Not in this fascist nation!
"New flight screening program proposed; Some privacy issues addressed" by Michael J. Sniffen/Associated Press | August 10, 2007
WASHINGTON -- The government yesterday proposed a third version of its airline passenger prescreening program.... Congress ordered that the government take over from the airlines the job of comparing passenger lists with watch lists of known terrorist suspects to keep them off flights.
Congress enacted legislation blocking earlier plans to collect private commercial data -- such as credit card records or travel histories -- about all domestic air travelers in an effort to predict which ones might be terrorists.
[Think they are NOT DOING IT STILL? Ha-ha-ha-ha!
Hi, government monitor. Good Morning! :) ]
The new plan would require passengers to give their full names when making reservations in person, by phone, or online. Passengers also will be asked if they are willing to provide their date of birth and gender at that time to reduce the chance of false positive matches with names on the watch lists.
[That will give them a good head start on you!]
At a news conference at Reagan National Airport, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff also announced that six months from now airlines operating international flights will be required to send the government their passenger list data before the planes take off, rather than afterward, as is now the case.
Earlier sharing of passenger information is designed to give US authorities more time to identify terrorists.
And READ MY MIND!
Chertoff said he was unaware of any specific, credible threat against airlines. But based on recent car bomb attempts in Britain and public statements by terrorists, he repeated:
"We are entering a period where the threat is somewhat heightened. Look at the history of Al Qaeda. The airplane has been a consistent favorite target of theirs. Now the airlines give us their manifests after the plane has left the ground and that is too late."
On the domestic side, transferring watch list checks to Transportation Security Administration officers "should provide more security and more consistency, and thus reduce misidentifications" that have frustrated passengers, Chertoff said.
Current screening has been ridiculed because people such as Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, other members of Congress, and infants have been blocked from boarding or delayed because their names are similar to those on the lists.
[Ha-ha! Glad Teddy was INCONVENIENCED like ALL of US!!!!]
