Topics: Security & Insecurity, Privacy & Liberties, TSA, Censorship, Watchlists, Privurity

There has been a blogosphere spike in posting on the claim that Princeton University Professor Emeritus Walter Murphy had his name on the "No Fly" list because he had given a speech criticising President Bush. The Balkinzation blog's "Another Enemy of the People?" gives Prof. Murphy's description of his airport security experience.

I can sympathise with Prof. Murphy concerning the difficulties with watchlists and database hits. But I doubt his theory that his name is on the "No Fly" list is directly connected with his speech or with him himself. It appears to be another wretched SNAFU in the system rather than an Orwellian punishment.

As for the evidence for the claim of being punished for his speech, the Balkinization blog entry reports:

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One of the two people to whom I [Prof. Murphy] talked asked a question and offered a frightening comment: "Have you been in any peace marches? We ban a lot of people from flying because of that." I explained that I had not so marched but had, in September, 2006, given a lecture at Princeton, televised and put on the Web, highly critical of George Bush for his many violations of the Constitution. "That'll do it," the man said. "
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If the airport security had said these things, they probably were trying to be "helpful" by guessing the reason for a hit on his name. Ironically, such guessing is not helpful. It assume a direct cause and effect. The checkers would not normally have access to information on how a specific name may end up on the list.

I believe Ryan Singel has correctly summarised the situation in his Wired Threat Level blog posting. Singel writes:

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Woe be it for this blog to defend the country's foolish watchlist system, but after having spent more than four years reporting on watchlists, filing Freedom of Information Act requests, and talking with persons flagged by the lists, I have never seen a single case of a person being put on the list for activities protected by the First Amendment. Feel free to drop any proof you might have via email or in the comments.

I'm not even certain that in this case Murphy's name matched or was similar to a name on the list - which is what has snagged nearly every David Nelson in the country and what got Senator Ted Kennedy a dose of handheld wanding.

In this case, I would guess that Murphy was singled out randomly. He himself says he wasn't flagged on the way back, which he almost certainly would have been if he were on the 'selectee' list. (The 'selectee' list directs airlines to single out that person for extra screening, while a related list, the 'no-fly' list directs airlines to keep a person off a plane.)
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I love Singel's closing point, "The left wants to believe it is living in some version of Orwell's 1984. Threat Level believes that's a fool's prism. Around these parts, we prefer to see the world through a Kafka and Gilliam kaleidescope."

Also see Prof. Orin Kerr's good posting at the Volokh Conspiracy blawg (law blog).

J.D. Abolins

Editted 10 April 2007 to correct Prof. Murphy's status as Professor Emeritus.

Follow-up about to be posted 10 April 2007