From the WSJ Opinion Archives
THE WESTERN FRONT
Capps Off
Airlines have an incentive not to help improve security.
It would be nice if all would-be-hijackers showed up at the airport wearing signs stating their intentions, paid for one-way tickets in cash and then waited patiently in line at the security checkpoint. But reality requires the good guys to develop systems to distinguish the bad guys from ordinary passengers.
This is something Northwest Airlines needs to bear in mind as it is now promising never to again share passenger information with government officials. The airline is reeling after months of denials that it ever shared information with the government, after the Washington Post broke the story that it in fact had in an experimental program with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, which aimed to develop technology to cull data for leads on potential hijackers. NASA abandoned the program after Congress refused to fund it.
JetBlue offered a similar apology in September after news broke that the discount airline had shared passenger itinerary information with a Defense Department contractor, which used the information to test software it was developing to enhance security for a military base.
The admissions have swept JetBlue and Northwest into the controversy over plans to develop second generation computer assisted passenger prescreening software, known by the acronym Capps. Before the Sept. 11 attacks, Northwest helped develop Capps 1, which focused primarily on finding dangerous luggage. But the attack on America produced a new vigilance--from civil libertarians, who are on full alert for any encroachment on privacy. Capps 2 (which identified about 5% of passengers for further scrutiny) seems to fit that bill, so airlines fear that publicly cooperating with the government could scare off customers.
It could also land airlines in court, as Northwest is now finding out. The Electronic Privacy Information Center, a Washington-based advocacy group, was the first to uncover the airline's cooperation with NASA by filing a Freedom of Information Act request with the space agency. The center plans to file a lawsuit against Northwest today.
Not that airlines are particularly concerned about protecting the privacy of their passengers. They just don't want to go out on a limb, suffering lawsuits and bad publicity in order to develop a system from which their competitors will benefit as much as they will. The industry prefers what may be the only effective solution: that the government compel all the airlines to hand over information needed to develop Capps 2. That way no single airline is at risk, and the government takes the heat.
Ultimately the privacy argument is bogus. Passengers already freely part with their name, address and itinerary while buying plane tickets. Compiling that information in Capps 2 or another system has proved helpful in spotting potential threats. Isn't that better than frisking little old ladies?
Mr. Miniter is assistant editor of OpinionJournal.com. His column appears Tuesdays.
