Court Kills ‘Round-The-Clock’ Surveillance Case: Via Threat Level.

Welcome to the tinfoil hat club.

That’s what a federal appeals court is telling Scott Tooley of Kentucky in dismissing his civil rights lawsuit. Tooley believes the government put him under blanket surveillance after he said the word “bomb” to an airline agent.

Tooley sued the government on allegations of invasion of privacy and for violation of his First Amendment speech rights, claiming he was subjected to “round-the-clock surveillance” following his 2002 B-word utterance.

The alleged spying targeting Tooley ranged from phone taps to RFID chips on his vehicles. He claimed he was placed on an airline travel watchlist, and, in 2005, spotted an undercover agent in a Ford Crown Victoria parked outside his Louisville house for about six hours a day.

In throwing out the case Wednesday, the Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia found his allegations amounted to “patently unsubstantial claims” that were “not realistically distinguishable from allegations of ‘little green men.’” (.pdf)

Of course, even if Tooley’s far-out allegations were true, he likely would never prevail. [ Read more ... ]

Passenger Advocate Sues Delta for Allegedly Hacking Her E-Mail: Via Threat Level.

An airline passenger advocate has accused Delta Airlines of hacking her e-mail accounts and computer in order to sabotage her organization’s lobbying efforts to pass federal legislation to help stranded fliers, according to a lawsuit filed in Texas Tuesday.

Kate Hanni, the executive director and founder of the Coalition for an Airline Passengers’ Bill of Rights , also known as FlyersRights.org, recently learned from America Online that her organization’s AOL e-mail — which included spreadsheets, lists of donors and other data — was being redirected to an unspecified location. [ Read more ... ]

Government Auditors Find Traveler Threat Rating Program Fails to Comply With Privacy Rules: "

Congress's investigative arm reported this week that the government's little known program for rating the threat level of every airline traveler crossing the border is in violation of the nation's privacy rules, because its explanations of how the system works and what data is compiled on Americans are vague and incomplete.' For its part the Homeland Security says this finding is 'incorrect and without merit.'

At issue is the questionably legal Automated Targeting System which uses passenger manifests and detailed airline travel records to check passengers' names against government watch lists.' This Customs and Border Patrol system rates suspected criminality and terrorishness of passengers, telling border agents which passengers to question, search or bar from traveling.' The system decides this based on a person's travel history (which the government stores) and information in your travel records (such as your credit card or meal selection). [ Read more ... ]

Grey spam: Did I really sign up for this?: "

Have you ever noticed that after you sign up to receive ‘special offers’ from your favorite airline you’re suddenly flooded with emails? In just the last nine days my inbox was flooded with 170 solicited e-mails - what I call ‘grey spam.’

As you can imagine, here at McAfee we get a lot of calls from customers who are concerned about the volume of spam showing up in their inbox. It often turns out to be grey spam. What do I mean by that? Basically, any email you receive after voluntarily providing your e-mail address so you can receive company news, special offers, etc. [ Read more ... ]