WIRED | Outspoken Privacy Advocate Joins FTC

August 17, 2009 | 5:39 pm

Christopher Soghoian, an outspoken privacy advocate who drew the ire of a congressman two years ago when he published information about a serious breach in airline security, has been hired by the Federal Trade Commission to work in the division of privacy and identity protection in its Bureau of Consumer Protection.

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He said the job, which is a part-time, one-year contract, will likely involve a strict non-disclosure agreement that will prevent him from publicly disclosing vulnerabilities or other information he uncovers during the time he works for the FTC. But he said that’s the price “for entry inside the beltway.”

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Soghoian has often had Google and other companies in his crosshairs for poor privacy practices and was a big critic of airline security policies.

In 2006, Rep. Edward Markey (D - Massachusetts) called for Soghoian’s arrest after he created a site showing how easy it was to generate a facsimile of a Northwest Airlines boarding pass.

“I want Congress to see how stupid the (Transportation Security Administration)’s watch lists are,” he told Threat Level at the time. “Now even the most technically incompetent user can click and generate a boarding pass. By doing this, I’m hoping (Congress) will see how silly the security rules are. I don’t want bad guys to board airplanes but I don’t think the system we have right now works and I think it is giving us a false sense of security.”

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Did Rep. Markey (D)-dumbass suggest arresting those who tried to blow the whistle before 9/11 for not blowing LOUDLY enough?