Here’s some happy news in today’s Washington Post:
Private businesses such as rental and mortgage companies and car dealers are checking the names of customers against a list of suspected terrorists and drug traffickers made publicly available by the Treasury Department, sometimes denying services to ordinary people whose names are similar to those on the list.
The Office of Foreign Asset Control’s list of “specially designated nationals” has long been used by banks and other financial institutions to block financial transactions of drug dealers and other criminals. But an executive order issued by President Bush after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks has expanded the list and its consequences in unforeseen ways. Businesses have used it to screen applicants for home and car loans, apartments and even exercise equipment, according to interviews and a report by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area to be issued today.[.]
Yet anyone who does business with a person or group on the list risks penalties of up to $10 million and 10 to 30 years in prison, a powerful incentive for businesses to comply. The law’s scope is so broad and guidance so limited that some businesses would rather deny a transaction than risk criminal penalties, the report finds.
“The law is ridiculous,” said Tom Hudson, a lawyer in Hanover, Md., who advises car dealers to use the list to avoid penalties. “It prohibits anyone from doing business with anyone who’s on the list. It does not have a minimum dollar amount. . . . The local deli, if it sells a sandwich to someone whose name appears on the list, has violated the law.”
The article includes the story of Tom Kubbany, middle name Hussein, who is flagged as possibly being an alter ego of Ali Saddam Hussein, son of the late former dictator of Iraq..despite the fact that Mr. Kubbany is demonstrably 34 years older than Ali.
It’s understandable in this day and age why a watch list arguably should be maintained. However, massive databases covering millions of people, drawing data from multiple sources, have a tendency to become polluted with what is technically called “crap data”.
When it comes to public databases of consumer information, Federal law require that a process be in place to correct bad data.
It’s a shame that the feds are so paranoid as to not extend such protection to their watch lists.