Heightened security measures in the U.S. now demand the implementation very soon of a new program called "CAPPS II". Airline passengers will now be required to not only present photo identification at the airport ticket counter, they will now be required to also provide their date of birth.
Airlines are being ordered by the so-called "Homeland Security" agency to determine if each passenger is a flight risk, rating them "green" (OK to fly), "yellow" (need to be interrogated before allowing access to the aircraft), or "red" (forbidden to fly under any circumstances).
While many see this as a necessary security measure in the shadow of the 9/11 disaster, others are screaming "foul" because they believe it is an invasion of their privacy.
Once this plan is initiated, I will no longer patronize airlines, not because of the invasion of privacy factor, but because of the threat of datamining. What is "datamining"? Simply this: Have you ever gone grocery shopping, used your "customer card" and the checkout clerk gives you several coupons for products you often purchase along with your receipt? How did their computer know to print out the relevant coupons? You are being datamined! Your shopping history is kept in a computer database, so that it "remembers" what products you normally buy.
When you surf the net, many websites have banner advertising embedded in their sites. Often, those banner ads are relevant to other sites you visit. How does your computer know this? Because they have, without your permission or knowledge, installed datamining engines on your computer that follow you from site to site, determining what advertising would be most suitable to you according to your surfing history.
While the above datamining techniques are relatively harmless, the CAPPS II program takes it a step further. By now requiring sensitive personal information to input into airline computer databases, as well as the required presentation of personal identification, the level of datamining has been brought to a new, insecure level. Most airline ticket counter employees do not earn a substantial salary. This, therefore, opens up a world of temptation to them to take your personal information, which CAPPS II will require you to give. Some unscrupulous airline ticket agent may now be given the opportunity, through government-sponsored required datamining, to steal your identity. Mark my words: it will happen!!
My identity is precious, and I take great pains to ensure that I do not become the next victim of identity theft. I no longer shop at grocery chains that use "member cards". I have a program that deletes datamining programs from my computer, and I run it daily.
Therefore, until our country finds another means by which to ensure our flight safety, I will discontinue patronizing the airlines. This nation's airlines are already in a state of financial uncertainty. This could be their death knell. If so, we are giving the terrorists exactly what they want! What a horrible blunder this country is making!
Here is an article giving more information on the upcoming fiasco:
Critics distrust Bush?s airline security plan
Joseph Straw , Register Washington Bureau 01/13/2004
WASHINGTON - The federal government?s plan to check air travelers? identities against private databases, then classify them on a color-coded scale, would violate privacy laws and foster discrimination, critics said Monday.
The program, announced Monday as a way to more thoroughly screen passengers by the Transportation Security Administration, is expected to begin on a limited basis this summer.
In addition to their name, address and telephone number, travelers purchasing airline tickets will be required to provide their date of birth when buying airline tickets.
Retailers - whether they be airlines, travel agencies or Web-based travel services ? would then forward the information to the TSA. Private data analysis contractors, operating similarly to private credit services, would check the information against existing private databases.
The contractors would then give the TSA a numerical score indicating the likelihood that the traveler?s information is legitimate. Federal authorities would then check the traveler?s name against terrorist "watch" lists, "no-fly" lists, and domestic law enforcement agencies? lists of wanted violent offenders.
Based on the results, travelers would be issued a color: Green if they are cleared to board, yellow if they are to be screened further, or red if they are forbidden from flying.
The plan, called CAPPS 2, for the Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening program, follows a program under which travelers were evaluated based on factors such as whether they purchased one-way tickets, or paid fares with cash.
TSA spokesman Mark Hatfield said the TSA would not receive any private information about travelers from the existing databases, only a rating number reflecting the veracity of their identities.
"The No. 1 priority in developing this system is protection of privacy and the address of grievances," Hatfield said.
The TSA is further planning a "registered" or "trusted" traveler program, under which travelers willing to provide the TSA additional information, and possibly a fingerprint, would be issued a special ID card that would speed them through check-in and screening, officials said.
U.S. Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, D-Conn., the ranking Democrat on the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, said he sees holes in the plan.
"As it has been described to us, I think CAPPS 2 would be highly vulnerable to identity theft," Lieberman said. "Even DHS officials have acknowledged they don?t yet have a system that would prevent terrorists from assuming other people?s identities."
The government must also guarantee that travelers? private information would be protected, Lieberman said.
Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, said the policy would restrict citizens? rights without providing them clear cause, and could lead to further restrictions on peoples? access to places and events.
"We?re not talking about people entering the country. We?re not talking about terrorists. We?re talking about people the government thinks are suspicious, but can?t actually arrest," Rotenberg said. "There has to be some public basis for doing it. You can?t just pull someone off the street and not have a reason for doing it."
Barry Steinhardt, director of the American Civil Liberties Union?s Technology and Liberty Project, called the proposal "illusory security on the cheap."
The "registered" traveler program would favor business travelers and the wealthy, Steinhardt argued.
"Not only are terrorists going to be able to bypass security through forged documentation and fallible technology, the little guy is going to be subjected to the same hassles at the airport, while the first-class or business passenger gets a free pass," Steinhardt said.
Airlines have resisted efforts by the federal government to obtain passenger information voluntarily, facing threats of boycotts and lawsuits from consumers.
The industry supports CAPPS 2 because it will spare air travelers "headaches" at the airport, said Doug Wills, a spokesman for the Air Transport Association, which represents the airline industry.
"The program will prescreen passengers before they enter an airport or a plane, and we think that?s a smarter solution than the kind of screening that goes on in airports now," Wills said.
But Hatfield said that the TSA is still negotiating the implementation of the program with airlines. An outright "security directive" has not been issued to get airlines to turn over passenger information, though that is an "available means," he said.
Source: http://www.newhavenregister.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=1281&dept_id=7574&newsid=10795485&PAG=461&rfi=9