U.S., EU Agree To Share Air Passenger Data

Congress Also Set To Approve New Visa-Waiver Law, Excluding Some Allied Countries

(CBS/AP)  New rules governing the personal data of passengers flying to the United States from Europe are set to take effect, and Congress is poised to pass a new law governing the visa requirements of visitors that has already caused dissention among some allies.

The U.S. and the European Union signed an agreement Thursday that reduces the amount of information provided U.S. authorities about airline passengers before they arrive from Europe.

It replaces an interim agreement that was to have expired next week. That pact gave the U.S. access to 34 pieces of identifying information about arriving passengers, to be archived for 3½ years.

The European Union's highest court had ruled in May 2006 that the then-current rule compelling European airlines to turn over passenger data was created illegally and forced a new deal. European critics had protested earlier rules as an invasion of privacy and sought to narrow the personal data "pushed" to the U.S.

The new deal limits covers 19 pieces of data, including passenger names, addresses, seat numbers, credit card information and travel details. The information is to be provided within 15 minutes of a flight's departure for the U.S.

The data can be kept for seven years in an active file, then for eight more years in a dormant file accessible for specific, limited uses.

While the agreement limits the passenger data accessed, and mandates other identifying information, such as meal choices, be filtered, it also allows Homeland Security to access sensitive information "in an exceptional case where the life of a data subject or of others could be imperiled or seriously impaired." DHS is required to log such access and notify the European Commission within 48 hours.

The new system will be in effect by January 1, 2008.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff described the information-sharing pact as "an essential screening tool for detecting potentially dangerous trans-Atlantic travelers."

In his statement, Chertoff cited a lack of information-sharing on Sept. 11, 2001, when terrorists struck the U.S. with hijacked planes.

"Our front-line personnel did not have this tool on September 11th," Chertoff said. "Investigations after the attacks showed that PNR (passenger name record) data would have, within a matter of moments, helped to identify many of the 19 hijackers by linking their methods of payment, phone numbers and seat assignments."

(The four hijacked planes involved in the September 11 attacks were domestic flights originating from Boston, Newark and Washington, D.C.)

Meanwhile, Congress is close to approving legislation to expand a program that allows citizens of some countries to travel to the United States without visas. Nationals of several close allies, including some with troops in Iraq or Afghanistan, appear to be excluded.

Those barred from visa-less entry could include Eastern Europeans, many of them citizens of new member states of the European Union. (Most EU countries of Western Europe require no visas, a favor granted citizens of some other U.S. allies.)

[abbe91]

"Our front-line personnel did not have this tool on September 11th," Chertoff said. "Investigations after the attacks showed that PNR (passenger name record) data would have, within a matter of moments, helped to identify many of the 19 hijackers by linking their methods of payment, phone numbers and seat assignments."

(The four hijacked planes involved in the September 11 attacks were domestic flights originating from Boston, Newark and Washington, D.C.)"

Why the parentheses around the last sentence ?
It should be in bold, just to show that Chertoff doesn't know what he is talking about !!!

[feelfree1]

Re: "The Skinny: U.S. Signs Deal With Europe To Share Racial, Religious, Political Traveler Data"

HEIL!!!!!!!!!!

[zootallures2]

"The new deal limits covers 19 pieces of data, including passenger names, addresses, seat numbers, credit card information..."

Credit card information? Yea, I hear Discover is paying double bonus points for each terrorist event you charge over twelve thousand dollars.