According to The Washington Post, the Department of Homeland Security is capturing and storing detailed information on travelers, including what personal items travelers carry and even what books they have to read. The details of the Automated Targeting System, as it is called, were revealed by long-time civil liberties activist John Gilmore, one of the founders of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Gilmore acquired a copy of his file, which included a note from a Borders and Customs official that Gilmore was carrying a copy of a book titled Drugs and Your Rights. Gilmore said, “My first reaction was I kind of expected it. My second reaction was, that’s illegal.“ Gilmore argues that the program violates the federal Privacy Act, which bars the government from collecting information about Americans exercising their First Amendment rights.

The Department of Homeland Security denied that they are “interested” in the reading habits of Americans. “We are completely uninterested in the latest Tom Clancy novel that the traveler may be reading,“ said a DHS spokesperson quoted in the article. But the spokesperson did say that federal officials are expected to document information of interest to national security.

The article mentions that this story was first reported in Wired News.