Originally Posted by
Schmurrr
If TSA proceeds with this, it is a disgusting development in itself as well as a big middle finger to the people who have been expressing concern about mass surveillance and other forms of government overreach. Federal government actors have obviously chosen to ignore the concerns that are being expressed by the public.
At least three kinds of outcomes related to the TSA rely upon persons' data collected by other parts of the government, other governments and contractors/contracted-counterparties to governments and/or airlines. The TSA largely is a tool and client of those other parts/parties' information and very often have no clue about "why" those flags/outcomes are hitting a given person. Some of the "why" has to do with internet habits monitored not by the TSA but monitored by others. In some cases, the monitoring or the flagging/outcomes are even used to try to blackmail people to act in ways -- lawful or not -- which they would otherwise not do.