Posted on 01/14/2005 6:43:37 PM PST by drt1
WASHINGTON - If youre among the millions of Americans who took airline flights in the months before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the FBI probably knows about it and possibly where you stayed, whom you traveled with, what credit card you used and even whether you ordered a kosher meal.
The bureau is keeping 257.5 million records on people who flew on commercial airlines from June through September 2001 in its permanent investigative database, according to information obtained by a privacy group and made available to The Associated Press....
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
Please note the dates. There may be some valuable data in the mix if anyone actually gets to scrutinize the information.
I'm also more than a little concerned over the push for data about everything under the rubric of the Terrorist threat. Gun info, the push for DNA, credit info and on and on. On the one hand I can see the benefits of these efforts for Law Enforcement purposes and I applaud them. On the other hand, I have some misgivings about the mishandling and misuse of the data.
All of this at a time when we can't seem to get any data on Illegals or prevent them from apparently roaming completely free AND outside any of these data sources.
I'm just keeping one eye on these efforts hence my comment with the post.
This info might come in handy. The next time my wife wants to go out to dinner at that certain restaurant on the San Antonio Riverwalk and I can't remember the name of it, I'll just call the FBI.
Why worry ? They have a 170 million dollar computer system that is a POS.
Information is money. If it's like the plotted TIA the info is in private business hands "for" the govt. With a click of a few buttons all sorts of consumer info can be copied onto other databases.
Yes, such as the strategically crucial information that my wife and I flew cross-country, round-trip no less, to attend my sister-in-law's wedding in August 2001.
LOL. Not sure whether that makes me feel any better. I mean, Jeesh, depending on their incompetence as a means of preserving liberty and legitimate, reasonable privacy? No doubt you're right. Given their track record I probably shouldn't worry!
Actually I agree with you, but I don't think they are ready for the worst yet.
I have nothing to hide. I mean, if you are not doing anything illegal, it makes no difference. The HLS nor FBI will not waste time on us trivial fliers. I fly constantly, and am sure they even know where I shop at the Airport. I guess coming from and LE environment, this just doesn't phase me. I'd rather be safe!
I'm not concerned, because I wasn't on a terrorist mission, and probably no other Americans were, either.
However, I happened to be staying on the Mediterranean coast of Spain during the time that it was later revealed that some of the 9/11 terrorists were also there.
Nobody has ever known where they met (it was believed to be somewhere in Catalunya) to plan and discuss the plot.
I have always been convinced that I saw some of them meeting on a train traveling between Valencia and Denia. At the time (July 2001), I thought the "meeting" I saw was a little strange, but I had no reason to think it was dangerous. However, when it emerged later that the plot had been finalized in Spain, during the same couple of weeks that I was in that area and saw this, I realized that I had probably seen a planning session.
The reason nobody has ever found out the place where they met is that they didn't meet in a "place" - they got on and off a commuter train traveling along the coast.
Oh come on, now...it's not like anyone residing in the White House has ever misused FBI data or lost files or anything... </sarc>
All of this at a time when we can't seem to get any data on Illegals or prevent them from apparently roaming completely free AND outside any of these data sources.
"But there's more light over here under the lamppost...I don't care where I dropped it!" :-/
It really is disgusting...tracking those who are law abiding enough to actually be easily tracked, yet having little concern for invaders coming in.
I don't see why this is news.
The major credit bureau in the US is run by, and always has been run by, TRW. CIA and FBI have always had access to ALL of EVERYBODY'S credit records for EVERYTHING - WITHOUT a warrant.
It's been that way since day 1. Wake up and smell the Zyklon B.
And the 19 made numerous trips across the country on trial runs. Guess we don't need to see who else might have flown with one or more of those same hijackers.
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