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Bruce Schneier read the Inspector General report and in response, breaks out the L word -- lie.
UPDATE: Aero-News calls the report a cover-up. Part two and three.
I'm not willing to go so far, though when I heard about the data transfers last year after American Airlines admitted its involvement (also not surprisingly on good Friday), I felt lied to.
I wrote then:
"American Airlines' announcement Friday that it shared more than a million passenger itineraries with four government contractors reveals that Transportation Security Administration officials have repeatedly issued false statements about the development of the passenger-profiling system known as CAPPS II.
American Airlines joins a growing list of carriers that have come forth in recent months to say that they have shared massive amounts of information about their passengers with the TSA. For the past eight months, TSA officials have repeatedly said they were not collecting this data. But American's disclosure raises questions about why the department has given false information about its data collection.
The TSA also may have withheld information improperly from investigators looking into the agency's practices."
The L word is tough -- to really use it, you need to know intent and know that the person knows the truth.
For instance, I don't know that the IG tried to bury this report by releasing it on Good Friday, though it'd been in production for many months. I do know that almost exactly one year ago -- again on Good Friday -- American Airlines revealed its data transfers by dropping the info on an AP reporter late Friday afternoon.
Can I say unequivocally that either attempted to bury their reports?
Nope.
But both sure picked a time that makes it tempting for someone to think so.
My earlier take on the report is here.
Posted by Ryan Singel at March 27, 2005 07:20 PM
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» Auditors question TSA use of airline reservations from The Practical Nomad
Two reports by different sets of internal USA government auditors have questioned the appropriateness and legality, and revealed more details, about past, present, and proposed uses by the USA Transportation Security Administration (TSA) of airline res... [Read More]
Tracked on March 30, 2005 08:14 AM