The FAA is ending the Block Aircraft Registration Request, BARR, program. This program allowed flight information of general aviation aircraft to be blocked from viewing by the general public. The elimination of this program is not an issue of national security. At all times, government agencies had access to the blocked flight information. Some will see this as a strike against corporate CEO’s cavorting about in corporate jets. In reality it is another blow to privacy for all of us. No longer can a celebrity block flight information to prevent a stalker from tracking a flight. This won’t directly affect most of us. I have never made use of the BARR program. Despite that I mourn the passing of one more bit of privacy. Bringing this closer to home is an idea that keeps popping up and that is taxing automobiles based on how many miles they are driven. This isn’t new. It has been proposed before. What isn’t mentioned is how this would be done. GPS tracking is the usual answer. This means the potential to have the government tracking everywhere you go. Now do you feel a little more sympathetic to those people losing the right to limit tracking of their aircraft?
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The meshing of the business, consumer and engineering worlds fascinates me. Today we find ourselves in a time of unprecedented change. More than ever, these worlds are interacting in a complex dance. Join me as I look at this dance to see who will win, who will lose and how our lives will be altered.
I have over 30 years of experience in the semiconductor industry. I have been a part of a very successful startup, build engineering groups from scratch, and managed and developed engineering software. Along the way I have watched how seemingly disparate advancements were part of a broader trend and how some companies succeeded while others failed depending on whether they understood where they fit in the bigger picture.
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paulplatt 
[…] May 30, 2011 by bikeal Leave a Comment The FAA is ending the Block Aircraft Registration Request, BARR, program. This program allowed flight information of general aviation aircraft to be blocked from viewing by the general public. The elimination of this program is not an issue of national security. At all times, government agencies had access to the blocked flight information. Some will see this as a strike against corporate CEO's cavorting about in corporate jets. In reality it is … Read More […]
“Both general aviation and commercial aircraft use the public airspace and air traffic control facilities, and the public has a right to information about their activities.”
This statement from Obama’s committee. Wow in that case we will be able to keep up with Air Force One. But if you are using this statement for air space the same should be true about using the roads. General and commerical drivers use public roads so the public has the right to know. Yes there are various taxes that are paid by corporations for Highway Use, Fuel Use, etc, and the common person does pay their state registration tax. So, guess everyone will need to file where they are driving too whenever they leave their driveway. This sounds like a lot of new job openings for the unemployement and should lower our unemployement number. But the reality of it all is that isn’t going to happen.
As for the airspace, like with any new law or requirement placed on the books, there will be loopholes to get around various things. But this will be interesting to watch after it takes affect to see how well it will work.
I see no reason the public has a right to this information. I drive on roads paid for by taxpayer money but I don’t want the average citizen to be able to go on the internet and track every where I am driving complete with a list of my intended route, my actual route, my initial estimated arrival time and an updated arrival time based on my driving speed. People see the ending of BARR as something that doesn’t affect them. It helps set the precedent that no one has a right to privacy.
I couldn’t agree more.