The U.S. government is collecting electronic records on the travel habits of millions of Americans who fly, drive or take cruises abroad, retaining data on the persons with whom they travel or plan to stay, the personal items they carry during their journeys, and even the books that travelers have carried, according to documents obtained by a group of civil liberties advocates and statements by government officials…
Officials say the records, which are analyzed by the department’s Automated Targeting System, help border officials distinguish potential terrorists from innocent people entering the country….
The Automated Targeting System has been used to screen passengers since the mid-1990s, but the collection of data for it has been greatly expanded and automated since 2002, according to former DHS officials….
‘Automated targeting” sounds about as creepy as “automated intelligence profiling.” Its primarily the “automated” part that creeps me out the most, as if we are to believe such targeting or profiling is objective and rational – free of human influence.
Automated Targeting System
From washingtonpost.com:
‘Automated targeting” sounds about as creepy as “automated intelligence profiling.” Its primarily the “automated” part that creeps me out the most, as if we are to believe such targeting or profiling is objective and rational – free of human influence.