OK, Now I'm Really Mad
The last time I tried to get on an airplane, they made me go to the counter to check in. Normally, I print out boarding passes from the web, or use a kiosk at the airport. At the counter, I was asked for my id., the agent stared at her screen, and then vanished with my i.d. down the counter and out of sight around a corner.
After a few minutes, she returned, checked me in and handed me a boarding pass. When I asked what had caused the delay, she again vanished around the corner, this time returning with a photocopy of a letter from the TSA. You guessed it: for some reason, in November of 2004, four years after 9/11, I am, for the first time, showing up on a Watch List.
I think.
The letter itself is a masterwork of passive voice, so it's not even clear what the problem really is.
So, I go to their website, which, as expected, doesn't have a link on the front page for "Watch List Clearance", and manage to find the form eventually. Now it gets even more fun.
Their determination? Of what? That they've found yet another victim of their inability in four years to create a system that screens passengers sensibly?
Because if my name in the system, the name of literally thousands of people with the same or a similar name is in the system. According to data from the 1990 census, 'Davis' is the 6th most common surname in America. Paul is the 13th most common male first name. Add in the variants like Davies and David, Poul, Saul, Raul, and pretty soon you're talking real people.
The proposition that it should fall upon each one of the thousands of us to send identifying documents to the TSA for their determination is absurd! Especially when, as their documents states, their 'clearance' doesn't guarantee anything. We may still need to go to the counter. Where, in some unspecified way, an airline employee will somehow have access to some list that contains further information about me, quite likely my social security number, that supercedes the fact that my oh-so-very-common name is on the Watch List. I won't be taken off a list, I'll be added to another list. Assuming that it's been 45 days, of course.
The entire thing is all too reminiscent of the start of Terry Gilliam's movie Brazil. An errant fly causes a typo, and the engines of the state go after Harry Buttle, not Harry Tuttle.
It's been four years, people! We're still hunting for the bad guys using a system that's so stupid it can't figure out that I'm not the guy they are looking for by itself? We're still using a system that is so mired in the Daddy State mindset that I have to send them the documentation of their error, and then they may do something about it that may or may not help? We're relying for protection on a system with the capability of generating thousands and thousands of false positives? That's just wrong!
This "clearance protocol" they have developed is ridiculous. They've had plenty of time to make it better, and they've failed. Have they even tried? If they're not even able to guarantee me it will help me check in, I at least want a TSA employee to come to me at a time and place of my convenience to look at my documents personally. Screw this sending copies of everything needed for some very excellent identity theft through the mail. And I'm really not happy at the idea of giving airline personnel access to my Social Security number, since they've already got my name, address and credit card information. Frankly, more Americans are victims of identity theft than terrorist attack.
Because I'm a genial guy who believes in compromise, I'd even be willing to show my documents at my local TSA office. They don't need to come to me. But they don't get copies.
Why is this happening now? Did some other Paul Davis show up in the address book of someone at 15 degrees of separation from someone that they're just now getting to? Or did someone read my blog, and not like it? (That was the first response of one person who heard about my problem. But the suggestion that "maybe it would be better if you didn't rant" makes me worry for our democracy. "First they came for the bloggers..." might be an overreaction, but you get the point. The terrorists will already have won.) I have been blogging for quite a while, but maybe they just go around to it. After this past week's revelations about the various groups that the Pentagon and the FBI have been spying on, a connection between my blog and my TSA status doesn't seem at all farfetched.
Which, of course, if true, is even stupider. As it is, this system isn't even fine-grained enough to make a good tool for political repression. Think of all the loyal Republican Paul Davises who have trouble checking in now. Once common American names start clogging up the system, the whole list idea rapidly gets completely pointless. Which is even worse than broken, the way it is now.
After a few minutes, she returned, checked me in and handed me a boarding pass. When I asked what had caused the delay, she again vanished around the corner, this time returning with a photocopy of a letter from the TSA. You guessed it: for some reason, in November of 2004, four years after 9/11, I am, for the first time, showing up on a Watch List.
I think.
The letter itself is a masterwork of passive voice, so it's not even clear what the problem really is.
Dear Traveler:blah-blah-blah. Calling the phone number gets you a recording telling you to go to their web page where you can download a form. After you submit the form, you may expect to hear back from the TSA in 45 days. That expectation may be optimistic, given that the automated phone tree at the toll-free number has an option for "If it has been more than 45 days..."
When checking in for air travel, some passengers have found that they are unable to obtain a boarding pass online, at curbside check-in or from an air carrier's electronic kiosk. When this occurs, they are referred to the airline ticket counter where they may experience a delay while the agent verifies their identity. If this situation applies to you ... please contact the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) toll-free at:
So, I go to their website, which, as expected, doesn't have a link on the front page for "Watch List Clearance", and manage to find the form eventually. Now it gets even more fun.
