Extensive collection on ‘travel habits’ of Americans.
Extensive collection on ‘travel habits’ of Americans.
The Washington Post reports:
The U.S. government is collecting electronic records on the travel habits of millions of Americans who fly, drive or take cruises abroad, 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, according to documents obtained by a group of civil liberties advocates and statements by government officials.
The personal travel records are meant to be stored for as long as 15 years, as part of the Department of Homeland Security’s effort to assess the security threat posed by all travelers entering the country. [...]
But new details about the information being retained suggest that the government is monitoring the personal habits of travelers more closely than it has previously acknowledged. The details were learned when a group of activists requested copies of official records on their own travel. Those records included a description of a book on marijuana that one of them carried and small flashlights bearing the symbol of a marijuana leaf.
Topic Cloud
ArchivesBlog Roll
Ahhh, Orwell would be proud. Keep up the bang up job of protecting us from ourselves. Who needs freedom anyways, right? It’s overrated.
~Sean
September 22nd, 2007 at 10:55 amOff Topic:
September 22nd, 2007 at 10:58 amWhy is there this huge coverage by all the news outlets of 500 monks protesting the government in Myanmar and just a week or two ago there was silence on the 100,000 US citizens protesting their government in D.C.?
Anybody who travels abroad is suspect especially if you have a pot leaf on your flashlight? Is anybody any really that afraid? I doubt it. Why do they need or even want this kind of info? What is their plan? Just wondering.
September 22nd, 2007 at 11:18 am#2
It’s that liberal press. They deemed it not newsworthy. Of all the lies the right tries to propagate, the “liberal media” lie is the most blatant. The right considers media to be liberal if they tell us the truth and if they cover anything that people on the “left” have to say.
September 22nd, 2007 at 11:19 amIs anybody that afraid?
September 22nd, 2007 at 11:20 amNext they will be cameras at almost every street corner, making sure you don’t run that redlight or spit on the sidewalk….. oh wait, that’s already happening.
Bedroom cams next…. Have to make sure we don’t threaten some Republican’s marriage….. =|
September 22nd, 2007 at 11:20 amOne thing that the Bush Administration has not considered, regarding spying on travelers, is that they could simply kill the tourist industry in this country. I read somewhere that tourism is way down since Bush took office. Finding out that our government is keeping a dossier on people traveling to this country could just kill foreign tourism in this country completely. Good job Bush!
September 22nd, 2007 at 11:21 amIt is sooo much later than we think.
September 22nd, 2007 at 11:22 amBut new details about the information being retained suggest that the government is monitoring the personal habits of travelers more closely than it has previously acknowledged.
well, duh…
September 22nd, 2007 at 11:22 ami would not expect that any government acknowledge monitoring,
other than to say, yes, we do; that’s all you need to know…
doesn’t make it right, but kinda silly to expect otherwise…
…
Bedroom cams next…. Have to make sure we don’t threaten some Republican’s marriage….. =|
Comment by Wayne — September 22, 2007 @ 11:20 am
Missionary position only. Married heterosexual couples attempting to bear children only. No birth control. Must keep the Homeland secure.
September 22nd, 2007 at 11:24 amMakes sense – if you don’t want people to learn what life is like outside the United States, it’s only natural for the government to intimidate them into not travelling.
September 22nd, 2007 at 11:24 amStay at home, read the bible, make babies, work for whatever payment the we want to give, pray to jeesus and especially stay away from the weed. We are watching.
September 22nd, 2007 at 11:31 amOne thing that the Bush Administration has not considered, regarding spying on travelers, is that they could simply kill the tourist industry in this country.
Comment by bilbobaggins — September 22, 2007 @ 11:21 am
They are spying on Americans in other countries as they travel, not just those traveling from overseas to here.
So, maybe they got pics of that wild party in Monterey, 2006, or video of you walking in that Coffee Shop in Amsterdam, 2003.
F*ck these Orwellian B@stards. We need a total incumbent sweep of Washington, get rid of all them.
