US demands air passengers ask its permission to fly

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: "David P. Reed" <dpreed () reed com>
Date: October 28, 2007 6:14:51 PM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Cc: ip () v2 listbox com
Subject: Re: [IP] US demands air passengers ask its permission to fly

Why don't they just call it a visa?   I had to get a visa to travel  
to Beijing last year.

If the US required visas for entry, it would be quite easy to do  
this.   What's the difference?

There are clearly two possible ones.

1) A visa program would require the US government to put in the work  
effort involved - a massive increase in the State Dept. budget, and  
the State Dept. would become the target of zillions of complaints  
from U.S. tourism businesses, ... if it were slow or costly.    
Instead, this mandate puts the cost on countries other than the U.S.  
and on airports around the world.   And the complaints would be  
directed largely at non-US institutions and companies when it became  
slow.

In other words, the goal is to create unfunded mandates around the  
world, or to externalize costs.  The Federal Gov't. is extremely good  
at creating unfunded mandates for other governments - both those of  
the U.S. states and cities, and both the Federal Gov't and American  
corporations are extremely effective at externalizing costs onto  
their customers, their citizens and (in the case of greenhouse gases)  
the rest of the world and their future generations.  This is just a  
small example of the process in action.

2) Visas won't stop people who get on the plane in another country  
intending to crash them into US structures or transport WMDs into US  
airspace.  Those threats might be carried out before the visa would  
be checked.   It's a plausible argument, except for the fact that  
there are people checking passports at every international airport  
flying to the US.   It would be trivial to check visas there.

So the real reason here is probably not number 2, but number 1.   No  
one likes visas.  But a visa by another name that puts the burden  
elsewhere seems like a cheap win.   And it is a visa by another name  
- the collection of data needed is the type of thing that is kind of  
a cyber-visa.


David Farber wrote:
> Begin forwarded message:
>
> From: dewayne () warpspeed com (Dewayne Hendricks)
> Date: October 28, 2007 11:39:57 AM EDT
> To: Dewayne-Net Technology List <xyzzy () warpspeed com>
> Subject: [Dewayne-Net] US demands air passengers ask its permission  
> to fly
>
> [Note:  This item comes from reader Jock Gill.  This is an older  
> item and I have to admit that I missed this one.  Simply amazing!   
> DLH]
>
> Original URL: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/10/12/ 
> flying_into_data_hell/
>
> US demands air passengers ask its permission to fly
> By Wendy M. Grossman
> Published Friday 12th October 2007 13:18 GMT
> Under new rules proposed by the Transport Security Administration  
> (TSA)(http://www.regulations.gov/fdmspublic/ContentViewer? 
> objectId=09000064802ad5b0&disposition=attachment&contentType=pdf)  
> (pdf), all airline passengers would need advance permission before  
> flying into, through, or over the United States regardless of  
> citizenship or the airline's national origin.
>
> Currently, the Advanced Passenger Information System, operated by  
> the Customs and Border Patrol, requires airlines to forward a list  
> of passenger information no later than 15 minutes before flights  
> from the US take off (international flights bound for the US have  
> until 15 minutes after take-off). Planes are diverted if a  
> passenger on board is on the no-fly list.
>
> The new rules mean this information must be submitted 72 hours  
> before departure. Only those given clearance will get a boarding  
> pass. The TSA estimates that 90 to 93 per cent of all travel  
> reservations are final by then.
>
> The proposed rules require the following information for each  
> passenger: full name, sex, date of birth, and redress number  
> (assigned to passengers who use the Travel Redress Inquiry Program  
> because they have been mistakenly placed on the no-fly list), and  
> known traveller number (once there is a programme in place for  
> registering known travellers whose backgrounds have been checked).  
> Non-travellers entering secure areas, such as parents escorting  
> children, will also need clearance.
>
> [snip]
>
>
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