- To the Department of Homeland Security, you are no longer
an American, you are a potential terrorist. Soon, anyone who books a flight
through the Galileo Computerized Reservation System will have a nice fat
file opened-up on them. In another test of a new Orwellian airline security
program by the Department of Homeland Security's Transportation Security
Administration, Galileo will be facilitating background checks on anyone
using their system.
-
- What will Galileo do?
-
- * Collect your full name, date of birth, address and
home phone number;
- * Put information related to your travel plans (including
your credit card number, frequent flier number and itinerary) into a file
and send it to the government.
-
- The more you travel, the thicker the file. The information
Galileo sends to the government will link all your travel information into
a easily accessible dossier.
-
- The Feds will then:
-
- * Have private data providers decide if you're really
who you say you are
- * Run a criminal background check on you
- * Have you arrested at the airport if they think you're
potentially linked to terrorism
- * Assign you your very own Threat Assessment color
-
- - Greens will pass through security as normal.
- - Yellows would require additional screening.
- - Reds are not allowed to fly.
-
- How will they determine what color you are?
- - Sorry, that's classified.
-
- Will an unpaid parking ticket flag you red?
- - Not yet, but there will be a system in place to do
so.
-
- If I list my cell phone, will that flag me yellow?
- - No one knows.
-
- Can I appeal a Homeland Security decision?
- - Sure. Write a letter to a Homeland Security P.O. Box
while you're being detained at the airport and they'll get back to you
real soon.
-
- How do I know the government's information is correct?
- - You don't. The TSA does not require any of the private
databases they use to be accurate information to be accurate, just as the
Justice Department has exempted their warrant database from being accurate.
-
- Are private databases accurate?
- - No. One of the largest private companies running information
checks for the federal government, ChoicePoint, played a curious role in
the <http://archive.salon.com/politics/feature/2000/12/04/voter_file/print.html>2000
Florida elections.
-
- Will this system make flying safer?
- - No, and <http://www.dontspyon.us/carnival.html>here's
why.
-
- Who the heck is Galileo? I thought airlines did reservations.
-
- * Galileo is a Computerized Reservation System (CRS).
Airlines, hotels, car rental agencies and others use CRSes to keep their
records. Galileo is one CRS. The other CRSes are Sabre, WorldSpan and
Amadeus. Think of a CRS as the travel equivalent of a credit bureau.
-
- WHAT WE KNOW
-
- CAPPS II (Computer Assisted Passenger Profiling System)
is nothing less than a Soviet-style system of internal border controls.
An incredible invasion of privacy, the system is un-American and un-Constitutional:
not that a pesky thing like the Bill of Rights has stopped the extremists
down at Homeland Security. It is our duty as citizens to do the job that
the Department of Homeland Security has miserably failed at doing: to protect
the US Constitution and stop CAPPS II.
-
- All the information gathered will be stored on government
computers for days, but your Galileo travel dossier will be kept as long
as they feel like it. The information in your dossier can be sold, bought,
traded or given to anyone Galileo wants. Why? Because they can. By providing
Galileo mandatory-voluntary information, you'll be helping Galileo turn
you into a marketing victim and strip yourself of your Constitutional rights,
all in one fell swoop.
-
- What's in your travel dossier? A lot. This dossier
is known in the travel business as a PNR, or Passenger Name Record. Until
now, it's been difficult to separate John Smith's information from another
John Smith. The addition of dates of birth, telephone numbers, and full
names makes it easy to tell one Smith from another. Learn more about Passenger
Name Records <http://www.dontspyon.us/pnr.html>here.
-
- To be fair, the program is one created by the Transportation
Security Administration in a horribly misguided attempt to make flying
safer. <http://www.swiss.ai.mit.edu/6805/student-papers/spring02-papers/caps.htm>It
doesn't.
-
- Today, it's just a pilot test running on a single CRS:
let's work to make sure this pilot test fails. Until Galileo publicly withdraws
from testing CAPPS II and stops treating citizens like criminals, there's
only one thing the American people can do: to boycott Galileo and all other
Cendant subsidiaries.
-
- What you can do right now to help stop CAPPS II
-
- 1. Don't book through Galileo
-
- Spend your money through airlines and travel agencies
that don't violate your privacy. If you already have a booking through
the Galileo CRS, contact your travel agent and see if it isn't possible
to rebook. Travel agents and corporate travel execs: use a CRS that respects
the constitutional rights of your clients and co-workers.
-
- 2. Boycott all Cendant subsidiaries
- It's a big company: see the list in all its ignominious
glory at <http://www.cendant.com/>www.cendant.com.
-
- 3. Divest Cendant Stock
- Sell all but one share of Cendant (NYSE: CD) stock in
your portfolio. Keep the last share so you can attend shareholder meetings
and tell the Board what you think about their invasive, un-American practices.
-
- 4. Write Galileo
- You can email their CEO and management team as well as
their PR and Investor Relations flacks with a single click <'"mailto:Robert.Coggin@cendant.com,Ted.McNamara@cendant.com,Mickey.Lutz@cendant.com,
- Janie.Kaung@cendant.com,Mitch.Gross@cendant.com,Gordon.Wilson@cendant.com,
- Ken.Esterow@cendant.com,Marka.Jenkins@cendant.com,jill.brenner@cendant.com,
- Sam.Katz@cendant.com,C>here (Outlook users may need
to replace the commas in the address box with semi-colons).
-
- 5. Call Galileo
- Pick up the phone and give Galileo a few minutes of your
undivided attention. Their PR flacks can be reached at 1-973-496-8079.
-
- 6. Write your US Congressperson
- If you are an American citizen, go <http://www.aclu.org/SafeandFree/SafeandFree.cfm?ID=12108&c=yourconfereratesatdontspyonme>here,
type in your ZIP code and express your displeasure with the TSA, CAPPS
II and Galileo/Cendant's involvement in it.
-
- 7. Tell the Feds what you think of CAPPS II
- The Department of Homeland Security has promised to post
all comments received on CAPPS II to the website. <mailto:privacy@dhs.gov?subject=Docket%20Number%20DHS/TSA-2003-1%20(CAPPS%20II%20Comments)>Tell
them what you think of their un-American, Soviet-style plan.
-
- 8. Tell us what you think
- So, you've done steps 1 through 7 and you still have
something you want to get off your chest? Email the Don't Spy On US staff
at <mailto:iamstillangry@dontspyon.us>iamstillangry@dontspyon.us.
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