The point of it is to know way ahead of time who is coming to their shores, even at the cost of inconvenience. Quick online esta-style form, not too bad, you just have to remember to do it.
There is also "bad person" without scare quotes to consider.
> similar name to a "bad person"
If you share the same name with someone on a watch list, you may be required to physically attend an interview at the embassy. That's a huge burden and something visa free travelers may not have had to do before.
It is a huge burden for me and everybody else to take off our shoes and stand in long lines over the last 25 years or so. The experience is already suboptimal, some security theatre is at play to be sure, and yet what do you actually suggest?
Perhaps you misread what I said above:
> There is also "bad person" without scare quotes to consider.
The status quo? That's implied by the conversation we're having, the existing system Vs. the new system.
> Perhaps you misread what I said above:
Didn't understand it the first time I read it, don't understand it now.