September 22nd, 2007 at 11:35 amWhere is the oversiight for this particular program? Does Congress know about it? Who authorized it?
What is happening to our democracy, already in a steep decline?
Another question would be, how did they get the authority to do this? Money had to be appropriated for this program, so where is the money coming from? Did Congress approve this money and know what it was being used for? If not, why?
September 22nd, 2007 at 11:49 amLand of the free, home of the brave has become, land of the surveiled, home of the fearful. GOP has achieved their dream.
September 22nd, 2007 at 11:49 amThis is just an extension of TIA program started by Poindexter
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_Awareness_Office
They are generating datafiles and merging data across sources. In essence, you are guilty until…
well, you are just guilty
September 22nd, 2007 at 11:52 amI’m with you Wayne…Boot them all out…Just for fun though I think maybe poor baby bush is having trouble connecting with his drug sources and want’s some new contact’s…LOL…I don’t worry about this noncence, it’s just one more fear and smear tactic…The total picture doe’s point to loss of all freedome’s and make’s one think this bunch of wacko’s is taking all their direction from Orwell’s book….Blessings
September 22nd, 2007 at 11:53 amTotal Information Awareness.
∞Ω
September 22nd, 2007 at 11:55 amThere was a music fest, last weekend in montreal. A bunch of my american friends decided not to come over, because they did not want to have to deal with crossing the border back into their own country. Nice police state…
September 22nd, 2007 at 11:56 amThis spying and collecting of data on citizens is another step toward fascism. Naomi Wolf has laid out the 10 steps to fascism….interesting article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2064157,00.html
September 22nd, 2007 at 12:00 pmOh crap! its the devil weed again….. yawn.
September 22nd, 2007 at 12:03 pmWho are these people monitoring and collecting all this data? Have they no shame? Are we paying these “good germans” with our tax dollars?
Guess having a reading copy of the Constitution is a must have to show the prying eyes.
September 22nd, 2007 at 12:08 pmGuess having a reading copy of the Constitution is a must have to show the prying eyes.
Comment by cookie jill
“Just a damned piece of paper.”.
∞
September 22nd, 2007 at 12:12 pmImagine you travel on business and somehow(?) get your name on a “list.”
There would be NO way to remove your name — and you can bet they would follow you from then on out.
It’s all datamining carried to an illogical level. The proverbial needle in the haystack — all under the guise of catching turrists.
How many damn terrorists are there that would justify fishing expeditions like this one –and it’s just the tip of the iceberg in any case.
September 22nd, 2007 at 12:13 pmFahrenheit 411 in the future?
September 22nd, 2007 at 12:13 pmGuess having a reading copy of the Constitution is a must have to show the prying eyes.
Comment by cookie jill — September 22, 2007 @ 12:08 pm
“I mail myself a copy of the Consitution every morning, just on the hope they’ll open it and see what it says!” – Bill Maher
September 22nd, 2007 at 12:13 pmYa know this bunch in office has been very busy distroying our country and I’m thinking they want to do what ever they can to see what we are doing and thinking…They are the one’s that are very afraid of we the people, trouble is most of the populace are sleep walker’s and doing nothing while we here are behind the scenes trying to inform and wake up the sleep walker’s..So far not enough has been done to realy put fear to the reich winger’s and our party or libral’s haven’t faught at all…It’s gonna get worse before it get’s better. The public had better hurry and wake up .Blessings
September 22nd, 2007 at 12:14 pmIt’s gonna get worse before it get’s better. The public had better hurry and wake up .Blessings
Comment by Sharon — September 22, 2007 @ 12:14 pm
I am afraid you are right.
September 22nd, 2007 at 12:17 pmI believe the program of Total Information Awareness began by Poindexter early on in the Bush admin. (2002) is continuing – they only said they were abandoning the invasiveness of the program – that does’t mean they did so. The funding for the original program has been eliminated, but it continues today under different programs.
