Tuesday, 30 December 2008

Crossposting at PapersPlease.org

I'm continuing to work with the Identity Project as a technical expert, policy analyst, and consultant on travel-related civil liberties and human rights issues. I've often posted pointers here to the Identity Project blog and Web site at www.PapersPlease.org , and will probably continue to do so occasionally. But I'd... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 30 December 2008, 17:26 ( 5:26 PM) | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Can you really see what records are kept about your travel?

One of the big differences between American and European attitudes is that people in the USA tend to be much less willing to trust that the government is doing its job in accordance with the law. Many Europeans have told me this, and it's also what I've observed in the... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 30 December 2008, 10:49 (10:49 AM) | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Wednesday, 17 December 2008

TSA to require bar-coded boarding passes

Buried in the notice of the final rules for the Secure Flight airline passenger ID, surveillance, and control scheme is notice that the USA Transportation Security Administrations (TSA) intends to require airlines to add machine-readable codes to all boarding passes for flights in the USA: To ensure the integrity of... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 17 December 2008, 14:59 ( 2:59 PM) | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Thursday, 13 November 2008

"Secure Flight" and the Right to Travel

I've been getting too many questions to answer individually about the regulations issued last week for the so-called Secure Flight program to require ID and permision for air travel in the USA: What does it mean? How will it work (and will it work)? When will it go into effect?... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 13 November 2008, 20:39 ( 8:39 PM) | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Thursday, 23 October 2008

Radio hour today on "Secure Flight"

I'll be on the Katherine Albrecht Show today from 2-3 p.m. Pacific time (5-6 p.m. Eastern Time, 2200-2300 GMT/UTC), talking about the final rules issued yesterday by the USA Transportation Security Administration for the Secure Flight scheme for control and surveillance of passengers on domestic airline flights in the USA.... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 23 October 2008, 09:55 ( 9:55 AM) | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Wednesday, 22 October 2008

Secure Flight, "Watch-List Service Providers", and more

Today the TSA and DHS released their final rule for the so-called Secure Flight program to require each would-be airline passenger, even on domestic fligths within the USA, to get individualized per-person, per-flight prior permission from the TSA before they would be "allowed" to board a plane. The final Secure... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 22 October 2008, 15:54 ( 3:54 PM) | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Friday, 8 August 2008

Foreigners now need USA permission to leave their home countries

Since I got home, I've spent much of my time (aside from unpacking and moving back into our house from storage) analyzing the Electronic Sysem for Travel Authroization (ESTA) and preparing formal comments on the ESTA filed this week by the Identity Project. You can read the summary or our... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 8 August 2008, 17:00 ( 5:00 PM) | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Tuesday, 8 July 2008

Another round of illegal USA travel controls

Recently, while I've been travelling, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) of the USA Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has issued a press release announcing new, illegal, identity verification procedures for travellers at airports in the USA, while the DHS Customs and Border Protection (CBP) division has published a formal proposal... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 8 July 2008, 14:12 ( 2:12 PM) | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Sunday, 3 February 2008

Will you really need a "Real-ID" to fly?

There's been a lot of confusion in the last few weeks as to (1) whether the USA Federal "Real-ID Act" will change the requirements for personal identification documents for airline passengers in the USA, and (2) if and when the Real-ID Act is fully implemented, will it be impossible to... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 3 February 2008, 10:20 (10:20 AM) | Comments (8) | TrackBack (0)

Friday, 25 January 2008

New travel document requirements for USA citizens

Under new regulations and procedures announced to take effect over the next month, citizens of the USA will, for the first time, be required to obtain USA government permission in order to return home to their own country from abroad -- from anywhere else in the world, by air or... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 25 January 2008, 10:23 (10:23 AM) | Comments (22) | TrackBack (0)

Thursday, 20 December 2007

Back in Brussels

Six months into my current year-long trip around the world, I'm spending this week in Brussels (Belgium). Some of the high points of our trip so far include English House in Buenos Aires (Argentina), Potosi (Bolivia), driving across the Atacama Desert and down the desert coast of northern Chile, Brazilian... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 20 December 2007, 01:58 ( 1:58 AM) | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

