Policy Forum

Travel Surveillance, Traveler Intrusion

April 2, 2013 12:00 PM to 1:30 PM EDT

Hayek Auditorium

Featuring Edward Hasbrouck, Journalist, Consumer Advocate, Travel Expert, and Consultant, The Identity Project (PapersPlease.org), Author of the book and blog, The Practical Nomad; and Ginger McCall Director, Open Government Program, Electronic Privacy Information Center; moderated by Jim Harper, Director of Information Policy Studies, Cato Institute.

If you can’t make it to the Cato Institute, watch this event live online at www.cato.org/live and follow the discussion on Twitter with the hashtag #TSASearch.

The United States government practices surprisingly comprehensive surveillance of air travel, amassing data about the comings and goings of all Americans who fly. Travel expert Edward Hasbrouck has been researching travel surveillance for many years. His findings reveal a stunning level of government surveillance, control of the traveler, and intrusion into commercial travel IT systems.

By April 2, the Transportation Security Administration will either have begun a public comment process on its policy of putting travelers through imaging machines that can see under their clothes, or it will be in clear violation of a D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling requiring it to do so. Ginger McCall of the Electronic Privacy Information Center has been handling the litigation that prompted the court’s ruling, and she will assess the proposed regulation or discuss her renewed efforts to bring the TSA within the law.