September 22nd, 2007 at 12:19 pmTourism is down because the average American is too busy paying for gas to get to and from work, along with other pesky things like food and shelter and soon to be heat to even think about going anywhere. Sad when you have to save up to keep warm in winter.
As for the Totally Intrusive Activities, should we expect anything less from these criminals?
September 22nd, 2007 at 12:19 pmThe GOP doesn’t know the difference between terrorists and tourists. I’m renewing with ACLU today.
September 22nd, 2007 at 12:20 pmI thought pot makes people mellow — not aggressive.
September 22nd, 2007 at 12:33 pmWhy wouldn’t they want us all high on pot – then they wouldn’t have to worry about our storming the White House as our rights disappear one by one.
I thought pot makes people mellow — not aggressive.
Why wouldn’t they want us all high on pot – then they wouldn’t have to worry about our storming the White House as our rights disappear one by one.
Comment by Marie — September 22, 2007 @ 12:33 pm
Yes, but the dark skinned people are pot smokers (and assorted other free thinkers). Must keep the workers buying pharmaceuticals and praying to jeezus.
September 22nd, 2007 at 12:40 pmMust keep the workers buying pharmaceuticals and praying to jeezus.
Comment by jb — September 22, 2007 @ 12:40 pm
Jesus and Moses did herb. (ever heard about the Burning Bush)
Nice try, but don’t blame Jesus for evangelicals.
∞
September 22nd, 2007 at 1:02 pmWho is surprised by this? We also consistantly hear about breaches of comsumer information all time.. Credit Card Companies, Colleges, Hospitals, Medicaid info. it goes on and on. I fear it is actually these type of government agencies doing it themselves. Collecting any and all information they can on EVERYBODY. Heck, their even wiretapping their own. Shoot, our small company of 2 employees has to pay a government madated ” Anti Terrorism” additional $1,000.00 a year now for worker’s comp insurance. It’s a roofing company for God sake. Are these so called terrorists going to come up on the roof and blow up the shingles? I laughed out loud at the agent. Anyone hear of “Compliance Depot”? We were just kind of forced to comply with their demands for all kinds of information, ( dates of birth, background checks ) in order to keep doing business with our largest customer. It is getting beyond ridiculous.
September 22nd, 2007 at 2:10 pmTo those of us who ask “what’s happened to our Democracy,” or declare that Americans need “to wake up,” perhaps we have all missed the deeper truth here. We accuse our opposition of being “deluded,” but I fear we are equally so. We also have clung to a myth.
“What is true in foreign policy is also true in domestic policy. The Republicans and the Democrats both advance the growth of the corporatist state, as they have for the last century — a state where key and hugely influential financial interests ally themselves with government power (including perhaps most significantly the military-industrial-congressional complex). As it expands and becomes increasingly corrupt, the corporatist state is also an authoritarian state: individual rights give way more and more to state power, in the form of proliferating laws, regulations, edicts, wiretapping and surveillance.
As Higgs notes, none of this serves the interests of the “ordinary” citizen, whose life and security become ever more fragile and disposable. But none of that concerns the ruling elites: their lives are ones of immense comfort and privilege, far removed from the petty concerns of those who pay for it and whose servitude makes it possible. As I said in that earlier essay: the concerns of the ruling elites are not yours or mine, and their motives are a universe apart from ours. Except for rare historic moments of huge and possibly threatening public protest, the elites don’t give a damn at all about you or me.
The corporatist system itself is irreversibly corrupt. To restore anything even approaching the original design of a constitutional republic, another revolution is required. There is still time for a peaceful revolution, one led by those with a radically different political vision, but just barely. An attack on Iran and its likely aftermath, or an attack or series of attacks here at home, would almost certainly finish us off. But the liberals and progressives who remain devoted to Democratic electoral victory are completely unable to grasp this larger picture, and usually they have rendered themselves incapable of seeing even a small part of it. They remain committed to the story that gives their lives and their precarious sense of self meaning and succor: the Democrats will save us.
