Naturally, this state of affairs does not suit the airlines of European countries, whose passenger traffic is largely oriented toward America. They had to admit defeat and resign themselves to the obligation to report a lot of information about passengers before the flight. Let us recall that the Americans put forward this demand more than a year ago: according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, filling out information questionnaires with many sometimes completely absurd questions is necessary in the fight against terrorism. One of the questions looks like this: 'Do you eat pork?' Apparently, if an honest Islamic fanatic answers negatively, he can be caught red-handed even if he does not have a bomb with him.
Joking aside, writes RIA Rosbalt, until now, the rulings of the European Constitutional Court have been held in much higher regard throughout the world, especially in America, which made human rights a central point of its policy. However, this time the U.S. authorities remained adamant: they want to know all the ins and outs. However, the U.S. authorities intend to prevent any attempt to introduce similar rules in the European Union regarding American passengers traveling to EU countries. And there will be no such attempt: the EU is not a state, everyone here plays their own tune.
At the same time, it became known that Europe also intends to take steps to enhance aviation security: in the near future, all air passengers in the EU will be equipped with electronic sensors that will allow security services to track their location and movement inside airports, reports the British newspaper The Guardian. For these purposes, it is planned to use plastic bracelets or boarding passes equipped with microchips. Passengers will receive them during 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 the data usually provided during check-in: last name, flight number, and seat. Subsequently, biometric data of the passenger may be recorded on the chip. Additionally, the chips will send a signal to digital surveillance cameras. Thus, security services will be able not only to monitor the movement of a specific passenger but also to watch what he is doing.
A pilot program of this initiative is to start soon in Hungary, and from the beginning of 2007, when Bulgaria and Romania join the European Union, also in those countries. True, initially the Bulgarian authorities saw in the 'ringing' of passengers an attempt by the European 'big brothers' to poke their curious noses into the private lives of passengers. However, they seem to have been 'persuaded'. So soon in the airports of Budapest, Bucharest and Sofia, an air passenger will not be able to take a step without his movements being tracked on some monitor in the most thorough way.
However, even now this program is encountering rather serious counterarguments. 'This is all fine,' say skeptics, 'but it serves solely to help the investigation figure out who exactly detonated a bomb and where, if such a bomb is detonated on airport premises. The question of how to prevent the explosion itself remains unanswered.' Given the fact that more than one billion euros will have to be invested in the retrofitting of airports and the production of such chip-tickets, one must think. Maybe it is better to simply hand out questionnaires to passengers with a single question: 'Are you a terrorist?' And for those who answer 'yes,' print business cards with the phone number of the nearest police station, where they should go to surrender to the authorities.