EU moves closer to adopting plane passenger data-sharing system News
EU moves closer to adopting plane passenger data-sharing system

[JURIST] Slovenian Interior Minister Dragutin Mate said Friday that a European Union plan to archive and exchange air passenger data [JURIST report] had general support among EU ministers and could take effect as early as 2009. Interior ministers from EU member countries discussed the Passenger Name Record (PNR) plan at a Friday conference [press release] in Slovenia, the current holder of the Presidency of the EU [official website]. Privacy advocates have been critical of the plan and EU officials have expressed similar concerns. EU Commissioner for Justice, Freedom and Security Franco Frattini [official profile], meanwhile said the system was "absolutely necessary."

Frattini announced the plan last November as part of a package of counter-terrorism proposals [press release, JURIST report]. In July, the EU and US reached a new agreement on passenger data-sharing [JURIST report] under which air carriers will transmit passenger data directly to the US Department of Homeland Security within 15 minutes of a European flight's departure for the US. Reuters has more. AP has additional coverage.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Montgomery started racially-integrated bus service after boycott

On December 21, 1956, buses in Montgomery, Alabama, started racially integrated service following federal court rulings ending on-board segregation. Bus boycott leaders Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King and Rev. Ralph Abernathy were among the first riders under the new scheme. Learn about the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

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On December 21, 1879, Joseph Stalin was born in Gori, Georgia. In 1922, he became leader of the USSR until his death in 1953. During his time as Soviet dictator, Stalin industrialized his country, which he then led to become one of the world's two superpowers after WWII. Through his infamous purges, show trials and nationwide famines, Stalin also became responsible for millions of deaths.