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Visitor Alert!

Visitor Alert!

Old Jan 13th 2004, 1:41 pm
  #1  
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Exclamation Visitor Alert!

Many of us Brits or those from Down Under may well have friends or relatives named David Nelson as it's a relatively common name amongst Anglo-Saxons.

If such a person is planning to visit you in the USA, then you need to forewarn them;

My friend's brother (David Nelson) is from Australia and was flying with his mother on United Airlines from Sydney to spend a few weeks at his sister's house. He was taken off the plane before it departed and was interrogated at Sydney's airport - which he said was totally nerve-wrecking. He eventually found out that there is a 'potential' terrorist called David Nelson! Fortunately my friend was able to convince the authorities that he wasn't - nor had ever been - a US citizen. When he arrived in the US, his luggage had a hole in it where the TSA had put a metal probe in it.

Poor David now knows that there is a 'red flag' marked up against his name and for the forseeable future he is going to have problems when he takes a flight anywhere. He 'googled' his name on the internet and found a few reports, for example:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/busin...4109-4241r.htm

http://www.ithacajournal.com/news/st...ws/511681.html
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Old Jan 13th 2004, 2:36 pm
  #2  
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Default Re: Visitor Alert!

Originally posted by Englishmum
When he arrived in the US, his luggage had a hole in it where the TSA had put a metal probe in it.

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Seems kind of extreme. Couldn't they have just opened the latches?
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Old Jan 13th 2004, 3:58 pm
  #3  
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Default Re: Visitor Alert!

Originally posted by Englishmum
Poor David now knows that there is a 'red flag' marked up against his name and for the forseeable future he is going to have problems when he takes a flight anywhere.
There was a report on the TV news the other day about this.
The TSA have a "no fly" list and if your name - or even a similarly sounding name - is on this list then you are banned from flying anywhere.

- Found the subject of the TV News Item:
A student who was banned from flying because of a similar but not exact name to a suspect has filed a lawsuit (great.. lets make the lawyers even richer !) but now can fly because she was given a detailed letter from the government to take with her and show every time she is challenged.
And that's the thing - she will forever be challenged everywhere she goes for just having a similar name to a suspected terrorist.
Google Newswires - No Fly List
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Old Jan 13th 2004, 4:39 pm
  #4  
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Sure one of the suspect names on the grounded flights from Paris turned out to be a baby!

I dont feel safer if the height of this billion dollar intelligence effort against Al Queda is checking peoples whose names sound like a known terrorists name. Do they get a free lobotomy at the CIA/FBI or something when they start work? What kind of idiot terrorist is going to use his own name if he knows it flagged up? have these people never heard of fake ID or something.

Be afraid be, very afraid.

Also good on the student and how the hell else is someone supposed to protect their rights except through lawyers. Not all lawyers are bad and in fact lots of them do a lot to protect our freedoms. Remember that next time you get Mirandised by the Police!

regards,

Duncan
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Old Jan 13th 2004, 4:56 pm
  #5  
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I'm glad my name isn't Al Kayda....
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