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Top airline bosses launch assault on airport ID card plan

Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008

By John Lettice | The bosses of the UK’s major airlines have attacked plans to force airport workers to enrol in the national ID card scheme, claiming that “the UK aviation industry is being used for political purposes on a project which has questionable public support.”* If anything the move, they say, could reduce security by adding a “false sense of security to our processes.”

In a letter sent to home secretary Jacqui Smith under the auspices of the British Air Transport Association, the bosses of airlines including British Airways, Virgin, BMI and EasyJet, the MDs and CEOs of several airports and the general secretary of airline union BALPA express their “determined opposition” to the proposal. It will add extra processes, costs and risks to “an already comprehensive system of identity and record checks”, and airside staff “are already the subject of extremely thorough vetting and criminal records checks.” ID cards add nothing to this, they say.

And while we’re here, can we add that you’re screwing up border controls, on our tab? “The UK aviation industry continues to work with the Home Office on a wide variety of initiatives (such as e-Borders) which are adding financial burdens and inconvenience to companies and their customers, but without any compensatory benefits.”

For example, they say, there are the more rigorous immigration checks which have been introduced accompanied by “insufficient resources and consequently much longer queues.” Junk the cards, they tell Smith, and “the priority for Government attention should be the improved efficiency of border processes which would result in a more reliable operation and better levels of service for the travelling public.” ®

* Coincidentally, the Identity & Passport Service this week claimed that support for ID cards remained steady at 59 per cent. Equally coincidentally, No2ID this week denounced the IPS ‘tracking research’ approach as spin, and published its own independently-conducted research that showed the public split 50-50 on ID cards, but two to one against the underlying database. More details here.

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UK government fined for violation of right to privacy

Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008

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Groups Sue U.S. for Data On Tracking By Cellphone

Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008

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Videos of Violent Police Training Appear as Mexico Awaits U.S. Aid

Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008

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Want to know if waterboarding is torture? Ask Christopher Hitchens

Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008

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The Shrinking Influence of the US Federal Reserve

Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008

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GLOBAL STUDY SHOWS THAT DRUG PROHIBITION IS A FAILURE

Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008

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US advisers steered Iraqi oil contracts to Western firms

Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008

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One million lose out in NHS dental reforms

Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008

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From triumph to torture: John Pilger on Mohammed Omer’s treatment by Israel

Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008

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Ex-Agent Says CIA Ignored Iran Facts

Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008 at 6:08 pm and is filed under Surveillance, Civil Liberties & Human Rights News . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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