And Monday we received a new political action alert from Edward Hasbrouk, The Practical Nomad blogger who's been fighting the plan (and who testified about it at a TSA hearing). "The international Advance Passenger Information System rules were published, as 'final' effective February 19,2008, with no further opportunity for public comment even on the changes from the original proposal."

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 "The Department of Homeland Security can now evade debate on the similar elements of their Secure Flight proposal by claiming that it's needed to 'harmonize' the domestic and international travel restrictions -- as though travel within America was tantamount to and subject to the same government restrictions and controls as crossing international borders."

There will be a skillfully managed push to also "harmonize" European data collection and transfer requirements, in order to continue to provide European access to the American air travel market--dontcha know. And the EU will bitch a bit, then fold.

"The Secure Flight proposal also includes new and odious requirements that travelers display their government-issued credentials -- not to government agents, but to airline personnel (staff or contractors), whenever the Department of Homeland Security orders the airline to demand them... " That alone will create a huge potential for abuse. "The proposed Secure Flight rules would leave travelers hopelessly at the mercy of any identity thief who claims to be an airline contractor (subcontractor, sub-subcontractor, etc.) demanding 'Your papers, please!' anywhere in an airport."

That personal information, including all data history on your docs, hotel reservations, length of stay, itinerary, books carried, cell phone numbers, contacts,  and anything else supplied will, after the information is transferred to the "authorities", remain the property of the airline, and need not be deleted or returned. So there's the carrot that will entice their agreement to this travesty. What a bonanza of marketing data!! Europe will not escape this.