Brits Will Be Required To Disclose Religious, Sexual & Political Beliefs When Flying To U.S.

[CatWoman]

Via Guardian Unlimited:

Highly sensitive information about the religious beliefs, political opinions and even the sex life of Britons travelling to the United States is to be made available to US authorities when the European Commission agrees to a new system of checking passengers.

The EC is in the final stages of agreeing a new Passenger Name Record system with the US which will allow American officials to access detailed biographical information about passengers entering international airports.

The information sharing system with the US Department of Homeland Security, which updates the previous three-year-old system, is designed to tackle terrorism but civil liberty groups warn it will have serious consequences for European passengers. And it has emerged that both the European parliament and the European data protection supervisor are alarmed at the plan.

In a strongly worded document drawn up in response to the plan that will affect the 4 million-plus Britons who travel to the US every year, the EU parliament said it ‘notes with concern that sensitive data (ie personal data revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership, and data concerning the health or sex life of individuals) will be made available to the DHS and that these data may be used by the DHS in exceptional cases’.

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/07/23/brits-will-be-required-to-disclose-religious-sexual-political-beliefs-when-flying-to-us/

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

1. Simple: always say you are a straight Christian conservative. What are they going to do, telepathy?

[liberal N proud]

2. Just another step in the process of moving us to a police state

If you don't support the bu$h regime, or are gay or not Christian you can't enter bu$hland.

[Warren DeMontague]

3. Here's my answer about my sex life: "Want to know who I'm fucking? I'm fucking sick of government

poking its nose into the private business of consenting adults, that's who I'm fucking."

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

4. Yep, can't have none of those peace loving Muslims comin' over here

like that guy that used to be called Cat Stevens-Yusuf Islam--singing "Peace Train"! My goodness, if that caught on...!

[KansDem]

5. I would claim to be NAsexual, belong to the NA party, & be a NAist in my religious beliefs...

What could they do?
}(

on edit: "NA" = "not applicable"

[LeftishBrit]

6. Then just maybe we won't come!

Does your government actually want to wreck its tourist industry?

[Lilith Velkor]

12. Looks that way.

Probably just as well; you won't want to be here when our government nukes us.

[Gormy Cuss]

13. I'd love to see you all stay home.

It's better than having people shrug and put up with it.

[CatWoman]

16. I'm thinking this is payback for pulling out of

the coalition of the coerced :)

[B3Nut]

28. Well, they're sure as hell wrecking everything else

Not that I'm all that sure anyone would even want to COME here in the first place at this point, given the state of things...

I want my fucking country back. :mad:

Todd in Cheesecurdistan

[Eurobabe]

29. They don't want you buying up all those auctioned houses

with your 2 for 1 currency discount.

[babylonsister]

7. What a bunch of shit; the DHS is so inept to begin with, what will this prove,

or accomplish?

[marmar]

8. V says it better than I can....

Because while the truncheon may be used in lieu of conversation, words will always retain their power. Words offer the means to meaning, and for those who will listen, the enunciation of a truth. And the truth is, there is something terribly wrong with this country, isn't there?


This has become a very sick place. :cry:

[conspirator]

9. If I say that I am an anarchist will I have to wear an electronic tracking tag? n/t

[Greeby]

10. Well, for most Britons, the answers to the first two are "none" and "none"

Dunno about the sexual though

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

11. Fuck THAT!!!!!

Incredible!!! *shaking head*

[NMMNG]

14. I'm going to just come out and say it

This is effing insane. Designed to tackle terrorism my backside. How does knowing somebody's sex life tackle terrorism? And the rest is a bunch of bigoted nonsense. What a load of crap.

[rockymountaindem]

15. That's sick

What the heck is Britain thinking with all these cameras and now this? Insanity...

[Garbo 2004]

17. It's the European Commission of the EU that's doing this, would impact EU nations.

Since the article is from a Brit paper it refers to the Brits that would be subject to it.

[rockymountaindem]

18. Mmm hmm...

and people think that Europe is some kind of place to escape from Bush.

[Madspirit]

19. 5th rec from a Mad Spirit...and a kick...n/t

[msongs]

20. so what are the democrats in congress gonna do about, pray? nt

[stirlingsliver]

21. To All Brits: Do NOT Cooperate

Memo to All Brits flying to the USA:

Do NOT Cooperate.

Do NOT provide your relgious affiliation, or your political views, or details of your sex life to YOUR Government. That is the only way they can be provided to the USA.

[TheBaldyMan]

24. No, put down Arab muslim , Hamas supporter - all 4 million of us.

I suspect there will be lots of Jedi Communists and anarchist Frisbeetarians as well

[seafan]

22. When will we see this mentioned on our teevees?

Alarm at US right to highly personal data

July 22, 2007

.....

