CAPPS II -- The Latest "Red Scare"

[Tim May]

"The new Transportation Security Administration system seeks to probe  
deeper into each passenger's identity than is currently possible,  
comparing personal information against criminal records and  
intelligence information. Passengers will be assigned a color code --  
green, yellow or red -- based in part on their city of departure,  
destination, traveling companions and date of ticket purchase.

"Most people will be coded green and sail through. But up to 8 percent  
of passengers who board the nation's 26,000 daily flights will be coded  
"yellow" and will undergo additional screening at the checkpoint,  
according to people familiar with the program. An estimated 1 to 2  
percent will be labeled "red" and will be prohibited from boarding.  
These passengers also will face police questioning and may be arrested."

<http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1802&ncid=1802&e=2&u=/ 
washpost/20030909/ts_washpost/a45434_2003sep8>


Charming. Now people face "arrest" (Washington Post story claim) for  
merely be tagged as a Red.

Get tagged as a Red, perhaps based on "intelligence" like Usenet  
postings, mailing list activity, political activity, and airlines are  
ordered to bar use of their services. And arrest follows.

I know the ACLU is already having a field day with this. I wonder what  
the charges justifying arrest will be? "Your honor, this man was  
flagged "Red" by our computers. We request one million dollars bail.  
He's a flight risk....cough."

No wonder the airlines are facing bankruptcy. Except Big Brother is  
bailing them out, semi-nationalizing them (probably giving big pieces  
of control to Halliburton and other Bush crony companies...even Hitler  
was not this transparent).


--Tim May


Join the boycott against Delta Airlines for their support of the Big  
Brotherish "CAPPS II" citizen-unit tracking program.

http://www.boycottdelta.org
http://boycottdelta.org/images/deltaeyebanner.gif

With our help, Delta Airlines may be joining United and US Air in the   
bankruptcy scrap heap.