A Stitch in Haste

I had previously blogged about the vast improvement, from a privacy perspective, of “Secure Flight,” the TSA’s new data-screening tool, over its predecessor, the abominable CAPPS II project.

Well, recent events suggest my lack of concern may have been premature:

Homeland security officials accidentally revealed on Friday that the Transportation Security Administration will soon officially order America’s airlines to turn over a month of passenger data to test a new passenger screening system.

The final rule ordering the airlines to provide data on all June 2004 domestic flights will be issued formally on Monday by the Transportation Security Administration. The airlines must comply by Nov. 23.

The TSA announced in late September its intention to order all 72 domestic airlines to turn over the passenger records — which can include credit card numbers, phone numbers, addresses and health conditions — in order to stress-test a centralized passenger screening system called “Secure Flight.”

Currently, passengers are screened by the airlines, which check itineraries against a set of watch lists provided by the government. The TSA hopes to reduce the number of people flagged incorrectly by performing the checks itself using data fed to it by the airlines and a centralized terrorist watch list.
…
The airlines … contend that the order would be expensive and would force them to choose between complying with an American anti-terrorism program or rejecting European privacy laws — which could potentially prevent them from flying there.

So American citizens, who are almost certain not to be terrorists, can be used as guinea pigs without adequate notification that their privacy would be completely trampled, but Europeans (and perhaps other foreigners entering the U.S. from Europe) are exempt.

Brilliant.

I also neglected to incorporate the TSA into my major post on the potential outright nationalization of the airline industry. If there were no private commercial airlines, but rather just “Air Amtrak,” how much easier would it be, the TSA might argue, to maintain watch lists and security databases? If it helps the War on Terror, then it must be a good idea, right?

Brilliant.

And, of course, if the worst-case scenario does play out and domestic airlines can no longer fly to Europe because of Secure Flight, then that certainly wouldn’t help the industry’s (already uncertain) long-term viability.

Brilliant.

Related Posts:
Slouching Towards “Air Amtrak”(with archive)
Think Twice Before Ordering a Special Meal
CAPPS II Successor Unveiled
CAPPS Capsized

Similar Posts:

• Think Twice Before Ordering a Special Meal
• CAPPS II Successor Unveiled
• Ready, Go, Set
• Another “Ready, Go, Set” Moment
• CAPPS Capsized

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