US TESTS SPY-STYLE AIR SECURITY SYSTEM
 

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US TESTS SPY-STYLE AIR SECURITY SYSTEM

The American government is to begin testing an air security system which will. .track passengers' travel movements and living arrangements.

The hi-tech system will link every reservation system in the US to government. .databases to look for suspicious patterns of travel.

Personal information including addresses, credit card numbers and links to other. .passengers would be used to give everybody who buys an airline ticket a threat. .rating.

Those thought to be highest risk would be singled out for extra checks under the. .plans.

But the move has been slammed by human rights watchdogs, who accuse the. .government of launching a massive invasion of people's privacy in the search for. .security.

The system would look for high-risk situations, such as one man buying tickets. .for four other men who have shared addresses in the past, but asking to sit in. .different parts of the plane.

It would also look for links between passengers on different planes and assess. .their travel history each time they buy a ticket, linking hundreds of different. .databases to make its assessment.

Both Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines have acknowledged they are working. .on prototypes, while the American government intends to begin testing on two. .prototype systems within the next few months.

Joseph Del Balzo, a security consultant working on one of the projects, told the. .Washington Post newspaper: "This is not fantasy stuff.

"This technology, based on transaction analysis, behaviour analysis, gives us a. .pretty good idea of what's going on in a person's mind."

Story filed: 17:10 Friday 1st February 2002