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Government wants personal details of every traveller |
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Written by Ian Traynor - Guardian Unlimited
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Saturday, 23 February 2008 |
Passengers travelling between EU countries or taking domestic flights would
have to hand over a mass of personal information, including their mobile phone
numbers and credit card details, as part of a new package of security measures
being demanded by the British government. The data would be stored for 13 years
and used to "profile" suspects.
Brussels officials are already considering controversial anti-terror plans that
would collect up to 19 pieces of information on every air passenger entering or
leaving the EU. Under a controversial agreement reached last summer with the US
department of homeland security, the EU already supplies the same information
[19 pieces] to Washington for all passengers flying between Europe and the US.
But Britain wants the system extended to sea and rail travel, to be applied to
domestic flights and those between EU countries. According to a questionnaire
circulated to all EU capitals by the European commission, the UK is the only
country of 27 EU member states that wants the system used for "more general
public policy purposes" besides fighting terrorism and organised crime.
The so-called passenger name record system, proposed by the commission and
supported by most EU governments, has been denounced by civil libertarians and
data protection officials as draconian and probably ineffective.
The scheme would work through national agencies collecting and processing the
passenger data and then sharing it with other EU states. Britain also wants to
be able to exchange the information with third parties outside the EU.
Officials in Brussels and in European capitals admit the proposed system
represents a massive intrusion into European civil liberties, but insist it is a
necessary part of a battery of new electronic surveillance measures being mooted
in the interests of European security. These include proposals unveiled in
Brussels last week for fingerprinting and collecting biometric information of
all non-EU nationals entering or leaving the union.
All airlines would provide government agencies with 19 pieces of information on
every passenger, including mobile phone number and credit card details. The
system would work by "running the data against a combination of characteristics
and behavioural patterns aimed at creating a risk assessment", according to the
draft legislation.
"When a passenger fits within a certain risk assessment, he could be identified
as a high-risk passenger."
A working party of European data protection officials described the proposal as
"a further milestone towards a European surveillance society.
"The draft foresees the collection of a vast amount of personal data of all
passengers flying into or out of the EU regardless of whether they are under
suspicion or innocent travellers. These data will then be stored for a period of
13 years to allow for profiling. The profiling of all passengers envisaged by
the current proposal might raise constitutional concerns in some member states."
The Liberal Democrat MEP Sarah Ludford said: "Where is this going to stop?
There's no mature discussion of risk. As soon as you question something like
this, you're soft on terrorism in the UK and in the EU."
Britain is pushing for a more comprehensive system based on the experience of a
UK pilot scheme that has been running for the past three years. Officials say
Operation Semaphore, monitoring flights from Pakistan and the Middle East, has
been highly successful and has resulted in hundreds of arrests.
The scheme has seen one in every 2,200 passengers warranting further
investigation, with a tenth of those "being of interest". British officials say
rapists, drug smugglers and child traffickers have been arrested and want the EU
scheme to cover "all fugitives from crown court justice".
But Ludford said: "If you ask the UK government how many terrorists have been
picked up, I don't think you get a very straight answer."
EU officials have asked the Home Office minister Meg Hillier for information
about the arrests of suspected terrorists.
Source: Guardian Unlimited
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