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airplane kill switch
Posts Tagged “
Homeland Security
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airplane kill switch
homeland security
UPS Won't Deliver Woman's Envelope Until She Shows Her Green Card
Caught somewhere between post 9/11 security concerns and personal rights is Cristina Bustos. According to the Palm Beach Post, her relatives from Mexico shipped her an envelope that contains the birth certificates for 2 of her relatives that live in Florida. But instead of receiving the envelope, Cristina, a legal resident, received a phone call saying that her envelope was being detained in Louisville and that "she needs to identify herself further before receiving them." Later, a UPS employee told Christina that she had to email a copy of her green card if she wanted to get her envelope. Details, inside... More »
homeland security
Court Rules Customs Agents Can Collect Data From Laptops & Cellphones Without Cause
Some visitors and citizens of the United States may be shocked to learn that their computers, cell phones and data devices are now subject to search and data retrieval upon entry into the U.S., even without cause or suspicion. On April 19th, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that all computers and data devices are the same as luggage in that they can be searched without cause, and that all collected data may be stored indefinitely. More, inside... More »
incompetence
TSA Traveler Website Exposed Private Citizens To Risk Of ID Theft
The Transportation Security Administration's traveler redress website—which was launched to give travelers a way to get their names removed from the government's toddler-centric no fly list—operated for months without proper security in place, leaving citizens who submitted detailed personal information to it wide open to identity theft. Gee, we're this close to thinking that the TSA is run by a bunch of grotesquely incompetent, slug-like bureaucrats. More »
airlines
How To Request Your Homeland Security Travel Dosiier
In its efforts to combat terrorism, fight human trafficking, and bust drug dealers, the Department of Homeland Security compiles a large database of where you go, who you travel with, what you read and more. If you're curious about what this record contains, you can request a copy of your file under the Freedom Of Information Act. Unsecure Flight hosts two form letters for submitting this request, along with instructions for doing so.
Read Your Own DHS Travel Dossier [UnSecure Flight] (Thanks to Bill!)
no-fly list
Howto: Get Your Name Off The No-Fly List
The Department of Homeland Security has finally woken up, and now admits that the No-Fly List has its problems. More »
privacy
RFID Confuses The US Government
Despite a report by Homeland security, the US is going ahead with plans to put RFID tags in everything from passports to drivers licenses. More »
new york times
If The Times Is Treason, We're Heresy
The New York Times might be a left-wing propaganda machine hell-bent on sowing villainy and communism amongst the American populace, but treasonous? Well, that's what the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee says, and he wants to see The Old Gray Lady hang for its crimes against The State. More »
at&t
AT&T Owns Your Booty
In a followup to "AT&T: All Your Phone Are Belong to Us", the SF Gate interviewed some privacy wonks who say: More »
top
AT&T: All Your Phone Are Belong to Us
If you're an AT&T customer, you have until this Friday to switch. More »
the news
The News; Fitter, Better, Happier, More Productive
• Goodbye Barbie princess, hello Barbie biatch. [LAT]• Try It, You'll Like it, again. True proof there are absolutely no new ideas in advertising. [NYT]
• A month on Paxil taught him to love being shy. [Slate]
• Homeland Security Incorporated; running domestic defense like a business means capitalizing on fear for the unscrupulous. [NYT]
complaints
Telemarketers Target Homeland Security
Maybe now they'll crack down on the telemarketers. After all that's the hotline, the hotline for the Department of Homeland Security. Gotta secure the homeland from the Space Invaders and the Centipedes. Not a moment to waste for \time-share condominiums. More »
dulles
Petty Power Trips at Dulles Airport
With wild googly eyes and a crazy unkempt orange beard, Edward Hasbrouck looks a bit crazy. But not terrorist crazy. Geeky crazy. Actually, he's a very proud American: proud enough to assert his rights in the fear that if he doesn't, he'll lose them. He isn't afraid to question authority. And most importantly, he isn't afraid to question the murky and nebulous "authority" of TSA contractors demanding to see his identification. More »
top
Homeland Insecurity
In case there was an inkling that the Department of Homeland Security might not be up to snuff, well, here's affirmation. More »
data mining
The Government Data Mines Everyone
If you're curious exactly how far the government's data mining is going, the Wall Street Journal has a scary article up about how the government is literally combing through every single record you have these days for evidence of criminality. It doesn't stop at the nation's telecoms: your AOL account, your bank records, any record that could possibly be used against you is routinely being requested by and granted to the Federal Government. More »
voip
FCC & Homeland Security Begin Tapping VoIP
You know, say what you want about Orwellian dystopias — at least murky and nightmarish Big Brother states in the realm of fiction tend to front the thought police surveillance bill. More »
ba
The Terrorists May Have Already Won, In Bed
According to this article, your identity can be stolen simply from your airplane ticket stub. The story also has some interesting information about how American travelers are classified to government security experts, based on sophisticated data mining techniques drawing from every piece of information available about you. The system is purported to rank travelers as risks using an increasing danger code of green, amber and red. More »
crazy
We Love Gizmondo Founder 'Fat Stefan' Eriksson
Here at the Consumerist, we just love crazy corporate executives. Young, old, it doesn't matter... in the dark. So the gelatin circumference of our belly has been quivering in fond mirth over the recent adventures of Gizmondo (not to be confused with our pocket-protector sister site, Gizmodo) founder Stefan Eriksson, who resigned from the company the night before its American launch after Scandinavian reporters discovered he was a convicted counterfeiter. More »
