[Peace-discuss] Fwd: [peace1st] 1/21/04 US Transportation Security Agency Starts CAPPS 2 Program

Wed Jan 28 18:46:39 CST 2004

Received this from a friend. Commentary on the Ashcroft security  
measures.
Moral: Don't travel on commercial airlines.

>
>         The reasons a government gives for a course of action are  
> often (usually, I would say) not the real ones.  Take CAPPS 2 (see  
> below).  It is billed as an anti-terrorism policy, but dedicated  
> terrorists of the 9/11 calibre can, with diligence, get themselves a  
> "green" rating -- and Achcroft & company know it.  So what is the real  
> motivation?  It so happens that CAPPS 2 is a good start on a screening  
> method to inhibit dissent and punish dissenters.
>         Read and weep.
>         -- George
> Taken from
> http://www.wsws.org/articles/2004/jan2004/air-j21_prn.shtml
>  
>  
> World Socialist Web Sitewww.wsws.org<http://www.wsws..org>
>
>
>
>
> WSWS <http://www.wsws.org/articles/2004/jan2004/../../../index.shtml>   
> : News & Analysis  
> <http://www.wsws.org/articles/2004/jan2004/../../../sections/category/ 
> news/news.shtml>  : North America  
> <http://www.wsws.org/articles/2004/jan2004/../../../sections/category/ 
> news/namerica.shtml>
> A further attack on democratic rights
> All US airline passengers to undergo government background checks
>
>
>
> By Jamie Chapman
> 21 January 2004
> Back to screen  
> version<http://www.wsws.org/articles/2004/jan2004/air-j21.shtml> |  
> Send this link by email <http://www.wsws.org/cgi-bin/birdcast.cgi>  |  
> Email the author <mailto:editor at wsws.org>
>
> The US Transportation Security Agency (TSA) gave the go-ahead last  
> week to a new screening system for airline passengers. The Computer  
> Assisted Passenger PreScreening program, known as CAPPS 2, involves a  
> two-stage process for determining who will be subject to additional  
> security checks at airports, and who will be denied the right to fly  
> altogether.
>
> Stage one has the airlines turn over each passenger’s reservation  
> data, including name, address, telephone number, and travel itinerary  
> to the government, which will now also require airlines to obtain the  
> passenger’s date of birth when he or she makes a reservation. The data  
> is given in turn to a private contractor, who checks it against large  
> databases developed commercially from public records and other sources  
> such as credit bureaus and marketing lists. Social Security numbers  
> are added to the passenger data from these records.
>
> The contractor assigns a numerical value to each traveler, designed to  
> rate the likelihood that he is the person he says he is. The rating is  
> passed back to the TSA, which then crosschecks the information against  
> federal “do-not-fly” lists. Finally, a color code is assigned to each  
> passenger—green for normal screening, yellow for extra searches, and  
> red for not being allowed to fly. In addition, “red” passengers may be  
> subject to police interrogation and possible arrest.
>
> Although dozens of peace activists and other opponents of the Bush  
> administration have found themselves caught up in the “do-not-fly”  
> lists, up until now the government has claimed that only suspected  
> terrorists were tracked. Now, however, the TSA has expanded the list  
> to include supposedly violent criminals. The TSA has not said whether  
> a conviction or simply an arrest will earn someone a place on the  
> list, nor exactly what crimes are considered violent.
>
> This expansion of the list has the effect of making the detention of a  
> passenger seem more routine and even justified. Anyone targeted,  
> either mistakenly or strictly for their political activities, will be  
> even more isolated as they are being led away, since they will be  
> assumed to be a common criminal..
>
> Hand in hand with CAPPS 2 will come another program for “trusted  
> travelers,” under which business people and other frequent flyers will  
> submit their personal data—possibly to include a fingerprint scan—in  
> advance to the TSA, which will issue them an identity card that  
> automatically earns them “green” status when they check in. This  
> creation of a preferred class of travelers will automatically throw  
> greater suspicion on those who have not obtained the special ID,  
> adding to the pressure for people to participate. One would expect  
> that soon the identity card would be used in other business  
> sectors—perhaps to check in to a hotel—as well.
>
> In the works for over a year, the implementation of CAPPS 2 has been  
> delayed because of passenger resistance to turning their personal  
> information over to the government. When Delta Airlines initially  
> agreed to submit its passenger data to use in testing the system,  
> opponents of the plan set up a web site promoting a boycott, and Delta  
> withdrew. Then in September, when JetBlue Airways acknowledged  
> releasing 1.5 million passenger records to a military contractor,  
> angry passengers filed a class action lawsuit over the violation of  
> their privacy.
>
> Northwest Airlines, the fourth-largest US carrier, has now admitted  
