US/EU agreement over passenger details

[Iain]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/2807337.stm

Long article, here is the first bit

If you are planning to fly to the United States in the near future, then you might be interested to hear that the US authorities will know everything about you before you arrive.

Thanks to a new agreement between the European Commission and US Customs, reported at length by the campaigning group Statewatch, after 5 March US law enforcement agencies will be able to tap into airline computer systems and check who is flying into and out of the US.

This means they will know your credit card details, your date of birth, your address and, of course, any comments made about you by the airline which have been stored online.

If this includes requesting a special diet because you are Muslim, they will know that too.

The reason, as ever when our freedoms are trampled on in this way, is national security.

And from further down

So although the US only asked for details of passengers within 15 minutes of a flight taking off, documents unearthed by Statewatch reveal that US authorities will be given complete access to the airline's databases to go fishing for whatever material they want.

The responses from the public at the bottom of the page are interesting too.

 

[Iain]

Thought some of you might have something to say, seems fairly on-topic to me and the reaction of some to that story on that web-page worries me too

 

[Hal]

I heard or read somewhere that the human race, in the last 100 years, had equaled the previous 19,900 years from a technical achievment standpoint.

It seems to make some sense if you really think about it. If you're reading this on-line, you virtually have all the information in the world a few clicks or keystrokes away.

What's lacking though, is the social responsibility (call it religion if you want) that went with the previous ~ 20K years of advancement. "We're" making *mistakes* faster than we can *learn* from them.

 

[Tamara]

I notice that our Homeland Security Threat Level is "Yellow" today. I can't remember, however, if this indicates that airline passengers civil rights are "sorta screwed", "screwed", or "really screwed".