Monday, 29 October 2007

Deadline for public comment on "Secure Flight" extended to 21 November

Just a quick note that by popular demand, the USA Transportation Security Administration has extended the deadline for public comments on the so-called Secure Flight scheme for surveillance and control of domestic and international travellers until 21 November 2007. You don't have to be a citizen or resident of the... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 29 October 2007, 13:05 ( 1:05 PM) | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Friday, 21 September 2007

Results of requests for my "targeting" records

Following the disclosure in late 2006 of the USA government's illegal Automated Targeting System (ATS), which has been secretly keeping dossiers on tens of millions of innocent international travelers to and from the USA, I and several other activists requested our ATS files under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 21 September 2007, 11:04 (11:04 AM) | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Thursday, 13 September 2007

Public hearing in Washington on "Secure Flight"

An obscure notice buried in the Federal Register on 5 September 2007 announced a public meeting in Washington, DC, on Thursday, 20 September 2007, to hear comments on the Department of Homeland Security's "Secure Flight" scheme for additional control and monitoring of domestic air travel within the USA. The current... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 13 September 2007, 18:08 ( 6:08 PM) | Comments (5) | TrackBack (1)

Tuesday, 21 August 2007

German press on airline reservation privacy

I'm quoted at some length in this article in "heise" online (with audio) on the lack of privacy protection for PNR's (airline reservation data), especially when they are stored or processed in the USA. The article notes the problems that result when European airlines "share" data with agents, contractors, and... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 21 August 2007, 08:54 ( 8:54 AM) | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Sunday, 12 August 2007

ICAO schedules next workshop on RFID passports and biometrics

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has scheduled its third annual symposium on biometrics and RFID chips in passports for 1-3 October 2007 at ICAO headquarters in Montréal, Québec, Canada. ICAO has also posted the latest report of its technical advisory group (TAG) on machine readable travel documents (MRTD's), including... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 12 August 2007, 14:25 ( 2:25 PM) | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Another USA-EU "agreement" on airline reservations

Wendy Grossman has a good story today in The Register on the latest "agreement" between the USA and the European Union on transfers of Passenger Name Record (PNR) data from the EU to the government of the USA. I haven't posted much about the latest PNR "agreement", largely because I... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 12 August 2007, 11:26 (11:26 AM) | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

Thursday, 9 August 2007

Revised USA government schemes for traveller surveillance and control

Today the USA Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced the latest converging and ever-worse versions of its plans for surveillance and control of both domestic air travellers within the USA ("Secure Flight", formerly CAPPS-II) and international air and sea travellers to, from, or via the USA (the intenational "Advanced Passenger... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 9 August 2007, 16:13 ( 4:13 PM) | Comments (7) | TrackBack (0)

Wednesday, 8 August 2007

KLM claims it doesn't know what happens with passengers' data

In March of this year, I flew on KLM Royal Dutch Airlines (one of the subsidiaries of the merged Air France KLM Group) from San Francisco to a hearing in Brussels before the European Parliamant and a meeting of privacy and data protection supervisors of European Union (EU) member countries.... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 8 August 2007, 16:38 ( 4:38 PM) | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

Tuesday, 7 August 2007

"Automated Targeting System" redux

In November 2006, the USA Department of Homeland Security (DHS) revealed the existence of a so-called Automated Targeting System (ATS) of lifetime government dossiers on millions of international travellers to and from the USA, including airline reservations obtained (by unspecified means) from international airlines, as well as a wide range... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 7 August 2007, 12:29 (12:29 PM) | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Sunday, 24 June 2007

USA government refuses to learn from passport problems

From the day they went into effect in January of this year, the new USA government rules requiring passports for all travel by air between the USA and Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean (even for citizens of the USA returning home from abroad) have been a disaster. I told them... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 24 June 2007, 10:36 (10:36 AM) | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

Friday, 18 May 2007

Does the Chicago Convention authorize government demands for PNR's? No.

