Author Topic: Soon you will need a background check just to fly  (Read 347 times)

Offline hawk220

  • Parolee
  • Silver Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1127
Soon you will need a background check just to fly
« on: February 28, 2003, 08:57:58 AM »
so much for the 'land of the free'..at least we still have the 'home of the brave'...




Delta to Test New Airport Security Plan
 
 


Feb 28, 8:38 AM (ET)

By LESLIE MILLER

WASHINGTON (AP) - Delta Air Lines will begin testing a new government plan for air security next month that will check background information and assign a threat level to everyone who buys a ticket for a commercial flight.

The system, ordered by Congress after the Sept. 11 attacks, will gather much more information on passengers than has been done previously. Delta will try it out at three undisclosed airports, and a comprehensive system could be in place by the end of the year.

Transportation officials say a contractor will be picked soon to build the nationwide computer system, which will check such things as credit reports and bank account activity and compare passenger names with those on government watch lists.

Civil liberties groups and activists are objecting to the plan, seeing the potential for unconstitutional invasions of privacy and for database mix-ups that could lead to innocent people being branded security risks.

 
"This system threatens to create a permanent blacklisted underclass of Americans who cannot travel freely," said Katie Corrigan, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union.

There also is concern that the government is developing the system without revealing how information will be gathered and how long it will be kept.

Advocates say the system will weed out dangerous people while ensuring law-abiding citizens aren't given unnecessary scrutiny.

Transportation officials say CAPPS II - Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening System - will use databases that already operate in line with privacy laws and won't profile based on race, religion or ethnicity.

"What it does is have very fast access to existing databases so we can quickly validate the person's identity," Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta said.

An oversight panel, which will include a member of the public, is being formed. The Transportation Security Administration will set up procedures to resolve complaints by people who say they don't belong on the watch lists.

Transportation Department spokesman Chet Lunner said a Federal Register notice saying the background information will be stored for 50 years is inaccurate. He said such information will be held only for people deemed security risks.

Jay Stanley, an ACLU spokesman, was skeptical.

"When it says in print, 50 years, we'd like to see something else in print to counter that," he said.

Airlines already do rudimentary checks of passenger information, such as method of payment, address and date the ticket was reserved. The system was developed by Northwest Airlines (NWB) in the early 1990s to spot possible hijackers.

Unusual behavior, such as purchasing a one-way ticket with cash, is supposed to prompt increased scrutiny at the airport.

Capt. Steve Luckey, an airline pilot who helped develop the system, said CAPPS II will help discern a passenger's possible intentions before he gets on a plane.

Unlike the current system, in which data stays with the airlines' reservation systems, the new setup will be managed by TSA. Only government officials with proper security clearance will be able to use it.

CAPPS II will collect data and rate each passenger's risk potential according to a three-color system: green, yellow, red. When travelers check in, their names will be punched into the system and their boarding passes encrypted with the ranking. TSA screeners will check the passes at checkpoints.

The vast majority of passengers will be rated green and won't be subjected to anything more than normal checks, while yellow will get extra screening and red won't fly.

Paul Hudson, executive director of the Aviation Consumer Action Project, which advocates airline safety and security, is skeptical the system will work.

"The whole track record of profiling is a very poor to mixed one," Hudson said, noting incorrect profiles of the Unabomber and the Washington-area snipers.

Nine to 11 of the 19 hijackers on Sept. 11 were flagged by the original CAPPS, but weren't searched because the system gave a pass to passengers who didn't check their bags, Hudson said. People without checked bags are now included.

---

On the Net:

Offline Ripsnort

  • Radioactive Member
  • *******
  • Posts: 27260
Soon you will need a background check just to fly
« Reply #1 on: February 28, 2003, 09:03:06 AM »
That dog won't hunt in Congress...I wouldn't worry about it.

Offline SOB

  • Plutonium Member
  • *******
  • Posts: 10138
Soon you will need a background check just to fly
« Reply #2 on: February 28, 2003, 09:06:26 AM »
What a fantastic idea.  So, they'll let you buy the ticket regardless of background.  Then when you get to the airport, you'll either be let on the plane, strip searched, or told to diddly off.  Then you can appeal and hope the process takes less than a year so you can make it home for Christmas next year.  This is pure genius.


SOB
Three Times One Minus One.  Dayum!

Offline Toad

  • Plutonium Member
  • *******
  • Posts: 18415
Soon you will need a background check just to fly
« Reply #3 on: February 28, 2003, 09:20:30 AM »
Merely one more step in the destruction of the US airline industry.

I'm not sure what they plan to replace it with.... but they're doing fine on the "removal" process.
If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animated contest of freedom, go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen!

