Rants & Raves
02:00 AM Mar. 12, 2005 PT
Date: 03/11/2005 06:55 AM
From: tom ob (tom@tobmkc.com)
Subject: Bad Data Fouls Background Checks

I am trying to get myself off a TSA watch list ("Bad Data Fouls Background Checks," March 11, 2005). Talk about bad data. And this is how weak the system is: I am on a TSA watch list -- but only Northwest Airlines picks it up. United and others do not. (Most likely a missing middle initial, or having an apostrophe in my name -- or not -- is what triggers the match/no match situation.)

Because I am on the list, I can't use electronic check-in terminal and I must see a live agent (the only one left at O'Hare). The agent has to make a 20-minute phone call to somebody and then finally prints out my boarding pass.

To get off the list, I have to send a certified copy of my birth certificate, drivers license and passport to the TSA. How great does that feel -- sending your entire identity to an agency with 50,000 employees? Identity theft, anyone?
in wired.com