TSA Now Investigating Boarding Pass Hacker

An anonymous reader writes "A week after the Justice Department cleared him of any wrongdoing, Chris Soghoian, the Indiana University PhD student who created an online boarding pass generator for Northwest Airlines to highlight security holes is on the government's 'no-fly' list. The Transportation Security Administration has now launched its own investigation, says Wired blog 27strokeB. The TSA is claiming that Soghoian 'attempted to circumvent an established civil aviation security program established in the Transportation Security Regulations,' violations of which carry fines of up to $11,000 per violation. That could be a steep fine, says Washingtonpost.com's Security Fix blog: 'Something like 35,000 people viewed and possibly used the boarding pass generator during the less than 72 hours that it was live on his site in November. Soghoian told WaPo: "If they decide that the only safe way for me to leave the country is by boat, then that's pretty much the end of my career here in the States. It's one thing to harass researchers, but if they can chase them out of the country, then that's a real chilling effect."'"

35,000 views?

[denebian devil]

I wonder how many of those were Slashdot users. Shame on us! Shame!!

Fair is fair

[The Clockwork Troll]

The fine seems reasonable, will they accept cash [secretservice.gov]?

Re:What's the fine?

[Anonymous Coward]

"What's the fine for making TSA look stupid?"

slightly embarrass = $1,000 obviously embarrass = $5,000 Making them look Stupid = Priceless!!

go to bed without supper!

[zeromorph]

Chris Soghoian [...] is on the government's 'no-fly' list.

Does that mean he is grounded for being naughty?

That's unfair. Obviously he did his homework.

Re:He can still travel

[griffjon]

The popping sound you heard after parent post was made were hundreds of small brains at TSA HQ.

Re:What's the fine?

[JohnnyGTO]

Can they fine themselves?

I was in line behind a TSA employee from a local small airport. She was telling the cashier that she had left the check to pay for a number of photocopied documents in her car and must retrieve it to pay. BUT she could not leave the documents and had to take them with her to the car as they were VERY VERY sensitive. Here's the kicker, she left them at Staples overnight to be copied.

I wonder if they let her sleep there and then shot the copier tech out in the alley?

Re:What's the fine?

[mattwarden]

The fine is getting modded -1, Redundant.

The TSA (Thousands Standing Around) do a decent job themselves.

Re:Congress @$!^^#**#

[Apocalypse111]

Fatherland - a bunch of old Germans raise their eye-brows and say, "Hmm, ve like it. Dat is a good vun."
Motherland - a bunch of Russians raise their eye-brows, then sit back down at the barage of Soviet Russia jokes bandied about here.
Homeland - a bunch of Rednecks raise their beers and shotguns, create a lot of noise, then start calling their hatred of non-Anglo's "patriotism".

Re:35,000 views?

[UbuntuDupe]

He should be hailed. But the man who introduced fire to the world was burned at the stake. The man who introduced the wheel to the world was spun to death on the rack. The man who introduced sailing to the world was keelhauled. And the man who alerted others of a security flaw made his own country unsafe for him.

It's the burden of being a genius.

Ironic Reaction...

[evilviper]

Chris Soghoian, the Indiana University PhD student who created an online boarding pass generator for Northwest Airlines to highlight security holes is on the government's 'no-fly' list.

Does NOBODY see the irony here?

The government is putting him on the No-Fly list, BECAUSE HE RELEASED A PROGRAM THAT ALLOWS PEOPLE TO CIRCUMVENT THE NO-FLY LIST.

So this helps, how?