Airline security after 9/11
to the public outcry of objection to the limitless CAPPS, the Transportation Security Administration began to issue more detailed regulations. Jim Dempsey said in support of these changes, “Maybe a person wanted for armed robbery flies on airplanes, but he’s not going to rob a person on an plane.” (work cited) These regulations limit the type of information that CAPPS can gather from commercial databases, restricts the amount of time that the system will hold onto the data, and restricts the database owners from using this data for any other purpose. Lisa Dean of the Electronic Frontier Foundation stated, “No health or financial data will be used. Information will be retained for days, not years. And no (Internal Revenue Service) or deadbeat dads databases will be used.” (work cited) CAPPS will, however, allow the Transportation Security Administration to look for people suspected of “crimes of violence” as well as domestic groups suspected of terrorism. As part of this system the Transportation Security Administration plans to create a Passenger Advocate Office that will identify the sources of false data and correct them.
As a further peace offering to the privacy advocates, who are still leary of a surveillance society, the Transportation Security Administration stated it would not release CAPPS for an additional 60 days so that further views could be submitted regarding the system. The Department of Homeland Security Chief Privacy Officer, Nuala O’Conner Kelly, stated that the new rule would increase passenger security while still respecting the privacy of travelers. The Transportation Security Administration, administrator Adm. James M. Loy, said that CAPPS would reduce the wait times, the number of passengers who go through secondary screenings, and the number of people misidentified as potential terrorists. With all these new regulations CAPPS ended up with a new name as well, CAPPS II.
CAPPS II will be instrumental as a device to prevent attacks like the September 11, 2001 attack in the future. CAPPS II is a double-edged sword, though, in that the amount of information the system has access to is mind-boggling and could be used to the detriment of law-abiding citizens. With careful regulation and a fierce determination not to pry into the lives of private citizens, CAPPS II could be the most effective weapon we have against terrorist attack. Luckily, Laura Murphy of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Washington Legislative Office plays referee with this statement, “There is broad agreement across the political spectrum that we must not allow America to turn into a surveillance society. Data surveillance programs inevitably erode our privacy, with demonstrating that doing so makes us any safer.” With privacy advocates like Laura Murphy calling foul, we should be just fine.
WORKS CITED
Singel, Ryan. “Federal Data Searches on Hit List” 29 July, 2003. Wired News Online. Online. 2 August, 2003.
Associated Press. “Air Security Is Anything But” 31 July, 2003. Wired News Online.