• Profiling travelers Profiling travelers The Transportation Security Administration plans to use giant databases of known criminals, suspected terrorists and heaven knows what else to decide who can ride an airplane in America. The system raises serious privacy concerns, is
• Profiling travelers
Profiling travelers
The Transportation Security Administration plans to use giant databases of known criminals, suspected terrorists and heaven knows what else to decide who can ride an airplane in America. The system raises serious privacy concerns, is susceptible to abuse and is likely to finger quite a few innocent citizens.
But if implemented sensibly – and with close congressional oversight – the system could lessen the chance of another terrorist attack without unduly trampling privacy.
More than 100 million people board airliners each year. Since Sept. 11, 2001, air travelers have been asked to surrender more of their privacy – and many have done so willingly. The current Computer-Assisted Passenger Pre-Screening system, an automated profiler, already compares passengers’ names with those of suspected terrorists. Under the new system, passengers will have to report names, addresses, phone numbers, birthdates and travel itineraries. The TSA will use commercial and Internet databases to verify identity. No problem there.
But the TSA would then use other data to give each passenger a threat score. Those with high scores could be banned from flying, and others could be subject to extra scrutiny. For good reasons, the government won’t say what information it will use to rate passengers. Revealing that could help terrorists avoid detection. Obviously, criminal records and lists of suspected terrorists will be used. The TSA says it won’t use ethnic, racial or religious data or credit history.
But will speaking at a peace rally put you on the list? Will a contribution to an unpopular group? Or an interest in the Middle East?
There is something un-American about the idea of the government judging people based on secret criteria. From J. Edgar Hoover’s covert campaign against civil rights leaders in the 1960s, to Richard Nixon’s enemies list, to the FBI’s infiltration of pro-Sandinista peace groups in the 1980s, we have witnessed repeated instances of government spying.
To guard against abuses, Congress must closely scrutinize the system at oversight hearings and perform regular audits by its investigative arm, the General Accounting Office.
In addition to protecting civil liberties, Congress must make sure the screening program really works. Critics already have pointed out that a terrorist could sidestep the system by stealing another person’s identity.
The current system has a nasty habit of flagging innocent travelers with Arabic names similar to those on the terror list. The TSA says the improved system will lessen such errors by two-thirds, but that’s not good enough. There must be a quick and simple way for those wrongly identified to vindicate themselves.
The government also will institute a “trusted traveler” program to streamline security for frequent travelers willing to provide extra data. That’s a welcome idea that can be part of a system that protects safety without unduly sacrificing privacy.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
