more on Fascinating Airline Security Story

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Barry Steinhardt <Bsteinhardt () aclu org>
Date: July 20, 2004 2:13:09 PM EDT
To: dave () farber net
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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