|
|
|||
|
|||
|
|
TSA’s ‘Trusted Traveler Program’ Heralds Big brother Jon E. Dougherty, Newsmax.comIf the new Transportation Security Administration gets its way, Americans may soon be ID’ed, stamped and tracked in a manner an old-style European police state could only have dreamed of. And when Ben Franklin uttered this remark more than 200 hundred years ago, he could not have imaged how prescient he would be: "Those willing to give up a little liberty for a little security deserve neither security nor liberty." Franklin is clearly turning over his grave after recent proposals to make America “safer.” Consider the federal government's efforts to increase security in the months and years since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. One could easily argue some of the methods Uncle Sam is employing are Orwellian, to say the least, and liberty killers at their worst. At issue is the Transportation Security Administration's plans to implement its "Registered Travelers Program," a concept that would allow frequent fliers to fly through airport security checkpoints. But there are catches – and dangers. According to Forbes Magazine, anyone who wants to participate must submit themselves to a deeper background check than usual so-called commercial checks, such as those performed by banks when you open a new account. Once cleared, the traveler's information is coded into a "smart card," complete with biometrics; an iris scan or a thumb print. Registered travelers would still have to go through metal detectors, but unless something sets off the equipment, the traveler would be exempted from electronic wand and other secondary searches that take place behind the initial screening area. Eventually, says Forbes, a second queue could be erected for registered travelers; enrollment could cost less than $100 a year. CAPPS II Revisited Does the TSA's plan sound familiar? It should; the basic outline comes from CAPPS II, the Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening System, a controversial system beginning this year that requires airlines to provide the government with the names, addresses, dates of birth and telephone numbers of all their passengers. Ostensibly, the information is being gathered so the government can check it against its intelligence watch lists. Each passenger will get a numerical and color-coded rating, based on perceived threat levels. CAPPS II is not voluntary, but the Feds say the Registered Traveler program will be. But wait -- didn't it used to be "voluntary" for persons to hand out their Social Security numbers? Now, it seems, the entire country revolves around what has become a personal ID number, something the card was never supposed to be when it was developed. There are other concerns about such high-tech ID systems like those being employed by TSA. What happens if the information on passengers falls into the wrong hands or is hacked/downloaded by info thieves?
Worse, if the new "voluntary" program is deemed successful, there is a high likelihood the airlines, backed by industry and union organizations—as well as passengers—could make the Registered Traveler Program mandatory. Old Promises Remember the days when Social Security was a “voluntary” program – and government promises your Social Security number would never be required for tracking and identification purposes? Also, as civil liberties groups warn, not "volunteering" for the program could have negative social impact. "[The program] would not likely remain truly voluntary for long as passengers are for all intents and purposes forced to get one in order to avoid humiliating and inconvenient 'second class' treatment at the gate," Barry Steinhardt, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Technology and Liberty Project, told Forbes. "Not only are terrorists going to be able to bypass security through forged documentation and fallible technology, the little guy is going to be subjected to the same hassles at the airport, while the first-class or business passenger gets a free pass," Steinhardt added. But the models are already in place—at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport and Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport, one of the most security-conscious facilities in the world. At Ben Gurion, more than 100,000 travelers have already registered for the frequent flier program. These passengers use a "smart card," which is encoded with this information as well as hand-geometry data, which contains dozens of measurements of the fingers, shapes of knuckles and distances between joints, Forbes said. "Upon arrival at Ben Gurion Airport, registered travelers proceed to an automated kiosk where they swipe the card and have their hands read by a scanner. The result has been impressive: Time spent at passport control has dropped from almost two hours at peak periods to an average of 20 seconds," says the magazine. Still, Ben Gurion is only one airport, and the TSA must deal with 450 commercial airports in the U.S. Coming up with a single standardized system could be tricky, and there are still plenty of privacy concerns regarding the extent and type of information the government needs to ensure passengers are who they say they are.
Editor's note: Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics: |
|
|||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||
|
| All Rights Reserved © 2009 NewsMax.Com |