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One would think that an infamous person would check that box too. The idea seems kind of absurd, either your system knows the difference between Bin Laden and f

One would think that an infamous person would check that box too. The idea seems kind of absurd, either your system knows the difference between Bin Laden and for example a 5 year old kid with the same name or it doesnt.

noknownsender 7y ago
I had that thought as well, but I would think that it would just prompt a quick second look by the TSA (or whoever). They Check the box, then the screen agent takes a closer look, "Hmm, this nine year old indian girl named Charles Manson is probably not the 70+ year old dead man that we were worried about"
- wil421 7y ago
  I’d imagine the system would even show the wanted person next to the person in front of you. But then again the TSA is probably using an abstraction over an Access DB built by the lowest bidder in the early 2000s.
- tinus_hn 7y ago
  Perhaps if you check the box the system doesn’t allocate the biggest clown in the circus to your check and you get someone who can reason like, it says Osama but the terrorist Osama is dead. So it must be someone else.
Bartweiss 7y ago
I've heard from some people who had this problem. It's not so much "avoid extra screening" as "ensure extra screening and do it up front". If you sign up with name, birthdate, and address, maybe the system comes up with an 85% likelihood that you're that Manson. But if you check the box, you can add in data like place of birth and SSN which prove you aren't the infamous murderer, so the system (or more realistically, a human with override powers) can clear you. That's way better than being silently blacklisted, or having each interaction delayed until it can be separately verified. Presumably, Manson wouldn't want to check that box because he'd be likely to get arrested, and if he did then the subsequent data would all just confirm there's a problem. It's not a great system, but it's a decent improvement on just making a decision without the extra caution.

noknownsender 7y ago

I had that thought as well, but I would think that it would just prompt a quick second look by the TSA (or whoever). They Check the box, then the screen agent takes a closer look, "Hmm, this nine year old indian girl named Charles Manson is probably not the 70+ year old dead man that we were worried about"

wil421 7y ago
I’d imagine the system would even show the wanted person next to the person in front of you. But then again the TSA is probably using an abstraction over an Access DB built by the lowest bidder in the early 2000s.
tinus_hn 7y ago
Perhaps if you check the box the system doesn’t allocate the biggest clown in the circus to your check and you get someone who can reason like, it says Osama but the terrorist Osama is dead. So it must be someone else.

Bartweiss 7y ago

I've heard from some people who had this problem. It's not so much "avoid extra screening" as "ensure extra screening and do it up front". If you sign up with name, birthdate, and address, maybe the system comes up with an 85% likelihood that you're that Manson. But if you check the box, you can add in data like place of birth and SSN which prove you aren't the infamous murderer, so the system (or more realistically, a human with override powers) can clear you. That's way better than being silently blacklisted, or having each interaction delayed until it can be separately verified. Presumably, Manson wouldn't want to check that box because he'd be likely to get arrested, and if he did then the subsequent data would all just confirm there's a problem. It's not a great system, but it's a decent improvement on just making a decision without the extra caution.