We recognize that the implementation of the Watch Lists has occasionally led to frustrating delays at airports for individuals inadvertently impacted by the clearance procedures. We regret this inconvenience and have developed a clearance protocol that should provide a more efficient process for you during the flight check-in.So, after I've gone to the trouble of downloading and filling out their 'PIVF', collecting notarized copies of three different forms of government-issued identification, and send it, with my signature, to them in Virginia, they will be so kind as to notify me in writing of their determination.
If you would like to participate, we ask that you complete the TSA Passenger Identity Verification Form (PDF 110 KB) Please forward the completed Passenger Identity Verification Form (PIVF) with your original signature and the requested notarized/certified copies of records to the following address:
Transportation Security Administration
TSA-901
601 South 12th Street
Arlington, VA 22202-4220
TSA will be unable to process your request without the information requested on the PIVF. We will notify you in writing of our determination and will contact the appropriate parties, including the airlines, in an effort to streamline your check-in.
Please understand that the TSA clearance process will not remove a name from the Watch Lists. Instead this process distinguishes passengers from persons who are in fact on the Watch Lists by placing their names and identifying information in a cleared portion of the Lists. Airline personnel can then more quickly determine when implementing TSA-required identity verification procedures that these passengers are not the person of interest whose name is actually on the Watch Lists.
Clearance by TSA may not eliminate the need to go to the ticket counter in order to check-in. While TSA cannot ensure that this procedure will relieve all delays, we hope it will facilitate a more efficient check-in process for you. Additionally, TSA has issued guidance to the airlines to clarify further the Watch List clearance protocol.
Their determination? Of what? That they've found yet another victim of their inability in four years to create a system that screens passengers sensibly?
Because if my name in the system, the name of literally thousands of people with the same or a similar name is in the system. According to data from the 1990 census, 'Davis' is the 6th most common surname in America. Paul is the 13th most common male first name. Add in the variants like Davies and David, Poul, Saul, Raul, and pretty soon you're talking real people.
The proposition that it should fall upon each one of the thousands of us to send identifying documents to the TSA for their determination is absurd! Especially when, as their documents states, their 'clearance' doesn't guarantee anything. We may still need to go to the counter. Where, in some unspecified way, an airline employee will somehow have access to some list that contains further information about me, quite likely my social security number, that supercedes the fact that my oh-so-very-common name is on the Watch List. I won't be taken off a list, I'll be added to another list. Assuming that it's been 45 days, of course.
The entire thing is all too reminiscent of the start of Terry Gilliam's movie Brazil. An errant fly causes a typo, and the engines of the state go after Harry Buttle, not Harry Tuttle.
It's been four years, people! We're still hunting for the bad guys using a system that's so stupid it can't figure out that I'm not the guy they are looking for by itself? We're still using a system that is so mired in the Daddy State mindset that I have to send them the documentation of their error, and then they may do something about it that may or may not help? We're relying for protection on a system with the capability of generating thousands and thousands of false positives? That's just wrong!
This "clearance protocol" they have developed is ridiculous. They've had plenty of time to make it better, and they've failed. Have they even tried? If they're not even able to guarantee me it will help me check in, I at least want a TSA employee to come to me at a time and place of my convenience to look at my documents personally. Screw this sending copies of everything needed for some very excellent identity theft through the mail. And I'm really not happy at the idea of giving airline personnel access to my Social Security number, since they've already got my name, address and credit card information. Frankly, more Americans are victims of identity theft than terrorist attack.
Because I'm a genial guy who believes in compromise, I'd even be willing to show my documents at my local TSA office. They don't need to come to me. But they don't get copies.
Why is this happening now? Did some other Paul Davis show up in the address book of someone at 15 degrees of separation from someone that they're just now getting to? Or did someone read my blog, and not like it? (That was the first response of one person who heard about my problem. But the suggestion that "maybe it would be better if you didn't rant" makes me worry for our democracy. "First they came for the bloggers..." might be an overreaction, but you get the point. The terrorists will already have won.) I have been blogging for quite a while, but maybe they just go around to it. After this past week's revelations about the various groups that the Pentagon and the FBI have been spying on, a connection between my blog and my TSA status doesn't seem at all farfetched.
Which, of course, if true, is even stupider. As it is, this system isn't even fine-grained enough to make a good tool for political repression. Think of all the loyal Republican Paul Davises who have trouble checking in now. Once common American names start clogging up the system, the whole list idea rapidly gets completely pointless. Which is even worse than broken, the way it is now.
posted by Paul at 6:43 PM |
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