EU Agrees to Give Passenger Data to U.S.

yellum · 20-02-2003 9:06am #1

EU Agrees to Give Passenger Data to U.S.

From Slashdot:

The EU Commission has agreed in principle to make airlines provide U.S. Homeland Security with detailed passenger data for flights to the USA. Things Uncle Sam would like to know about passengers include their itinerary, their credit card number and whether or not they asked for a meal without pork. The data are supposed to help prevent terror attacks and are to be 'handled appropriately'."

dahamsta · 20-02-2003 10:24am

Uh, holy sh1t?

adam

sceptre · 20-02-2003 10:49am

^what Adam said.

Anyone have more info on this?

Typedef · 20-02-2003 10:50am

Must remember to grow my beard and ask for a non-pork meal the next time I go to the US.

I have contempt for most forms of big brother governance, and here from the Department of Homeland Security is another little way to scrutinise our lives.

Truth be told, no amount of security checks will stop terrorist attacks, so long as the primary motivation for attack exists, so will the attacker.

Much like the Arab-Israeli situation, in my opinion, for whatever that is worth, no amount of 'military' action save total elimination of the Palestinians will 'ever' make Israel secure, only a peace accord can do that.

In short, tackle the causes of terrorism, not the methodology of the attack, because, a smart terrorist will 'always' find a way to attack a target, if that person is determined and organised enough.

So publicising the fact that the US is checking for people ordering non-pork meals is flatly stupid, because, it means nothing as soon as such information is publicised, you have to gather this sort of information secretly, for it to have any actual appreciable effect.

Therefore, this particular piece of prolefeed is, just that, prolefeed, entertainment for the masses, for the prolateriate, it is a security blanket and is a leaked piece of information that serves a motif in the current US administration of looking tough on 'terrorism', but, in practicle terms is wholely useless, with the exception of the most unorganised and stupid potential 'terrorist' attackers.

Typie

sceptre · 20-02-2003 8:02pm

As Typedef said it's the kind of thing any terrorist with half a working brain can at least mostly get around, leaving Joe Soap with his personal info roaming freely around the world.

More on this:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,899167,00.html

US demands air travellers' data

Jeevan Vasagar
Thursday February 20, 2003
The Guardian

All passengers flying to the US from Britain will have personal information, including credit card details, handed over to the American authorities before they set foot on US soil, under a deal agreed yesterday.
The information a passenger submits to airline computers when buying a ticket - the passenger name record (PNR) - will be freely available to customs, immigration and other agencies in the US, where there are no data protection laws.

This includes basic details a traveller is obliged to give the airline such as full name, itinerary and contact phone number, but also a wealth of personal information.

The deal was struck between the European commission and America and is binding on all British airlines.

Despite fears that the American demand clashed with European data protection laws, the commission complied after the US authorities had threatened to stop flights to America.

David Henderson, spokesman for the European Airlines Association, explained: "The PNR has certain mandatory fields, but it also has a host of optional fields - special meal request, 'passenger only speaks French', method of payment, and if payment is by credit card, the card number.

"There is no real limit to what it can contain. It could say 'this VIP is chairman of such-and-such a corporation'."

The agreement bypasses European safeguards on the use of personal data, which require states to make clear for what purpose private information is being held and to whom it can be passed on, and give citizens a right of appeal.

US government agencies will have electronic access to the details before planes arrive. The measures are aimed primarily at preventing and combating terrorism but will also be used to investigate fraud and smuggling.

The deal for sharing passenger information was agreed between the US deputy customs commissioner, Douglas Browning, and commission officials in Brussels. The requirement will begin on March 5, though a formal arrangement to share data still has to be approved by EU governments and the European parliament.

Under US border security legislation passed last year airlines are required to make available all passengers' details including their birthdate, citizenship, gender, passport number, country of residence and address in the US.

Tony Bunyan, editor of the civil liberties group State watch, said: "Why should people hold information on us if we've done nothing wrong? This could be used against people wanting to go to a political demonstration.

