From Neal Pollack, via Atrios:
Yes, that’s right. CAPPS II, the program you sort of heard about this spring and early summer when it received a modest amount of scrutiny in Congress, is underway. This week, in conjunction with a creepy computerized reservations company called Galileo, Delta Airlines became the testing ground for an almost unthinkable violation of our civil rights.
(T)o summarize, if you book a ticket through Galileo, the company will send your information to the federal government, which will then open up a file on you, run a criminal background check, and determine, based on whatever information you’ve accumulated, if you’re a “threat.” They will then assign you a threat color for when you get to the airport. If you’re “Green,” then you’ll pass through security as normal. “Yellows” will undergo additional background checks. “Reds” will never be allowed to fly again.
The government isn’t legally obligated to tell you how you’ve been classified or why. The Transportation Security Administration doesn’t even require that any of the private databases they use to “screen” people contain accurate information, just as the Justice Department has exempted their warrant database from being accurate.
Go to Neal’s site to read the rest, and to follow the links. And you can go to this EFF page to take action. In the meantime, I’d like to suggest boycotting both Galileo and Delta Airlines. Who’s with me?