Meet the Registered Traveler program - "market-driven" airport security

[cyberpj]

If you thought the TSA was a giant boondoggle, you ain't seen nothin' yet; Meet the Registered Traveler program
1/25/2006 1:00:00 PM, by Hannibal

This past Friday, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) announced details of its upcoming Registered Traveler program. In a nutshell, the RT program allows frequent flyers to submit to a background check and fingerprinting in exchange for a special smartcard pass that can be used at airport security checkpoints to "accelerate the screening process at participating airports for passengers who voluntarily choose to enroll in the program."

What exactly is meant by "accelerate the screening process"? The answer is unclear for two reasons: 1) the program isn't fully implemented yet, and 2) even when it goes live, "acceleration" will mean different things to different users at different checkpoints at different airports at different times of the day.

The Registered Traveler programs will be market-driven and offered by the private sector. Individual participation in a Registered Traveler program will be entirely voluntary, with prices established by private sector providers. TSA will mandate a core RT security assessment for each applicant to a Registered Traveler program. If RT providers undertake more in-depth security background checks (e.g., by using commercial data specifically authorized by customers, or by other voluntary means), TSA will offer a variety of enhanced or time-saving participant benefits at passenger screening checkpoints. Participants may receive significant efficiency benefits over what exists today, if additional security is added by a more thorough background check...

snip...
Welcome to the brave new world of "market-driven" airport security, where different private security firms run and operate different lanes at different checkpoints, offering varied levels of accelerated screening depending on how much a user paid and how deep of a background check he or she submitted to. Thus the speed at which you move through a checkpoint will theoretically depend on a multiplicity of factors, only two of which are under your control (the depth of your background check and the firm(s) with which you've contracted). Other factors affecting your screening time, like which private security firm is manning a checkpoint and what resources that particular firm has invested in a particular checkpoint (e.g. extra personnel, more screening equipment, and so on) at a particular time of day, are entirely out of your control.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060125-6052.html

[DBoon]

1. and will these private sector businesses

ever be tempted to use all the information they have from background screening for marketing purposes? Think maybe some of this information will eventually end up for sale?

You know, like cell phone call records.

[cyberpj]

2. More...

But that's not all! The RT program not only has the free-market attributes I've just described, but the TSA will intervene at random times to ensure that this little (faux) market system doesn't naturally self-organize into something rational, stable, and predictable. The TSA has assured us that they will randomly juggle about the benefits of the program to keep the terrorists off-balance. I'm not kidding. They actually said this:

We know that terrorists may seek to exploit the Registered Traveler program, and the program must be designed to thwart those efforts. Therefore, program benefits will change from time to time in order to make it more difficult for terrorists to anticipate our security activities. Further, TSA will not exempt Registered Traveler participants from random additional screening.

So you'll never be sure what, if anything, your participation in the program is going to do for your screening time, because even if you contract with one company and always fly out of the same terminal at the same time of the day through the same checkpoint, the TSA may decide to mix it up on you just for giggles and tack another ten minutes onto your screening time.

What's worse than the government having your sensitive data in one centralized location? Multiple private firms having multiple copies.