travel
Travel has become an intrusive pain in the ass. Do you remember? Previously, we would have simply boarded a plane. These days, we’re prodded and scanned and beaten and/or TASERered at the border should we dare question our inquisitors. Nevermind the fact it’s impossible to whip up a bomb in the Boeing washroom. Like sheep, we’ve grown accustomed to handing over our travel-sized liquids for disposal, to removing our shoes, to submitting to an invasive groping should we decline to have our bodies imaged and bathed in high-energy radiation. On balance – considering we’re more likely to be struck by lightning twice than to fall victim to ‘terror’ – does this keep us safe? Or does it simply lock us down, pen us in, and restrict our movements across national borders within a nascent global police state?
Smoking Guns — Suggested Reading
‘Naked’ scanners may increase cancer risk
Government Lied: Naked Body Scanners CAN Transmit Images
New OPP cameras scan licence plates
Border guards resorting to force more often
Greyhound introduces security screening of passengers, bans fruit, carry-ons
Interpol wants facial recognition database to catch suspects
American Rail Passengers Subject to Random Searches, Police Presence
Archive (Most recent headlines first)
2010
Naked body scanners ‘could give you cancer’, children especially vulnerable warns expert | G20: Activists Arrested, Others Denied Entry into Canada | Report suggests road tolls to fight climate change | U.S. airlines, small planes must install GPS | Airport body scanners raise radiation concerns — again | ‘Naked’ scanners may increase cancer risk | Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has passport confiscated in Australia | Transport Canada proposes aviation security revamp | Young Quebec student strip-searched, stranded in U.S. border ordeal | Couple Arrested At U.S. Border For Asking Questions | Canada offers Michigan $550M loan for NASCO link bridge | Canadian sci-fi writer avoids jail time in Michigan for questioning border cop and being assaulted | Full-body scanners are waste of money, Israeli expert says | Are our customs officers traumatizing visitors? | Montreal flirting with road tolls | GTA road tolls are inevitable, professor says | Toronto mayor David Miller uses subway PA to push for funding | TTC opens door to electronic payment | Roadblocks cleared for Windsor continental supercorridor link | Government Lied: Naked Body Scanners CAN Transmit Images | US Airline Security Moves to Known Threat Descriptive Profiling | UK: Children must go through airport naked body scanners | UK Airport worker warned over harassment using naked body scanner | Canadians to get biometric, RFID enabled passports in 2011, security experts voice concerns | Canadian sci-fi author, assaulted at border, convicted of ‘non-compliance’ | Body scans eventually mandatory, TSA official says | Planned random DUI checkpoints a violation of rights | Tories revive random roadside breath test | 11 More U.S. Airports Get Body Scanners | Plan to put more police on Toronto transit | Australia to fingerprint, face-scan visitors from Muslim nations | USA: Fourth Amendment Trashed As Airport Tyranny Hits The Streets | Exposed: Naked Body Scanner Images Of Film Star Printed, Circulated By Airport Staff | Radiation Safety Group Says Naked Body Scanners Increase Risk Of Cancer | UK: Airline passengers have ‘no right’ to refuse naked body scanners | Full-body scanner blind to bomb parts | Airport scanner companies queue for business after ‘underpants bomber’ | German ‘Fleshmob’ Protests Airport Scanners | Remain vigilant while travelling, Baird tells Canadians | B.C. to get license-plate scanning system | Body scanners capable of storing, sending images, group says | Dutch police develop mobile body scans | Whole-body airport scanners are basically safe–or are they? | Mind-reading systems could change air security | Airport security starts in the parking lot | Obama orders ’strengthened’ no-fly list after bomb plot | Body scanners coming to Canadian airports | UK: New scanners break child porn laws | US implements travel profiling: Tougher air screening for ’security-risk’ countries | UK: Full-body scanners being ordered for airports, says Gordon Brown | Running a red light? It’ll cost you big time now | Group slams Chertoff on conflict of interest in scanner promotion
2009
The ‘Israelification’ of airports: High security, little bother | Underwear Bomber Renews Calls for ‘Naked Scanners’ | Airport restrictions denounced as ’security theatre’ | No carry-on bags for flights to U.S., RCMP assisting with screening | Dr Peter Watts, Canadian science fiction writer, beaten and arrested at US border | New OPP cameras scan licence plates | Border guards are now Olympic thought police — Amy Goodman detained | Federal Privacy Commissioner raises alarm over terror security measures | GPS Tracked Road Tolls Back On Agenda for Toronto Metrolinx | Report suggests road tolls, parking and fuel taxes for GTA | Everyone in Britain could be given a personal ‘carbon allowance’ | US citizens fight back against traffic cameras | EU urges use of tracking boxes for motorists | Privacy watchdog OKs ‘naked’ airport scanners | Security may soon test ‘virtual strip search’ at large Canadian aiports | Random breathalyzer tests considered for Canada | Laptops fair game for border searches | UK: Pilot project for DNA, isotope analysis of immigrants ‘deeply flawed’ | US Border Guards to Expand Use of X-Ray Body Scanners | Now you need a boat license | Border guards resorting to force more often | UK: Rothschild bank pitches motorway privatisation plan | CSIS role in Abdelrazik case to be probed | Abdelrazik accuses CSIS, MPs of harassment and interrogation | Vancouver kicks off quest for ways to fund transportation system | Border agents handcuff, interrogate Winnipeg couple | Abdelrazik vows to clear name from ‘unjust’ UN no-fly list | Mysterious people