US Database Rates Travellers for Terrorist Potential

For the past four years, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has been secretly assigning computer-generated scores to US domestic and international travellers through what is called an Automated Targeting System (ATS). These scores are an attempt to measure the risk posed by each traveller for committing terrorist or criminal activities. The DHS computers use several factors to determine travellers' scores such as their place of residence, how they paid for tickets, their motor vehicle records, past one-way travel profile, seating preference and what kind of meals they ordered. Travellers are not allowed to see or challenge these scores, and the government keeps them on file for 40 years. DHS also plans to share this data with state, local, and foreign governments. In some cases DHS may also share these scores with courts and private contractors. In disclosing the existence of ATS, the federal government referred to it as "one of the most advanced targeting systems in the world." However, members of Congress and privacy advocates are questioning its legality. They cite a ban that Congress imposed on DHS spending over the past three years preventing such activities from taking place. Michael Chertoff, Secretary of Homeland Security, conceded that the Congressional ban prevents DHS from spending funds on risk assessments of passengers; however, he claims ATS is something different, that it involves risk assessments of people entering or leaving the United States. The European Commission (EC) has also raised concerns about ATS. The EC fears that the US is not complying with a US-European Union (EU) passenger data agreement that gives US law enforcement agencies access to data on European travellers, but limits data sharing and retention. A DHS spokesperson stated that the US Customs agency is abiding by the US-EU passenger data agreement, including a provision that data about passengers arriving in the US from Europe may only be retained for 3 ½ years. For more information, see: http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/16134135.h; http://masl.to/?D25E2556E; and http://masl.to/?E26E5456E Summary by: Andrei Edwards