> that it secretly provided the government with three months of  
> confidential passenger data for use in a security project of the  
> National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Ames Research  
> Center. The reservation data covered the period from October to  
> December 2001, when close to 11 million people traveled on the  
> airline. As recently as September 23, 2003, Northwest denied that it  
> had turned over the information, but last week admitted it had done  
> so.
>
> To overcome public opposition to providing such data to the  
> government, the TSA has indicated it will order all airlines to  
> uniformly turn over the requested information. In the meantime, it  
> will conduct tests using data that European airlines have agreed to  
> provide, despite concerns about possible violations of European Union  
> privacy rules. The program is expected to be fully implemented by this  
> summer.
>
> CAPPS 2 represents a major buildup of the police-state apparatus that  
> the Bush administration has been developing under the guise of the  
> “war on terror..” Turning airports into internal checkpoints, similar  
> to roadblocks, it creates a blanket system for monitoring and  
> controlling the comings and goings of citizens and non-citizens alike.
>
> No information is being released on the criteria established for  
> assigning a “red” or “yellow” rating. In addition to being an  
> extensive identity check, the stage one numerical rating incorporates  
> an assessment of whether the traveler is “rooted in the community.”  
> Does this mean that someone without a long credit or shopping history  
> will be considered a high risk? Will those who recently moved be more  
> likely to be denied the right to travel than those who have not? How  
> this is determined remains secret, supposedly to prevent terrorists  
> from figuring out how to “work” the system.
>
> Such secrecy invites abuse. The government can target political  
> opponents to be put in the “red” category without having to make any  
> accounting for the action. Someone who finds himself banned from  
> travel has no recourse. In truly Kafkaesque fashion, he cannot find  
> out how his name got on the “do-not-fly” list, nor how he would be  
> able to get it removed. The TSA claims it will have an ombudsman to  
> whom those who feel they have been erroneously subjected to  
> restrictions can complain, but there is no indication as to what  
> authority the ombudsman will actually have.
>
> TSA spokespeople expect that the new system will reduce the number of  
> passengers subjected to additional searches to be reduced from the  
> current 14 percent to as low as 5 percent. However, the computerized  
> background and criminal record checks are expected to significantly  
> increase the number of people who are denied permission to fly.
>
> Civil liberties and privacy protection groups have condemned CAPPS 2,  
> the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) terming it “dragnet  
> profiling.” As Barry Steinhardt, director of the ACLU’s program on  
> technology, put it, “CAPPS 2 will be an even more intrusive form of  
> data mining that, like the [current] no-fly list, will rely on both  
> secret and inevitably incorrect information to make accusations  
> against individuals.” He denounced the imposition of  
> sanctions—interference with the constitutional right to travel—without  
> due process.
>
> In California, the ACLU has filed a lawsuit on behalf of two peace  
> activists who were detained at San Francisco International Airport in  
> August 2002, after being told their names appeared on a “master” list.  
> They were not allowed to board their flight until police could  
> question them and they were subjected to additional searches.
>
> Documents received from the FBI under Freedom of Information Act  
> requests suggest that the “no-fly” lists are being shared with  
> embassies and military offices around the world. They also reveal  
> discussion of posting the lists in the National Crime Information  
> Center database, which is accessed every time police stop a motorist  
> for a routine traffic violation. A misspelling, or just a similarity  
> in names, could then subject innocent people to police harassment  
> anywhere, not just at airports.
>
> Security experts also express concerns that the new programs will  
> detract from rather than enhance the safety of air travel. Besides the  
> possibility of identity theft, they point out that determined  
> terrorists can patiently develop a profile for themselves that  
> develops a “green” rating, giving screening agents a false sense of  
> security towards them.
>
> Once in place, CAPPS 2 is not expected to be limited to the nation’s  
> 26,000 daily airline flights. In 2002, the US Transportation Secretary  
> Norman Mineta described the program as “the foundation” for broader  
> measures, such as the screening of truck drivers, railroad conductors  
> and other transportation workers. In fact, there is no reason to think  
> that such screening might not become as common as the use of drug  
> tests as part of pre-employment reviews.
>
>
>
>
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