To read about ourever-diminishing privacy thanks to the U.S. Government, see Passenger Profiling: CAPPS II [Slashdot]. Linked articles from there include:
from wired.com (Private Info Becoming Plane Truth):
CAPPS II is a quantum expansion of the current system used to identify potential terrorists attempting to board airplanes. In addition to accessing FBI, National Crime Information Center (NCIC) and State Department databases, CAPPS II is expected to spider IRS, Social Security Administration, state motor vehicle and corrections department, credit bureau and bank records.
Though the TSA has stated that people whose records are pockmarked with unpaid parking tickets, unfiled tax returns and overdue child-support payments have nothing to fear from CAPPS II when trying to fly from point A to point B, civil liberties advocates aren't so sure.
"A basic issue in privacy is 'function creep,'" said Lee Tien, senior staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "Once a surveillance system is put in place for a particular function, for example, aviation security ... it can be used for many other functions as well. We've seen this with Social Security numbers on the government side and, of course, with customer databases on the private side.
And from Federal Computer Week (TSA System would dig up passenger info):
...industry officials insist it will work. "It could be very effective" in identifying potentially dangerous passengers, said Allen Shay, president of Teradata, a data warehousing division of NCR Corp.
The system is likely to focus on passengers who pay cash, buy one-way tickets or have questionable or conflicting identification documents, criminal records or other information in databases that arouses suspicion, he said. Similar automated background checks are common in the financial industry and commerce, Shay said. Banks, for example, check employment, credit and financial records when marketing loans.
But the passenger-screening system is almost certain to raise concerns about privacy and profiling, Shay said. "When it is done in the commercial world, it is known as customer resource management. When it is done by the government, it's an invasion of privacy," he said. "To move forward in a positive way, that's something we're going to collectively have to get over." [emphasis mine]
But, I don't want to "get over" the very significant distinction between what is done in the commercial world and what is done by the government. See, the commercial world isn't holding a gun to my head; doesn't threaten my liberty by its very existence; becan't throw me in jail; can't eject me from my country.
I'll be watching all of this, that's for sure. I'm convinced I'm already in their database as untrustworthy for some reason, considering that I undergo the supposedly random security checks at least 90% of the times I travel. If their system is tagging me as dangerous, we've got our proof that it doesn't work. In the meantime, follow the slashdot link to be led to more articles.
