This story comes via Bruce Schneier’s Crypto-Gram.
From the article:
“I understand that security is important,” Zapolsky said. “But if they’re just guessing, and we have to give up our passport to prove that our 11-month-old is not a terrorist, it’s a waste of their time.”
A names-based list like this will never work properly, and will only cause problems – not solve them. We deal with similar problems at my office – basically, the issue is that you can’t track or identify people by name. There’s simply too much variation. Names change, people get married and take on different last names… lots of things can happen.
In the end, the best way to identify people for this sort of “watch list” is with photos – mug shots of some sort. We all have them in one form or another (licenses, passports, etc.), and a photo of your face isn’t really an invasion of privacy (though you could make the argument).
