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JetBlue Whistle-Blowers Threatened

Posted by timothy on from the legal-attack-dogs dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Cryptome is reporting that Torch Concepts, the DOD contractor to whom JetBlue gave away its customers' personal information, is now sending cease and desist letters to the privacy activist Bill Scannell (who blew the whistle on the JetBlue scandal) and Len Sassaman, who made the evidence available on his website. The claim made by Torch is copyright violation -- are we about to see the DMCA used to silence corporate and government whistle-blowers? (Ironically, Scannell and Sassaman were two of the key people who launched the campaign to free DMCA victim Dmitry Sklyarov. Karma?"

14 comments

  1. What criminal & civil sanctions available? by zenyu · · Score: 5, Interesting

    As a former Jet Blue customer I am very concerned that they may have released customer data in violation of their privacy policy. Is anyone here aware of what kind of fraud or other laws might be applicable here for me to bring to my attorney general's attention (Eliot Spitzer)?

    I will also be sending educational letters to my representative (Carolyn Maloney-D) and senators (Hillary Clinton-D & Charles Schumer-D), about the DMCA and possibly the need for greater criminal sanctions for the type of activity Jet Blue is accused of engaging in. Any one care to educate me?

    1. Re:What criminal & civil sanctions available? by the+eric+conspiracy · · Score: 2, Interesting

      You should also complain to the Federal Trade Commission.

    2. Re:What criminal & civil sanctions available? by Alinabi · · Score: 1

      While I understand your frustration, I think you should come to terms with the fact that privacy died the day the credit card was born.

      --
      "You can't allow somebody to commit the crime before you detain them." [Condoleezza Rice]
    3. Re:What criminal & civil sanctions available? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      That's bullshit.

      I can use my credit card if I'm not concerned about privacy or cash if I am.

      In this case, Jet Blue made a legally binding promise to protect my privacy and they violated it.

      I'm from Toronto, Canada, and over the past year, I've driven down to buffalo 5 times to fly JetBlue. I will never fly with them again, and I've sent them a very nasty letter to that effect.

  2. new definition of irony by sydlexic · · Score: 2

    (Ironically, Scannell and Sassaman were two of the key people who launched the campaign to free DMCA victim Dmitry Sklyarov.)

    please, please explain how this is ironic. it seems more like par for the course for these two.

  3. Hate the DMCA, but sort of see Torch's point by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Interesting

    The PDF doesn't look like a great presentation, but it probably took someone time, effort (i.e. money) to produce. One could debate that the point the whistle-blowers made could have come from select pages, but on the other hand, credibility in these instances comes from completeness of disclosure. Pick 'em.
    FWIW, their analysis of jetBlue's typical passenger means that your typical dot.com'er of a few years ago -- younger, upper income, short lenght of residence -- would be abnormal, flagged which equals threat? Ouch.

  4. Passenger Records Destroyed by umofomia · · Score: 5, Interesting
    I don't know about the veracity of JetBlue's claims, but the CEO of JetBlue issued a letter to its customers saying:
    The sole set of data in Torch's possession has been destroyed; no government agency ever had access to it. With Torch's help, we are continuing to make every effort to have the Torch presentation with the one customer's information removed from the Internet.
    A copy of the letter can be found here, and the NY Times article about it is here
  5. the wesley clark connection by kevin+lyda · · Score: 4, Informative
    i support wesley clark's entry into the dems race, but i'd like this explained. in the cryptome cease and desist link there was this paragraph:

    Bear in mind that General Wesley Clark, US presidential contender, is/was a member of the board of Acxiom, giant database producer, which sold far more information to Torch Concepts on citizens of the world than JetBlue provided apparently for no cost. As the Torch study proclaims, it was the Axciom data that was much more useful to spy on citizens than that of JetBlue.

    people should politely ask him about it at his weblog. seriously, don't be assholes. he has a way to get feedback - use it intelligently. we need to encourage politicians to be more responsive. if clark ignores the issue or gives a poor answer then pester the other candidates on their positions and vote for the ones who answer better. but leave out the insults.

    --
    US Citizen living abroad? Register to vote!
    1. Re:the wesley clark connection by kevinatilusa · · Score: 3, Informative

      Taking a brief look at the site you linked to, it doesn't seem as if that weblog is run by Clark at all. It's linked to under "grassroots support" on his site, but it seems to be just a place for Clark's supporters to discuss his campaign, and not Clark himself (correct me if I am mistaken)

    2. Re:the wesley clark connection by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 1

      i support wesley clark's entry into the dems race, but i'd like this explained...

      There's some other things that need explaining first.

      For example, in Kosovo, Clark ordered French and British troops to attack a Russian position at the Pristina airport. We have a British General Michael Jackson (the sane) to thank for disobeying orders on this one for not getting NATO into a war with Russia.

      So, being on the board of an unscrupulous database company isn't that high on my list of problems with Clark.

      --
      My God, it's Full of Source!
      OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
  6. Not on main page by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative
    Already hours and less a dozen posts? No "GNA" FP?

    Got the year wrong or something? Slashcode should automatically prevent that.

    I only found this because I searched for "jetblue", after reading Cryptome and this site:

    http://www.dontspyon.us/jetbluescandal.html

    In related news, eBay is spying on its customers. Not much new about that :(

    This story too is buried in the bowels of /., but not listed on main page.

    I must not be paying enough attention to /. For all I know perhaps /. has gone into the business of "region encoding" its stories, to segment its readership :)

  7. info in the presentation itself by oliphaunt · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Obviously there are a couple of layers of problem here. One is that JetBlue made a promise to protect privacy, and broke that promise by sending data to a 3rd party. Another is that the TSA appears to *encourage* this kind of abuse, rather than expressing outrage that a carrier would take advantage of their customer relationships in such a manner.

    But I looked at the presentation last week when this story broke (sorry it's a PDF...). To me, the biggest problem is that on Page 20, you have a whole group of individuals identified by SSN and DOB. If I were one of those people, I would be pretty upset- not just at JetBlue, but also at the careless spreadsheet jockey who posted this to the web in the first place.

    This guy sounds like he's interested in doing something about it.

    --




    Humpty Dumpty was pushed.