Alarm at US right to highly personal data (Observer, UK)

[tbyg52]

Religion and sex life among passenger details to be passed on to officials

Jamie Doward, home affairs editor
Sunday July 22, 2007
The Observer

Highly sensitive information about the religious beliefs, political opinions and even the sex life of Britons travelling to the United States is to be made available to US authorities when the European Commission agrees to a new system of checking passengers.

The EC is in the final stages of agreeing a new Passenger Name Record system with the US which will allow American officials to access detailed biographical information about passengers entering international airports.

The information sharing system with the US Department of Homeland Security, which updates the previous three-year-old system, is designed to tackle terrorism but civil liberty groups warn it will have serious consequences for European passengers. And it has emerged that both the European parliament and the European data protection supervisor are alarmed at the plan.

In a strongly worded document drawn up in response to the plan that will affect the 4 million-plus Britons who travel to the US every year, the EU parliament said it 'notes with concern that sensitive data (ie personal data revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership, and data concerning the health or sex life of individuals) will be made available to the DHS and that these data may be used by the DHS in exceptional cases'.

And we all know that this administration's definition of "in exceptional cases" is "whenever we damn please, and what are you going to do about it?"

More:
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0%2C%2C2132099%2C00.html

[peacebird]

1. Please - do NOT travel to the US for any reason if it can at all be avoided.

If international tourism plummets this will get shut down.

Otherwise it will continue to spread. This is a trial balloon - can they get away with it?

How safe is all this data? How reliable? Will people be able to challenge their "score"?