if you read nothing else today, read this.

[sophiaserpentia]

lady_babalon, I might be joining you in that boycott of air travel. Thanks to ravenia for the link.

Data provided by the U.S. Census Bureau came from respondents to the 1990 census and included "information on both households and individuals," the NASA study said. The NASA experiment used 5 million census records from each of two data sets it created, "one that stores household records and another that stores person records."

... However, Mr. Steinhardt, who sits on the Census Advisory Committee, said releasing information on households and individuals is "a major breach of trust." "The advisory board specifically asked this question, whether they were providing data to any other government agency, and the answer was 'no,' " Mr. Steinhardt said. "We will have to look carefully at what they provided NASA and why."

.... The Computer Assisted Passenger Pre-Screening (CAPPS II) system under development by the Homeland Security Department will use passenger records that include name, address, phone number and date of birth. The information will be used to confirm the passenger's identity and will be compared with criminal and terrorist watch lists. A color-coded threat assessment will be assigned to each passenger: green for standard security, yellow for additional screening and red to prevent the passenger from boarding a plane. Security officials estimate the error rate at 4 percent to 8 percent, which Mr. Steinhardt said "means 4 [million] to 8 million Americans will mistakenly be labeled as terrorists."

from Study used census information for terror profile

Comments

[alobar.livejournal.com]

I sent a letter of non-cooperation to the census bureau comments@census.gov telling them I would no longer cooperate with the census takers & I would be suggesting others do likewise. I urge you to drop them a note telling them of your feelings.

what's it all about, Alfie?

[brigid-shine.livejournal.com]

oh god. shoot me now.

[azaz-al.livejournal.com]

The worst thing for me is having to fly for my job, which I really can't afford to lose right now. It is all I can do not to start screaming at these people who demand invasive searches of me and everyone else - removing clothing such as shoes and jackets and even sweaters and sweatshirts - checking ID not once, but 3-5 times - searching my bag without consent and giving me notes that tell me if I don't want my personal things to be touch *I* need to put them in clear plastic bags - making sneering, insinuating remarks if I make the mildest protest of any kind or even ask why - and all under the watchful eye of uniformed military personnel with very large machine guns in hand. And ye gods, I'm a rather mild-mannered quiet white woman - what kind of experience are people who are foreign in appearance having?
I'm taking the bus to NOLA for Mardi Gras. The airlines have lost my personal income until they cease incorporating with these totalitarian tactics.

[johns-life.livejournal.com]

I've only flown once post 9/11 for personal travel. I've flown 2-3 times total since then.

I've logged around 10K miles on my car that probably would have been via plane otherwise.

I refuse to put up with it ... so I don't fly. Take that airline bottom lines!