Tue, Jul 05, 2011
Bipartisan Effort Underway To Save BARR Program
Senators Pat Roberts (R-KS) and Mark Begich (D-AK) led a
group of their colleagues in sending a letter late last week to
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood opposing a recent proposal by
the FAA to eliminate current privacy protections for general
aviation pilots, allowing the public to access their aircraft
movements in real-time.
Senator Roberts
“I find it troubling that the
Obama administration would associate removing the BARR program with
the need for greater transparency,” said Roberts
“Transparency has everything to do with citizens being able
to see how the government carries out its business, not the other
way around,” said Sen. Roberts. “I doubt any Kansan
would associate allowing strangers to stalk the movements of
private individuals as transparency. Maintaining the BARR program
has everything to do with an individual’s Constitutional
right to privacy, and I will continue to fight for all private
citizens’ right to travel and conduct business without having
to worry about who is spying on them.”
“In Alaska, aviation is essential to our way of life, but
there’s no reason why a flight to visit a family member or an
annual shopping trip needs to be tracked on the Internet in
real-time,” said Begich. “The current program respects
the safety concerns of government agencies while protecting the
privacy of pilots, passengers and aircraft owners.”
Senator Begich
Roberts and Begich were joined by a
bipartisan group of 26 senators who signed the letter asking DOT
not to end the Block Aircraft Registration Request (BARR) program
before Congress completes its work on the pending FAA
Reauthorization bill, where the BARR program is currently being
considered.
The BARR program allows citizens and companies to “opt
out” of having their aircraft movements tracked by anyone,
anywhere in the world, who has an Internet connection, other than
the Department of Homeland Security and other law enforcement
agencies. BARR simply prevents unauthorized, non-governmental
actors from knowing the location of private citizens.
However, the Senators say, if the proposed changes by the FAA are
put in place, anyone with a computer and easily accessible tracking
technology can stalk general aviation aircraft users. This reversal
would dismantle a decade-old policy put in place to uphold the
privacy rights of thousands of Americans.
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