tailing recently repatriated no-fly-list refugee | Selective enforcement: Charkaoui barred from US airspace on flight from Fredericton to Montreal | Illegal Victoria Transit bag searches reinstated under new policy for Canada Day | UN rushes Abdelrazik terror allegations onto website in wake of exoneration | Toronto police ready to take over transit patrols | Ottawa will allow Abdelrazik to return to Canada | Ottawa defies court, refuses emergency travel documents to citizen trapped in Sudan | Court orders Ottawa to let Abdelrazik return to Canada | Jordanian woman alleges beating by interrogator at Toronto airport | Committee calls on Cannon to let Abdelrazik appear in Ottawa | Public may not hear fate of Greyhound bus killer | Canadians secretly interrogated Abdelrazik, papers show | Parade of excuses continues as Ottawa denies citizen’s repatriation | Province assumes control of transit board, pays Toronto $9 billion for projects | Big Brother is watching: surveillance box to track drivers is backed | Supporters defy law, buy plane ticket for Montrealer stuck in Sudan | US Terrorist watch list hits 1 million | Against protocol, bus decapitation accused released from Ontario institution in 2005 | ‘Say please’ at U. S. border nets pepper spray | Metrolinx’s draft report called for supporters to infiltrate public meetings | Woman swats children on plane, charged with Terrorism | UK-Irish travellers to face passport checks | U.S. visitors now required to register online with Department of Homeland Security | UK: ‘Spy-in-sky’ trials get the go-ahead despite Government promise to scrap road-pricing plan
2008
Oregon Governor Wants GPS-Tracked Vehicle Mileage Tax | GTA Transit plan needs taxation, ‘governance’ powers | Calls for GPS-tracked ’speed-limiting’ cars in UK | GTA Transit plan needs taxation, ‘governance’ powers | Oregon Governor Wants GPS-Tracked Vehicle Mileage Tax | Is road-tolls fix running out of gas? | Supreme Court set to consider privacy rights | Drug-sniffing dog plan for BC SkyTrain unconstitutional: legal critics | Greyhound introduces security screening of passengers, bans fruit, carry-ons | Former US congresswoman, presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney barred from boarding plane to human rights conference | Retired B.C. woman surprised to find herself on international no-fly list | U.S. air-security rules cause Canadian turbulence | Road tolls called ‘inevitable’ | UK Pilots threaten strike over ID card plan | Federal government stages another retreat on road tolls | Federal Road Toll Meeting Sponsorship Kept Quiet Until After Election | Germany rejects full-body scans at airports | Interpol wants facial recognition database to catch suspects | Mobile phones to track carbon footprint using GPS | Metrolinx considering road tolls after all | Feds give customs agents free hand to seize travelers’ documents | GTA Transport Plan Defers Road Tolls, Focuses on Centralization, Intensification | American Rail Passengers Subject to Random Searches, Police Presence | Second Greyhound stabbing suspect also required ‘psychological help’, media clamour for airport-style security renewed | Police drop off and pick up new Greyhound knife assault suspect | Red light cameras not going up fast enough for Toronto budget | Ottawa balks at travel permit for man trapped in Sudan | Montreal man changing name to escape U.S. no-fly list | Federal road-toll study announced, immediately cancelled on eve of election call | Global ‘Intelligent Transport’ initiative comes to your cellphone: Location data used to track traffic flow | GPS Mapping Systems Enable Police Tracking | Cities Debate Giving Away Public Infrastructure to Bankers | Greyhound bus passengers now subject to arbitrary luggage searches | NYC Residents Furious over Invasive Surveillance Grid | Security officials to scan D.C. area license plates | Beijing Taxis Are Bugged ‘For Driver Safety’ | ‘Please kill me,’ bus beheading suspect pleads as history of psychiatric treatment surfaces | Psych tests ordered for beheading suspect | Edmonton bus terminal ‘wide open’, security needed: ex-security guard | Bus beheading ‘a mystery’ | Bush Calls for New Highway Tolls, More Private Funding of Roads | Eye scans, fingerprints to control NZ borders | Drivers licences with chips spark heated debate | Regional transit requires ‘good governance’ | Get set — the future starts now | Air Canada objects to US plans to fingerprint exiting foreigners | RCMP conducts random search and seizure on Canada Day | TTC officers won’t carry Tasers, guns | Today’s suburbs, tomorrow’s slums? | Air passengers to undergo ‘virtual strip search’ | Ottawa Proposes Band-Aid ‘Bill of Rights’ for Airline Travellers | Road tolls, a bitter pill that works | Pistol Pendant Causes Airport Holdup | US Homeland Security Keen on ‘Novel’ Israeli Airport Security Technology | Every adult in Britain should be forced to carry ‘carbon ration cards’, say MPs | Ontario Privacy Czar Worried about High-Tech Licences | Family of Canadian stranded by no-fly list to make public appeal | American Border Officers Want to Fingerprint Canadians at SPP Bridge | American Border Officers Want to Fingerprint Canadians at SPP Bridge | Pay-As-You-Drive Car Insurance | Airport scanner a ‘virtual strip search’ | U.S. to collect DNA at border | Is it time for toll roads? | Metrolinx Proposes Satellite Vehicle Tracking for Road Tolls | Ontario privacy chief gives green light to TTC surveillance plans | Privacy International responds to Ontario Privacy Commissioner ruling on CCTV | Electronic Passports Raise Privacy Issues
2007
T.T.C. Starts Camera Installation On Buses & Streetcars | Toronto part of ‘transnational mega-region’ | Privacy issues surround planned TTC cameras | Canada to launch no-fly list in June
2006
Vancouver to import road tolls from UK | UK proposes national road tolls to cut congestion
2002
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