Fergie's Tech Blog

Feds Push Flier Background Checks

This seems like a good time to mention UnSecureFlight.com...

Ryan Singel writes in Wired News:

Just weeks after congressional investigators found that officials in charge of a new airline passenger-screening system violated a federal privacy law, the Department of Homeland Security is pushing Congress to reduce oversight of the program and to allow it to use commercial databases to screen for terrorists.

Changes proposed to next year's homeland security funding bill would allow the controversial Secure Flight program to use background checks and profiling to help determine if an airline passenger is a terrorist despite not being on a terror watch list.

Additionally, the proposed changes would permit Secure Flight to be rolled out to the nation's airports after Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff certifies the program will be effective and not overly invasive. The current bill requires independent congressional investigators to make that determination.

The Government Accountability Office, Congress' investigative arm, said in March that Secure Flight had yet to pass nine out of 10 tests required for certification.

posted by Fergie @ 8/15/2005 05:59:00 AM