The Transportation Security Administration's successor to the much-maligned CAPPS passenger surveillance system is getting a boost from the Galileo computer reservation system (CRS). CRSs like Galileo and Sabre are the invisible companies at the heart of the travel booking business. Don't Spy On.Us offers their take:
To the Department of Homeland Security, you are no longer an American, you are a potential terrorist. Soon, anyone who books a flight through the Galileo Computerized Reservation System will have a nice fat file opened-up on them. In another test of a new Orwellian airline security program by the Department of Homeland Security's Transportation Security Administration, Galileo will be facilitating background checks on anyone using their system.Anyone who has been following John Gilmore's travelling tales, or seen the stories about the TSA's problems with Dave Nelson knows that any extension of their surveillance progams does more harm than good to the travelling public.
Does anybody really wonder if Cendant—Galileo's corporate parent—has anything to gain by preemtively cooperating with this administration's security policies?
A tip o' the beenie to Boing Boing for the pointer.
