Legal Research

U.S. Govt Beginning to Check Airline Passenger Lists; I Feel So Much Safer Now

Wired reports that 4 unnamed airlines are the lucky guinea pigs for the federal government’s Secure Flight program, which has been in the works for about 6 years now:

“The program, known as Secure Flight, will require all passengers to provide more information when booking a flight, including their date of birth and gender. Seventy-two hours before a flight, airlines begin sending that information to the TSA, which compares the data against lists of people suspected of being threats to aviation. The TSA then notes each person as a match, no-match or unsure. Those that match either cannot fly or get extra screening, the no-matches are allowed to print boarding passes at home and via kiosks, while the unsures must clear their names at the airline counter.”

All snarkiness aside, I hope this program cuts down on the number of innocents who get humiliated, frustrated, grounded, strip-searched, etc. But I’m more worried about the increase in personal info I will now have to give to the airlines — info they could easily leak or lose.

Full post as published by Jenkins Webblits on April 02, 2009 (boomark / email).