Boarding Pass Hacker's Lawyer Writes Back

Christopher Soghoian -- the Indiana University security graduate student who fell into a thicket of problems when he posted an online boarding pass creator that brought attention to a long-standing airport screening loophole -- was cleared by the FBI, after a raid on his house. But the Transportation Security Administration told him they were looking into possibly fining him more than $10,000 for civil code violations. His lawyer (and Wired News columnist) Jennifer Granick of the Stanford Legal Clinic wrote back to the TSA -- questioning whether the TSA understands its own rules and arguing that even if Soghoian did violate the rules, he should only pay a small fine.

Our client is in the business of studying security. He is neither the first nor the only individual to criticize flaws in the TSA's security procedures nor the only person to describe flaws in the way that boarding passes are created and used. He should not be subjected to civil penalties because he did not violate the Federal Regulations cited in the TSA's letter, because the regulations cannot be enforced against him or other passengers, because the civil damages provision cited in the TSA's letter does not apply to the cited regulations, and because Mr. Soghoian's website is protected by the First Amendment.

Soghoian's post with a link to full letter is here.