Air Travelers May Be Assigned Color Codes
Sep 9, 10:22 AM (ET)
WASHINGTON (AP) – The government and the airlines reportedly will phase in a computer system next year to measure the risk of every passenger who boards a flight in the United States by using color codes.
According to the Washington Post, passengers will be assigned one of three codes, based in part on their travel plans, traveling companions and the date the ticket was purchased. Sources say those coded “green” will easily pass through security checkpoints. Others will be coded “yellow” and face additional screening. An estimated 1 percent to 2 percent who get “red” coding will be barred from boarding and face police questioning. They may be arrested.
Critics fear the new system will be far too intrusive, and that some people will be mistakenly “flagged” and even falsely arrested.
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> The next hijackers will all have a green code. Duh.
On the other hand, any system of coding is better than the random process they use now. Really. I’d rather they scrutinize the guy traveling alone who didn’t check luggage and bought his ticket yesterday with cash, than to watch them pull Granny, five-year-old kid, Al Gore, and Ray Charles — yes, these people really got pulled out of security lines — for pat down.
Maher is right on this issue too. There needs to be some sort of profiling mechanism in place for airport security. A sort of secret service for the people. Trained agents who can spot the suspicious-looking traveler and have security concentrate on them, not granny. Yes, a young Arab-looking single man should have to put up with more security – that’s not racism or intolerance, that’s good police work! Our airplanes were hijacked by 19 young single Arab-looking men! If your daughter was raped by a young Arab-looking man, who should police round up for an interview?
The problem is the word: profiling. In the past, cops have tried to profile using erroneous logic, and it has equaled racism. Pulling over black drivers in nice cars, because of a profile that says drug dealers are black guys in nice cars. But that’s because the profile was wrong: most drug dealers are white guys in beat-up cars!
If the Repugnican spin geniuses who turned “Estate Tax” into “Death Tax” or “Osama bin Laden” into “Saddam Hussein” could just turn “profiling” into “pro-active intelligence screening”, nobody would bat an eye. In fact, people would say, “Pro-active intelligence screening! Well, it’s about damn time!”
“Radical” Russ — now I have a screw in my foot which means I’ll be pulled over for extra screening every time I go through a metal detector…
