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Getting Off of Government Watch Lists

by Terrence O'Brien on April 16, 2007 at 11:29 AM

Wired's Ryan Singel has posted an interesting and useful column about removing yourself from government watch lists. Ryan's "first rule for most people in getting off a watch list is to accept that you are not on a list." Instead, he suggests that more often than not you are the victim of a poor matching algorithm or a vague listing for someone else.

If you're having problems printing out boarding passes and are frequently stopped and interrogated while traveling, you are encouraged to try contacting the Department of Homeland Security's Traveler Redress Inquiry Program in order to clear your name. He also suggests you get in touch with the credit bureau and the Fair Trade Commission if an Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) alert on your credit report is preventing you from snagging a loan, credit card or lease.

From Wired

Tags: Homeland Security, HomelandSecurity, travel, watchlist

Comments

JamesFeb 14th 2008 8:24PM

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If your constantly being stopped while traveling and having these problems then you've obviously done something wrong.

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Mike SandersSep 10th 2007 7:47PM

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I don't know whether I'm on a "watch-list," or not, but I guess that I'm not, because I bought a motorcycle, last Spring, and they checked my identity on their computer, to see if I was a terrorist/terror suspect. I asked them whether they were kidding, and they said NO... I never heard of anything like that. It didn't bother me, but I was surprised to learn that motorcycles could be used for terror... Come to think of it, back in '73 (my last new bike), we were pretty wild, riding up stairways, pulling wheelies and unfortunately, visiting the E.R., once (enough). I keep both wheels on the ground, now... (and my eyes peeled for terrorist bikers). :-)

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