Virgin and Easyjet open to legal challenge?
01 May 2003
On 29 April the Home Office announced that two UK airlines, Virgin and Easyjet, are to
take part in a three months pilot scheme to carry out on behalf of law enforcement and
security agencies "pre-entry screening" of all passengers boarding in Madrid (Easyjet) and
Miami (Virgin) and flying to Stansted and Heathrow respectively. Checks will also be made
on passengers leaving the UK on "selected flights" run by the airlines.
The Home Office says that "cutting edge technology" will be used by the airlines to "read"
passengers passports and check out their names and details "instantly" against "law
enforcement databases" - which can be assumed to be the UK "watch list", plus police,
customs, immigration, security and intelligence databases. The checks will also check
passports for security features, tampering and fraudulent documents - though how the
different EU identity cards or local resident permits are to be checked is unclear.
The scheme, which the UK hopes to introduce for all flights in the near future, is said to be
to tackle terrorism, organised crime and "potential immigration and security risks".
Tony Bunyan, Statewatch editor, comments:
"The contract between passengers and airlines is to provide a flight, not for airline
staff to play a law enforcement surveillance role. It is legitimate for immigration
officials to check whether a passport is valid/forged because passengers supplied their
details in order to travel. However, it is not legitimate for airlines to use the
information supplied by passengers - their name and passport details - for another
purpose - to check them out against security and intelligence databases - this is
precluded by the EC Data Protection Directive. Some of the same objections to the
US demands to check out passengers flying from the EU against their "watch lists"
apply to this idea too.
Will passengers be asked to consent to their names being checked out? And if they do
not consent will the airline refuse to fly them? If this is the case then the concept of
consent is rendered meaningless. Will passengers refused boarding on the basis of
security intelligence have the right of complaint and legal recourse?
The airlines should think again about their participation, partly because the idea has
little to do with terrorism and the safety of passengers and more with introducing the
wholesale surveillance of all passenger movements and, partly because they could
find themselves in trouble with the law if challenged"
This pilot scheme is a precursor to the UK government's intention to introduce "smart
passports" (a paper passport and a passport card) carrying biometric details such as
fingerprints and iris scans by April 2005.
Home Office press release
MODERNISING BORDER CONTROLS FOR THE 21st CENTURY
Reference: 123/2003 - Date: 29 Apr 2003 10:23
"Cutting-edge technology is to be used to run instant checks on airline passengers to identify
potential immigration and security risks before they travel to the UK, the Home Office
announced today.
A new pilot will use high tech document scanners to "read" the passports and other
documents of UK-bound passengers boarding at Madrid and Miami, and instantly check
them against online law enforcement databases. Checks will also be made on passengers
travelling on selected flights leaving the UK. The pre-entry screening system will identify
anyone who is a known immigration or security risk, as well as helping to detect forged or
stolen documents.
The trial is a key part of the Government's strategy to modernise immigration controls to
meet the challenges of the 21st century by using the latest technology and developing the use
of biometrics.
The three month "pre-en