A civil rights group has released a new app for Android and iPhone that it says will make it easier for airline travelers to file profiling or harassment complaints to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).

On Monday, the Sikh Coalition released the FlyRights app (PDF). It's a response to what the coalition says has been a history of significant amounts of secondary screening towards Sikhs and other religious and ethnic minorities at airports around the United States.

In the wake of September 11, many Sikhs in America have been unfairly profiled at airports. Many Sikhs wear turbans, known as "dastaars," which cover their "kesh," or uncut hair. Sikhs believe that wearing a dastaar is a religious obligation, and is done to symbolize faith, honor, and purity. Typically, dastaars are worn by men, although some women also wear them.

"The forms are drawn directly from the TSA website," Rajdeep Singh, the director of law and policy at the Sikh Coalition, told Ars on Monday. "The app allows users to bypass the website and reduce the time lag between when an incident occurs and filing a complaint."

The app has a very simple design, with three buttons on its home screen: "Report," "Know Your Rights," and "About the Sikh Coalition." The first button links to a form asking the user to input their name, e-mail, phone, address, airport, and airline flight. There is then room to describe the incident in question, concluding with a "Send Reports Now" button at the bottom.

Although the app has only been made available for a few hours, Singh said at least one report was already filed via FlyRights.

"Notably, it was a non-Sikh traveler," he added.

Other civil rights leaders and politicians have also praised the app.

"Unfortunately, the inappropriate actions of the few who engage in racial profiling create mistrust and suspicion that hurts all law enforcement officers," said Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), in a statement. "This app is an important new tool that allows passengers to fight profiling."

UPDATE: Chris Conley, a technology and civil liberties policy attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, called Ars to say that "It's great to have a technology that helps people communicate and know what their rights are. But the ongoing concern is that we still don’t know what the TSA’s policies are, and there is no app for that."

Meanwhile, on Monday, the TSA e-mailed Ars with this statement: "TSA’s diverse workforce is committed to treating each traveler with dignity and respect throughout the screening process. TSA does not profile passengers on the basis of race, ethnicity or religion. We continually engage with community organizations, including the Sikh Coalition, and individuals to help us understand unique passenger concerns and we support efforts to gather passenger feedback about the screening process. We encourage any traveler with a concern about potential discrimination to contact TSA directly through our numerous channels of communication."