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TSA Announces Pilot of Trusted Traveler Program
Bob the Super Hamste writes "CNN reports that the TSA has announced the pilot of their trusted traveler program. This is the program where an individual gives up additional information to the government and then gets expedited security. The pilot program will only be available to certain frequent fliers on Delta passengers flying out of Atlanta and Detroit, and to American Airlines passengers flying out of Miami and Dallas. Plans are in the work to expand this to other airports and other airlines as well."
All other travelers presumed guilty.
This is a perfect solution that balances the public wish for appearance of freedom, with the government and corporate wish for the appearance of security.
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
We all know how this will go. Fewer lines will be allocated to normal lines, pushing people to give up tons of personal information in order to return to the speeds they previously had (as everyone will want the faster lines), instead of the skyrocketing time of the normal lines. It's the carrot approach to getting people to give up all their rights and personal information.
Until I am PROVEN GUILTY of not being one. I don't have to "opt in" for what should be my no-questions-asked constitutional rights.
Step 1: Create new "elite program" requesting additional privacy invasion
....
Step 2: Initially limit ability into "elite program" to create artificial demand
Step 3: Make it more painful for those not in "elite program" to travel
Step 4: Create new "platinum elite program" requesting even more privacy information
Step n: All your base are belong to us
In all seriousness, this is the slippery slope everyone talks about.
When my doorbell rings and the Jehovah's Witnesses or Mormons are on the doorstop, I tell them "No, thanks."
When the TSA offers to restore a small bit of the freedom I used to have anyway, but only after forcing me to give up something else, I say, "No, thanks, you intrusive motherfucking bastards."
Mom did try to raise a polite child, you know.
Are trusted travelers to pat themselves down or supposed to do a striptease? :)
Any terrorist with half a brain trying to plan an attack on an airplane now knows exactly how to do it: Forge an identity or recruit a new terrorist that can meet the Trusted Traveler requirements. Then use the Trusted Traveler identity to bypass the security that might catch your terrorist plot. Bruce Schneier writes a great deal about this: If you create an easier-than-standard path through security constraints, the bad guys, just like the good guys, will take the easier route, every single time.
I am officially gone from
This is nothing new. They had a program in 2009 called Clear to speed you through screening and it was abruptly shutdown without explanation. http://daggle.com/clear-airport-security-program-closes-707
It was then started again, but more limited. http://daggle.com/clear-airport-security-with-all-downsides-2179
So... how long will this incarnation last?
All that terrorists will do is bide their time a bit more, and do all the work necessary to get themselves into these trusted traveller programs, and then ultimately spring whatever trap they were planning... possibly many years later.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
It sounds interesting, but given their history I'm highly skeptical. I could see it improving things, but it all depends on two things.
a) How much and what information they're actually collecting (they didn't say):
The amount and nature of the information that will be sought was not disclosed.
I could easily imagine them requiring absurd amounts of information, such as full disclosure of banking accounts, family background information, etc., etc. Given that I'm sure they won't be trustworthy enough to store it safely, this could be a deal breaker for many (and have disastrous consequences when their database is hacked).
And b) What exactly this means:
Security experts have long expressed concern about so-called "clean skins" -- potential terrorists who enroll in "trusted traveler" programs to avoid scrutiny during a terror mission. But the TSA says it will continue to incorporate random and unpredictable security measures to address such concerns.
Random and unpredictable security measures even for "trusted travelers" sounds like it could make it not worth the effort. Furthermore, I can't imagine this program will last any longer than the first "close call" terrorist event where someone sneaks through using this program. So yeah . . . judgment reserved.
It's like watching all of the scariest bits of 1984 and Brave New World all coming together.
A world in which citizens have no liberties, and think that's how it should be. The state controls everything and tells you what to think. McCarthyism meets the Keystone Kops.
If the Americans are voluntarily giving up all of their liberties for this farce of security ... then the rest of the world us screwed. Because governments which have slightly less compunction about running roughshod over their citizens will be quite willing to do this as well ... in fact, they'll be required to in order to allow a flight into the US. Give it time, and the US will require these like the other heightened security measures.
