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Airport Monitoring of Travellers via Blackberry
glhturbo writes "According to this article in Mass. High Tech, Massachusetts State Police stationed at Logan Airport will soon have access (via Blackberry handhelds) to "7 billion records" containing information on "nearly 98 percent of the U.S. population, including, for example, a person's prior residence and with whom he or she lived, criminal information, court filings, vehicles owned, and even restricted government data." The database is from a Massachusetts company, LocatePlus, started by a former policeman who was "on the waiting list for the FBI". Seems like a good tool, but major potential for abuse, and hopefully no false identifications."
Instead of just pulling celebrities out of the waiting line to check them, airport security gaurds can find out where they live!
...so, like 97%?
My father has a blackberry from work that he has been quite pleased with, aside from the fact that now he has no excuse for not keeping up with e-mail.
Blackberries serve as data relays; although they can store a fair number of emails or other text based information, information about over two hudunred million people is a bit out of the question for these little gadgets, so for that reason, as well as security concerns, they likely retrieve data on a subjecct and then discard it after a while.
They will also most likely be programmed to only work within a certain radius of the base server(s), and each has its own id and could be located it lost or stolen. If someone steals one it is more likely to wind up in a pawn shop than in the hands of a dastardly spammer or identity thief.
Of course, bored or mischievious officers are likely to pull up records on anyone that catches their eye rather than suspicous or otherwise investigation-worthy targets. With the numerous checkpoints and ever present security it would not be difficult to get social security numberes from people with a simple "Airport Security, Ma'am".
It should be interesting to see how this pans out. While it certainly does have some merit, I am glad it is not being rolled out at an airport that I might actually need to use.
Or I won't tell your wife you've been living in an apartment in Florida with an unmarried woman...
Get it right. She's married too. And it's a house not an apartment.
"Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue." - David Brent, Wernham Hogg
"Greetings, Citizen! I am Troubleshooter PET-R-GUN. The Computer wishes to address the needs of all Citizens!"
(pause)
*BLAM* *BLAM* *BLAM*
(pause to admire smoking boot)
"Any other Citizens wishing to request either liberty or death are directed to contact the nearest Troubleshooter, who will be happy to assist the Computer in seeing to it that their needs are met! Trust the Computer! The Computer is your Friend!"
It's even more disturbing that these people will have access to my ex-girlfriend in college that I haven't spoken to in 10 years.
I'm sure a lot of folks have accessed MY ex-girlfriend. In fact, that is why we broke up.