CAPPS II: This week's update

March 9, 2003 - News

CAPPS II (Computer Assisted Passenger Pre-Screening) is a system that profiles all airline travelers, using a massive secret database of information to assign "threat levels". Deborah Pierce's recent Seattle Press article gives an overview of CAPPS II, as well as the privacy and civil liberties issues it raises.

Some of the hottest news on CAPPS:

• Additional comments on CAPPS Risk Assessments are due to US Department of Transportation by Monday, March 17. If these reports are exempted from the Privacy Act, then you will not be able to see what information is being stored about you or be able to correct any incorrect information. We provide instructions for how to submit your comments, along with a sample letter.
• Privacy advocate Bill Scannell is calling for a boycott of Delta over the airline's testing of the CAPPS II system.
• Our roundup of press coverage provides more details about the initial tests, and the strong opposition to the plan among travel industry executives -- as well as the continued criticism by civil liberties groups.

More information is available at <http://www.privacyactivism.org/Topic/CAPPS>.

Last updated March 12, 2003