#Whew.
After a Monday announcement that the Transportation Security Administration was seeking to expand its PreCheck program by using vendors who collect “outside data” to screen additional applicants, the agency has clarified that the information gathering won’t include social media and credit card activity. Such examples were listed as fair game on an agreement contractors would have to sign.
“The line on social media and purchase history was inadvertently included in the [request for proposal], and will be removed in an updated amendment to the solicitation.”
The “inadvertent” line didn’t receive any further explanation
Begun in 2013, the PreCheck program allows US citizens who fill out an application and pay a fee to keep their belts, shoes and sweaters on while going through airport security, as well as letting them keep their laptops and liquids in their bags.
The details of the proposed expansion of the program concerned some civil liberties advocates on the grounds that the private sector doesn’t have the same level of standards and accountability as the government when it comes to the handling of such data.
(The DC)
