Who is watching you while you travel?
Tags :General
Once again Bas has enlightened me with some
information. This time it comes from a story in the LA Times (free
registration required to see the whole story) about the software that picks
people out for screening while they travel. I imagined that those
of us that travel often. Yes this means Rob Novak, Ed, Libby and
myself and some others I didn't list, don't get screened at the fate as
often due to our frequent flier statuses. Unless our name resembles
a known or suspected terrorist as the article mentions. I grabbed
some excerpts and then my quick thoughts that await your comments.
Since the Sept. 11 attacks, creating an effective
system to screen out both
known terrorists and would-be hijackers and plotters with spotless records
but nefarious intent from millions of airline passengers has become
a top
priority in the war against terrorism.
In the face of such challenges, the federal government has embarked on
a
costly program to create a second generation profiling system designed
to
verify the identity of every passenger and analyze their lives through
a
"black box" of government intelligence and law enforcement databases.
Though details of the system are secret, security experts believe that
more
than 100 factors will be used to sniff out terrorists based on telephone
records, travel patterns, law enforcement files and other sources.
No computer-based system has ever verifiably thwarted a hijacking or
bombing, according to federal and private security experts. But given the
enormousness of the task, the airline industry's current system , the
Computer Assisted Passenger Pre Screening system, or CAPPS , has
occasionally shown flashes of brilliance.
Its greatest success may have been on Sept. 11, 2001. In the 24 hours
leading up to the hijackings, CAPPS would have checked more than 1.8
million passengers. It actually flagged six of the 19 terrorists later
involved in the hijackings, according to the national commission on the
Sept. 11 attacks. About 92,000 innocent travelers were also singled out.
Unfortunately, only a brief luggage check for explosives and weapons was
required. The hijackers, and the then legal box cutters several were
carrying , were all welcomed aboard their flights.
Well there is so much more to this article but I didn't want to paste it
all in. Basically it covers the thoughts that not everyone gets screened
for the right reasons or better yet, stealing the right identity NEVER
gets you screened. The best quote comes from Offer Einav, the former
director of security for Israel's airline, considered the most secure in
the world....
"The U.S. is so much oriented toward a technology
[solution] that the
people are serving the technology. They are dealing with enemies who are
human beings. Human beings will
always beat the technology."
Like other aviation security experts, he views
computer profiling as beneficial only if paired with seasoned security
officials who exercise common sense and conduct their own psychological
assessments of passengers, not part of the U.S. program.
So where does all this lead? Better staff at the airports and more
ideas on screening.
HINT: Two students from Harvard and MIT did a study referenced in the article
that raised the eyebrows of the airlines.
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On Thursday, October 2nd, 2003 by Chris Miller
