You'd get even funnier looks with a Starfleet Federation visa. ;)
Posted on 11/15/2007 9:49:20 AM PST by Wolfie
Terror crackdown: Passengers forced to answer 53 questions BEFORE they travel
Travellers face price hikes and confusion after the Government unveiled plans to take up to 53 pieces of information from anyone entering or leaving Britain.
For every journey, security officials will want credit card details, holiday contact numbers, travel plans, email addresses, car numbers and even any previous missed flights.
The information, taken when a ticket is bought, will be shared among police, customs, immigration and the security services for at least 24 hours before a journey is due to take place.
Anybody about whom the authorities are dubious can be turned away when they arrive at the airport or station with their baggage.
Those with outstanding court fines, such as a speeding penalty, could also be barred from leaving the country, even if they pose no security risk.
The information required under the "e-borders" system was revealed as Gordon Brown announced plans to tighten security at shopping centres, airports and ports.
This could mean additional screening of baggage and passenger searches, with resulting delays for travellers.
The e-borders scheme is expected to cost at least £1.2billion over the next decade.
Travel companies, which will run up a bill of £20million a year compiling the information, will pass on the cost to customers via ticket prices, and the Government is considering introducing its own charge on travellers to recoup costs.
Critics warned of mayhem at ports and airports when the system is introduced, beginning in earnest from mid-2009.
By 2014 every one of the predicted 305million passenger journeys in and out of the UK will be logged, with details stored about the passenger on every trip.
The scheme will apply to every way of leaving the country, whether by ferry, plane, or small aircraft. It would apply to a family having a day out in France by Eurotunnel, and even to a yachtsman leaving British waters during the day and returning to shore.
The measure applies equally to UK residents going abroad and foreigners travelling here.
The information will be stored for as long as the authorities believe it is useful, allowing them to build a complete picture of where a person has been over their lifetime, how they paid and the contact numbers of who they stayed with.
The Home Office, which yesterday signed a contract with U.S. company Raytheon Systems to run the computer system, said e-borders would help to keep terrorists and illegal immigrants out of the country.
For the first time since embarkation controls were scrapped in 1998, they will also have a more accurate picture of who is in the UK at any one time.
The personal information stored about every journey could prove vital in detecting a planned atrocity, officials insist.
But the majority - around 60 per cent - of the journeys logged will be made by Britons, mostly going on family holidays or business trips.
Ministers are also considering the creation of a list of "disruptive" passengers, so that authorities know in advance of any potential troublemaker, such as an abusive drunk.
David Marshall of the Association of British Travel Agents said: "We are staggered at the projected costs.
"It could also act as a disincentive to people wanting to travel, and we are sure that is not what the Government intends."
Phil Booth, of the NO2ID group, warned travellers would pay a "stealth tax" on travel to pay for the scheme.
He added: "This is a huge and utterly ridiculous quantity of personal information. This type of profiling will throw up many distressing errors and problems for innocent people.
"We have already seen planes turned around mid-flight because a passenger's surname matches that of somebody on a watch list.
"When the Government talks about e-borders, it gives the impression it is about keeping bad people out. In fact, it is a huge grab of personal information, and another move towards the database state."
A pilot of the "e-borders" technology, known as Project Semaphore, has already screened 29million passengers.
Immigration Minister Liam Byrne said: "Successful trials of the new system have already led to more than 1,000 criminals being caught and more than 15,000 people of concern being checked out by immigration, customs or the police."
But Nick Clegg, Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesman, said: "The Government must not use legitimate fears or dangers to crop vast amounts of private information without proper safeguards."
John Tincey, of the Immigration Service Union, said: "The question is are there going to be the staff to respond to the information that is produced?
"In reality people could be missed. Potential terrorists could be coming through if there are not enough staff to check them."
Shadow Home Secretary David Davis said: "While e-borders could be a useful tool to secure our borders it will not be up and running for at least another seven years.
"And given the Government's woeful record on delivering IT based projects, it may well be over budget and over time.
"In the meantime our borders remain porous. The Government should take practical measures to secure our borders, such as answering our call to establish a dedicated UK border police force."
• Restrictions on hand luggage carried on to passenger planes will be lifted from January.
"Starting with several airports in the New Year, we will work with airport operators to ensure all UK airports are in a position to allow passengers to fly with more than one item of hand luggage," Gordon Brown said.
The single bag rule was introduced in August last year after police said they foiled a plot to blow up U.S.-bound airliners.
It caused chaos at Heathrow Airport and drew complaints from airlines. Restrictions on carrying liquids are expected to continue.
So muzzies lie.
Meanwhile they still refuse to profile followers of the ROP who are male aged 17-34.
What is your name? What is your Quest? What is your favorite color? ... (Someone had to put in a Python reference)
Why not ask what mosque they have been trained at?
We have 20-40million people who illegally entered the country and are here "under the radar". We will NEVER be able to know "who is in the US" at any one time. But the government CAN get a good idea of those citizens who pay their taxes, love their country, support their Constitution, and believe that the really do have a right to free speech, a right to bear arms, and a presumption of innocence until proven guilty...
muslims have taken freedom away from the west.
"Please complete this famous phrase or expression: 'ALLAHU _____ !"
If they answer it correctly: problem. ;)
What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?
Airline travel sucks.
I just got back from a trip to Israel, with flight stops in Frankfurt.
The security interview at Ben-Gurion airport in Israel, which is supposed to be the best in the world, was kind of weird. The security guard quizzed us on our knowledge of Hebrew, where did we learn to speak Hebrew, had we ever lived in Israel before, where did we stay, what is our dauther’s address, etc.
