posted on April 16, 2003 05:58:49 PM new
NEW YORK -- Hell, no, Bill won't go. And he doesn't want anyone else to go either, if their travel plans involve Delta Airlines.
Bill Scannell, organizer of the successful Boycott Adobe campaign launched when Russian programmer Dmitry Sklyarov was arrested in the summer of 2001, is now calling for a boycott on Delta.
At issue is Delta's test run this month of CAPPS II, the Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening System. CAPPS II would require background checks on all airline passengers when they book a ticket, including checking credit reports, banking and criminal records.
Passengers would then be assigned a threat level -- red, yellow or green -- which would help authorities determine if they should be subjected to increased security checks at the airport or refused boarding.
Advocates of CAPPS II insist the system will identify terrorists while allowing law-abiding citizens to avoid the airport security shakedown. But privacy advocates like Scannell believe CAPPS II is highly intrusive and ineffective in identifying terrorists.
Delta will be trying out CAPPS II at three as-yet undisclosed airports during the month of March. It's a first step prior to potentially deploying CAPPS II screening throughout the country over the next year.
Scannell hopes that people will join in his boycott to send a message to the airline industry and the government that CAPPS II is not acceptable.
"Delta was first in line to sign up for fascism," Scannell said. "CAPPS II treats all Americans who want to board a plane as if they were thugs. It's a horribly misguided attempt to make flying safer. It's ridiculous and horrible, and it has to stop."
Scannell first heard that Delta would be testing the CAPPS II program last Friday. He immediately registered BoycottDelta.org and worked all weekend to get the site up.
It went live late on Monday, and Scannell sent information about it to several security and privacy mailing lists. He said the site received about 25 e-mails an hour on Tuesday, all but one in complete support of the boycott.
Scannell argues that CAPPS II is ineffective in spotting would-be terrorists, as the system can easily be defeated by watching to see what sort of passengers it targets for special attention.
"CAPPS II threatens our liberty, but its security benefits are far from clear," said Barry Steinhardt, director of the ACLU's Technology and Liberty Program. "It will leave security screeners at sea in an ocean of private data; some of that data will be fraudulent, and much of it just plain wrong."
Scannell also raises the issue of ruined credit ratings as a side effect of CAPPS II screening.
"Every time a credit report is run on you, it hurts your credit rating," Scannell said. "Frequent fliers will not only have a nice thick Delta dossier, but a damaged credit history to boot."
Privacy activists are also concerned that CAPPS II will target less-affluent people, those with bad credit ratings or no credit history at all.
"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. "Anyone could get caught up in this system, with no way to get out."
According to a January Federal Register notice containing some details of the program, CAPPS II will store information about those deemed a yellow- or red-level threat for up to 50 years.
Information from files about those individuals could also be shared with other government agencies at the federal, state and local levels, as well as with intelligence agencies such as the CIA and with foreign governments and international agencies -- all of which could use those designations for many purposes, including employment decisions and the granting of government benefits, according to the ACLU.
posted on April 16, 2003 06:28:20 PM new
I can't agree to this either... not only will your credit be hurt, but what busniess is it of the airline industry...
posted on April 16, 2003 09:21:34 PM new
U N B E L I E V A B L E ! ! !
I agree with twelvepole.
Helen
But soon, this will be standard operating procedure whether we like it or not. All of our personal information is more easily accessible than we may suspect.
posted on April 16, 2003 10:55:49 PM new
Actually Helen, this is one time when a boycott can make a difference. If there is one thing the airline cannot afford right now, it's a boycott. WIth the possible exception of Jet Blue and Southwest, two weeks to a month of people refusing to fly airlines using the CAPPS II system will throw any airline back into bankruptcy.
posted on April 16, 2003 11:05:27 PM new
No argument on this issue neon! I agree with the boycott. I travel from here to Mississippi occasionally and I won't use Delta.
What are they thinking at a time like this when airlines are barely surviving?
posted on April 16, 2003 11:23:37 PM new
On April 3, the company won one of Privacy International's annual "Big Brother" awards, a dubious distinction meant to call attention to invaders of personal privacy.
posted on April 17, 2003 06:22:15 AM new
I can not believe 12-pole is against this...
This is one of his God-Like administration's baby. This was created to make us more "secure" and Tom Ridge very happy. Better not let Rummy-boy hear your dissent, you will be termed "un-american"
A politician will call you intelligent to keep you ignorant. I tell you that you are ignorant so that you may want to be intelligent - Eugene Debs
posted on April 17, 2003 06:54:36 AM new
There is a difference between supporting the President and the Troops in war, but there also no need for CAPPS II to be used, TMI for the airlines who have nothing to do with law enforcement or security.
posted on April 17, 2003 04:00:49 PM new
The abuse of private information by corporate interests has gotten so out of hand.
How many people realize their credit rating is now used to set their automobile insurance rate, and that a low credit rating can get your insurance cancelled even if you've had no accidents or claims? In most states and with most companies, that is now the case. In many states, they don't even have to tell you they're pulling your credit report ("insurance coverage" is one of the exemptions to disclosure)
One thing that really racks my nerves is that I've recently been getting ads in my mailbox, talking about ways to get medication cheaper by mail. The mails are personalized with the names of medication that's been prescribed to me. It's common medication (Claritin, Allegra, etc.) but they're not just ads for those drugs. It was a custom-printed letter that said "You've been getting these drugs by prescription, get them cheaper from us!" ) A co-worker got the same letter with the names of her drugs customized in.
posted on April 17, 2003 04:28:12 PM new
msincognito - I agree. Just today we received a 'Notice of Privacy Practices' in the mail from my husbands past employer. Haven't read the booklet yet, but the first paragraph starts out with:
This notice describes how medical information about you may be used and disclosed and how you can get access to this information. Please review it carefully.
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) imposes numerous requirements on employer health plans concerning the use and disclosure of individual health information. This information, known as protected health information, includes virtually all individually identifiable health information held by the plans- whether received in writing, in an electronic medium, or as an oral communication. While protecting the confidentiality of your personal health information has always been an important priority, the XXX [my husbands company name here] Group Health Plan is adopting new policies to safeguard the privacy of your health information and comply with HIPAA. This notice describes the HIPAA privacy practices of the following plans:....then goes on to list them.
Guess we're going to need to do some reading...both of this booklet we've received, and to learn what, exactly, this 1996 HIPAA is all about.
The question is not what a man can scorn, or disparage, or find fault with, but what he can love, and value, and appreciate. J. Ruskin
[ edited by Linda_K on Apr 17, 2003 04:33 PM ]