So, the great bastion of personal liberties is essentially leading the charge to stripping them away from themselves and dragging everybody else along with them. All in the name of protecting those very liberties they're giving up.
I grieve for what America used to stand for. I also grieve for how it bodes for the rest of us.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
I've had this stupid Transport Worker Identification Credential smart card thing in my wallet for years now. I had to pass a background check and everything. If I can't use that DHS/TSA issued credential to skip security on flights under this trusted travel program, well, I guess what else should we expect form the government, efficiency?
-73, de n1ywb
www.n1ywb.com
I still think the TSA should be abolished and that no one should be subject to screening before any form of travel by the government.
Will this system be separate or does it allow for equivalences? I have friends in security with actual government clearances and deep background checks. I have a concealed carry permit which subjects me to a mild background check and regular automated checks for arrests, convictions, restraining orders, and other such naughty behaviours.
Of course lets not forget that I shouldn't have to dork around with any of this anyway. If I buy a ticket I should be allowed on the damn plane without a metal detector and without a screening unless that is part of the terms of the sale.
Were I a nefarious evildoer, I'd figure out who's on this list -- easy to do by observing who goes through the line -- then kidnap said person's family and threaten to do horrible things to them unless they took this package on board.
I mean, really. Does the TSA really think we're stupid enough not to see this for the security theater it so shamelessly is? Or do they simply not care any more?
b&
All but God can prove this sentence true.
Capitalism solves everything!
I'm sure the enhanced patdown will be able to find it.
'Cause my 8 year old just got denied at a TSA screening for having a snow globe in her carry on. I'm still trying to figure out the specific logic. It's not a blunt weapon, since you can take on all sorts of similar sized objects which could be used as blunt weapons. I'm not sure if it's glass, but if it is it would be no less of a weapon when broken than the mirror in my overnight bag if broken. It might be the liquid, but a globe is sealed and can't be opened without tools - which they won't let you carry on, so it can't be part of a binary (or higher) explosive to be combined int he air. (N.B.: it fit in a quart bag, though I'm sure there was more than 3oz of liquid in it) Of course, that would mean that it would have to be primary explosive...but they let us just check the bag, so they've let us put the explosive on the plane.
DHS spends $50B a year; Half a Trillion dollars since the WTC/Pentagon incident. I want my fucking money back.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
I'm sure the enhanced patdown will be able to find it.
in the parent thread's case, I doubt it.
Unfortunately it isn't you whose rights are being violated because you don't have a constitutionally guaranteed right to fly on Delta's or American's planes. It is they whose rights are being abridged by the government making it mandatory on them to require that their passengers be screened by the TSA. And they aren't likely to sue to defend their rights. What we need is some airline to step up and refuse the TSA and then challenge it all the way up when they get shut down for it.
Under current jurisprudence, a right to travel is considered to exist. See Shapiro v. Thompson and Saenz v. Roe. Now, one might well say this doesn't mean a right to travel by plane. But, then, by what means does it guarantee this right? Train? Car? Pogo Stick? It seems reasonable to say that if I have the right to travel, then the state must have a compelling interest and reason to restrict a particular means of travel. It is on this point that we must discuss matters like due process, etc. It is not enough to say that we can arbitrarily restrict the activity of free citizens because the rules say so.
The Founding Fathers would be horrified by that logic. They would agree that regulations on the airlines fall under the power of Congress, but they would object to the government extending those regulations to the passengers. There are a lot of things that have been justified under the Commerce Clause that those who wrote the clause said were outside of the authority granted to the federal government.
The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted. James Madison
A one way out of Detroit isnt suspicious. It means you've got the good sense not to come back.
Non impediti ratione cogitationus.
Ever. It's unpossible.
Yeah, it's a little bit of "divide and conquer" in the works here. 10, 15, perhaps 20% of air travelers get this "trusted" status. The rest of the herd has to tolerate the indignities, and obviously they deserve it. If they were "trustworthy", after all, they would be like "us", cutting in at the head of the line.
So, with a special class of elites to show off, the TSA will get away with yet greater indignities imposed on the unwashed masses.
Didn't Orwell work this same thing into his story?
"Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
More than that. I've never been body scanned or pat downed the 2-dozen or so flights since the start of the program a year and a half ago??? I'm kind of sad that I'll have to share my good fortune with the plebs in my special line for people who shower and shave before boarding an airplane. What's the point of American Express upgrades anymore?
If you can't detect my sarcasm, let's add a little more.
If I were in charge for the pilot program, I'd have a simple question. "Do you want to overthrow the Federal Government" Anything from "Hell yes!" to "Not really, but I wouldn't be sad to see it happen" will guarantee you're harmless and ready for accelerated screening techniques. Shifty eyes and an "Absolutely not. God bless America, and No One Else!" answer will guarantee you're a lying tarwowist. I think we can all agree on that... and nothing else.
I think the Founding Fathers would be horrified by the idea of crowding into a metal tube and being thrust through the air at over 500 mph.
"We shall grapple with the ineffable, and see if we may not eff it after all." - Douglas Adams
Yeah, the full body scanners raised privacy concerns, so obviously the answer is to volunteer our personal information to government, in exchange for not go through the scanner.
Palm trees and 8
You are absolutely correct. This is simply more government blackmail in disguise.
This system would establish a new class of people who are allowed to travel without question while most of the people are left to undergo "screening".
The system, even as ideally envisioned, is a breeding ground for abuse, because people who give even decently manufactured information to the TSA will get privileged access. Just like RFID passports, it gives the illusion of more security while actually reducing real security, because intelligent criminals will then be trusted without question.
The TSA needs to be abolished, not allowed to create discriminatory, security-harming policies.
There are enough people gathered in a tight wad at airport security lines these days to present a far tastier target for terrorist attack than the planes themselves. Imagine a wheelie-suitcase full of explosive (with whatever precautions would be necessary to evade the bomb-sniffing dogs outside the airport -- I'm sure with an appropriate program of multiple layers of airtight seals and thorough chemical washing this could be done) and shrapnel set off in the middle of a security line; you'd probably kill at least a hundred people and close down the airport for a long time, causing millions of dollars in economic damage. Set it off close to the front and you stand a good chance of ruining a lot of expensive x-ray equipment in addition.
Why go after the hard target when there are much easier fish to catch?
Note that people who opt for the "trusted traveller" program are going to be subject to exactly the same security measures that we had in airports immediately after the 2001 attacks. The only difference is that now the government gets to access personal details that they were prohibited from accessing before. The best way to avoid constitutional restrictions is to get people to voluntarily give up their rights.
Palm trees and 8
Right.
You realise that, from a purely statistical perspective, airline terrorism is non-existent.
If risk mitigation were an aim, why create the giant, soft-target of a couple thousands - bottled up in airport queuing areas?when they can
Governments feel secure completely control behaviour. Corporations feel secure, when they have governments captive.
All of them advance their agenda, without the slightest real concern for your individual or collective "safety".
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
I think it has more to do with the poster being a bigot -- because Detroit has the highest muslim population in the US.
...intended to present-day Germans, but the definition of "trusted traveler" sounds way too much like "Good German" to me.
This plan has nothing to do with capitalism. It's taxation. It's just a consumption tax on a government service. The irony is that government over-reach, over-regulation, political window-dressing and basic inefficiency bred the desire for the service, and thus the tax.
Keep trying to demonize capitalism though. It helps the image of the capitalists.
"But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it,..." - Nancy Pelosi
I'm not sure it is quite that high, but certainly well over 50%. And I certainly would not want to debate against your figure.
The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted. James Madison
This worked out really well for the collaborators last time:
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/09/06/26/1435209/Out-of-Business-Clear-May-Sell-Customer-Data
I'll say it again: Do extra, voluntary action to cooperate with the police state in legitimizing the "papers please" nonsense, and get exactly what you deserve.
It started as a simple excuse to lock you into your ticket purchases. It still has that negative effect, and not a single positive. After all, matching ID to ticket had been done for decades leading to, and of course on, 9/11.
Funny, but this is not capitalism.
TSA/DHS annual budget: 43.1 billion.
NASA annual budget: 17.3 Billion.
We'd rather molest the children than secure their future.
He put his boots up on the table and made a face. "The sig," he smirked. "You can waste your life in search of the sig."