Will the Controversial US CAPPS II Security System Remain but Under Another Name?

CAPPS II, the US plan to prescreen and rank airline passengers according to risk level, is being dismantled, but another plan may be introduced in its place. CAPPS II – the Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening System – was announced as a way to increase air travel safety by prescreening airline passengers according to presumed risk level. Under the proposed system, the government would review an airline passenger's personal data against databases to determine the level of risk posed by the passenger. Depending on the perceived level of risk posed by the passenger, a colour code of red, yellow or green would be assigned to each passenger. An encoded message indicating the assigned colour code would be printed on the passenger's boarding pass. In the original draft of the system, credit worthiness and health data was included in the database of information used in the government's assessment. Due to public outcry regarding privacy concerns, changes were made limiting review against databases of terrorist watch lists, federal and state warrants and mass mailing marketing lists. Congress, also concerned about CAPPS II, restricted funding of CAPPS II pending a study of the system by the US General Accounting Office (GAO). The GAO study set out a long list of problems with CAPPS including the fact that seven of eight key issues the GAO felt must be addressed before CAPPS could be implemented, had not been met. In response, in July, the Department of Homeland Security announced that CAPPS II was being dismantled, but that a new program with a different name might be developed to take the place of CAPPS II, or a volunteer "registered traveler" program may be adopted. While some media has reported the announcement as indicating the end of CAPPS II, privacy advocates have warned that far from being dead, such plans signal that a far more intrusive plan may be taking the place of CAPPS II. For a copy of the GAO report, visit: http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d04385.pdf. For more information on CAPS II, visit: http://makeashorterlink.com/?Y21C515F8. Summary by: Sue Diaz