American Airlines Is Third Company To Share Data

crem_d_genes writes "American Airlines has become the third U.S. airline to admit sharing passenger records with the government. They were proceeded in admissions by Northwest Airlines and JetBlue Airways. At the heart of the matter is the implementation of the of U.S. Transportation Security Administration's (TSA) use of the provisions known as CAPPS II. Some privacy advocates have expressed strong dissent with this plan. Some concerns have even been brought up in Congress, though for different reasons. The Department of Homeland Security has a site entitled CAPPS II: Myths and Facts."

Comments

EU better watch out

[SkunkPussy]

Myth: CAPPS II will track where and when I travel and will store that information.

Fact: For U.S. persons, information will only be kept for a short period after completion of the travel itinerary, and then it will be permanently destroyed.

So all the passenger data that the EU is leeching to US is being permanently stored - i.e. US is building a database of all EU citizens who have ever travelled to US. scary.

I can't believe the EU sold us out.

Re:EU better watch out

[heironymouscoward]

Technically no laws are broken: data on EU citizens is protected only within the EU and the US Privacy Act only covers data on US citizens.

A European visitor to the US is now (along with nationals from many 'visa exemption' countries) being fingerprinted, photographed, and logged in numerous databases.

As the largest and most powerful nation on Earth, the US can do this. What amazes me is not that the EU allows it (what choice does it have?), but that it does not reciprocate. I'd like to see a special queue at Brussels airport where visiting American tourists are finger-printed, photographed, and generally treated like criminal suspects. /me thinks the concept of "tolerance and personal liberty" would soon find a new meaning.

We live in dangerous times: the State is seeking levels of control over our lives that would allow it to eliminate many hard-won liberties, such as the right to travel freely.

Re:EU better watch out

[jeffkjo1]

I'd like to see a special queue at Brussels airport where visiting American tourists are finger-printed, photographed, and generally treated like criminal suspects. /me thinks the concept of "tolerance and personal liberty" would soon find a new meaning.

You've got the right idea, as did Brazil, when it started doing this. Amazingly, when they did, US Lawmakers started an uproar about how unfair it was.
Sigh.....

Don't Come Here

[Jameth]

From the Department of Homeland Security:

Fact: For U.S. persons, information will only be kept for a short period after completion of the travel itinerary, and then it will be permanently destroyed. The prescreening process will be conducted anew each time you fly.

Sometime I hate my country. So, those of you who aren't from here: yet another reason to not come. Does the government not understand the manner in which science progresses? This is just going to destroy the US research community, which was once the greatest in the world. Goodbye, conferences.

Re:Good

[Liselle]

That's the attitude they are probably counting on. Not that it's a bad thing: the majority of folks have nothing to hide. Privacy is nice for some things, but there is a point where it crosses over into paranoia. The sibling AC is correct, your unpopular view is either going to be modded down, or the mods are going to have an Over-rated fight this morning.

Personally, I think the government is barking up the wrong tree with airplanes. What they should really be more worried about is the nation's subway systems. I hang my hat with the MBTA (Massachusetts subway system), and believe me when I say this: it would be trivial for someone to blow up a train. The collateral damage from an explosion going off at Park Street during rush hour would be devastating. But that's not really on-topic, I guess. :P

Re:Good

[vegetablespork]

Personally, I think the government is barking up the wrong tree with airplanes. What they should really be more worried about is the nation's subway systems.

Don't worry--I'm sure Ashcroft and company are hard at work on a national database to be checked against a swipe of your National ID (a.k.a. "standardized driver's license or state ID") when you board any public transporation. At that point, known terrorist (or deadbeat dads, or those with unpaid parking tickets, or people with questionable political affiliations) can be arrested and searched.

In about ten years, we'll have an internal passport system for air, land, and sea transport that would have made Soviet Russia proud.

Game Over

[CaptainZapp]

A European visitor to the US is now (along with nationals from many 'visa exemption' countries) being fingerprinted, photographed, and logged in numerous databases.

Yup, but this stops at the end of September. Except Canadians every terr^H^H^H^Hforeigner will be fingerprinted upon entry to the US.

If I'd be the US tourist industry I'd be in the process of shitting my pants from fear.

From a personal perspective: I've travelled the US about 15 times and spent a significant amount of my tourist Euro there.

