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 EPIC FOIA Notes

EPIC FOIA Notes #8
September 27, 2005

TRAVELERS CONTINUE TO STRUGGLE WITH WRONGFUL WATCH LIST MATCHES

SNAPSHOT [click for full document—pdf, 2.2mb]

THE DISCLOSURE
Documents obtained by EPIC from the Transportation Security Administration under the Freedom of Information Act reveal nearly a hundred complaints from airline passengers between November 2003 and May 2004. The most common complaint from passengers is that they have been wrongly placed on a government watch list. Numerous complaints show passengers' frustration with the agency's failure to resolve their misidentification problems.

THE ISSUE
Watch list accuracy and redress rights of American travelers.

THE BACKGROUND
The Transportation Security Administration, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security, maintains "selectee" and "no fly" watch lists of individuals suspected of posing a risk to air travel safety. When a passenger checks in for a flight, he may be improperly labeled a threat if his name matches an entry on one of the watch lists—even if he is not the person on the list. People who are identified as watch list matches may experience long screening delays or not be allowed to board the plane.

THE SIGNIFICANCE
The government has not solved the problems that lead airline passengers
to be wrongly labelled as as watch list matches, and innocent individuals
still have a hard time clearing their names.

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