No-fly list gets its first false positives
Over the weekend Canada got it’s first two cases of mistaken identity with the national no-fly list1. The two kids, aged 10 and 15, are both named Alistair Butt, and live in Saskatchewan and Ontario.
Even though Transport Canada assured us that these mixups would be rare, and wouldn’t cause a delay, they’ve already happened.
The whole idea of a no-fly list is flawed. If someone is too dangerous to get on a plane, then they should be in jail (safely away from gasoline, nails, and Mercedes). The no-fly list allows police to be sloppy: simply declaring someone “dangerous” without having to prove their case in a court of law.
I’m glad that Canada’s privacy commissioners have called on the federal government to suspend the no-fly list.
Footnotes
- There’s some uncertainty as to which no-fly list the kids were on: the Transport Canada no-fly list, the US no-fly list, or an Air Canada no-fly list. (back)
It’s bad enough that these kids are called Alistair Butt, but now they get hassled at the airport as well as the school yard.