You Will Need Permission From the Government to Fly

DailyKos - 

Federal Approval To Travel Within The US Soon

Buried in the September 5 issue of the Federal Register, was a notice
that Thursday, September 20, the Transportation Safety Administration
(TSA) will hold public hearings on their so-called Secure Flight Plan.

http://dmses.dot.gov/docimages/p102/484384.pdf

Come with me into a nightmare world where American citizens will have
to obtain permission from the government before they can travel by air
in the U.S.

Your government (meaning the Department of Homeland Security) is up to
no good.

Beginning in February 2008, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)
will implement their ¨Advance Passenger Information System (APIS),¨ the
gist of which is that you will need permission from the United States
Government to travel on any air or sea vessel that goes to, from or
through the U.S. The travel companies will not be able to issue a
boarding pass until you are cleared by DHS. This applies to ALL
passengers, US citizens and visitors alike. And how do you get said
permission to travel? That´s for your government to know and you to
never find out.

Now TSA proposes to do for domestic travel what APIS will do for
international routes. That´s what I said: the new TSA rule would
require that you obtain PERMISSION to travel within the U.S.

Here is the summary of their proposed rules, which seem so reasonable,
couched as they are in the blandness of governmenteez [emphasis added].

The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act (IRTPA) requires
the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to assume from aircraft
operators the function of conducting pre-flight comparisons of airline
passenger information to Federal Government watch lists for
international and domestic flights.



This rule proposes to allow TSA to ... receive passenger and certain
non-traveler information, conduct watch list matching ... and transmit
boarding pass printing instructions back to aircraft operators.


TSA would do so in a consistent and accurate manner while minimizing
false matches and protecting privacy information.

Right. And I have a bridge in Brooklyn...

We propose that, when the Secure Flight rule becomes final, aircraft
operators would submit passenger information to DHS through a single
DHS portal for both the Secure Flight and APIS programs. This would
[result] in one DHS system responsible for watch list matching for all
aviation passengers.

Don´t you feel great knowing that your government will use economies of
scale to protect you?

<http://hasbrouck.org/blog/>Edward Hasbrough states that these rules
are more insidious than merely complying to demands for ¨Your papers
please.¨ He states,

The proposal ... require[s] that travellers display their
government-issued credentials not to government agents but to airline
personnel (staff or contractors), whenever the DHS orders the airline
to demand them. But since the orders to demand ID of [certain
passengers] will be given to the airline in secret, ... travellers will
have no way to verify whether ... demands for ID are actually based on
government orders.

Think about that: you will not be allowed to verify if the person
demanding your papers is actually authorized to do so. In addition, the
airlines or their contractors (or sub or even sub sub contractors) have
the right, under the proposed rules, to do anything they like with your
personal information including:

keep copies of your passport ... as long as they like, use it, publish
it, broadcast it, sell it, rent it, or pass it on to whomever they
please.... [T]hey would have no obligation to get your permission for
any of this.

Aside from the privacy issue, this is the DHS. Their past performance
is an indication of future returns and we can look forward to true
travel nightmares beginning February 19, 2008. Just think about the
mess that occurred when CBP demanded that travelers to Canada and
Mexico have a passport. Multiply that by orders of magnitude to imagine
what travelers will be facing.

If you can, please attend the TSA hearings on Thursday (Grand Hyatt
Washington, 1000 H Street, N.W. beginning at 8:00am). If you can´t
attend in person, you have until October 22, 2007 to submit written
comments through the <http://dms.dot.gov/>Docket Management System. The
docket number is TSA-2007-28572.

The Identity Project at <http://www.papersplease.org/wp/>Papers Please
is working to prevent your government from robbing you of your right to
privacy in your movements.