msimons

I'm as much against the bodyscan stuff as anyone, but I don't mind the stated intention of this. (I will destroy the RFID in a new passport though)
The info (DOB,gender) is undoubtly already in my FF accounts.

The stated intention was to decrease confusing one flyer against someone on the NFL.

On the other hand, if they want my SSN, or print DOB on the boarding pass, I have a problem.

So much for me flying to Vegas on halloween in a drag outfit.

finlandia

I have a two-word middle name, and so I have two middle initials. My driver's license shows this, but my airline info will not because their systems can't handle the second letter/word. Now there's a mismatch. Anyone think TSA's system will be able to handle that. Some cultures go up to five or more words. Long ones.

A lot of Chinese people don't have middle names. Even worse, I can see the TSA being ignorant and figuring that the second word must be the middle name. So "Tai Sing Kuo" ends up with "Sing" as his new middle name. Which will be recorded incorrectly forever because you know that the TSA will never correct any mistakes.

Yeah, this is going to go well.

ralfp

Korean names have the same issue. They are all written Last FirstA FirstB, where FirstA and FirstB are the two syllables of the first name. This often gets written as FirstA FirstB (middle) Last, FirstA-FirstB Last, or FirstAFirstB Last. Lee Myung-bak (President) could be Myung Bak Lee, Myung-bak Lee, or Myung B. Lee. It's a real PITA.

Then there are the problems Romanizing the characters.

Then there are people with one name (common in Indonesia, I think).

polonius

There is no point in coming on this board and wingeing - a good number of the posters here are American -- if each of you would pull out your cheque books and write out a cheque for 100 USD to the campaign of the congressperson of your choice, and mail it off with a note asking them to stop secure flight, I would guarantee it would never happen. A few dozen such letters is all it would take.

studentff

Starting in grad school I worked with a lot of people from various parts of India, some quite rural. One night we were talking about IDs, and apparently it was (still is?) common for parents to outright forge their kids' DOB by more than a year.

Apparently there were at one point traditions of not naming kids until the high probability of infant mortality had passed, so even to the modern day it's possible that no birth records are made. The first government records of these kids are when they start school, and the parents are apparently motivated to make their kids seem older (unclear if that was for daycare purposes, perceived social status, or accelerating future earnings). The school-registration DOB sticks with the kids and eventually ends up on their passport. So they could easily be "drinking age" in the US at a chronological age of 20, 19, or in extreme cases maybe 18.

From a TSA and George Orwell standpoint, it doesn't really matter of course. As long as you have a consistent DOB, it doesn't really matter if it's accurate.

Global_Hi_Flyer

Exactly Mrs. GHF's words.

bocastephen

Can't be done at this point, I'm afraid - plus it would take far more than a few dozen letters.

Firstly, Congress is going into lame duck status - nothing is going to get done. Secondly, Congress passed its own legislation which gives DHS a blank check for money and policy to do essentially anything it wants, and there is little Congress can do to stop them.

The plan of attack for TSAS is restoring both DHS and TSA to Congressional oversight for both funding (total management of their budget) and policy, and only then do we have a reasonable shot at getting rid of SF.

The only chance for right now is a court challenge - so if anyone wants to call or write a check, they better start burning up the phone lines to the ACLU and ATA.

ralfp

Yes there is. It's fun. It also points out to Flyertalk readers (and people using Google) how stupid the rules are.

GUWonder

Give them the FF number and the credit card number for your purchase, and they're more likely to get the SSN and DOB without your express authorization pretty easily too. If you don't want them to readily be using your SSN or using your DOB somewhere else to track you down -- and make it visible to far more people than just for stated purposes -- then the whole ID as security dog and pony show has to be not only called what it is -- a dog and pony show that is a waste of resources -- it also has to be opposed as a matter of principle related to the right to privacy and freedom to move about without being subjected to a fishing expedition by the government.

Give them an inch, they take a mile.

GUWonder

That's still India and most of the developing world on the east side of the Atlantic -- it's done to get the children into primary school earlier and work around the government cut off dates.

MrAndy1369

I guess the final rule does state now that full name, DOB, and gender are required. Why did they make it mandatory? It used to be optional under the proposed rule.

I wonder how well this will go with the Average Joes?

n4zhg

It's too bad Tom isn't making any more songs. I'd like to think he'd have a field day with DHS and TSA. Of course, he'd then be in danger of ending up like the TV satirist in "V for Vengeance": kneeling in the street in front of his house waiting for the bullet in the back of his head.

GUWonder

The current clowns are in a rush to get in place as much as they can in order to tie down the next Administration with this current Administration's garbage policies in a whole variety of areas -- this is just another area.

The Department of Justice is also in overdrive to do this kind of garbage. Between the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security and the White House -- and that's just on the end that directly relates to travel -- this stuff is being done now to make sure it is done at all and without being watered down.

goalie

emphasis mine: and because of just that, they will screw the pooch on this as they have on many other "innovations"

GUWonder

I can only hope.