Police at Logan Airport to Use BlackBerrys to Screen Passengers

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Jonathan Spira <jspira () basex com>
Date: June 22, 2004 10:19:20 AM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Subject: Police at Logan Airport to Use BlackBerrys to Screen Passengers


Presented without comment.

/s/ Jonathan


Jonathan B. Spira
 CEO and Chief Analyst
 Basex, Inc.
 8 http://www.basex.com

Wall Street Journal

Police at Logan Airport to Use
BlackBerrys to Screen Passengers
By WILLIAM M. BULKELEY
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
June 22, 2004; Page D5
BOSTON -- Massachusetts state police at Logan Airport are being given 
hand-held devices with access to vast databases of personal information 
to use in screening for terrorists.

The new plan, now in its early stages of implementation, is designed to 
make the traveling public safer. Some critics say it is yet another 
potential invasion of privacy in public places.

Some of the troopers who regularly patrol the airport will be equipped 
with BlackBerrys linked to a repository of databases run by LocatePlus 
Holdings Corp., of Beverly, Mass. Others will get mobile iPaq hand-held 
devices made by Hewlett-Packard Co., which offer direct access to 
National Crime Information Center data about arrest records and 
terrorism watch lists.

Boston's Logan Airport is highly security conscious because it was the 
origin of the two Sept. 11, 2001, flights that hit the World Trade 
Center.

Quick access to the database will allow police to "either confirm or 
dispute someone's identity information a lot more quickly" than calling 
in for information over a patrol radio, said Lt. Thomas Coffey of the 
state police.

But civil libertarians criticized the move, saying it will let police 
learn personal details even when people aren't under arrest.
Barry Steinhardt, director of technology and liberty for the American 
Civil Liberties Union, said, "It's very troubling. It turns every 
passenger into a suspect." He said he expects the ACLU will press the 
state police at Logan to detail what criteria they use to query 
passengers or run checks. He also said that even databases of the 
National Crime Information Center have inaccuracies, which could lead 
to the arrest of innocent people.

The hand-held BlackBerry device, made by Research In Motion Ltd., 
Waterloo, Ontario, lets users read and reply to e-mail wherever they 
are. The Logan police will be using a $99-a-month service that also 
lets them do data searches.
The database can also be used to find car owners based on their license 
plate numbers. Jon Latorella, president of LocatePlus, a tiny, publicly 
held firm started in 1994, said much of the data is compiled from 
public records.

Massachusetts state police, as well as thousands of other 
law-enforcement agencies including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, 
use LocatePlus either over the Internet or by purchasing CD-ROMs, Mr. 
Latorella said.

Write to William M. Bulkeley at bill.bulkeley () wsj com

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