Passenger Name Records

I work in the travel industry on the technology side, and I got this in an industry newsletter:

The government is setting its sights on accessing all PNR details of those flying in and out of the UK in order to counter serious crime.

Immigration minister Liam Byrne will respond to a House of Lords EU committee report today on passenger name records by recommending that the passenger details of those using any means of travel, from planes to ferries to Eurostar, to enter or leave Britain should be available for scrutiny by the government.

Currently EU law only allows the government to use PNR information when combatting terrorist threats or instances of organised crime.

But ministers say this hinders enforcement officers from tackling immigration issues and revenues and customs offences.

There will also be a push to allow the government to study the PNRs of passengers on domestic flights and those flying between EU states. At the moment, they can only look at the passenger details of people flying into and out of the EU

PNR is an acronym for Passenger Name Record, and contains info about a passenger that includes payment, and more and more, passport numbers, visa info, birthdates as well as other travel related info, including address and contact info (depending on where you booked the ticket.)  I have to question how not having access to this information "hinders enforcement officers from tackling immigration issues and revenues and customs offences." 

The government doesn't seem to handle the current databases they already have all that responsibly, how disastrous would it be if this information went walkabout? 

Too right & scary.     DH was commenting on the US website for that new visa waiver programme.  He says there aren't any security encryptions on the website and that its not a secure site for all the information they're asking!     Why do governments insist on having information, but not secure it? 

The local Council turned over the job application process to an outside business.  The pages where you enter all your application information aren't encrypted at all. 

I suppose it is unlikely someone will be trying to get my information, but even Tesco club card stuff is encrypted.