Jersey Democrat, tells the Times. \"If we can’t get an 8-year-old off the list, the whole list becomes suspect.\"

So, still need more?

 

[HKTidwell]

Hey that kid might be a threat! You know these boy scouts are so dangerous we are trying to keep them out of schools, off planes, and out of the way!

Sorry but the loss of common sense in America is going to be our death.

 

[drapetomaniac]

U.S. Sen. Edward M. "Ted" Kennedy said yesterday that he was stopped and questioned at airports on the East Coast five times in March because his name appeared on the government's secret "no-fly" list.

Federal air security officials said the initial error that led to scrutiny of the Massachusetts Democrat should not have happened even though they recognize that the no-fly list is imperfect. But privately they acknowledged being embarrassed that it took the senator and his staff more than three weeks to get his name removed.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17073-2004Aug19.html

 

[Nate Riley]

U.S. Sen. Edward M. \\"Ted\\" Kennedy said yesterday that he was stopped and questioned at airports on the East Coast five times in March because his name appeared on the government's secret \\"no-fly\\" list.

Federal air security officials said the initial error that led to scrutiny of the Massachusetts Democrat should not have happened even though they recognize that the no-fly list is imperfect. But privately they acknowledged being embarrassed that it took the senator and his staff more than three weeks to get his name removed.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17073-2004Aug19.html

That must be some old info. If not I am scared! LOL

 

[Nate Riley]

That no-fly list is stupid. There is a better way of doing this, but some would consider it discriminative. We know has been blowing up planes in the last few years.

 

[drapetomaniac]

THAT's how bad it is :blink:

 

[drapetomaniac]

That no-fly list is stupid. There is a better way of doing this, but some would consider it discriminative. We know has been blowing up planes in the last few years.

Stuffing people on a no fly by name based on vague and poor research is only slightly more competent than putting EVERYBODY around those people on the list *as well* based on zero research.

 

[JTM]

Stuffing people on a no fly by name based on vague and poor research is only slightly more competent than putting EVERYBODY around those people on the list *as well* based on zero research.

i'm pretty sure it's more of the "zero research" type of information gathering...