US may require European visitors to register online
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(InfoWorld) - Europeans who visit the U.S. will be required to fill out an online questionnaire two days before they enter the country under a proposal being studied by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The department has been discussing the idea internally for about a month, said Hugo Teufel III, chief privacy officer for the DHS, in a meeting with journalists in Paris on Thursday. He could not say when the registration system might be introduced. The proposal will likely increase tensions between the U.S. and Europe at a time when the two sides are already in heated debate over U.S. demands for data about air passengers flying from Europe to the U.S. The U.S. says it needs access to more data to prevent suspected terrorists from entering the country, while European regulators counter that the demands are excessive and worry how the data will be used. The online registration would complement the Automated Targeting System, or ATS, a program disclosed by the DHS in November that assigns a "risk assessment" to people entering and leaving the U.S., to determine the likelihood that they pose a security threat. The registration system would likely require approval by the U.S. Congress before it could be introduced, Teufel said. "It's a fairly new initiative in that we've been discussing it internally for about a month," he added. He offered few other details Thursday, but Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff discussed the proposal earlier this week in an interview with the German newspaper Der Spiegel. Chertoff said the U.S. wanted to "elevate the security level generally" for foreign visitors, particularly in light of its looser visa requirements for some countries. The online registration "would be similar to what they do in Australia where visa waiver travelers would register online in advance, and they would, therefore, know before they arrive in the United States whether there was going to be a problem with their being admitted," Chertoff told the newspaper. "The registration would have a shelf life of some years. It wouldn't be something you do every trip, you would do it periodically," he added. The DHS will prepare a "privacy impact assessment" on the registration plan, Teufel said Thursday. Such assessments cover issues like how data is used, who can access it and for how long it will be retained. Teufel suggested that the assessment report would be made available to the public, although U.S. law makes exceptions for reports about systems used by the intelligence community, he said. Teufel was appointed by Chertoff in July last year and is responsible for the DHS's privacy policies.
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Over the past few years, the Internet has seen new domain names such as '.eu' for Europe and '.travel' for the travel industry.Comment
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All visitors from Europe and elsewhere were fingerprinted and photographed upon arrival at U.S. airports on Thursday as part of a new, heightened effort by authorities to secure American borders.
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PRAGUE, Sep 21 (IPS) - Negotiations for a new visa regime between the  United States and the European Union (EU) have driven another  wedge between the EU's older, Western members and the  Eastern European countries that recently joined.
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Europe&#39;s top data protection official, European Data Protection Supervisor Peter Hustinx, criticized plans to create a European equivalent of the PNR (passenger name records) gathered by U.S. authorities, questioning the plan&#39;s necessity and proportionality.&quot;The fight against terrorism can be a legitimate ground to apply exceptions to the fundamental rights to privacy and data protection, but only within certain limits,&quot; Hustinx said in a statement on Thursday.&quot;The necessity of intended measures must be supported by clear and undeniable elements, and their proportionality must be demonstrated. These two aspects are essential conditions and they are clearly not fulfilled in this case,&quot; he said.The U.S. introduced PNR gathering in the wake of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. After some initial resistance, the European Union agreed to allow airlines to hand over to American authorities details about passengers flying from the E.U. to the U.S., before a flights&#39; departure.Since then, Madrid and London have been attacked by suicide bombers, stiffening the resolve of European politicians to tighten security further.Last month the European Commission proposed a raft of pan-E.U. antiterrorism measures, including a PNR gathering system for all flights into the E.U. Under the proposed plan, air carriers would be obliged to hand over 19 pieces of passenger information, including the name, address, passport number, credit-card number, and history of changes in any flight schedule. The data would be retained for up to 13 years and be shared between authorities in all E.U. member states.This is very similar to the shape of the PNR agreement reached with the U.S. in June. Airlines have to hand over 19 details about passengers on flights to the U.S., and the U.S. authorities can keep the information for up to 15 years.Hustinx said the E.U. PNR plan would have &quot;a major impact on privacy and data protection rights of air passengers.&quot;He also criticized the agreement for its lack of clarity. In particular, he pointed out that the Commission&#39;s proposal doesn&#39;t say what the applicable legal framework for the plan would be, doesn&#39;t specify which authorities should have access to the data and fails to give rules on transferring passenger data outside of the E.U.Hustinx urged E.U. lawmakers to delay the PNR plan until after the recently agreed Lisbon Treaty comes into force, which is expected within the next year once each member state ratifies it in its national parliament.The treaty would force the Council of national governments to reach agreement with the European Parliament on the PNR plan. Currently the Council can decide on the matter by itselfMany parliamentarians are bitterly opposed to the E.U./U.S. PNR agreement and to the E.U. PNR plan.The European Commission wasn&#39;t immediately available to comment on Hustinx&#39;s comments.
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European officials yesterday joined the chorus of concern over a U.S. screening program that creates risk profiles for every air traveler entering or leaving the United States, and sought assurances that the system does not violate European privacy rights.
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All visitors from Europe and  elsewhere were fingerprinted and photographed upon arrival at  U.S. airports on Thursday as part of a new, heightened effort  by authorities to secure American borders.
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EU plans to make it easier for European patients to seek healthcare within any member state
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Visitors could face digital fingerprinting at airports under plans to beef up border security
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HELSINKI, Finland US embassies in northern Europe say they have received &quot;threat information&quot; and are urging Americans living in the Nordic and Baltic regions to be cautious.
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An American T-shirt company has a solution for fellow citizens who want to vacation in Europe without having to answer questions about US politics: pose as Canadians.
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New rules for the types of identification U.S. or Canadian citizens must present to cross into the country shouldn't cause significant delays and won't be strictly enforced at first, a senior federal official said.
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Some European countries are proposing outlawing the use of fake information to open e-mail accounts or set up Web sites, a move intended to help terror investigations but which could face resistance on a privacy-conscious continent.
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RIGA, Latvia Nov 1, 2004 - Security was tighter around the US embassies in Finland and Latvia on Monday amid a US warning that Americans living and traveling in the Nordic and Baltic nations should be on guard against a possible terrorist strike.
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I just registered to vote in the upcoming US elections, even though I live in Canada.  I was able to register through the help of the Federal Voting Assistance Program, which provides a simple registration form that can be used to register in every US state and territory except American Samoa and Guam.    US Citizens living overseas can register to vote in the US state they last physically resided in.  I lived in Owl's Head, Maine before I moved to Nova Scotia, so that's where I registered.    I meant to submit an article about my experience to help other US expatriates who are k5 readers, but life intervened and I didn't get around to registering until after the deadline for most states.    You might still be able to register depending on your state, and in any case your registration will still be valid for the 2006 elections.      The deadline for absentee voters in Maine is tomorrow.  Fortunately, Maine accepts the Federal Post Card Application by fax.  Not every state does, one reason the instructions are complex and hard to understand.    Read on for details of how you can register from overseas.
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European Commission to propose foreign travelers into and out of Europe, including U.S. citizens, should be fingerprinted.
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The Bush administration yesterday postponed for at least six months a new security rule that Americans show a passport when crossing U.S. borders by land or by sea, requiring instead that citizens present an identity card and proof of citizenship upon entry for the first time, beginning Jan. 31.