Kansas City man mistaken for alleged 9/11 terrorist - Apr 22, 2004
It's things like *this* that make me drive, rather than fly, whenever possible. It's the main reason I drove to St. Louis this week. And it's the main reason that I will drive to Atlanta next month. The level of gross incompetence required for this sort of thing to happen, is one thing, but the enormous machinery behind this, and the fact that nobody knows how to fix the problem, is yet another indication - as if we needed one - that the "security" infrastructure is irremediably broken.
I remember reading an article a while back about things like this happening on a regular basis to people who had unfortunate names. Speeding tickets turning into being thrown into jail untill the person could explain the mistake, police knocking down doors and arresting the same wrong person repeatedly, etc.
The problem is aparently significant enough that the Gov't was considering issuing them special cards, with a 1-800 number for law enforcement to call for further details.
Posted by: Paul on April 22, 2004 08:04 PM