-------- Original Message -------- Subject: Tom Ridge says that CAPPS 2 is dead! Date: Thu, 15 Jul 2004 09:45:42 -0400 From: Richard M. Smith <rms@private> To: 'Declan McCullagh' <declan@private> http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20040715/6367163s.htm Plan to collect flier data canceled Color-coded system seen as privacy threat By Mimi Hall and Barbara DeLollis USA TODAY A controversial government plan to collect personal information from airline passengers and rank travelers according to terrorist risk level is being dismantled because of concerns over privacy and effectiveness, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said Wednesday. Ridge said security leaders have all but scrapped plans for the Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening System, known as CAPPS II. The program was never officially begun, even though the government has spent more than $100 million on its planning. Once touted as a key tool for keeping U.S. skies safe from terrorists, the system has been under relentless criticism from privacy advocates and some members of Congress who called it an unwarranted intrusion into passengers' privacy. Asked Wednesday whether the program could be considered dead, Ridge jokingly gestured as if he were driving a stake through its heart and said, ''Yes.'' He cited the privacy concerns, particularly those arising from recently proposed regulations that would have required airlines to hand over information about passengers as part of a test of the program. Critics in Congress also complained that terrorists using fake identities could easily evade the system. ... _______________________________________________ Politech mailing list Archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Moderated by Declan McCullagh (http://www.mccullagh.org/)
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