Report: U.S. Cancels Air Passenger Screening Upgrade

[dArKeR]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government is dropping a plan to collect personal data on airline passengers to assess security risks because of privacy concerns, USA Today reported on Thursday, citing the U.S. homeland security chief.

Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said officials had all but scrapped plans for the controversial Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening System, known as CAPPS II, which has come under criticism from privacy advocates and some members of Congress.

The program, which has never been tested fully, was launched after the Sept. 11, 2001, hijacking attacks to refine electronic techniques for using personal information to identify and rate potential threats.

Asked whether the program could be considered dead, Ridge jokingly gestured as if he were driving a stake through its head and said: "Yes," USA Today reported.

http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=C1HVY2MUBWHWOCRBAE0CFEY?type=domesticNews&storyID=5674918

Asked whether the program could be considered dead, Ridge jokingly gestured as if he were driving a stake through its head and said: "Yes," USA Today reported.

(Why do mostly Repuke politicians and repuke Media Whores speak in terms of 'death' 'murder' 'killing' 'destruction' 'violence'...???)

A man called in to Franken yesterday, Tuesday. He's a Southerner from N. Carolina(?). A lifetime republican who's fedup with aWol and GOP leadership and him being taken for granted. The one thing he said which I've been saying too for 3 years, 'what's has happened. Where is the civility? Where is the politeness. (He meant from Limbaugh, to Hannity, O'Reilly, to Bush, to GOP leadership... He was talking about vocabulary and vulgar/violent words and sentences.) When I heard this guy say this I realized that there must be many really good people in the South and it's only that the South has been hijacked by the repukes too. This man was really nice and intelligent. Much more so than Mark Luther whom I don't like at all.

[FormerOstrich]

1. You know what?

I don't believe them. I posted here, not terribly long ago, that they were implementing CAPS for visitors from England (I think it was but maybe elsewhere). I think they have just renamed the project and are trying to bring it in under the radar.

I just don't believe they are about to give up any of their attempts at collecting information about us. Call my cynical but I think the man lies.

[dusty64]

2. Me neither, there

is TONS of evidence that when one of their evil plans is turned down in Congress or they back off due to public outrage they simply bring it underground. If this plan has never really been, why have the airlines been caught redhanded giving this private and personal info to other corporations building these evil databases?