Adrian Northrup

In recent days, the United Kingdom and the United States have put a great deal of funding into a new technology that could be seen in our airports in the coming months – electronic tagging for airline passengers.
These tags could be used to better track the millions of people that come and go through major international hubs.

Although the devices haven’t been used in the United States yet, they are currently being tested in Turkey. These tags allow security officials to track passengers and do background checks on them with just a click of a mouse. They will be able to unlock everything about a passenger, from their date of birth to their place of residence.

According to the British Broadcasting Corporation, these tags are very similar to the type of tags given to individuals on probation and in prisons. They would, however, affix the tags to all passengers.
I find that is a bit over the top; I do not see very many 3-year-old suicide bombers running around.

The use of these tags would be a severe breech of our rights as U.S. citizens. I realize that this is a way in which the government hopes to protect freedom and life as we know it, but I really do not think that requiring passengers to walk around with tags is the answer. Travel is supposed to be a pleasurable experience and we should not all be treated like potential criminals in route to our destinations.

If one of our laws specifically states that we are all innocent until proven guilty, then why should we allow the government to treat us like terrorists? I do not really understand why our government needs to track us everywhere, from the bathrooms to the food court to the newsstands.

Furthermore, travel by airplane takes a great deal of time. These tags would only further hinder the already time-crunched passengers. I find this to be an unnecessary and tedious potential addition to the travel process, as well as an infringement of our rights as U.S. citizens.

Amsterdam, Holland has similar measures in its airports and they are run like a police state by the military.

We already have to cope with having armed military personnel in the airports, and with the new tagging, we are at risk of being on the wrong end of government intelligence.