Originally Posted by
RadioGirl
Who is more likely to be a terrorist: a 30 year-old with a 5-year old credit history, or a six-year-old girl?
I bet I could talk a 6 year-old girl into carrying explosives without knowing it. So the real question is who are her parents?
Originally Posted by RadioGirl
Who is more likely to be a terrorist: a 40 year-old with a 20-year old credit history, or an Alaska state representative with a breast prosthesis?
They're likely to be the same person. In other words I'd find it unlikely that the politician doesn't have a credit record.
Originally Posted by RadioGirl
do you think they're going to give someone a pass because they've had a credit card for 5 years?
I think if they want access to my data they're going to have to do so.
Originally Posted by RadioGirl
If you're breathing, it's unlikely that you're actually a member of al-Qaeda.
So what's your solution?
Here's my point:
Right now the TSA has to screen EVERYONE at the SAME LEVEL because they have been given no tools to do any sort of threat analysis. That's what we're all objecting to, I thought? The scanners and the gropes?
We can't do any sort of profiling based on what someone looks like. That's racist/classist/bigoted, whatever. So yeah, the guy with the briefcase looks EXACTLY the same as a terrorist to the TSA. As does the 6 year-old. Because the moment the TSA starts to profile someone based on their race or religion then everyone freaks out.
However, I think that if we do want to profile folks then their credit history is a great place to start. There's a huge treasure trove of data there. And I bet it could be used to come up with a "threat score" (that wouldn't really be tied to your credit score - I could see someone with a bankruptcy and someone with an 800 score having the same "threat score"). Heck, I bet the government could come up with the algorithm, give it to the agencies, and have them generate the scores - the government wouldn't even need your credit data. (Just a way to verify your "score" with the bureaus.) If you don't want to give the government the data then fine - but then the TSA has no way to you know that you're NOT a terrorist, so they'll assume that you are.
This is assuming, of course, that we want to do any screening at all. If you want to say that the risk of a suicide bomber on a flight is low enough for you that all you want is WTMD, carry on x-ray machines, and stronger cockpit doors then I can understand that. It makes a lot of sense to me. But like so many things that make sense I don't think anyone will ever go for it.