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Posted on 01/25/2006 6:25:40 AM PST by Calpernia
SAN FRANCISCO -- Two federal agencies agreed Tuesday to pay the American Civil Liberties Union $200,000 to settle a lawsuit brought to uncover information about the government's no-fly list, which bars suspected terrorists from airliners.
The government will compensate the ACLU for attorneys' fees, settling a lawsuit initiated by two San Francisco peace activists who were detained while checking in for a flight three years ago.
In October 2004, documents that the FBI and Transportation Security Administration provided in the lawsuit revealed the government has "two primary principles" but no "hard and fast" rules for deciding who gets put on the secret list.
The 301 pages of redacted documents, lodged in federal court in San Francisco in 2004, also said the secret list grew from 16 names the day of the Sept. 11 terror attacks to 594 by mid-December 2001. The list now is believed to carry thousands of names.
The documents were released as part of a lawsuit brought on behalf of Rebecca Gordon and Janet Adams, who co-publish a newsletter critical of the Bush administration. They were stopped while checking in for a San Francisco flight to Boston three years ago and detained until cleared for travel.
They and the ACLU invoked the Freedom of Information Act to demand that the government explain how people get on and off watchlists.
The FBI did not immediately comment on the settlement, and the TSA did not immediately return messages.
The agencies at first balked at supplying any information to the ACLU. But U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer, after privately reviewing secret government data, said the government was making "frivolous claims" about why it could not.
The ACLU decided to seek compensation, allowed under the FOIA, after it obtained all the information it believed it could get from the government.
One heavily redacted document says getting on a list is guided by two "primary" principles: Whether various intelligence agencies view an individual as a "potential threat to U.S. civil aviation," and whether the agency requesting a listing has provided enough information to identify the person to be flagged at check-in.
The documents disclosed that people are regularly removed from lists if the FBI is convinced they are not a threat.
NOT AGAIN!!!
In other words, you and me.
Wonder how successful the ACLU would have been getting the Navy to release John F'kn Kerry records?
This is like tribute paid to Barbary Pirates.
I will donate to that cause!
http://www.privacyalert.us/Samples/Column-2003-02-06.htm
Interesting article about a case in front of this judge.
This is an abomination. And of course there's this good news as well:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1564618/posts
We call it extortion in this day and age.
The judge is the brother of Justice Stephen Breyer. Imagine that.
If it were not for the getting tax payer dollars the ACLU would be out of business. It is time to put a stop to it.
ACLU as bandit: "Stick 'em up! Hand over the $200,00 dollars. We all got payments to make on our BMWs".
$200,000 - left out a zero!
That was my thoughts too.
Actually, the ACLU also receives grants from NGOs. That is the biggest problem.
I started this thread about NGO grants; but I ended up with so much info, I needed to move from a thread to a website.
I'm still working on it.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1563271/posts
Healthy People 2010
They didn't release the no fly list. Maybe that is why the suit was settled?
I didn't read the court doc I posted in post 1.
Sounds like good criteria to me... ;)
Legalized EXTORTION
An oxymoron that makes one spit.
As much as we all hate the ACLU, they may be doing something worthwhile on this case.
Note the names of the people who filed the original lawsuit. Pretty common names, huh? And that's where the problem with the no-fly list lies.
If you have the same name as some of the common names on the list, you're in for a major hassle the next time you fly. It's entirely possible that you will miss your flight if you don't arrive VERY early, because you're going to have to prove that you are not the "John Smith" on the list.
The list is important, but it's causing lots of problems for folks who share a common name with someone on that list, and there's no good way to clear yourself at the airport.
I have a common name. So far, it is not on the list, but it's only a matter of time, I'm sure. That's why I carry my passport with me on domestic flights, as well as my driver's license. Eventually, someone with my oh-so-common name is going to end up on the list and travelling will become a hassle.
We've seen stories here about small children, even, being held up because of their name, and asked to show two forms of government I.D. Right!
There needs to be some mechanism to filter these names in some way that doesn't restrict the travel of law-abiding citizens with the same names.
Jizrah..payed by dhimmi
Since the ACLU was trying to get the list released....no not worth while.
This really enrages me. I know that I seem calm enough. I always do, it's just my way. But liberals just snatched two hundred grand out of our collective pockets because the government is trying to protect us from terrorist attacks. That really chaps my butt. God help any liberal who knocks on my door before I forget all about this five minutes from now.
Isn't that what lawyers are taught to do?
Isn't it is shaking people and companies down that allows many of them to live like kings!
Libertarian ping.To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here
If everybody would just do their duty to themselves and their fellow man by carrying their personal defense weapons with them all the time, everywhere they go, stuff like this wouldn't even come up.
9/11 wouldn't have happened either.
One reason I quit flying commercially the second time I got asked that question about whether I had packed my own bags and been in continuous control of them since.
It was clear to me then that things were only going to get sillier.
I still fly, just not commercially. I have a feeling that will get silly soon, as well.
>>>> I have a feeling that will get silly soon, as well.
Mildly put.
Bumping
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