TSA to Require Full name and Birth Date

Starting next year, airline passengers will be barred from boarding planes if they refuse to provide their full name and birth date, the Transportation Security Administration has announced. The policy seems to be based upon the national security assumption that terrorists dont know how to lie. "You have to give this information," Transportation Security Administration chief Kip Hawley warned USA Today. The rule will "dramatically reduce" the number of people hassled at airports because their name resembles a terrorist's on the government watch list, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff told USA Today. Comparing a passenger's first, middle and last name and birth date to the watch list will eliminate "most" false matches by more precisely identifying a passenger, Chertoff said. Travelers now must give airlines only a last name and first initial. Airlines must collect the new information starting in July for flights originating or ending in the USA. The requirement also applies to any flight traveling over the country, such as from Canada to Mexico. Security expert Bruce Schneier said it won't improve security because terrorists could buy a ticket using someone else's name.

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• airline
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• transportation
• security
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• schneier

[aseretkavon]

...but... What about all the cellists who don't want to bring their cellos as cargo (because of the bad treatment of cargo) and instead buy a seat for it?

Do we have to make up a birthday for that AS WELL as name our cello?

Geez.