Profiling Passengers

Paper Summary:

In this article, the writer maintains that as a matter of policy or recommendation, airline passenger profiling may be continued but it should be closely monitored to prevent abuse. The writer discusses that the government should and must include the civil liberties group in the vetting process and every lesson learned from both negative and positive incidents brought about by airline passenger profiling studied and the good ones should be adopted while the bad ones left out. The writer notes that history shows the various actions by the government that curtailed civil liberties but this was the result of extenuating circumstances. The writer concludes that with terrorism amidst the United States at present, people must band together to help the government in stopping terrorists, even at the price of giving up a bit of freedom. But in giving up freedom, it should always be clear to the government that the action is a means of warding off "a clear and present danger" and once the danger has passed, the rights of those who gave something important must be restored.

From the Paper:

"Profiling of any type whether racial, criminal, psychological, etc. is based on preconceived notions, data or information. In the long run, it may be construed to be based on stereotypes, biases or prejudices that do more harm than good. In the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States, the airline industry realized the importance of having a system that could vet or analyze passengers checking in at U.S. airports. Several studies or recommendations have been made after 9/11 and airline passenger profiling became a contentious issue not only between the government and citizens but various human rights groups as well. Despite all the clamor on the pros and cons of airline passenger profiling, the United States government still had to implement a measure to prevent and/or detect in advance passengers that pose threats to airlines much like those who perpetrated the 9/11 attacks. "

Sample of Sources Used:

• Electronic Privacy Information Center. (2006, October 19). Air travel privacy. [Online] Retrieved July 27, 2007 from the EPIC database on the Website: http://www.epic.org/privacy/airtravel/.
• Ghazali, Abdus Sattar. (2006, August 2006). Flying while Muslim. [Online] Retrieved July 27, 2007 from the American Muslim Voice database on the Website: http://amuslimvoice.org/html/body_flying_while_muslim.html.
• Lipton, Eric. (2006, August 17). Faces, too, are searched at U.S. airports. [Online] Retrieved July 27, 2007 from the New York Times database on the Website: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/17/washington/17screeners.html?ex=1185681600&en=3b9b7335ec5f595d&ei=5070.
• Pipes, Daniel. (2006, August 22). Time to profile airline passengers? [Online] Retrieved July 27, 2007 from the New York Sun database on the Website: http://www.danielpipes.org/article/3890.
• Rowell, Andy. (2006, September 5). Passenger profiling. [Online] Retrieved July 27, 2007 from the Spectrezine database on the Website: http://www.spectrezine.org/war/Rowell.htm.

More papers on Profiling Passengers:

• Research Paper # 93066 : "Profiling and Its Legal Implications"
• Analytical Essay # 4292 : "The Constitution vs. Racial Profiling: The Knock-out Round"
• Research Paper # 113434 : "Contempory Transportation Security Issues in the U.S."

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