Source URL: https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/06/11/1825215/airlines-dont-want-you-to-know-they-sold-your-flight-data-to-dhs?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed
Source: Slashdot
Title: Airlines Don’t Want You to Know They Sold Your Flight Data to DHS
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AI Summary and Description: Yes
Summary: The report highlights a troubling partnership between major U.S. airlines and a data broker that has sold sensitive flight information to Customs and Border Protection (CBP). This raises significant privacy concerns, particularly regarding how personal data is collected and shared without transparency.
Detailed Description: The revelation of the Airlines Reporting Corporation’s (ARC) data practices has sparked alarms among privacy advocates and civil liberties experts. The key points of concern include:
– **Data Collection and Sale**: Major U.S. airlines—Delta, American Airlines, United, and others—collect and sell sensitive domestic travel data, including passenger names, flight itineraries, and financial details, via ARC to government entities.
– **Lack of Transparency**: CBP’s contract with ARC prohibits disclosing the source of the data, raising ethical and regulatory questions about the transparency of such arrangements.
– **Government Surveillance**: The data is utilized by CBP to assist local and state law enforcement in monitoring air travel of individuals considered “of interest,” which poses risks to civil liberties and privacy rights.
– **Industry Relationships**: The report underscores that ARC is controlled by several major airlines, with documents revealing the composition of the board of directors including representatives from these airlines and other international carriers.
– **Legislative Response**: Senator Ron Wyden’s statement emphasizes the unethical nature of the airlines selling Americans’ sensitive information to the government and calls for increased scrutiny and regulation of such data-sharing practices.
This incident is significant for professionals in security, privacy, and compliance as it illustrates the evolving landscape of data privacy issues, particularly in the aviation sector. It signals a need for stronger governance policies regarding data usage and sharing amongst private companies and governmental agencies.