tex Posted December 8, 2003 Share Posted December 8, 2003 Papers, Please - Galileo Will Be Opening A Dossier On You DontSpyOn.us 12-7-3 To the Department of Homeland Security, you are no longer an American, you are a potential terrorist. Soon, anyone who books a flight through the Galileo Computerized Reservation System will have a nice fat file opened-up on them. In another test of a new Orwellian airline security program by the Department of Homeland Security's Transportation Security Administration, Galileo will be facilitating background checks on anyone using their system. What will Galileo do? * Collect your full name, date of birth, address and home phone number; * Put information related to your travel plans (including your credit card number, frequent flier number and itinerary) into a file and send it to the government. The more you travel, the thicker the file. The information Galileo sends to the government will link all your travel information into a easily accessible dossier. The Feds will then: * Have private data providers decide if you're really who you say you are * Run a criminal background check on you * Have you arrested at the airport if they think you're potentially linked to terrorism * Assign you your very own Threat Assessment color - Greens will pass through security as normal. - Yellows would require additional screening. - Reds are not allowed to fly. 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. If I list my cell phone, will that flag me yellow? - No one knows. 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, ChoicePoint, played a curious role in the <http://archive.salon.com/politics/feature/2000/12/04/voter_file/print.html>2000 Florida elections. Will this system make flying safer? - No, and <http://www.dontspyon.us/carnival.html>here's why. Who the heck is Galileo? I thought airlines did reservations. * Galileo is a Computerized Reservation System (CRS). Airlines, hotels, car rental agencies and others use CRSes to keep their records. Galileo is one CRS. The other CRSes are Sabre, WorldSpan and Amadeus. Think of a CRS as the travel equivalent of a credit bureau. WHAT WE KNOW CAPPS II (Computer Assisted Passenger Profiling System) is nothing less than a Soviet-style system of internal border controls. An incredible invasion of privacy, the system is un-American and un-Constitutional: not that a pesky thing like the Bill of Rights has stopped the extremists down at Homeland Security. It is our duty as citizens to do the job that the Department of Homeland Security has miserably failed at doing: to protect the US Constitution and stop CAPPS II. All the information gathered will be stored on government computers for days, but your Galileo travel dossier will be kept as long as they feel like it. The information in your dossier can be sold, bought, traded or given to anyone Galileo wants. Why? Because they can. By providing Galileo mandatory-voluntary information, you'll be helping Galileo turn you into a marketing victim and strip yourself of your Constitutional rights, all in one fell swoop. What's in your travel dossier? A lot. This dossier is known in the travel business as a PNR, or Passenger Name Record. Until now, it's been difficult to separate John Smith's information from another John Smith. The addition of dates of birth, telephone numbers, and full names makes it easy to tell one Smith from another. Learn more about Passenger Name Records <http://www.dontspyon.us/pnr.html>here. To be fair, the program is one created by the Transportation Security Administration in a horribly misguided attempt to make flying safer. <http://www.swiss.ai.mit.edu/6805/student-papers/spring02-papers/caps.htm>It doesn't. Today, it's just a pilot test running on a single CRS: let's work to make sure this pilot test fails. Until Galileo publicly withdraws from testing CAPPS II and stops treating citizens like criminals, there's only one thing the American people can do: to boycott Galileo and all other Cendant subsidiaries. What you can do right now to help stop CAPPS II 1. Don't book through Galileo Spend your money through airlines and travel agencies that don't violate your privacy. If you already have a booking through the Galileo CRS, contact your travel agent and see if it isn't possible to rebook. Travel agents and corporate travel execs: use a CRS that respects the constitutional rights of your clients and co-workers. 2. Boycott all Cendant subsidiaries It's a big company: see the list in all its ignominious glory at <http://www.cendant.com/>www.cendant.com. 3. Divest Cendant Stock Sell all but one share of Cendant (NYSE: CD) stock in your portfolio. Keep the last share so you can attend shareholder meetings and tell the Board what you think about their invasive, un-American practices. 4. Write Galileo You can email their CEO and management team as well as their PR and Investor Relations flacks with a single click <'"mailto:Robert.Coggin@cendant.com,Ted.McNamara@cendant.com,Mickey.Lutz@cendant.com, Janie.Kaung@cendant.com,Mitch.Gross@cendant.com,Gordon.Wilson@cendant.com, Ken.Esterow@cendant.com,Marka.Jenkins@cendant.com,jill.brenner@cendant.com, Sam.Katz@cendant.com,C>here (Outlook users may need to replace the commas in the address box with semi-colons). 5. Call Galileo Pick up the phone and give Galileo a few minutes of your undivided attention. Their PR flacks can be reached at 1-973-496-8079. 6. Write your US Congressperson If you are an American citizen, go <http://www.aclu.org/SafeandFree/SafeandFree.cfm?ID=12108&c=yourconfereratesatdontspyonme>here, type in your ZIP code and express your displeasure with the TSA, CAPPS II and Galileo/Cendant's involvement in it. 7. Tell the Feds what you think of CAPPS II The Department of Homeland Security has promised to post all comments received on CAPPS II to the website. <mailto:privacy@dhs.gov?subject=Docket%20Number%20DHS/TSA-2003-1%20(CAPPS%20II%20Comments)>Tell them what you think of their un-American, Soviet-style plan. 8. Tell us what you think So, you've done steps 1 through 7 and you still have something you want to get off your chest? Email the Don't Spy On US staff at <mailto:iamstillangry@dontspyon.us>iamstillangry@dontspyon.us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JackC Posted December 8, 2003 Share Posted December 8, 2003 It's sad how the GOP is willing to give up our freedom in the name of protecting it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
@DCGoldPants Posted December 8, 2003 Share Posted December 8, 2003 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luckydevil Posted December 8, 2003 Share Posted December 8, 2003 Yeah, it's pretty scary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redman Posted December 8, 2003 Share Posted December 8, 2003 Originally posted by JackC It's sad how the GOP is willing to give up our freedom in the name of protecting it! Yup, and against that vociferous opposition from the Dems! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
endzone_dave Posted December 8, 2003 Share Posted December 8, 2003 "The information in your dossier can be sold, bought, traded or given to anyone Galileo wants." That's the part that bothers me. Of course our own government would screw us over at the same time they're trying to protect us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cskin Posted December 9, 2003 Share Posted December 9, 2003 Sickening... we're closer to 1984 than we realize. Oh..and this post, along with all of yours, is being recorded by the Dept. of HS.... with a new software platform called Post-IT.....an acronym for post "from" Internal Terrorist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JackC Posted December 9, 2003 Share Posted December 9, 2003 Originally posted by redman Yup, and against that vociferous opposition from the Dems! Actually the loudest protest has been coming from the extremes of both sides. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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