All Air Passengers are Criminals Now

Electronic tagging of air passengers could become the norm according to this story

Electronically tagging passengers at airports could help the fight against terrorism, scientists have said.

The prototype technology is to be tested at an airport in Hungary, and could, if successful, become a reality “in two years”.

It’s like a relentless march; the ongoing erosion of our civil liberties by those enraptured by the lure of “technological solutions”. Sounds almost final, that. I wonder, sometimes, just what passes for brain matter between the ears of these people. Tagging passengers will not stop terrorism, it will simply allow the authorities to harass and menace innocent citizens going about their lawful business.

He said: “The basic idea is that airports could be fitted with a network of combined panoramic cameras and RFID (radio frequency ID) tag readers, which would monitor the movements of people around the various terminal buildings.”

Let me put this plainly; where I go in public area of the terminal building is my fucking business and no one else’s. Usually, this is from check-in, through the interminable security checks, a brief sojourn in the departure lounge and onto the aircraft. If I nip to the gents sometime during that process, I absolutely do not want Big Brother following me about.

The tags do not store any data, but emit a signal containing a unique ID which could be cross-referenced with passenger identification information. In the future, added Dr Brennan, this could incorporate biometric data.

Here we go… Now why did I know that was going to come up. These nincompoops just love the sound of that one, don’t they? And this belies any “civil liberties” assurances they attempt to offer. This is all about eroding civil liberties. This is about treating ordinary law abiding citizens like criminals.

The plan, he said, would be for each passenger to be issued with a tag at check-in.

The day that happens will be the last day I fly anywhere. I will absolutely not be electronically tagged by anyone, anywhere. This is not negotiable.