Passenger Profiling: CAPPS II

gabec writes "'Initial rollout of what may eventually become the world's largest silicon repository of personal data could be less than 90 days away....The Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening System II (CAPPS II) is designed to scan multiple public and private databases for information on individuals traveling into and out of the United States. The system will feed the results to an analysis application that mathematically ranks travelers' potential as security threats.' It will happen by the end of the year, if nothing is done to stop it: And here are some articles on this."

Comments

You have a lot to lose though

[thelexx]

This was on a site somewhere that I've lost the link to, but I saved the bulk of the text:

Imagine a country where agents of the state install surveillance cameras at sporting events and scan the crowd looking for criminals and suspects.

Imagine cities where agents of the state use surveillance cameras to observe the activities of citizens and tourists under a watchful eye for suspicious goings on.

Imagine roadblocks being set up to randomly, and sometimes selectively, stop automobiles so that armed agents of the state and trained police dogs can inspect your car.

Imagine being at an airport in a country where you are questioned about where you have been and why you were there, while a dog sniffs about and an agent of the state ransacks your personal belongings, only to return them in disarray.

Imagine armed agents of the state just outside your home with high-tech surveillance equipment which monitors your every movement, listens to your conversations and observes what you are watching on TV.

Imagine a country where just being under suspicion of a crime is cause for arrest and justification for your car, home or other personal property to be confiscated by the state.

I recall learning about these types of countries in my junior high and high school civics classes. Does living in a country where you are watched and recorded by the state seem a little scary?

Is it Romania? Iran? Russia? Maybe, I can't say for certain. But, a country where these activities take place and continue to spread is America.

Does this bother you deeply? Or do you really not care because you maintain, I have nothing to hide.

When is the last time you read the Constitution? Have you read it since you got out of school? Have you read it as a mature adult? What about the Bill of Rights?

[Amendment IV. The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or Affirmation and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the person or things to be seized.]

[Amendment V. No person....shall be deprived of life, liberty or property, without due process of law. .... to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.]

Are the above-mentioned activities of the state violations of the fourth and fifth amendments? Do they constitute just powers? Are these powers to which you consent because, I have nothing to hide.

The greatest enemy to our freedom is not a foreign power; we would eagerly rally and band together to defeat a common enemy. Nor is it the criminal element; they will fight for their rights tooth and nail. No, the greatest threat to our freedom is the law-abiding citizen who through quiet acquiescence consents to the usurpations of our rights because, "I have nothing to hide".

It is not the government which makes us free. It is not the law which makes people free. It is not the government which guarantees our freedom. No government can ever be trusted to do that. It is the people - who force the government through freedom of speech, freedom of press, freedom of assembly, the right to petition, and the ballot - who guarantee our freedom. Our government was instituted to secure your rights. It is your job to see to it our government doesn't forget why it is there.

As a youngster, I attended a church which taught me that God is always watching you. And this God was one mean, tough, angry hombre who would punish you for all eternity if you didn't play your cards right.

I can tell you that the feeling of being 'watched' is no way to live. Most of us are uncomfortable when a stranger looks at us for more than a fleeting second. Now that God and I have our relationship squared away, I don't need my government watching me. "I have nothing to hide", and so there is no just cause for me to be watched.

Demand your rights, protect your rights, watch your government at all times. Do what the constitution requires of you. You may have nothing to hide, but you have a lot to lose.

--------------

LEXX

This system is no better than CAPPS I

[smiff]

Samidh Chakrabarti and Aaron Strauss developed the Carnival Booth Algorithm to defeat CAPPS I. They proved that any profiling system is less effective than searching passangers at random. In fact, the more consistent a profiling system works, the easier it is to defeat. If CAPPS II is an 'improvement' over CAPPS I, it will simply make the airlines an easier target for terrorists.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:Why would anyone want to stop this?

[kfg]

Thank you sir, I couldn't have said it better myself.

The only thing you left out is that should you ulitmately succed in your appeal you *still* won't be able to travel, you will be bankrupt, unemployed and unemployable and with your entire life in tatters.

It's the oldest "law enforcment" trick in the book.

KFG

Re:Fun at LAX

[ShaunC]

Then he ordered me to hold my hand out. He said, "See, it's shaking." What could I say?

Interestingly enough, this same justification was used by Shelby County Sheriff's Department deputies to detain me in the back of a squad car - in front of my own house, no less - for more than 2 hours in 1999. I stepped out for a smoke; after they noticed me, I was called down to the sidewalk where a couple of police cars had parked. They asked me to hold out my hands, then to turn them over; when I did so, the older officer asked, "Why are your hands shaking?" I replied, telling them "It's not every day there are 4 cops questioning me."

The next instruction was "Place your hands back down at your side," and when I did so, a deputy behind me promptly cuffed them and put me into the back of one of the cars. For the next 2+ hours I was questioned about an apparent explosion that had taken place nearby. I was threatened with the bringing out of bomb-sniffing dogs, and "those dogs can smell drugs too." After two hours of me being quite clear in the fact that I hadn't done anything, invitations to bring out the bomb/drug dogs, and encouraging them to get the search warrant they claimed they could get at a moment's notice, I was finally let go.

I have to wonder: do law enforcement officials honestly view shaking hands as a sign of guilt? Don't they realize that the average citizen does not come into confrontation with them on a regular basis, and is (understandably) rather shook-up when such an encounter takes place?

I'd probably be nervous if they chose me for random inspection at the airport. Not because I'm doing anything wrong, but just because it's an uncomfortable and unnerving situation. I hope nobody's been detained just because they had shaky hands or a nervous voice.

Ever since my own incident, I go out on the back porch to smoke. And I'm incredibly nervous when I see a cop car, even though I haven't done anything wrong. Such is life in America, and that was before 9/11.

Shaun

Why?

[autopr0n]

I dunno, maybe because human beings are worth more then peices of fucking SPAM?!

Just a theory.

The F00F Bug

[CBNobi]

For those that don't know, the F00F bug was a notorious bug occuring on Pentium processors around 1997.

The above is a technical article on it; here is a simple one, which only lists the actual exploit.