US government keeps tabs on where Americans travel

It has been revealed that the United States administration is keeping tabs on where Americans go whenever they travel overseas. The discovery was made by the Washington Post which found out that the information being filed on traveling Americans is fairly detailed, including reports on what personal items passengers bring with them in their luggage and even information on where the traveler is staying while abroad. Moreover, the Washington Post believes that the administration may even track what books and magazines travelers are reading.

Most Americans did not know about this arguably draconian level of surveillance until the publication of the front-page Post article. It appears that this situation only came to light when a group of political activists requested to view documents that the US had created on their travels. Upon inspection, it turned out that the administration was not only interested in when and where these people were traveling, but also in what personal items they were bringing with them. One document even mentioned that the travelers had with them small flashlights. This information usually stays on record for up to 15 years.

The Department of Homeland Security, however, has forcefully denied that it is inspecting and keeping tabs on the books people read, with one spokesperson noting dryly that they had no interest in finding out about which Tom Clancy novel tourists are most captivated by. Some of the information collected and stored by the US government include flight and specific hotel details, which are acquired when travelers make reservations online. Civil liberties advocates are asserting that this data collection is so intrusive that it ultimately contravenes the Privacy Act, and should be reviewed.