Under the new agreement, which goes live at the end of this month, the US will be able to hold the records of European passengers for 15 years compared with the current three year limit. The EU parliament said it was concerned the data would lead to 'a significant risk of massive profiling and data mining, which is incompatible with basic European principles and is a practice still under discussion in the US congress.'

Peter Hustinx, the European Data Protection Supervisor, has written to the EC expressing his 'grave concern' at the plan, which he describes as 'without legal precedent' and one that puts 'European data protection rights at risk'.
Hustinx warns: 'Data on EU citizens will be readily accessible to a broad range of US agencies and there is no limitation to what US authorities are allowed to do with the data.'

He expresses concern about 'the absence of a robust legal mechanism that enables EU citizens to challenge misuse of their personal information'.
Hustinx concludes: 'I have serious doubts whether the outcome of these negotiations will be fully compatible with European fundamental rights, which both the Council and the Commission have stated are non negotiable.'

The new agreement will see US authorities gain access to detailed passenger information, from credit card details to home addresses and even what sort of food may have been ordered before a flight. In addition, US authorities will be free to add other information they have obtained about a passenger, leading to concerns about how the information will be shared.

It has emerged that neither Hustinx nor the European parliament were aware of the final draft of the plan.

.....

He warned that under the new system the data will be shared with numerous US agencies. 'The data protection supervisor and the European parliament are angry that they were not consulted,' Bunyan said. 'But they are also angry with a number of elements of the plan such as giving the US the absolute right to pass the data on to third parties.'

Simon Davies, director of Privacy International, another group that campaigns against state surveillance, said the new agreement gave huge powers to the US authorities. 'We have no guarantee about how this data will be used,' Davies said.

.....

Wanna bet Katie Couric will ever talk about this?


John Poindexter has been very, very busy.

[Trillo]

23. If that want that from those entering the U.S.,

just imagine what they must have in databases on those already here!

[SeattleGirl]

25. Oh my fucking gawd! My jaw is still on the floor after reading this!

WHAT. IN. THE. FUCK. IS. GOING. ON. HERE???????????

:nuke: :grr: :nuke: :grr: :nuke: :grr: :nuke: :grr: :nuke:

[CatWoman]

26. KICK

:kick:

[LeftishBrit]

27. Here's a story from some years ago...

I knew someone who was an elderly, quiet, gentlemanly, respectable-looking, very unaggressive academic (in an area unrelated to politics). He also happened to be a Communist. At that time (1980s) THAT was the one thing that the American authorities wanted to know about you, and once they did know it, they weren't too keen on you. When he occasionally wished to attend conferences in the USA, he had to go through a long palaver of getting all sorts of references from people and filling in all sorts of forms to prove that he wasn't going there to overthrow the American government by force and violence, and would return to Britain immediately after the conference was over.

On one occasion, he had finally got permission to visit the USA after a long palaver lasting many weeks, and went to the Embassy to collect his passport with his visa. He returned to his office, opened the envelope with the passport in it, and found that, after all the weeks of checks and fuss, THEY HAD GIVEN HIM SOMEONE ELSE'S PASSPORT! If he really had been a terrorist or violent revolutionary, that would have been a marvellous opportunity for him! This story has always stuck in my head, as an example of how obsessive surveillance is often combined with utter incompetence.

[bbgrunt]

30. why would anyone want to come here? We're turning into North Korea

[truebrit71]

31. I e-mailed Peter Hustinx mentioned in the article in The Observer about this..

..I told him what an incredibly BAD idea this was..and that the easiest way to insure that this doesn't get implemented, is to demand the SAME THING OF ALL AMERICANS TRAVELLING TO THE EU...

When the Yanks get a taste of the medicine their own government is handing out, THEN they might finally do something about it...

This will have a serious impact on the tourist industry I can tell you...I know several Brits who refuse to fly to the US now because they are made to feel like common criminals coming through immigration with fingerprints and retina scans..

Folks, the people here that say we aren't in a police state have obviously NEVER had to deal with things that foreigners have to put up with everytime they enter here. How hard would it be for the Department of Fatherland Security to demand that EVERYONE coming through immigration has to give up fingerprints and retina scans? Even US citizens. Not realistic? No? Then why are American citizens being forced to get a passport to leave/re-enter this country? It wouldn't be because all of the new passports being issued have the new chips in them would it? You know, the chip that stores all of your biometric information (along with who-knows what else) in it. The chip that would be used to cross reference your finger-print and retina scan taken on the spot.....

Far-fetched? Not really. I took a trip abroad this spring, and noticed that even in the stations used SOLELY FOR RETURNING CITIZENS in the immigration hall that the fingerprint and retina scan devices were already in place...

We are ONE "terrorist" attack away from the USA becoming a fully fledged police state...

[Zywiec]

32. How do people in the UK disclose Religious, Sexual & Political Beliefs?

Is there a form somewhere?

Is this information already captured by the UK authorities?

[barbtries]

33. that is sickening.

it's none of their business.