Security agents in Frankfurt asked me to remove my headscarf (I refused, saying I wore it for religious reasons) and they didn’t insist because they probably thought I was a Muslim. But they did make me go back to the check-in and check my carryon as luggage so that they would not confiscate the Ahava products that I bought at the Tel Aviv airport duty-free shop.
In Detroit, the lady in line ahead of us at the passport check, was escorted away by police for some reason.
I noticed that I get extra scrutiny because my passport has a Russian Federation visa.
I drive to my destination when I can. If I have to fly for an event, I try to include an 12-24 hours so I can arrive on time.
I was on a trip last year that was hours late. The slow to disclose reason for the delay? My Houston flight to the West Coast had to wait for the plane to arrive from New York. The flight didn’t leave New York until AFTER the time I was supposed to have left Houston.
They should’ve brought out a different plane.
African or European?
You'd get even funnier looks with a Starfleet Federation visa. ;)
Simpler solution: Deport the Muslims between 17 and 34.
this sounds downright Soviet.
Passengers asked and must answer more questions that the candidates at the debates...................
Question #17a. Briefly, and in your own words, describe the universe.
Question #17b. Give three examples.
Well I don’t think the travel numbers will be quite as high as they expect. Between then and now there will be a lot of Brits permanently leaving their insane country, not desirous of returning. They are leaving in droves now, and at a rate that has not been seen since the 1840s, according to the UK papers. I don’t doubt it. The government there is totally and openly orwellian. They have politicians actually arguing (about banning smoking in homes) that the government has a duty to protect you from yourself and they are going to do it.
They have gone mad and paranoid and want ot turn Britain into one big surveillance site where everyone is under arrest and a criminal (one way or another).
Are your arms tired?.............;^)
A. It’s big and mostly empty
B. Rosie O’Donnell, Michael Moore, Ted Kennedy.........
John Tincey, of the Immigration Service Union, said: “The question is are there going to be the staff to respond to the information that is produced?
If THAT question is worth asking, then it needs doing!
PC got them (us too) into this fix, and nothing but pragmatism will get them out of it.
Answer me these questions 53 - ‘ere the other side ye see!
I thought Picard was from France........
I don’t know that! Aiiiiiieeeeeeeee!!!
Answer to all “uncomfortable” travel survey questions: “Help, I’m being Swiftboated!!!”
Hehehe - OK, you get to fly! :-)
There’s nothing wrong with muzzies that another 700 years of civilization wouldn’t cure.
Are you suggesting that coconuts migrate?
However, those in full muslim dress and carrying an AK-47 are exempt — just like here. They are allowed to come thru while the security folks are patting down the NORWEGIAN travellers.
Can’t have profiling
They certainly won that part of the war.
“muslims have taken freedom away from the west.”
No, the West has taken freedom away from the West. Democracies give up rights, they aren’t taken from them.
Well that’s really going to suck next year.
The last time I flew (thankfully a l-o-n-g time ago), I was pulled out of the boarding line for a patdown/shoe/belt check. Me and one other guy. Two ot the absolute whitest white men on the planet, and clearly business travelers to boot. Meanwhile, what looked like the entire Al-Qaeda Senior High soccer team was breezing right through on to the plane. Go figure.
Shaitan?
Socialists threw away freedom rather than face the real dangers.
I hope this cuts down on airfares (supply and demand, not regulatory compliance costs), I’d gladly put up with this to be able to visit the UK. My wife and I hope to make it for Bonfire Night next year, but with the dollar being what it is, and airfare being expensive, we’re worried about the cost.
Q: What was the worst maritime disaster in History?
A: The sinking of the Titanic
Correct.
Q: Approximately how many people were killed?
A: About 1,500
Correct
Q: Name them
I guess when you live on an island eventually the effects of in-breeding must make themselves known.
The cost sucked even before the dollar went down.
Leaving and going where?
It’s a fun game to play and your flight won’t be taking off on time anyway. Have to find some way to fill the time.
Camelot Pulls Scratchcard Amid Numerical Anarchy(The Register 11/8/07)
"I phoned Camelot and they fobbed me off with some story that -6 is higher, not lower, than -8, but I'm not having it."I think Camelot are giving people the wrong impression - the card doesn't say to look for a colder or warmer temperature, it says to look for a higher or lower number. Six is a lower number than 8. Imagine how many people have been misled."
53.) How many virgins do you expect to be waiting for you at your “destination”?
Here's a warning folks. A buddy of was moving to another city and needed to fly. The round-trip tickets were cheaper than a one-way flight so he purchased the round-trip ticket and simply didn't show up for his return flight. A few months later he needed to fly somewhere and found that he had been placed on a "no-fly" list for that particular airline. The reason? because he had missed his return flight and didn't notify anyone.
Probably better than the standardized questions I get over and over and over in Frankfurt. I've thought about suggesting they build up a much larger stock of questions and select a few at random. Right now I could probably produce a tape recording with all the answers -- and that's not a good thing.
Sorry, you’re wrong - they need another 1400 years of civilization.
Every time I go through flyer’s hell, as I think of it now, I know exactly who to thank for it. It’s not the TSA, it’s Muslims.
That is just the airline abusing the “do not fly” terrorist watch list.
They’ve always had a problem with their “special pricing” that gouges one way travellers. People used to split the ticket and sell the return trip to another traveller.
They required us since the 1980s to present a driver’s license to board the airplanes. Fat lot of good that did us on 9-11.
For the airlines to “no fly” someone for eating half a ticket (on an oversold flight) is akin to calling 911 because you aren’t getting your boyfriend to buy you something at the store.
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