Fight Discriminatory TSA Profiling With Your Smartphone

It’s hard to find any travelers with nice things to say about the Transportation Safety Administration, but members of the Sikh faith really have a grievance. They claim that they’re singled out for secondary screening at airport security to an extent that’s discriminatory, and frequently ordered to allow inspections or removal of their turbans. So they’re fighting back in 21st century fashion: with a smartphone app.

Yesterday, civil rights group The Sikh Coalition released a free app for people of every (or no) religion and every ethnicity. The Android and iPhone app lets you track incidents of discrimination at airport security, and report them to the proper authorities. And to Twitter, which is probably also important. The real question is whether those authorities will pay any attention.

The app was designed with input from various ethnic and religious minorities. It contains information on air passengers’ rights and a form to describe incidents of discrimination, with the opportunity to submit them right to the TSA and Department of Homeland Security.

In a statement, Sikh Coalition program director Amardeep Singh said:

For too long the TSA has kept a long leash on its screeners, telling them not to profile, but has taken no effective measures to stop it. Until that happens, we call on the public to hold the TSA accountable by downloading the FlyRights app and filing reports when appropriate.

FlyRights [Official Site]

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