zakur
26th August 2003, 09:50 AM
Feds to profile all U.S. air passengers (http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/content/news/daily/0826airscreen.html)
WASHINGTON — In the name of security, the government intends to create database profiles of all American air travelers and could blacklist some from commercial flights without recourse, civil libertarians warned Monday.
The proposed Computer Assisted Passenger Pre-Screening System, or CAPPS II, ‘‘would be a quantum leap in government surveillance,’’ said Laura Murphy, director of the legislative office of the American Civil Liberties Union.
Former Georgia Congressman Bob Barr said ‘‘very, very serious threats to the Bill of Rights’’ are posed by the measures proposed by the Transportation Security Administration, an agency of the Department of Homeland Security.
The proposed system would use the passenger reservation system to collect and store data on air travelers. Each passenger would be rated a ‘‘low,’’ ‘‘high’’ or ‘‘unknown’’ risk.
[...]
‘‘CAPPS II will use limited passenger information to make flying more secure without impinging on individual privacy rights,’’ they said. ‘‘The mission of the CAPPS II system has been and always will be aviation security . . . CAPPS II will ensure that passengers do not sit next to known terrorists and wanted murderers.’’Don't we already have better systems in place to catch known terrorists and wanted murderers? Are we relying on the airlines to catch these folks for us now?
More news stories here (http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&edition=us&q=capps).
WASHINGTON — In the name of security, the government intends to create database profiles of all American air travelers and could blacklist some from commercial flights without recourse, civil libertarians warned Monday.
The proposed Computer Assisted Passenger Pre-Screening System, or CAPPS II, ‘‘would be a quantum leap in government surveillance,’’ said Laura Murphy, director of the legislative office of the American Civil Liberties Union.
Former Georgia Congressman Bob Barr said ‘‘very, very serious threats to the Bill of Rights’’ are posed by the measures proposed by the Transportation Security Administration, an agency of the Department of Homeland Security.
The proposed system would use the passenger reservation system to collect and store data on air travelers. Each passenger would be rated a ‘‘low,’’ ‘‘high’’ or ‘‘unknown’’ risk.
[...]
‘‘CAPPS II will use limited passenger information to make flying more secure without impinging on individual privacy rights,’’ they said. ‘‘The mission of the CAPPS II system has been and always will be aviation security . . . CAPPS II will ensure that passengers do not sit next to known terrorists and wanted murderers.’’Don't we already have better systems in place to catch known terrorists and wanted murderers? Are we relying on the airlines to catch these folks for us now?
More news stories here (http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&edition=us&q=capps).