Passenger Risk Database to be Implemented in U.S.

bluephile writes "CNN is running an article on the The Transport Security Administration's (TSA) renewed efforts to implement the CAPPS II color-coded passenger risk-assessment program, despite outcries by numerous privacy activism groups at the program's collection and redistribution of personal information. The TSA has made several claims that the system respects passengers' privacy, but their track record isn't impressive. Congress suspended the program last year in order to investigate its privacy implications. One MIT paper suggests that CAPPS II could make flying MORE dangerous, rather than less."

Comments

Making changes to your color

[Sebastopol]

So what if I'm accidentally tagged as red/orange? How impossible would it be for me to clear up the mistake? Or can I do 20 years of community service to have my color lowered to yellow.

Bad, bad, BAD idea.

Re:Oooh, Color-Coded!!!

[Polyphemis]

For example, a village with a population of 50 in the middle of Wyoming would be required to have a full-time guard on the water tower!

Great example. That reminds me of something I found interesting. Earlier this year, I got in a conversation with someone that worked for the Oklahoma Department of Transportation whose job became miserable because of these terror alerts. Every time one came down the wire, they had to send crews out to every major overpass in Oklahoma every hour as well as performing mass inspections over all the major roads in the state every single day. Everyone there had to work overtime all the time to keep all that going for every alert. The alerts became so frequent and proved to be so pointless that the entire department actually started deliberately ignoring the warnings because it cost them SO much time, effort money to respond to them while other, more important things weren't getting done.

Re:Orwellian, don't you think?

[canajin56]

You cannot appeal it. It is only a gauge of how likely it is that you are a terrorist. You can't prove that you arn't one, and even if you arn't, the colour only represents the CHANCE that you are, not whether or not you ACTUALLY are. If you get a red, that just means you probably are according to their metrics. You can't prove that wrong.

My dad, a Canadian citizin, is a high risk flyer. Whenever he tries to come back from a conference in Portland, he has a HELL of a time getting on the plane. The reason he is on their list of terrorists? My mom's sister in Toronto is married to a guy from Lebanon. So you see, to be ranked a danger, you need only be related to somebody who is related to somebody who is related to an Arab. (And belive me, they know) To make matters worse, the LAST time he tried to get on, his luggage set off the bomb detector. Apparently, the chemical sniffer said his external CD-RW was some form of platic explosives. I knew they could be fooled by cologne, aftershave, mouthwash, deoderant, and shampoo, but apparently they can also be fooled by "new electronics smell."