They will not. Try to grasp this finally, before it is too late: the Democrats may differ from the Republicans on matters of detail, or emphasis, or style. But with regard to the fundamental political principles involved, everything that has happened over the last six years — just as is the case with everything that has happened over the last one hundred years — is what the Democrats want, too.
This should not be a difficult point to understand. The historical record is compelling in its clarity, and overpowering in its length and volume. A corporatist, authoritarian state is what the ruling elites want, and it is precisely what serves their interests, Republican and Democrat alike. They know it; they count on your inability or refusal to see it.
http://powerofnarrative.blogspot.com/2007/08/blinded-by-story-liberals-and.html
September 22nd, 2007 at 2:40 pmGOP has achieved their dream.
Comment by jb — September 22, 2007 @ 11:49 am
Recommend (3) | Report Abuse
One small addition, if I may, jb…
“GOP has achieved their WET dream…”
Acceptable, no?
September 22nd, 2007 at 2:50 pmfor someone who has been “ill” and “broke” and “on indefinite hiatus” since at least 05, that arthur silber still manages to be a prolific writer and paster…
sure hope not TOO many feel like he does… ’cause, unless we get
AN OVERWHELMING DEMOCRATIC VOTER TURNOUT
in 08, our democratic republic WILL be lost…
September 22nd, 2007 at 3:21 pm…
bartlebee – OUCH!
September 22nd, 2007 at 3:21 pmfor someone who has been “ill†and “broke†and “on indefinite hiatus†since at least 05, that arthur silber still manages to be a prolific writer and paster…
sure hope not TOO many feel like he does… ’cause, unless we get
AN OVERWHELMING DEMOCRATIC VOTER TURNOUT
in 08, our democratic republic WILL be lost…
…
Comment by katy — September 22, 2007 @ 3:21 pm
Katy, the point is that it has already been lost, and the Democrats are not going to rescue it. Believe me, I also had high hopes. But if A. Silbur is wrong, then perhaps Glenn Greenwald’s words will have some traction. Read the whole article.
“Following up on Jim Risen’s NYT article this week reporting that Congressional Democrats appeared likely to agree to some form of retroactive immunity for telecom companies which illegally enabled the Bush administration’s warrantless eavesdropping on Americans (thus compelling dismissal most of the remaining lawsuits challenging the illegality of the eavesdropping), Newsweek’s Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball reported the same thing.”
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/index.html
September 22nd, 2007 at 4:33 pmImpeachcheneythenbushm, excelent post and link’s..Thank you for posting..Much of these thought’s match mine…I guess I am evolving..LOL…Blessings
September 22nd, 2007 at 5:02 pmAre the records flagged by: Moslem? Aetheist? Jew? Wiccan? Christian? [sub-cats: Born-again? Other Protestant? Catholic?] ??? If not yet, soon!
September 22nd, 2007 at 6:45 pmdevil weed again-comment by Fan of Man
Got Roachclip?
September 22nd, 2007 at 9:24 pm“GOP has achieved their WET dream…â€
Acceptable, no?
Comment by The Republic of Stupidity — September 22, 2007 @ 2:50 pm
They have certainly left a sticky mess where they have been sleeping…..our government.
September 22nd, 2007 at 11:07 pmSo, maybe they got pics of that wild party in Monterey, 2006, or video of you walking in that Coffee Shop in Amsterdam, 2003.
F*ck these Orwellian B@stards. We need a total incumbent sweep of Washington, get rid of all them.
Comment by Wayne — September 22, 2007 @ 11:35 am
Perhaps a little less partying would reduce your level of paranoia. ;)
September 22nd, 2007 at 11:40 pmPerhaps a little less partying would reduce your level of paranoia. ;)
Comment by upright left
September 23rd, 2007 at 11:35 am(comment by uptight and bereft)
Perhaps a little less partying would reduce your level of paranoia. ;)
Comment by upright left
(comment by uptight and bereft)
Comment by Nevar — September 23, 2007 @ 11:35 am
A stinging retort. ;)
September 25th, 2007 at 1:32 am