WIRED NEWS: Passenger Screening System Dead

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

Passenger Screening System Dead

By Ryan Singel
09:16 AM Jul. 15, 2004 PT

The Department of Homeland Security will kill a controversial upgrade to the government's airline passenger profiling system because of privacy concerns, USA Today reported.

When asked Wednesday whether the Computer Assisted Passenger Pre-Screening System II (CAPPS II) was dead, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge jokingly pretended to put a stake in its heart and said, "Yes," according to the newspaper.

The $100 million program, started after the terrorist attacks of 2001, has never been deployed or field-tested, but was expected to use commercial databases, intelligence information, a centralized terrorist watch list and a list of outstanding warrants to keep terrorists and violent criminals from boarding commercial flights.

Privacy activists have said the program was too invasive for little gain in real security. Airlines too have been reluctant to share passenger data for final testing following a string of revelations about major carriers secretly providing millions of passenger itineraries to help in the development of screening algorithms.

More at: http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,64227,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_2

[StandUpGuy]

1. Sure it is

Just like Total Information Awareness is dead
just like The office of Disinformation is dead .

[Devils Advocate NZ]

2. So, if it is dead, does that mean what was spent so far is pure profit?

The company or companies that received all that money don't even have to provide a working product, but walk away with millions?

Nice work if you can get it.

[KittyWampus]

3. Someone Posted It's Cause Of Feasiblity Not Ethics

who knows?

Gore's Commission on Aviation Safety/Terrorism called for updating Passenger Screening Technology.

There has to be some way to update system to go beyond Name Recognition without trashing our Privacy.