CAPPS is the Computer Assisted Pre-Passenger Screening programme.

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA), which is now part of the Department of Homeland Security, is authorized by law to maintain a watchlist of names of individuals suspected of posing "a risk of air piracy or terrorism or a threat to airline or passenger safety." While initially denying to the media that such a list existed, the TSA finally acknowledged its existence in October 2002 after social activists complained of being black-listed at airports.

If you are flagged as red you may not only be denied boarding, but also undergo police questioning and possible arrest. And under the proposed rules for CAPPS II, passengers will have only limited ability to fix any errors TSA has made. the standard TSA response is to direct individuals to their local FBI office to clear their names.

How this works with CappsForCanadians is unclear, and that's just one of the many unanswerable questions:

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.

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, Choice Point, played a curious role in the 2000 Florida elections.

CAPPS II is huge in scope:

Also huge is its potential for both errors and deliberate misuse that could seriously and negatively affect the lives of many ordinary American citizens. The terms "Orwellian" and "Big Brother" are thrown around rather loosely today, but when they're applied to CAPPS II, they sound frighteningly accurate. ¹

In this data-mining society, privacy advocates shudder

"We are really on the cusp of creating a surveillance society where every action, every utterance -- some might say every thought -- can be traced," said Barry Steinhardt, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's technology and liberty program. ...

"Our privacy is on life support," Steinhardt said. "And we need to take some heroic measures to save it."

Links:

• Electronic Frontier Foundation
• Afraid to Go Back in the Air? You Should Be
• Privacy Activism
• Privacy & Technology : Surveillance & Wiretapping
• TalkLeft posts on CAPPS II
• ACLU page on CAPPS II
• Due Process Vanishes in Thin Air
• Data Scant for Watchlist Usage
• Teacher Arrested Over Bookmark