Nail, head
"Dutch MEP Sophie in 't Veld told El Reg that "this is emphatically NOT a new proposal," saying, "I really see no reason to basically restart the whole process on exactly the same basis. A bit like saying to Parliament, 'You voted, but you got it wrong. Just keep voting until we get the outcome we want'.""
This is exactly how lobbies get their legislation through in any country but most especially in Europe when they think no-one is watching.
Typical police-state behaviour to use a terrorist attack as an excuse to grab more data and powers that would have done absolutely nothing to prevent the attack in question.
To be fair, I do see that Passenger Name Recognition CAN have a limited scope of application. However it needs to be done properly:
- Passenger data stays with the airlines. They have it anyway, they're keeping it for at least a few weeks anyway. Police can't get access to any data, they can only submit a name.
- Police can only do a search for specific names, in conjunction with a select few departure and/or arrival points, and narrowly specified time windows. No fishing expeditions.
- Cut the 'serious crime' / 'terrorism' terminology which is crap and overly broad. Pretty much anything can be twisted to mean terrorism and/or serious crime. The baseline should be murder or attempted/planned murder. 'Real' terrorism will automatically be included. Anything less than that is not a serious enough crime to justify new powers and can be tackled the way it currently already is
- Judge's warrant is anyway necessary to be included with the request