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Threat Levels are the Latest Security Fashion |
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Wednesday, 14 January 2004 |
Sadly, it looks like plans to label all passengers with a threat level are going forward.
Such a system requires extreme trade-offs for only marginal security improvements. The sheer size and complexity of the system make it likely the system will actually decrease secuirty. Some folks at MIT have already pointed out one way, learn what the system selects for then adapt accordingly. Another security problem created by the system is how to secure the system itself. Who has access to the profiling database? What is the procedure for correcting false information? Can that system be abused to clean up a terrorist's profile, or pollute an innocent person's profile?
Rather than finding and stopping rare events of terrorism, or other attacks, this system wastes tremendous effort cataloging innocent people conducting their normal business.
A much more effective (and cheaper!) system would be to tie the databases of the FBI, police, CIA and other agencies to the airline ticketing systems. Then the problem becomes one of matching risky people (those already flagged by the agencies) to their behaviors (buying airline tickets). It would also help to catch normal criminals, not just terrorists.
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