The Wall Street Journal reports on security screening at airports, asking if Transportation Security Administration agents have violated privacy and civil liberties.

The Transportation Security Administration has moved beyond just checking for weapons and explosives. It’s now training airport screeners to spot anything suspicious, and then honoring them when searches lead to arrests for crimes like drug possession and credit-card fraud.

But two court cases in the past month question whether TSA searches—which the agency says have broadened to allow screeners to use more judgment—have been going too far.

A federal judge in June threw out seizure of three fake passports from a traveler, saying that TSA screeners violated his Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable search and seizure. Congress authorizes TSA to search travelers for weapons and explosives; beyond that, the agency is overstepping its bounds, U.S. District Court Judge Algenon L. Marbley said. [...] (more…)

The Herald reports that Australia’s Privacy Commissioner has warned Newcastle bars and clubs that scan the IDs of their customers that they must abide by the country’s of privacy laws.

ID scanning was covered under the Privacy Act and pubs had to ensure secure databases and that personal information was destroyed quickly, Privacy Commissioner Karen Curtis said.

The Cambridge, Diggers clubs at Wallsend and Mayfield (formerly Ex Services Club) and Fannys of Newcastle nightclub use the devices.

Information is kept by the venues for between 24 hours and two weeks.

The eventual goal is to link all the Newcastle late-night venues to try to identify and restrict troublemakers.

Objectors have accused the pubs and clubs of Big Brother-style antics, citing conspiracy theories of Newcastle taking gradual steps towards becoming a police state.

Found via PogoWasRight.org

On May 21, 2009, the Department of Homeland Security’s Data Privacy and Integrity Advisory Committee sent to Secretary Napolitano and Chief Privacy Officer Callahan a White Paper on DHS Information Sharing and Access Agreements (pdf).

As DHS continues to consolidate its operations, it is taking steps to implement the Information Sharing Environment required under the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act (IRTPA) and the supporting One DHS policy addressing the need for improved information sharing. [...] IRTPA and the One DHS policy could potentially lead to widespread sharing of personal data, not only within DHS, but also between DHS and other US Federal agencies, as well as between DHS and other non-Federal government agencies, including those of other countries. [...] (more…)

UPDATE: The Wall Street Journal has more on Einstein 3.

The Washington Post has breaking news:

The Obama administration will proceed with a Bush-era plan to use National Security Agency assistance in screening government computer traffic on private-sector networks, with AT&T as the likely test site, according to three current and former government officials.

President Obama said in May that government efforts to protect computer systems from attack would not involve “monitoring private sector networks or Internet traffic” and Department of Homeland Security officials say that the new program will only scrutinize data going to or from government systems.

But the program has provoked debate within DHS, the current and former officials said, because of uncertainty over whether private data can be shielded from unauthorized scrutiny, how much of a role NSA should play and whether the agency’s involvement in warrantless wiretapping under the Bush administration would draw controversy. [...] (more…)

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