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EU Wants Air Passenger Data Collected

Posted by kdawson on from the you-can-leave-your-hat-on dept.

An anonymous reader sends news of the EU following in the footsteps of the US in that they are contemplating requiring all 27 member states to collect data on airline passengers and to retain it for up to 13 years. No centralized database would be created; instead states would be encouraged to store and to share their own data as needed. All states would have to pass enabling laws before the measure could come into effect. The rules would not apply to flights entirely within the EU. The proposal is part of an anti-terrorism package that also includes tighter laws to control hate speech and bomb-making instructions.

6 of 151 comments (clear)

  1. Damnit! by Corporate+Troll · · Score: 5, Funny

    Damnit! Now we EUers can't feel smug anymore and belittle our less free friends in the US ;-))

  2. Yes but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...at least they'll never be able to take away from us the fact we never elected George Bush.

    Well, at least unless there's a major change in international politics sometime soon I hope not ;)

  3. Cut to the chase by locster · · Score: 4, Insightful

    [Sarcasm mode on]
    Heck, let's just cut to the chase and have an international law that everything and anything has to be logged and stored for all eternity. That should save a few decades of protesting against dumb legislature that will eventually get in through the back door anyway.

    Presumably if storage capacity where unlimited we'd be seeing calls to log the position of every atom in the world!
    [Sarcasm mode off]

  4. I Can See This Leading to Trouble by segedunum · · Score: 5, Insightful

    How exactly does one define 'hate speech', and separate it from freedom of speech (one man's free speech is another's hate speech), and how exactly does one separate home chemistry sets from bomb making equipment, and mere discussions on bombs and explosives (they're not exactly secrets) from people who are actually going to use them?

    I'm also not sure how collecting data on all passengers will help them with the small minority they want to track.

  5. Welcome to the USSR by thatskinnyguy · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I seriously think the Soviets covertly won the Cold War after the end was declared every time I hear crap like this. What's next? Are we all going to celebrate the October Revolution and call each other "Comrade" while the Secret Police read our mail and make people disappear?

    --
    The game.
  6. You are not getting it because by dk90406 · · Score: 5, Insightful
    all these measures make no sense security wise what so ever. They are only designed to make the average EU citizen feel safer.
    This is just another of the knee jerk reactions that we have seen during the last 6 years. Politicians make a show of "competence" in order to protect the safety of the people. Classic "cover your ass" reaction.

    And you are right. The amount of people killed by terror in EU is minimal compared to traffic accidents, workplace accidents, domestic violence, pollution related deaths etc. But we are used to the above, but *terror* is new and unpredictable, hence it *seems* more scary.

    Sadly, the governments (and mainstream media) are helping the terrorists, by fueling the fear for terror, by constantly talking about it and making senseless measures against it.

    ----

    An annoyed European