--- Date: Mon, 26 Jan 2004 11:48:36 -0500 From: J Plummer <jplummer@private> Subject: [NCCP] Privacy Villain: NASA/Northwest redux Privacy Villain of the Week: NASA-Northwest redux After two years, the public has finally learned that Northwest Airlines did indeed give the National Aeronautics and Space Administration sensitive consumer data for use in a bizarre research program that combined data-mining and "brain-monitoring" technology. There was a more naive time when it seemed the 21st-century total federal takeover of airport security would merely involve swarms of overpaid, un-fireable federal employees harassing hapless harried travelers with interminable baggage and body searches. But the dangers of "mind-reading" technology didn't occur to even the most strident skeptic. Or did it? Maybe we need to ask NASA. It was revealed back in 2002 that scientists from NASA asked Northwest Airlines for "system-wide Northwest Airlines passenger data from July, August, and September 2001" [<http://www.epic.org/privacy/airtravel/nasa/nasa2.pdf>]. The data was to be used in the still-mysterious program the federal space agency was working on with a commercial firm -- the idea was to use both data-mining and "brain-monitoring" technology installed at airport terminals to somehow identify "threats." The proposed brain-monitoring technology would detect EEG and ECG signals from the brain and heart and then have that data analyzed by software, in combination with previously-floated plans to cross-reference passengers' travel history, credit history, and other information from hundreds or even thousands of databases as part of the Computer-Aided Passenger Pre-Screening (CAPPS) program. In a press release <http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=9061>, Robert Pearce, the Director of NASA's Strategy and Analysis Division, disavowed the report, assuring the populace that "NASA does not have the capability to read minds, nor are we suggesting that would be done." Yet another NASA spokesman, Herb Schlickenmaier, confirmed that reading the brainwaves and heart rates of airline passengers was a goal of NASA's -- the thinking being that such data combined with body temperature and eye-flicker rate could make a sort of super-lie detector. However, the PowerPoint presentation <http://www.epic.org/privacy/airtravel/foia/foia1.html> delivered by NASA to Northwest in December, said NASA has "Non-invasive neuro-electric sensors under development as a collaborative venture between NASA Ames and commercial partner." This contradicts the NASA statement that "We have not approved any research in this area." If this is how NASA assembles policy, it's little wonder their hardware assembly has a dismal track record. Does the tweezer brigade <http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,61008,00.html> really need a weapon of this magnitude? And could it really work? What of those who simply fear flying, or being frisked, or being forced to drink their own breast milk? How often will NASA's scanners confuse such brain waves with those of terrorists? The federal travel checkpoints are rapidly moving past inconvenient farce and into something more sinister. Instead of mandating security procedures, bailing out airlines that failed in that area, and then taking over the whole system themselves, the federal government should back off and let airlines assume the full costs of security failure as well as the benefits of respectful treatment of travelers. Consumers can subject themselves to full-body-and-brain scans, opt for Concealed Carry Air, or choose something in between, weighing privacy, security, comfort, convenience and cost for themselves. Such individual choice and flexibility has never been the hallmark of the centralized, goal-oriented space agency. The folks at NASA have apparently been so successful in their quest to quash private-sector competition in space travel, that they feel free to use the tax dollars of those they've left planet-bound to sift through travel data and cook up hare-brained mind-reading schemes. And at least one airline gladly helped them do so. If that doesn't make for Privacy Villainy, nothing does. -- The Privacy Villain of the Week and Privacy Hero of the Month are projects of the National Consumer Coalition's Privacy Group. Privacy Villain audio features now available from FCF News on Demand. For more information on the NCC Privacy Group, see www.nccprivacy.org or contact James Plummer at 202-467-5809 or via email. This report is available online at <http://www.nccprivacy.org/handv/040123villain.htm>. -- James Plummer Policy Analyst Consumer Alert (202) 467-5809 _______________________________________________ Politech mailing list Archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Moderated by Declan McCullagh (http://www.mccullagh.org/)
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