Passenger-Screening Program upsets privacy advocates

[BovineOne]

Delta Airlines's upcoming test of the government's Computer Assisted
Passenger Prescreening System (CAPPS II) has at least one activist up
in arms over what he sees as the system's threat to privacy. Bill
Scannell, who led the Boycott Adobe campaign to protest the arrest of
programmer Dmitry Sklyarov, is now calling for a boycott against Delta.
CAPPS II assigns a rating of green, yellow, or red to every airline
passenger based on that person's credit, banking, and criminal
history. According to developers of the system, the ratings indicate a
passenger's security threat level; people with yellow ratings will be
subject to extra security checks at airports, while passengers
identified as red can be prevented from flying. Scannell said the
system sacrifices individuals' right to privacy while doing nothing to
increase security. Barry Steinhardt of the American Civil Liberties
Union shares Scannell's concerns. "CAPPS II threatens our liberty,"
said Steinhardt, "but its security benefits are far from clear."

http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,57909,00.html

[merchanb]

"CAPPS II will collect data and rate each passenger's risk potential according to a three-color system: green, yellow, red. When travelers check in, their names will be punched into the system and the boarding passes encrypted with the ranking"

Is that a "duh" or what?

The "suspect" is given a boarding pass that won't let him board . . . or can he board but just not fly?

Can somebody 'splain it to me?

[dbaker]

I've been busted by this a few times when purchasing one way tickets or travel within an hour of the flight, etc. It usually prints something incredibly obvious on the boarding pass near your name so that even the biggest idiot can't miss it. Like:

SSSSSS

in the middle of BP.