American Civil Liberties Union : Secure Flight compared to CAPPS II

The Technology & Liberty Project monitors the interplay between cutting-edge technology and civil liberties, actively promoting responsible uses of technology that enhance privacy and freedom, while opposing those that undermine our freedoms and move us closer to a surveillance society.

Secure Flight compared to CAPPS II (3/29/2005)

""Secure Flight"" Compared to Predecessor Program CAPPS II

Before Secure Flight, the government had proposed an airline profiling program called CAPPS II (for Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening System), which was abandoned as unworkable, ineffective, overly invasive of privacy. The primary differences between Secure Flight are summarized below.

This is the graphic that we originally used to explain the government's CAPPS II proposal, modified to reflect the changes made under Secure Flight:

Secure Flight-CAPPS compared

Here is a chart that summarizes the important changes between the programs.

Secure Flight Compared to CAPPS II
Program elements	CAPPS II	Secure Flight
Provides no protection against terrorists with fake IDs	√	√
Provides no meaningful way for individuals to challenge their security designation	√	√
Centers around reliance on secret, inaccurate government terorrist watch lists		√
Checks personal information against private databases	√	√
Requires collection of personal information from travelers making reservations	√	√
Expands program beyond terrorists	√
Uses computer algorithms to rate individuals' ""threat to aviation""	√

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RELATED INFORMATION

Secure Flight Compared to CAPPS II

Program elements