[IP] more on Fascinating Airline Security Story
Begin forwarded message:
From: Barry Steinhardt <Bsteinhardt@xxxxxxxx>
Date: July 20, 2004 2:13:09 PM EDT
To: dave@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [IP] Fascinating Airline Security Story
Dave,
Speaking of airline security :: Here is the letter that the ACLU sent
today to Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, asking him to clarify
his comments and reported "stake in the heart gesture "about the CAPPS
II passenger profiling system and what has become of the passenger
records already collected by DHS.
Barry Steinhardt
Dear Secretary Ridge,
We welcome your announcement that that the CAPPS II passenger profiling
program is going to be terminated. However, we remain deeply concerned
about the fate of the large amounts of personal information about
Americans
citizens and others that DHS has already collected. We are also
concerned
that some Administration officials have hinted that the program will
not be
completely terminated.
During a June 23rd hearing David Stone, Acting Administrator of the
Transportation Security Administration, told the Senate Government
Affairs
Committee that the TSA has collected passenger information from Delta
Air
Lines, Continental Airlines, America West Airlines, Frontier Airlines,
and the
Galileo and Sabre reservation systems. (See, for example, “TSA:
Airlines
Gave Gov’t Passenger Data,” Associated Press, June 23, 2004).
Previously, it
was disclosed that personal data regarding passengers had been
obtained by
the Federal Government from Northwest and Jet Blue Airlines.
As you are no doubt aware, the maintenance by the government of files
on
the innocent travel and associational activities of American citizens
and
others, collected without their knowledge or consent, raises numerous
serious
privacy issues – especially when those files are maintained for law
enforcement purposes. It was in that spirit, for example, that
Congress in the
Privacy Act of 1974 banned the maintenance of dossiers on individuals
not
involved in wrongdoing.
We also ask that you clarify comments by other Homeland Security
officials
that seem to indicate that CAPPS II may reappear in another guise.
Although
you indicated to USA Today last Thursday that CAPPS II will be killed
with
“a stake through its heart,”others have said that the program will be
“reshaped and repackaged” (David Stone testifying before Congress) or
both
dead in its original form and to be reshaped (Homeland Security
spokeswoman Suzanne Luber quoted by WashingtonPost.com ). We
therefore would like to respectfully inquire:
(i) is personal information collected for CAPPS II testing purposes
being
retained, and if so for what purpose and in what form will it be
retained?;
(ii) has any other data from Passenger Name Record (PNR) files been
collected or used in the testing of CAPPS II and, if so, what use was
made of
that data and will it be maintained beyond the testing period? and
(iii) what data does TSA intend to collect from future passengers, and
what
does it propose to do with it?
Thank you for your consideration of these questions. We look forward to
hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Barry Steinhardt
Director
ACLU Technology and Liberty Project
Laura W. Murphy
Director
ACLU Washington Legislative Office
LaShawn Y. Warren
Legislative Counsel
ACLU Washington Legislative Office
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