In his testimony before the European Parliament on Monday, USA Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff claimed that the authority for governments to demand access to passenger name records (PNR's) is expressly provide by the Chicago Convention (the 1944 fundamental international civil aviation treaty). I was susprised by Chertofff's statement,... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 18 May 2007, 14:13 ( 2:13 PM) | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Thursday, 17 May 2007

Chertoff pledges to prosecute crimes against the Privacy Act

Thanks to the heroic efforts of EFF's Erik Josefsson and others in Brussels to obtain and upload gigabytes of video, I've been able to watch the entirety of USA Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff's testimony before the LIBE Committee of the European Parliament on Monday. Chertoff's actual testimony was... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 17 May 2007, 22:11 (10:11 PM) | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Who will police the privacy police?

A newly-released report by the Government Accountability Office finds that, as I've been complaining, the DHS has failed to give the public the notices required by the Privacy Act as to what information the government is keeping about U.S. citizens and residents, and how that information is being used. Without... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 17 May 2007, 18:55 ( 6:55 PM) | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Tuesday, 15 May 2007

Did Chertoff lie to the European Parliament?

USA Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff was in Brussels Monday to testify before a hearing of the European Parliament's LIBE [Civil Liberties] Committee about Chertoff's department's desire for access to Passenger Name Records (PNR's) for flights between the USA and the European Union. After initially trying to ignore the... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 15 May 2007, 08:00 ( 8:00 AM) | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Monday, 14 May 2007

TSA shows how well it protects personal data

Public Statement on Employee Data Security Incident WASHINGTON -- On Thursday, May 3, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) became aware of a potential data security incident involving approximately 100,000 archived employment records of individuals employed by the agency from January 2002 until August 2005. An external hard drive containing personnel... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 14 May 2007, 19:48 ( 7:48 PM) | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

USA-EU "Open Skies" agreement signed but won't go to the Senate

On 30 April 2007, representatives of the USA and the European Union signed a so-called Open Skies agreement revising the rules for airline flights between the USA and the EU. As I've noted in my analysis of the agreement and in my testimony to EU legislators and data protection authorities... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 14 May 2007, 18:17 ( 6:17 PM) | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Friday, 11 May 2007

While I was away

I had a great time with Evan Korth's students at NYU, and at CFP in Montréal. But the hard disk on my home computer failed while I was out of town, and I'm still working on recovering as much as possible of my data. A friendly reminder: How recent are... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 11 May 2007, 17:28 ( 5:28 PM) | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Thursday, 3 May 2007

"Your Reputation Precedes You" (CFP 2007)

I'm on a panel entitled "Your Reputation Precedes You: The Transfer of European Union Passenger Name Records to the U.S. and Canada" today at the conference on Computers, Freedom and Privacy . Here are links to some of the topics and previous articles I may mention in my talk: Freedom... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 3 May 2007, 00:17 (12:17 AM) | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Friday, 27 April 2007

Identity Project comments on European Union CRS regulations

I've mentioned previously that the European Commission has been conducting a public consultation on whether to revise or entirely repeal the European Union's Code of Conduct for Computerized Reservation Systems (CRS's). Because there are no similar rules in any other jursidiction, but all the major CRS's do business in the... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 27 April 2007, 17:30 ( 5:30 PM) | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Thursday, 19 April 2007

What's wrong with "Open Skies"?

"Open" is good, right? And what could be wrong with a new civil aviation treaty between the USA and the European Union that would "liberate" trans-Atlantic flights from the bogeyman of government regulation? Actually, quite a lot is wrong with the proposed Open Skies treaty, although you wouldn't guess that... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 19 April 2007, 15:09 ( 3:09 PM) | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

Tuesday, 17 April 2007

On Internet radio Wednesday; in New York next Wednesday

I'll be talking about similar issues of privacy and travel in an Internet radio interview this Wednesday morning (18 April) and in a guest lecture at New York University next Wednesday afternoon (25 April): Wednesday, 18 April 2007: Guest on the inaugural broadcast of "Uncovering the Truth" with Katherine Albrecht... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 17 April 2007, 18:11 ( 6:11 PM) | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Tuesday, 10 April 2007

