Here's my article that John is talking about: http://news.com.com/2100-1029-992572.html Text of Sen. Wyden's amendment: http://wyden.senate.gov/leg_issues/amendments/capps_amendment.pdf?tag=nl -Declan --- To: declanat_private, gnuat_private Subject: Sen. Wyden's CAPPS 2 amendment is bullshit Date: Thu, 13 Mar 2003 20:14:49 -0800 From: John Gilmore <gnuat_private> I read your report on Sen. Wyden's anti-CAPPS-2 amendment. Thanks for pointing it out. Unfortunately it looks like a stalking horse, rather than a real reform. First, the amendment doesn't stop CAPPS 2. It merely requires a report to two congressional committees on it. The public will never even get to see this report, unless the committees decide to release it, and CAPPS 2 will continue. Second, the "Air Cargo Security Act" bill that this is attached to is yet another insane secret-law assume-everyone-is-a-criminal program. You can read it here: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c108:S.165: This time they're going after cargo aircraft, creating a "Know Your Customer" program for people who ship cargo, demanding background checks for every person who works for any cargo shipping firm, "appropriate screening" (blacklisting) for all flight crews, and any "additional measures deemed necessary and appropriate by the" head of TSA -- in his sole judgement. The best part is at the bottom, hidden in the usual sort of "The second word in the fourth sentence of the Blather Bill of 1927 shall be struck out and replace by 'and'" style. It says: (1) CIRCULATION OF PROPOSED PROGRAM- The Under Secretary shall-- (A) propose a program under subsection (a) within 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act; and (B) distribute the proposed program, on a confidential basis, to those air carriers and other employers to which the program will apply. ... (4) SUSPENSION OF PROCEDURAL NORMS- Neither chapter 5 of title 5, United States Code, nor the Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.) shall apply to the program required by this section. That last (4) clause eliminates the Freedom of Information Act, the Administrative Procedures Act, the Government in the Sunshine Act, and the Federal Advisory Committee Act from applying to this bill. That's every one of the "open government" laws we have. Pretty good for three lines of text. These two legalese paragraphs say, in plain English: * TSA will invent the rules in secret. * The public will never get to see them. The cargo carriers who will be stuck with the rules won't be allowed to reveal the rules, though they will get to comment privately on them. * The public's legal rights to participate, in the creation and evolution of regulations that directly affect the public, will be superseded. This kind of exemption from public oversight is EXACTLY how CAPPS 2 has gotten as far as it has. This is a screw-the-public bill. It's a secret law bill. It creates a dictatorship, not a democracy. It says that between them, the TSA and the airlines can come up with whatever cozy rules are mutually beneficial -- and the public will get zero chance to even see what the rules are, let alone to have them changed. The passenger airlines have done this in requiring ID checks that prevent people from reselling their tickets, so the public can't avoid airline $100 change fees and use-it-or-lose-it ticket policies. The feds get more power and the airlines get more money; what are we complaining about? Rather than exempting whole new sections of the law from public oversight, Congress should be opening up the sections of the law which are now unconstitutionally kept secret from the public. John Gilmore (suing TSA to overturn unpublished travel ID rules and CAPPS 2) http://cryptome.org/freetotravel.htm ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Like Politech? Make a donation here: http://www.politechbot.com/donate/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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