Boss Hog
TRIBE Member
U.S. to open files on air passengers
Personal data, itinerary required
Clampdown called invasion of privacy
TIM HARPER
WASHINGTON BUREAU
WASHINGTON—Canadians who board flights in the United States will be assigned a number and colour code based on their security risk under the next step in airline security which begins this summer.
The U.S. government is forging ahead with the controversial program over objections from airlines and civil libertarians, saying it is needed to track potential terrorists on domestic flights.
Under the new system, known as CAPPS2 (Computerized Assisted Passenger PreScreening Program), all passengers will be compelled to release their full names, home address, telephone number, date of birth and travel itinerary to airlines, who will then provide the data to American authorities.
Data will be compared with existing criminal and suspected terrorist databases and those who receive a "green" code will be allowed to board their flight. A "yellow" score will subject the passenger to further screening and a "red" alert will bar the traveller from boarding.
A spokesperson for Air Canada said the Canadian carrier is still awaiting clarification as to whether CAPPS2 includes foreign airlines.
But Mark Hatfield, a spokesperson for the U.S. Transportation Security Administration, said the program would cover all passengers boarding flights in the United States, regardless of the airline's country of origin.
That means a Canadian vacationing in the United States would be subject to CAPPS2 on any flight taking off from a U.S. airport. That would include connecting flights.
Hatfield said the personal data would remain on file only for the duration of a visitor's stay in the country, then would be destroyed "almost instantaneously" upon departure.
U.S. authorities say the passenger's full name and date of birth are needed to avoid confusion involving those with similar or identical names on terrorist watch lists.
Privacy advocates are concerned the CAPPS2 system will access public records and commercial computer banks, such as shopping mailing lists, in a bid to verify that passengers are who they say they are, the Washington Post reported.
Airlines may be ordered to provide the information on their ticket holders. Frequent travellers who volunteer the information to government officials will receive speedy boarding priority under the plan.
When Washington sought to enlist airlines in a test of CAPPS2 last year, they balked. Delta Airlines, the first to co-operate, backed out when it was threatened with a passenger boycott.
Discount carrier JetBlue Airways was sued in several states by passengers after the airline admitted it had volunteered passenger information to the Pentagon as part of a military project to test aviation security.
Domestic U.S. airlines carried 612 million passengers in 2003, according to the Census Bureau. Hatfield said the current system sees about 15 per cent of them flagged as security risks. He says the new system will lower that number to 5 per cent.
Critics say the biggest failing in U.S. air security is the lack of a master list of suspected terrorists and the country is still using a plethora of lists held by various government departments.
Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge had pledged to have a list up and running by last May — now officials are giving no deadline for completion.
Privacy advocates are fighting the system.
"CAPPS 2 is nothing less than a Soviet-style system of internal border controls," said the U.S.-based privacy group dontspyon.us.com. "An incredible invasion of privacy, the system is un-American and unconstitutional, not that a pesky thing like the Bill of Rights has stopped the extremists down at Homeland Security."
Barry Steinhardt of the American Civil Liberties Union said the "incredibly invasive system" will collect information that will be used for purposes well beyond airline security.
CAPPS 2 comes on the heels of US-VISIT, a controversial program to track visitors who need visas to enter this country by fingerprinting and photographing them.
The Department of Homeland Security said 3,478 passengers were fingerprinted and photographed at Toronto's Pearson International Airport during the first week of US-VISIT.
They said only a small percentage of those travellers would have been Canadians carrying U.S. visas.
The Toronto numbers are small compared to major U.S. airports. Miami, for example, processed 47,065 visitors under the controversial plan in the first week since it began Jan. 5.
http://www.torontostar.com/NASApp/c...969&call_pageid=968332188492&col=968793972154
Uh, I guess I won't be flying on any American airlines as of this summer.
Personal data, itinerary required
Clampdown called invasion of privacy
TIM HARPER
WASHINGTON BUREAU
WASHINGTON—Canadians who board flights in the United States will be assigned a number and colour code based on their security risk under the next step in airline security which begins this summer.
The U.S. government is forging ahead with the controversial program over objections from airlines and civil libertarians, saying it is needed to track potential terrorists on domestic flights.
Under the new system, known as CAPPS2 (Computerized Assisted Passenger PreScreening Program), all passengers will be compelled to release their full names, home address, telephone number, date of birth and travel itinerary to airlines, who will then provide the data to American authorities.
Data will be compared with existing criminal and suspected terrorist databases and those who receive a "green" code will be allowed to board their flight. A "yellow" score will subject the passenger to further screening and a "red" alert will bar the traveller from boarding.
A spokesperson for Air Canada said the Canadian carrier is still awaiting clarification as to whether CAPPS2 includes foreign airlines.
But Mark Hatfield, a spokesperson for the U.S. Transportation Security Administration, said the program would cover all passengers boarding flights in the United States, regardless of the airline's country of origin.
That means a Canadian vacationing in the United States would be subject to CAPPS2 on any flight taking off from a U.S. airport. That would include connecting flights.
Hatfield said the personal data would remain on file only for the duration of a visitor's stay in the country, then would be destroyed "almost instantaneously" upon departure.
U.S. authorities say the passenger's full name and date of birth are needed to avoid confusion involving those with similar or identical names on terrorist watch lists.
Privacy advocates are concerned the CAPPS2 system will access public records and commercial computer banks, such as shopping mailing lists, in a bid to verify that passengers are who they say they are, the Washington Post reported.
Airlines may be ordered to provide the information on their ticket holders. Frequent travellers who volunteer the information to government officials will receive speedy boarding priority under the plan.
When Washington sought to enlist airlines in a test of CAPPS2 last year, they balked. Delta Airlines, the first to co-operate, backed out when it was threatened with a passenger boycott.
Discount carrier JetBlue Airways was sued in several states by passengers after the airline admitted it had volunteered passenger information to the Pentagon as part of a military project to test aviation security.
Domestic U.S. airlines carried 612 million passengers in 2003, according to the Census Bureau. Hatfield said the current system sees about 15 per cent of them flagged as security risks. He says the new system will lower that number to 5 per cent.
Critics say the biggest failing in U.S. air security is the lack of a master list of suspected terrorists and the country is still using a plethora of lists held by various government departments.
Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge had pledged to have a list up and running by last May — now officials are giving no deadline for completion.
Privacy advocates are fighting the system.
"CAPPS 2 is nothing less than a Soviet-style system of internal border controls," said the U.S.-based privacy group dontspyon.us.com. "An incredible invasion of privacy, the system is un-American and unconstitutional, not that a pesky thing like the Bill of Rights has stopped the extremists down at Homeland Security."
Barry Steinhardt of the American Civil Liberties Union said the "incredibly invasive system" will collect information that will be used for purposes well beyond airline security.
CAPPS 2 comes on the heels of US-VISIT, a controversial program to track visitors who need visas to enter this country by fingerprinting and photographing them.
The Department of Homeland Security said 3,478 passengers were fingerprinted and photographed at Toronto's Pearson International Airport during the first week of US-VISIT.
They said only a small percentage of those travellers would have been Canadians carrying U.S. visas.
The Toronto numbers are small compared to major U.S. airports. Miami, for example, processed 47,065 visitors under the controversial plan in the first week since it began Jan. 5.
http://www.torontostar.com/NASApp/c...969&call_pageid=968332188492&col=968793972154
Uh, I guess I won't be flying on any American airlines as of this summer.