Privacy advice for travel managers

I'm featured in the cover story on How to protect travelers' personal data on pages 28-32 of the April 2007 issue of T & E [Travel and Entertainment] Magazine , a leading trade journal for corporate travel managers. (If you don't like the funky page viewer on the magazine's Web... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 10 April 2007, 20:52 ( 8:52 PM) | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

Friday, 23 March 2007

European Parliament hearing on PNR's

I'm off to Brussels for this hearing on Monday (agenda , additional background documents ) on the transfer of passenger name record (PNR) data from the European union to the USA, and for a meeting of the "Article 29 Working Party" of E.U. national data protection authorities on the same... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 23 March 2007, 19:23 ( 7:23 PM) | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Sunday, 4 March 2007

Europe reconsidering rules for reservation systems

The European Commission (the executive branch of the European Union) has opened a two-month public consultation on possible revision or repeal of the EU Code of Conduct for Computerized Reservation Systems (CRS's). The outcome of this obscure and technical-seeming regulatory proceeding could have important effects worldwide -- not just or... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 4 March 2007, 12:41 (12:41 PM) | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Sunday, 18 February 2007

The Amazing Race 11 (All-Star Edition), Episode 1

Miami, FL (USA) - Quito (Ecuador) - Cotopaxi National Park (Ecuador) The cast of The Amazing Race , which started its new All-Star season tonight with relatively short flights from Miami to Quito, Ecuador, typically spend about two weeks of the month-long race around the world on airplanes or in... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 18 February 2007, 23:59 (11:59 PM) | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Monday, 12 February 2007

Un/Welcome in Washington

I arrived in Washington, DC, yesterday evening (after speaking at the memorial for my dear departed friend Eric Weinberger Saturday in Boston, which made the trip to the East Coast not a complete waste) to what I can only describe as a mixed welcome. At the downtown D.C. hostel, the... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 12 February 2007, 20:04 ( 8:04 PM) | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

Tuesday, 23 January 2007

New USA passport rules frustrate last-minute travellers

Effective today, the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) requires passports for all air travel between the USA, Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Latin America. Today the New York Times reports on the problems the new rules has caused for would-be last-minute travellers from the USA, especially business travellers, who find... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 23 January 2007, 07:47 ( 7:47 AM) | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)

Tuesday, 9 January 2007

RFID passports in the wild in the USA

I've just received my first report of a regular (non-diplomatic) USA passport with an RFID chip in it (with data fields already allocated on the chip for logs of the passport holder's movements): I applied for my passport in September 2006 and received it December 07, 2006. It has the... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 9 January 2007, 15:28 ( 3:28 PM) | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

Friday, 29 December 2006

More illegalities in the “Automated Targeting System”

Even while trying to defend the Automated Targeting System that is being used to deny travelers their rights on the basis of secret "risk assessments" that give each of us a terror score from secret databases of third-party and government information about us, the USA Department of Homeland Security (DHS)... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 29 December 2006, 16:55 ( 4:55 PM) | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Friday, 15 December 2006

Congress, EU, and businesses question "targetting" of travellers

Questions are beginning to be asked by members of the U.S. Senate , the European Commission , the European Parliament , and business travellers about the illegal "Automated Targeting System" (ATS) that the USA Department of Homeland Security has already used to deny more than half a million people their... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 15 December 2006, 10:57 (10:57 AM) | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Sunday, 10 December 2006

The Amazing Race 10, Episode 12

Barcelona (Spain) - Paris (France) - Caen (France) - Bayeux (France) - Paris (France) - New York, NY (USA) - Garrison, NY (USA) (Warning to readers: If you didn't like last week's column because you didn't think it had enough to do with The Amazing Race television show, you probably... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 10 December 2006, 23:59 (11:59 PM) | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

