Great article

In the end, the marginal improvements in security CAPPS II might have provided were not worth the gross loss of passengers' privacy.

The fact of the matter is that you do not know how much more secure this system would make America. I can tell you that the ability of this system to work would be directly related to the data. Let me point you to a previous post about a similar topic.



According to Seisint's presentation, dated January 2003 and marked confidential, the 120,000 names with the highest scores were given to the Immigration and Naturalization Service, FBI, Secret Service, and Florida state police. (Later, those agencies would help craft the software that queries Matrix.) Of the people with the 80 highest scores, five were among the Sept. 11 hijackers, Seisint's presentation said. Forty-five were identified as being or possibly being under existing investigations, while 30 others "were unknown to FBI."



Well it sounds like we have some fairly good data. In fact I could argue that the system would do more than just "marginal improvements" but I digress.


Do elderly retires really need to shuffle barefoot and beltless through security to visit their grandchildren?

Come one old people, pick up the pace and don't walk so slowly. Did you know that your inefficiencies are costing time, and time equals money? Every second wasted in the airport line is probably millions of dollars wasted.


And if you're going to make people take off their shoes, shouldn't you provide some place where they can put them back on?

We are not talking about stripping people here. This is not high school gym class where all the teenagers are self-conscious. We are all adults here and I am sure that we can take off our shoes and put them back with out complaining, or can we. I will grant basis to the common fear that you can pick up foot fungus.


to turn over to Homeland Security his or her full name, address, telephone number and date of birth, which the department would then run through a variety of government and private databases. In short, if you wanted to fly on an airplane, you would have to give Homeland Security the right to learn everything about you.


Wait a min, my full name is on my drivers license, my address is on my drivers license, the airline has my telephone number (in fact I want them to have my telephone number incase I die they can call and leave a message), and my DOB is on my drivers license. I also seem to remember turning over all that information (maybe not my telephone number) on my taxes, so if they government really wanted they could learn "everything about you" they already have.

No this program was dropped because of people who yell for privacy and total security at the same time like this author.

In addition, the government has gone with the frequent flier approach; Pre-clearing some people, though I think the restriction is that you have to fly more than once a week. I think if they did away with that once a week restriction I would get my self cleared even though I fly a little over six times a year (it would make those six times much easier).


Cube