U.S. to Demand Passenger Lists

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-23-2003
U.S. to Demand Passenger Lists
11
Wed, 01-14-2004 - 10:21am

U.S. to Demand Passenger Lists

AFP

 



Jan. 12, 2004 — The U.S. government is pressing ahead with a controversial security program to conduct background checks and assign a color-coded risk rating to all passengers at U.S. airports, the Washington Post reported Monday.


Under the program, each passenger will be scored red, yellow or green. Red would bar the passenger from boarding, yellow would trigger additional scrutiny and green would signal a standard treatment by airport security.

The new computerized system will collect a passenger's full name, home address, telephone number, date of birth and travel itinerary, then run the information through databases to confirm passenger identity and compare it to lists of wanted criminals and suspected terrorists.


To implement the program, the Transportation Security Authority (TSA) will soon begin forcing airlines to turn over passenger reservation lists, possibly as soon as next month, the daily said.


Airlines balked at joining a testing phase of the program after privacy advocates encouraged boycotts of participating carriers, and one carrier was sued for turning passenger data over to the military.


The TSA is also to begin testing another part of the program that will allow some travelers to receive streamlined security treatment if they volunteer personal information to the government beforehand. Such passengers would be issued a "registered traveler" card to display at the airport.


Privacy and rights advocates slammed the programs as discriminatory and inefficient.


The registered traveler program will "create two classes of airline travelers," Barry Steinhardt of the American Civil Liberties Union told the paper, adding that terrorists could figure out how to outsmart the system.


"These kinds of dragnet systems are feel-good but cost-inefficient," said Harvard Medical School privacy policy researcher Richard Sobel.


"The government would do much better using resources to better identify people and deter people who might cause some harm than to use resources devoted to the 99 percent of people who are innocent."


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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2000
Wed, 01-14-2004 - 11:18am

The goverment already has lists of peace protesters who have been denied aboard flights.


>""These kinds of dragnet systems are feel-good but cost-inefficient," said Harvard Medical School privacy policy researcher Richard Sobel.



"The government would do much better using resources to better identify people and deter people who might cause some harm than to use resources devoted to the 99 percent of people who are innocent.""<


Agreed.


I believe this notion was thought up by the same people that dreamed up making wagers on potental terrorist threats.

cl-Libraone





 


Photobucket&nbs

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-23-2003
Wed, 01-14-2004 - 11:57am

More detailed info:



http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/156480_airport14.html

Plan to prescreen air passengers draws outrage


Wednesday, January 14, 2004


By CAROLYN SAID
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE


A federal anti-terrorism plan to screen airline passengers into color-coded groups by feeding personal information about them into huge computer databases is drawing outrage from civil libertarians and privacy advocates.


Travelers would be classified into one of three groups: green for, essentially, "good to go," yellow for "investigate further" and red for "stop from flying."


The Transportation Security Administration, part of the Department of Homeland Security, confirmed a Washington Post report Monday that the data-mining plan will start this summer after a testing period within the next few months. While the government says the plan will improve screening for potential terrorists, organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union denounced it as "dragnet profiling" that would discriminate against minorities and the poor.


"I'm quite certain there will be formal legal challenges from privacy advocates and civil-liberties advocates," said Beth Givens, director of the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse in San Diego.


The plan, called Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening System, or CAPPS II, would require all airline travelers to provide full names, home addresses, phone numbers and dates of birth when they book flights. The government would feed that information, along with flight itinerary, into commercial databases to profile the travelers, assigning each passenger a color code based on the estimated security risk he or she poses. Codes, encrypted on the boarding pass, would sort passengers into three groups:



  • Green, allowed to travel after standard screening;



  • Yellow, to be searched and questioned;



  • Red, barred from the flight.


    The databases to be used would include government lists of suspected criminals and terrorists, commercial systems that compile public records, such as Lexis-Nexis and Acxiom, and information on consumers, such as mailing lists, that has been "data-mined" by marketers. At one point, the government planned to include credit records in the databases, but it backed away from that plan after public outcries.


    The government said the new system, which it said has a false-positive rate of 3 percent or 4 percent, would improve on the current system, which relies more heavily on indicators such as whether a passenger paid cash or booked a one-way flight.


    "We will reduce the number of misidentifications and false positives," said Mark Hatfield, a TSA spokesman, in a conference call with reporters.


    Hatfield said the system would not use data about race, ethnicity, religion or national origin.


    Critics said the new plan opens the door to potential abuses.


    "CAPPS II is illusory security on the cheap," Barry Steinhardt, director of the ACLU's Technology and Liberty Project, said in a statement. "What happens in cases of mistaken identity or simple computer error?"


    Givens, of the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, said she thinks the government should spend its time and money on "good old-fashioned intelligence" instead of seeking a magic-bullet technology fix.