"Someone who is up to no good is going to find a way around it by having a false identity."

Simon Davies, director of the independent watchdog Privacy International, warned there was wide scope for abuse of personal information. "This is a backroom deal. The information once in the hands of the US will leak like a sieve.

"Anybody who is of a particular ethnic origin could be routinely suspect, anybody who is caught up in an intelligence sweep, or law enforcement data matching exercise, could find themselves subject to US law without any hope of appeal or representation."

US customs did not respond to inquiries yesterday.

Victor · 20-02-2003 10:07pm

Originally posted by yellum
and whether or not they asked for a meal without pork.

Hmm, targeting jews, buddhists and vegetarians now.

dahamsta · 27-02-2003 11:27am

US given direct access to data on EU airlines' computers
By John Lettice
Posted: 26/02/2003 at 23:27 GMT

The recent EU-US deal giving US Customs access to personal data on all European citizens flying to the US is far more drastic than originally seemed to be the case. Rather than 'merely' having airlines send the data within 15 minutes of the departure of all flights, the deal means that the US authorities will be accessing it on the airlines' own databases, held on computers that are within EU jurisdiction.

A joint statement on the subject unearthed by Statewatch makes this clear, albeit not exactly in bold type. For example: "Compliance by airlines and reservation systems with US PNR requirements as from 5 March 2003 will not involve unlimited on-line access by US Customs to EU-based data bases, but rather the processing of PNR data for persons whose current travel itinerary includes flights into, out of, or through the US." So that's all right then - they'll only be looking at data on people going to the States, not data on everybody the airlines have records on. That's good to know.

In addition to this remarkable burst of moderation, we have safeguards:

[...]

Lemming · 28-02-2003 12:26pm

Geeh ,, the US threw a tantrum and threatened to stop all flights to the EU.

Well that works both ways and I'm sorry that the EU didn't have the balls to return the threat. So that would include US military bases in Europe, US multinationals, etc.

AFAIK, the US demand is not mulit-lateral. So they want all our info, but will not return the favour.

davej · 28-02-2003 2:38pm

There's a good opinion piece on the bbc website at:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/2807337.stm

The power of data mining tools is questionable at the moment but I envisage them becoming a very serious issue over the next decade or so. The "Minority Report" scenario, where crimes are predicted in advance might not be such fiction after all.

davej

yellum · 05-03-2003 2:34pm

http://www.cnn.com/2003/TRAVEL/02/28/airport.security.ap/index.html

And now a rating system

dahamsta · 05-03-2003 3:44pm

CAPPS is slightly different yellum, or more accurately an extension. CAPPS uses the data from sources like the EU to assign people this "rating". Delta is currently the only airline running this as a trial.

adam

yellum · 05-03-2003 8:03pm

Ah I knew that Adam.

I was just adding something thats kinda in the same area. Sorry for any mixups.

dahamsta · 05-03-2003 8:42pm

That's alright yellum, I was just showing off.

yellum · 05-03-2003 10:20pm

Fair enough Adam. You do it well though and at least when you do you're nto spouting ****. Its well researched the info that you spout when you show off.

Damien.

(Its my bday Friday Adam, you know what I want )

dahamsta · 05-03-2003 10:44pm

Its my bday Friday Adam, you know what I want

DSL?

Victor · 06-03-2003 7:24pm

Originally posted by yellum
http://www.cnn.com/2003/TRAVEL/02/28/airport.security.ap/index.html

Knee-jerk response first.

Transportation officials say a contractor will be picked soon to build the nationwide computer system, which will check such things as credit reports ....

Hmmm, maybe this guy owes a lot of money and will steal the airplane.

Advocates say the system will weed out dangerous people ...

... with bad credit. :rolleyes:

Paranoid response: Are they admitting that the information attached by banks and credit card companies is more substantial / important / definitive than information supplied by government?

EU Agrees to Give Passenger Data to U.S.

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