European Union to tag airline passengers
In the near future, all airline passengers in the EU will be equipped with electronic sensors that security services can use to track their location and movement within airports. According to The Guardian, plastic bracelets or boarding passes with microchips are planned for this purpose. Passengers will receive them at check-in.
According to the project authors from University College London, the microchips will not store any personal information about the passenger's identity. However, they will contain an individual identification number linked to data usually provided during registration: last name, flight number, and seat. Subsequently, the chip may record the passenger's biometric data. In addition, the chips will send a signal to digital video surveillance cameras. Thus, security services will be able not only to monitor the movement of a specific passenger but also to observe what he or she is doing.
According to The Telegraph, the new system, called Optag, will be tested at airports in Hungary, and if the trial is successful, it will be implemented in all airports within the European Union over the next two years.
Primarily designed to prevent possible terrorist attacks, the Optag system will allow quick location of lost children in the airport as well as monitor timely boarding of aircraft: due to flight delays caused by passenger lateness, European airlines incur losses of €100 million annually.
Recall that the tightening of security measures in European airports was prompted by events related to British intelligence agencies' prevention on August 10 of a series of attacks on transatlantic airline flights departing from UK airports. The terrorists planned to blow up 20 planes in mid-air using liquid explosives, the components of which they intended to carry on board in hand luggage.
According to a recent decision by the European Commission, which will come into force throughout the EU in early November, passengers are prohibited from carrying more than one liter of liquid into the aircraft cabin. In addition, containers with a volume of no more than 100 milliliters must be packed in transparent plastic bags. Passengers will be required to remove outer clothing during screening and take laptops and other electronic devices out of their bags. // Lenta.ru
EU eases US access to passengers' private lives
The US and the EU have signed an agreement easing US intelligence agencies' access to personal data of passengers on transatlantic flights. European airlines must provide Americans with a list of 34 types of data – for example, passengers' addresses, phone numbers, credit card numbers, and so on.
However, intelligence agencies will not have direct access to this information; they will have to request it on a case-by-case basis. The new agreement, formally approved by EU governments, will come into force in July 2007. "Although the new agreement will facilitate obtaining the list of passenger data, the US authorities guarantee sufficient protection in accordance with their commitments," commented Finnish Minister of Justice Leena Luhtanen.
Recall that an agreement on transferring passengers' personal data as part of the fight against terrorism was signed between the EU and the US back in 2004, but in May 2006 the European Court terminated it due to a legal formality. The new agreement was approved at the end of June. According to its provisions, US authorities had access to the databases of European airline reservation systems, but US intelligence agencies were limited in their right to use this information for full investigations. //Reuters