This change of procedure however has the stench of assuming that I'm a criminal and doesn't give me the warm fuzzy feeling that I'm welcome.

I might be a tad over sensitive here (given the rotten track record of privacy protections in the US I'm not sure though), but I don't believe that I'm the only ex-US visitor with that view..

Re:Good

[general_re]

The problem, however, is that not only does it not work, it actively decreases security.

Another argument put forward against passenger screening in particular is that terrorists will adapt to the screening methods in order to slip through the system. See Samidh Chakrabarti & Aaron Strauss, Carnival Booth: An Algorithm for Defeating the Computer-assisted Passenger Screening System, at http://www.swiss.ai.mit.edu/6805/student-papers/sp ring02- papers/caps.htm. Again, this concern should be taken into account when developing applications but does not argue against research and development, or deployment, with adequate accounting for the problem. First, there are obviously ways to defeat any system. Nevertheless, they are worthwhile because they raise the cost of engaging in the terrorist act by requiring avoidance strategies. Not only do such avoidance strategies increase 'costs' to the terrorist but they also provide additional points of potential error on the part of the terrorist that may lead to discovery. Obviously, if we were to take this critique too seriously on its face it would support the conclusion that locks should not be used because locksmiths (or burglars with locksmithing knowledge) can defeat them. Second, to the extent that we are talking about researching adaptive machine learning based algorithms, an important research objective would be to try to anticipate these avoidance methods in application, algorithm and system design, including by building in both variability and random outcomes (for example, by combining random searches with CAPPS II).

- K. A. Taipale, "Data Mining and Domestic Security: Connecting the Dots to Make Sense of Data," 5 COLUM. SCI. & TECH. L. REV. 2 (December 15, 2003)

Re:YRO? Seriously?

[fuzzybunny]

RTFA, didya?

The issue isn't as much the sharing of data with the gub'mint (although that _is_ a valid discussion, it's one for elsewhere); it's the fact that a contractor gave it to other companies at the government's bidding without AA's knowledge or consent.

And regarding your "conclusion", this poor schmuck's paranoia is not trumped by "the government" wanting to know that I'm travelling from point a to point b. What have CAPPS & friends (fingerprinting/photography at airports, massive visa lines at embassies, whatever) done besides terribly annoy a lot of possibly desirable immigrants and tourists, who'll now go vote with their wallets and go elsewhere? "Let 'em", you may say. "Fine, they will" I reply.

Re:Perspective - and privacy...

[gillbates]

So I'm applying for a home loan, and the broker requests my name and SSN. That's all.

Within minutes, he's reading back to me recent payments, credit card balances, bank account info, etc... basically, my entire financial history. He knows that we were late on our electric bill in November, and comments on how nice it is that our car payments are so low.

Anyone who thinks that CAPPS II is a serious invasion of privacy is seriously naive. The average person no longer possesses any privacy to speak of. The sad fact of the matter is that you can be tracked no matter where you go:

• Your credit card purchases and ATM withdrawals track where you go and how much you spend.
• Even the small bills ($20) are tagged with RFID's, so cash no longer guarantees privacy. Plus, it's not likely that you'll find a good job which pays cash only.
• Your grocer records your every purchase, linked to your discount, bank, or credit card. The FBI can have this information simply for the asking...
• Your library viewing habits are now subject to Federal review, thanks to the PATRIOT act.
• Your medical practitioner is bound by law to turn over your medical records in cases where they suspect certain crimes have been committed. (Child abuse, for example. And yes, most practitioners consider any injury beyond a minor scrape or bruise "potential" child abuse.)
• Your ISP and phone company are required to possess the cabability to intercept your communications. The FBI can eavesdrop on these with no oversight or accountability whatsoever.

So, in light of the above, does CAPPS even matter? Even before 9/11, the FBI could get very detailed information about a person simply by asking people around the suspect. For example, in the Ruby Ridge fiasco, the FBI knew the suspect's daughter's menstrual cycle - the school nurse volunteered the information!

Hate to say it, but your privacy is already gone. A person cannot function in today's society without consenting to monitoring of their every move. Why does CAPPS matter when the FBI already knows what you eat, which movies you watch, which books you read, how much you owe, and with whom you associate? CAPPS is more or less a "feel-good" government program - it's designed to assuage passengers' fear of flying while providing jobs to people who would otherwise be out of work.