Half a million people denied their right to travel

As I noted in one of my previous articles about the USA Department of Homeland Security's "Automated Targeting System" (ATS): I find it somewhat strange that the assignment of scores or "risk assessments" seems to have gotten more attention than the earlier DHS announcement of its intention to require individualized... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 10 December 2006, 16:45 ( 4:45 PM) | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Friday, 8 December 2006

Chertoff thinks it’s “righteous” to give each traveller a terror score

Everywhere he goes this week, USA Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff is being dogged by questions about the illegality of the Automated Targeting System (ATS) first pointed out in the comments I filed with the DHS Monday on behalf of the Identity Project . Today in Atlanta, Chertoff had... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 8 December 2006, 14:32 ( 2:32 PM) | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

USA to continue targetting travellers

By a notice today in the Federal Register , the USA Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has resumed accepting public comments (search for docket 2006-0060, scroll through the list of documents on that docket to DHS-2006-0060-0062, and click on the "add comment" icon in the right-most column) on the Automated... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 8 December 2006, 07:56 ( 7:56 AM) | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Thursday, 7 December 2006

Fallout from illegal "targetting" of travellers

A Wired News story today, also picked up by Slashdot , gives the first hint of how officials of the USA Department of Homeland Security will try to rationalize having defied direct orders from Congress by developing and operating a secret "Automated Targeting System" that "builds a risk assessment for... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 7 December 2006, 14:38 ( 2:38 PM) | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Sunday, 3 December 2006

The Amazing Race 10, Episode 11 ("Automated Targeting System")

Ouarzazate (Morocco) - Casablanca (Morocco) - Barcelona (Spain) As The Amazing Race 10 around the world approaches its final leg, it's harmless fun to take part in the polls on the CBS Web site, where viewers score and rate which team of travellers is their favorite, which they think will... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 3 December 2006, 23:59 (11:59 PM) | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Friday, 27 October 2006

TSA says their press releases are secret

Since being detained by police at Dulles Airport outside Washington, DC, in May of this year, I've been going through channels to find out what happened, why, and who the people were who demanded my papers, ordered me around, and called the police on me for questioning their authority. I've... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 27 October 2006, 17:55 ( 5:55 PM) | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

Thursday, 19 October 2006

PASS card: RFID "passport light"

Aaron Caplan calls attention in a comment on an earlier article to this week's announcement by the USA Department of State of plans for a "card format passport" with a remotely-readable RFID chip. Citizens of the USA would (if, of course, other countries agree), be able to use this so-called... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 19 October 2006, 08:20 ( 8:20 AM) | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

Wednesday, 18 October 2006

Time for Europeans to ask for your travel records

In accordance with a decision made Monday, today the European Union and the USA Department of Homeland Security were expected to complete the signing of a face-saving new agreement on the use of passenger name record data by the DHS and other USA government agencies. This brings to an ignominious... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 18 October 2006, 16:35 ( 4:35 PM) | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

Sunday, 15 October 2006

Permission to travel

Should you have to ask for permission from the government before you are allowed to get on a plane or cruise ship? ("Mother, may I?") The USA Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has proposed that airlines cruise lines, and operators of all other ships and planes -- including charter flights,... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 15 October 2006, 19:25 ( 7:25 PM) | Comments (19) | TrackBack (0)

Sunday, 1 October 2006

Airlines and CRS's violating European privacy laws -- again

At midnight last night a decision of the European Court of Justice announced in May took effect, annulling both the "finding" by the European Council that airline reservation data transferred to the USA is protected adequately to satisfy European Union (EU) privacy and data protection rules, and the nonbinding "agreement"... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 1 October 2006, 21:29 ( 9:29 PM) | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Thursday, 28 September 2006

Governments prepare to log travellers' movements on passport chips

Earlier this month -- before being sidetracked with other deadlines , the start of a new season of The Amazing Race , and major electrical work on my house that made it hard to get any work done for the last week -- I attended a Symposium on Machine-Readable Travel... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 28 September 2006, 19:36 ( 7:36 PM) | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

Traveller registration redux

Depite a lack of enthusiasm by anyone except the vendors who hope to profit from operating a privatized traveller registration scheme, and total costs estimated at anywhere between US$100 and US$200 per person per year, the USA Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has published yet another round of draft plans and... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 28 September 2006, 19:05 ( 7:05 PM) | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

"Kip Hawley is an idiot."