Offline Animal

  • Parolee
  • Platinum Member
  • ******
  • Posts: 5027
Soon you will need a background check just to fly
« Reply #4 on: February 28, 2003, 09:40:54 AM »
true Toad

Offline Golfer

  • Platinum Member
  • ******
  • Posts: 6314
well...
« Reply #5 on: February 28, 2003, 09:58:38 AM »
If you've got nothing to hide then so what?  The few times im going to be traveling more than 500 miles for some reason and wont fly myself, then I won't really care if they want to look up my past and see the speeding tickets i got when i was 16 or whether or not i was ever caught by anyone spying on the girls showers at OSU.  Bank accounts?  Well i havent taken any kickbacks or bribes lately and if they want to expend the resources to double check the miniscule amount thats fine.  If it catches even one terrorist trying to cause harm to anyone then its worth it as far as i'm concerned.  Lets not get so riled up about an airport desk worker typing in your last name first first name last and seeing if you're a suspect.  If you're not, then you go right on down the line and on to thanksgiving or christmas vacation with your loved ones.  I havent had the need to fly anywhere post september 11th (will be going to florida for spring break) but i can tell you i flew in august of 2001 and was deeply disturbed by something that happened to me.  I shall elaborate.

2001 USMC Reunion in Kansas City, MO.
On the way there i kept my handy dandy swiss army knife in my golf bag to make life easier to boarding in columbus, OH and when i got to O'Hare for a quick switch which i just made...was the last passenger on the plane after an hour delay on the runup pad in columbus.  On the return trip, forgot all about my pocket knife being in my pocket and when i plopped my keys down in front of the security worker (who looked less than excited about her job and its importance) in the basket, along went a pack of gum goes my pocket knife and my jaw dropped.  How could i be so stupid?  i asked her if that was okay and pointed to the pocket knife, she said yes and i walked through the metal detector and it went off.  after removing my belt and submitting to a wand test she decided my belt set it off and it was just a precaution.  THEN she gave me back my knife.  I felt very stupid for even taking a knife with me, and uncomfortable for what just happened saying what happened if someone who didnt just want to get home as i, had taken a similar knife.  As with any weapon you just need to know how to use it, so button up the passenger airports because flying is a rareity compared with driving and it wont kill us to submit to a little screening.  As far as General Aviation and smaller airports...i think it is stupid to try and continually restrict them (not a problem in the Midwest as it is in New York with TFRs especially the notorious one around Camp David) as pilots are some of the most patriotic fellows out there.  So far, thanks to some great orginizations such as AOPA all we need to do is carry a photo ID (drivers license) while flying...not a big deal at all and everyone did that anyway.  
Background check?  eh...so?

Offline Toad

  • Plutonium Member
  • *******
  • Posts: 18415
Soon you will need a background check just to fly
« Reply #6 on: February 28, 2003, 10:05:14 AM »
I just think the execution will be the typical goatrope, it will ensure additional time spent at the airport and will undoubtedly "finger" far more of the wrong folks than the right ones.

The "bread and butter" of the airline industry used to be the relatively short haul business traveler. They made that type of trip so onerous and time consuming that the best customers now just say "screw it, I'll drive".

This is only going to reinforce that response.

Just my .02.
If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animated contest of freedom, go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen!

Offline Fishu

  • Gold Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3789
Soon you will need a background check just to fly
« Reply #7 on: February 28, 2003, 10:07:50 AM »
USA is living the 1930's of germany.
Can hardly wait for the 1940's....

Offline Animal

  • Parolee
  • Platinum Member
  • ******
  • Posts: 5027
Soon you will need a background check just to fly
« Reply #8 on: February 28, 2003, 10:08:48 AM »
Quote
Originally posted by Fishu
USA is living the 1930's of germany.
Can hardly wait for the 1940's....


Watch out what you say Fishu!!!

Offline Wlfgng

  • Platinum Member
  • ******
  • Posts: 5252
      • http://www.nick-tucker.com
Soon you will need a background check just to fly
« Reply #9 on: February 28, 2003, 10:16:37 AM »
personally I have nothing to fear from backgroung checks, and I kninda like the idea of knowing fellow passengers  are 'safe'..
problem is that in practice I doubt it will work like this and obviously it'll be a pain.

it won't be long before we'll have to get 'scanned' before doing anything at this rate

Offline SOB

  • Plutonium Member
  • *******
  • Posts: 10138
Soon you will need a background check just to fly
« Reply #10 on: February 28, 2003, 10:36:29 AM »
I've got no fear of background checks either...hell, I had two month background check and a piss test before I was allowed to start at the Sheriff's office here.  That doesn't mean I couldn't be singled out as a risk in this system.

For example, what would happen to an 19-year-old with no credit or rental history?


SOB
Three Times One Minus One.  Dayum!