Tag Archives: TSA

TSA spare change


By SB Anderson

As Congress debates how to best reallocate the $500,000 a year in loose change that the Transportation Security Administration banks from people who forget to pick theirs up after finishing security screening, we thought it would be a good time to list how much was collected at each airport during 2012, the last year for which data is collected.

Las Vegas at No. 2 is something of a surprise; you’d think travelers would be more attentive in keeping their last few coins to use in the hundreds of slot machines at the gates. The leanest haul? Guam’s airport, with a total of $1.70.

The chart below shows the amount of change collected by city, sorted from the most to the least. Click the arrow or numbers at bottom to see the next 10 airports. You can also sort by clicking on the field names.

Data was extracted from a TSA report originally posted by the Wall Street Journal.

We’ve posted the the full spreadsheet here for you to download.

Updated TSA gun confiscation data


By SB Anderson

It’s been awhile since we’ve posted our chart of weekly totals of gun confiscations by the Transportation Security Administration at airport checkpoints, so here goes. Daily data for the week ending 10/24 will be posted later today. Complete details, including a link to a downloadable data file you’re welcome to use, as long as you give us credit.

You’re getting a digital pat-down from TSA long before you even get to the gate


By SB Anderson

The Transportation Security Administration apparently is doing a major digital pat-down of passengers before they reach the airport security gate, “searching a wide array of government and private databases that can include records like car registrations and employment information,” the New York Times reports this morning.

(UPDATE; While it doesn’t cite the New York Times story directly, a TSA blog item posted mid-day today seems to refute the story’s premise that the amount of data being examined has expanded.)

The database searches extend beyond the standard “Secure Flight” data screens that compare date of birth, name and gender against watch lists, and beyond passengers entering the country, the Times aid.

“It is unclear precisely what information the agency is relying upon to make these risk assessments, given the extensive range of records it can access, including tax identification number, past travel itineraries, property records, physical characteristics, and law enforcement or intelligence information,” the Times said.

One official from a privacy group called the data screening “a pre-crime assessment every time you fly.” Edward Hasbrouck, a consultant to the Identity Project added: “The default will be the highest, most intrusive level of search, and anything less will be conditioned on providing some additional information in some fashion.”

Will TSA look the other way on pot carry-ons?


By SB Anderson

Luggage at AirportWorth a check perhaps in your local market: What, if anything, does the Transportation Security Administration do when it finds marijuana in carry-ons at an airport that is located in a jurisdiction in which possession is legal?

Lawyers.com in a post described it as a “try-it-at-your-own-risk scenario,” but says “TSA policy and anecdotal reports suggest that passengers who travel between states in which they can legally use pot are likely to be allowed to fly.”

TSA’s “official policy” on drugs is to let local authorities know. “So if the passenger has authorization to use medical marijuana, or if he or she is flying between Washington and Colorado, where possession of the drug even for recreational purposes has been legalized, local law enforcement isn’t going to intervene,” Lawyers.com said.

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A top 5 week for TSA gun confiscations


By SB Anderson

Last week was the fifth-busiest of 2013 for gun confiscations at airport security points as the Transportation Security Administration found 46 guns, all but six of them loaded. That was the most since a string of record weeks in May, June and July.

We track the TSA weekly and have built a database that is available for review and download. Details here on National Security Zone. 

Below: Weekly totals of loaded and unloaded guns. Roll your cursor over the bars to see data.

U.S. requests for Twitter user data up 11% in first half of 2013


By SB Anderson

Twitter kicked off what has become semi-annual transparency report season late last week, reporting an 11% increase in requests from the U.S. government for data about its users in the first half of 2013 compared to July to December of last year. Compared to the same period a year ago, requests were up 33%.

From Jan. 1 to June 30, there were 902 requests from the U.S., making up about 78% of requests from all countries.

The number of users or accounts affected by those U.S. requests was up 15%, while the number of cases in which data was ultimately released was down slightly to 67%.

Similar transaprency reports from Google and Microsoft are expected soon. Those two and Twitter have been making regular updates on user data requests, with Google doing so the longest — and with the most detail.

The reports in recent months are of greater urgency given recent controversy over government surveillance.

Earlier this summer, a number of companies that had not traditionally been making regular releases about data requests issued reports in response to revelations that the National Security Administration was amassing enormous databases of online and phone activity. (View a table with that data here).

In the U.S., the percentage of requests that came via search warrant was up slightly while the number from subpoenas — the most common — was down by the same amount.

The U.S. accounts for about 4 out of 5 requests from around the world, although that number dropped slightly in the first half of 2013 as the number of non-US requests rose by nearly one-third.

Japan had the most requests after the U.S., but that was only 8% of total requests. In almost all cases, data is actually released to foreign countries at a much lower rate than in the U.S. The percentage for Japan, for example, was 16% compared to 67% in the U.S.

The chart below shows growth in global requests.

Read more stories on the transparency reports.