On Monday the USA Transportation Security Administration revised its ever-changing but still secret rules (check out this parody if you want to try to keep track of the changes) for what it will allow airline passengers to carry onto planes. According to the offiical announcement by Kip Hawley, the Assistant... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 28 September 2006, 15:51 ( 3:51 PM) | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

Passports for travel between the USA, Canada, Mexico, etc.

If the USA government has its way, all citizens of the USA -- regardless of age, dual citizenship, etc. -- will need U.S. passports for air travel between the USA and all other countries in the Western Hemisphere, effective 8 January 2007. No more trips by air or sea across... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 28 September 2006, 10:59 (10:59 AM) | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

Thursday, 14 September 2006

USA-EU dispute over PNR access escalates

While I was at the ICAO symposium on RFID passports (more on that anon -- and yes, I did get back to San Francisco well before yesterday's tragedy in downtown Montréal, just a few blocks from where I'd been), the ongoing trans-Atlantic debate on the use of data from airline... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 14 September 2006, 10:07 (10:07 AM) | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Wednesday, 30 August 2006

"NOW WE KNOW WHERE YOU WANT TRAVEL"

I'm off to Montréal as an observer on behalf of the Identity Project at next week's International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Symposium on Machine-Readable Travel Documents (MRTD's, a/k/a passports and visas in which are embedded secretly and remotely readable RFID chips). So far as I can tell, this will be... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 30 August 2006, 21:15 ( 9:15 PM) | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Tuesday, 29 August 2006

USA denies its citizens their right of return

The government is preventing a native-born citizen of this country from returning home to the USA from overseas: U.S. Blocks Men’s Return to California From Pakistan (New York Times, 29 August 2006) Jaber Ismail, who was born in the United States, was questioned by the F.B.I. at the American Embassy... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 29 August 2006, 06:46 ( 6:46 AM) | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

Monday, 28 August 2006

Fingerprints, photographs, and dossiers on USA "green card" holders

Today I filed comments with the USA Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on behalf of The Identity Project formally objecting to the DHS proposal that the fingerprinting, photographing, and logging of lifetime personal travel histories of visitors to the USA be expanded to include even lawful permanent residents of the... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 28 August 2006, 17:11 ( 5:11 PM) | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Thursday, 24 August 2006

European debate on airline reservation data

Government mandates for collection of, access to, and transfer to the USA of information from airline passenger name records (PNR's) are once again on the table in the European Union, with a European court decision annulling the present EU-USA agreement on PNR data transfers and a new EU directive on... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 24 August 2006, 11:43 (11:43 AM) | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Friday, 18 August 2006

Freedom to travel as a human right

Several students at my introductory talk on "Travel Writing and the Travel Industry" at the 15th annual Book Passage Travel Writers and Photographers Conference this weekend asked about the sources I quoted on freedom to travel as a human right. The U.S. Constitution only hints at travel in the First... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 18 August 2006, 21:06 ( 9:06 PM) | Comments (3) | TrackBack (1)

What's on the horizon in travel security/surveillance?

I've spent a lot of time this week answering questions from other journalists about every aspect of air travel, from the most significant to the most mundane. Here's a sampling: Anti-terror hassles may keep travelers off planes (by Chris Welsch, Minneapolis Star Tribune Sunday travel section, 13 August 2006): Even... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 18 August 2006, 19:10 ( 7:10 PM) | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Airlines and CRS's squabble over who owns travellers' reservations

An important series of investigative reports by my friend and respected trade journalist Dennis Schaal in the past week in Travel Weekly (free registration and cookie acceptance required) has exposed a significant spat between American Airlines (IATA code AA) and the Sabre computerized reservation system or CRS (a/k/a "global distribution.