“Traffic light” passenger terror ratings on the way?

Authorities in the United States are reportedly considering the introduction of a “traffic light” system, whereby every airline passenger that enters or leaves the country will be graded according to the terrorist risk they pose. According to the Daily Express, every passenger will have to provide their name, address, phone number, date of birth and travel plans to the airline before they travel; this information will then be entered into a huge database that will also store the passenger’s credit rating, criminal record and, reportedly, any published news stories in which their name appears. Once all the information has been processed, the passenger will be given a “traffic light colour”; the newspaper reports that the system could be up and running “within months”. A spokeswoman for the United States’ Privacy Association reportedly told the newspaper: “A lot of people are going to trigger some item in the database even though they are entirely innocent. This is a recipe for longer and longer delays.”