All airlines flying into Australia will soon be forced to hand over detailed passenger information, while the plane is still in the air, to help identify gun-runners, drug smugglers and terrorists.
This information can only be of use to a sick mind who seeks suitable victims,
such as women with small children, the elderly and the Japanese.

The Australian Customs Service has initially targeted the top 12 of the 45 international carriers, accounting for 90 per cent of the eight million passengers who arrive from overseas each year.
How is this going to help the tourist industry, upon which so much of the prosperity of Australia depends?
It is the taxes on this which help to pay the wages of the low lives at the airports.

The carriers include Singapore Airlines, Thai Airways, British Airways and United Airlines.
Don't go to Australia. Take your holidays somewhere else. It is cheaper and the staff will be more polite.

In the latest initiative to tighten border security, Customs is requiring these carriers to allow access to their computer reservation systems by the middle of the year.
Computer data should be used only for the purpose for which it was collected.
Some countries have laws to ensure this. eg. The Data Protection Act.

By the end of next year, it is hoped all airlines will be participating in the $42 million scheme. Airlines refusing to co-operate will risk their continued entry into Australia.
If they go on like this there will be no more airlines flying into Australia.

The passenger databases contain a rich source of information. Airline reservation staff record when a passenger's passport and visa were issued, how the ticket was paid for and when it was bought, the weight and nature of the luggage, and even meal and seating requirements.
Watch out if you buy a ticket at the last moment for cash.
Vegetarians had better be careful too.

Qantas, which accounts for 45 per cent of all incoming passengers, has given Customs access to some of this information since 1996. However, changes to the Border Security Legislation Amendment Act - which came into effect in August - now make information-sharing mandatory for all airlines.
Never fly QANTAS. They used to be a fine airline but are now a part of British Airways.

As soon as an Australia-bound Qantas aircraft departs, Customs gains electronic access to the final passenger manifest.

Rather than study every individual, officers highlight only "high risk" passengers as stipulated in a software program that is designed to look for suspect travel and individual features. This process usually sees only 3 per cent of each aircraft's passengers flagged for further attention.
It would be nice to know what constitutes high risk travel.
Probably visits to certain areas and too much flying in too short a time.

"We use sophisticated analysis software to essentially interrogate the information contained on the passenger lists," a Customs official said.
Well they would say that wouldn't they?
This is cheeky chappie speaking again.

"It filters out the vast majority of passengers and leaves us to examine people who are deserving of greater interest. The major things we are after are drugs, weapons and terrorists.'
This selects a few unfortunate individuals.
Notice that it is the people they are examining and not their luggage.
The major thing we are after is the ability to travel from one place to another,
The terrorists are winning this war. They have succeeded in removing the freedom of the traveling public.

Investigators cross-reference the names of the targeted passengers against the major police and intelligence databases.
I do not believe.
There would not be much fun in that.
They do not make good victims.

Typically, only a couple of passengers on each flight are singled out by this process and their details passed on to Customs officers at airports for further inspection.
As many as that?

None of the information is retained by authorities, in contrast to programs being developed in the United States.
Just because the USA is worse does not excuse this behaviour.

Australia's expanded screening program, which is likely to provoke civil liberties concerns, follows the introduction of SmartGate, a facility that provides exact facial recognition of travelers.
Civil liberties is always used as a dirty word.
We have no civil liberties and we are oppressed daily more and more by ever more Draconian legislation.
There will soon be a fashion for face vales, to avoid recognition by SmartGate.

Used by more than 3000 Qantas staff at Sydney Airport, SmartGate allows face-to-passport checking to be verified by a machine in 10 seconds. It has been adopted to counter travel identity fraud, a huge growth area for immigration and criminal rackets.
Most passport photos do not look much like their owners.

It is understood Customs has also trialled "face in the crowd" technology.
Whoopie! Whatever will they come up with next. They seem less interested in our eyes than they used to be. Choke points not check points notice.
Where the crowds are deliberately made to pass through small openings like cattle.

However, initial tests have not proved encouraging.
Hurray!

The US has adopted some of the toughest passenger screening tests. Civil liberties groups have objected to moves to assign a threat level to all commercial flight passengers.
The greatest threat is the leadership which no longer seems to be the president.

From later in the year, airlines will be barred access to the US unless they deliver passenger details to border protection officials.
Again, do you want tourists or not? Only the lack of money will put a stop to this madness.