FOXNews.com - Feds to Begin Background Checks for Air Passengers. WASHINGTON -- The government is getting ready to test a new risk-detection system that would check background information and assign a threat level to everyone who buys a ticket for a commercial flight. The system, ordered by Congress after the Sept. 11 attacks, will gather much more information on passengers. Delta Air Lines will try it out at three airports beginning next month, and a comprehensive system could be in place by the end of the year. Transportation officials say a contractor will be picked soon to build the nationwide computer system, which will check such things as credit reports and bank account activity and compare passenger names with those on government watch lists. Advocates say the system will weed out dangerous people while ensuring law-abiding citizens aren't given unnecessary scrutiny. Critics see a potential for unconstitutional invasions of privacy and for database mix-ups that could lead to innocent people being branded security risks. There also is concern that the government is developing the system without revealing how information will be gathered and how long it will be kept. "We may be creating a massive surveillance system without public discussion," said Barry Steinhardt, an American Civil Liberties Union director. Transportation officials say CAPPS II -- Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening System -- will use databases that already operate in line with privacy laws and won't profile based on race, religion or ethnicity. [ ... ] Transportation Department spokesman Chet Lunner said a Federal Register notice about CAPPS II that said the background information will be stored for 50 years is inaccurate. He said such information will be held only for people deemed security risks. Jay Stanley, an ACLU spokesman, was skeptical. "When it says in print, 50 years, we'd like to see something else in print to counter that," he said. [Privacy Digest]
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