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| A recent US/EU passenger data disclosure agreement and new findings about "no-fly" lists pose serious threats to Americans and Europeans' privacy. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Press Conference 12:00 - 1:30 pm Wednesday, April 30, LOCATION National Press Club (Zenger Room) 529 14th Street N.W. Washington, DC 20045. WASHINGTON, D.C. - European Parliament Member Marco Cappato, EPIC General Counsel David Sobel, and Barry Steinhardt, Director of the ACLU's Program on Technology and Liberty, will speak about the risks that new air travel profiling schemes pose for privacy today at the National Press Club. "The purpose of this press conference is to draw public attention to the many problems with passenger profiling, and also the growing opposition in European and Latin American countries to the sale of personal information about their citizens to law enforcement agencies in the United States," said EPIC Executive Director Marc Rotenberg. A recent agreement between the United States and European governments that gives US law enforcement access to European air travelers' personal data such as medical, ethnic and religious information has been found to violate European privacy laws. Several members of the European Parliament, including Mr. Cappato, have opposed the agreement and urged a moratorium to examine its privacy implications. According to Mr. Cappato, "The EU-US passenger data disclosure agreement violates EU data protection laws, not only because it gives US authorities full access to data that is collected originally only for travel purposes by European airline carriers, but also because the information is surreptitiously gathered without properly notifying passengers and giving them an opportunity to consent." The EPIC obtained government documents early this month under the Freedom of Information Act that raise important questions about how the Transportation Security Administration currently operates the "no-fly" watch list. According to the these documents, which include letters from members of Congress to the TSA, the profiling system is not working, the list is riddled with errors, and passengers have no way to remove their names. The difficulties with this profiling system suggest the type of problems that are likely to become more widespread as more profiling systems are developed by the government, according to privacy experts. "The problems with the Transportation Security Agency's no-fly list are considerable" said Barry Steinhardt, director of the ACLU's Technology and Liberty Program. The ACLU has filed a lawsuit on behalf of two San Francisco peace activists who are apparently on the list "Those kinds of problems offer the American people a taste of what they can expect from the new CAPPS II airline profiling program now under construction by the TSA -- whether or not they are politically active," said Mr. Steinhardt. EPIC also discovered that information brokerage company Choicepoint had obtained information on citizens from several countries in Latin America and sold it to US law enforcement. Data obtained includes several million confidential voter registration records, citizen registry, motor vehicle, and other identification information of citizens from Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Colombia, and Costa Rica. The disclosure has sparked official inquiries and investigations across Latin America. The EPIC is a public interest center that was established to focus public attention on emerging civil liberties issues and to protect privacy, the First Amendment, and other constitutional values. EPIC pursues a wide range of activities, including policy research, public education, conferences, litigation, publications, and advocacy. More information is available at http.//www.epic.org/. |
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