    Another issue, she said, is use of the system for reasons other than catching terrorists. The government already has said it will use the screening system to watch for criminals. Initially, it said the system would monitor those accused of a variety of federal crimes; now it has narrowed that focus to just violent crimes.


    Airlines, which will be compelled to comply with whatever program the government devises, have publicly asked the TSA to be mindful of privacy concerns.


    "We support prescreening passengers to detect security threats," said Doug Wills, a spokesman for the Air Transport Association, the industry's trade group in Washington. "The challenge will be how do we protect passengers and also protect the right to privacy."


    HOW IT WOULD WORK

    Here is how the proposed CAPPS II would work:



    1. You book a flight with a travel agency or airline, which takes your personal information -- typically full name, home address, phone number and date of birth.


    2. Your personal information, along with information about your travel itinerary, are sent to the Transportation Security Administration.


    3. The TSA:



  • Verifies your identity using information from commercial data providers.



  • Does a criminal background check.



  • Assesses the likelihood that you are involved in terrorist activities.


    4. Using the information gathered, the TSA assigns you a color-coded "risk score" -- low, unknown or high -- which is sent to the airline before your flight.


    5. Your assigned risk score will determine what happens in the preflight screening process.



  • Low risk: You will pass through the ordinary security screening process.



  • Unknown risk: You will be subject to an intensified search.



  • High risk: Law enforcement or other authorities will be notified for appropriate action.


    Tests of CAPPS II will begin within the next few months; the system will be rolled out this summer. The government hasn't yet determined whether it will be implemented airport by airport or airline by airline.


    © 1998-2004 Seattle Post-Intelligencer


  • iVillage Member
    Registered: 03-18-2000
    Wed, 01-14-2004 - 12:10pm

    That's outrageous all the info. they want. It's humiliating.


    Mistaken ID could lead to law suits, or at least some seriously PO people.

    cl-Libraone





     


    Photobucket&nbs

    iVillage Member
    Registered: 03-23-2003
    Wed, 01-14-2004 - 12:30pm

    My DH & I have very common names (first & last) and we get mail, email, snailmail, phone calls, etc. for others with the same names all the time.


    iVillage Member
    Registered: 03-23-2003
    Wed, 01-14-2004 - 12:36pm
    I was listening to a report on the news about this yesterday.

    iVillage Member
    Registered: 03-18-2000
    Wed, 01-14-2004 - 1:15pm

    >"I'm not the litiginous (sp?) sort either."< Me neither.


    In our town of 14,000+ there are people with the same names as DH & I. We always have to be careful & make sure our middle initial is with various records........ pharmacy, hospital etc. ......... mistakes have almost been made if not for the fact I double checked the address.


    I agree once you start giving in to such requirements, that appear minor,

     


    Photobucket&nbs

    iVillage Member
    Registered: 05-06-2003
    Wed, 01-14-2004 - 6:44pm
    I'm confused. What information are they actually looking at to assess "the likelihood that you are involved in terrorist activities" ? Since national origin, ethnicity, credit records, etc, will not be used...

    And doesn't the government have access to this information (full names, home addresses, phone numbers and dates of birth) already?

    It looks like more uneccesary bureaucracy to me...

    iVillage Member
    Registered: 03-23-2003
    Wed, 01-14-2004 - 7:27pm

    They also want to track what websites we visit, etc.


    iVillage Member
    Registered: 03-18-2000
    Thu, 01-15-2004 - 11:36am

    Speaking of lists........... Disappointed

     


    Photobucket&nbs

    iVillage Member
    Registered: 03-18-2000
    Sun, 01-18-2004 - 1:46pm
    Northwest: Passenger data given to government.

    >"Northwest is the second carrier to be identified as secretly passing travelers' records to the government. In September, JetBlue Airways said it turned over passenger records to a defense contractor, later apologizing to its customers.


    Northwest's participation in the project was first reported by the Washington Post for its Sunday editions. The airline said in a statement to the newspaper Friday that it participated in the NASA program to help the government's search for technology to improve aviation security."<


    >"The carrier declined to say how many passenger records were shared with NASA from the period offered, October to December 2001. More than 10.9 million passengers traveled on Northwest flights during that time, according to the Transportation Department."<


    >"Such records typically include credit card numbers, addresses and telephone numbers. NASA said it used the information to investigate whether "data mining" of the records could improve assessments of threats posed by passengers, according to the agency's written responses to questions."<


    >"JetBlue admitted in September that it was involved in a secret security project conducted by the Defense Department. JetBlue conceded it violated its privacy policy when it turned over records on 1.1 million passengers. JetBlue is being sued by passengers in class-action lawsuits."<


    Quotes from...........


    http://www.cnn.com/2004/TRAVEL/01/18/northwest.privacy.ap/index.html

    cl-Libraone





     


    Photobucket&nbs

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