DEA Paid Amtrak Employee To Pilfer Passenger Lists

Via Ars Technica comes news that an Amtrak employee was paid nearly $900,000 over the last ten years to give the DEA passenger lists outside of normal channels. Strangely enough, the DEA already had access to such information through official channels. From the article: The employee, described as a "secretary to a train and engine crew" in a summary obtained by the AP, was selling the customer data without Amtrak's approval. Amtrak and other transportation companies collect information from their customers including credit card numbers, travel itineraries, emergency contact info, passport numbers, and dates of birth. When booking tickets online in recent years, Amtrak has also collected phone numbers and e-mail addresses. ... Amtrak has long worked closely with the DEA to track drug trafficking activity on its train lines. The Albuquerque Journal reported in 2001 that "a computer with access to Amtrak's ticketing information sits on a desk in the [DEA]'s local office," wrote the ACLU.

Comments

Let's play the who goes to jail game....

[wbr1]

This sounds like a case of the left hand doesn't know what the right is doing. While neither collection method sounds constitutional to me I am not surprised.

Let's guess who gets in trouble...
The employee selling the data..check (low level scape goat)
Maybe an IT guy that allowed excessive permission.. maybe he just gets fired...
Any DEA agents or upper level management who authorized illegal and warrant-less data collection? NO
Any Amtrak executives for allowing it to be provided (through the employee or the terminal in the DEA office?) NO
If we are lucky we will hear some strong words at a congressional hearing, and that will be the end of it.

Re:Let's play the who goes to jail game....

[penix1]

The one that needs to go to jail is the one whose signature is on the bottom of the checks.

[she was] paid nearly $900,000 over the last ten years to give the DEA passenger lists outside of normal channels

That's the part that is sickening to me.

Re:Let's play the who goes to jail game....

[Khyber]

Drug traffickers shouldn't have access to the Amtrak database which would allow them to see if they're being monitored in the first fucking place. What pseudo-IT nonsense are you talking about?

independent verification?

[jc42]

Maybe it's just a case of what the news industry calls "independent verification". Of course, the way it typically works is that the original source X passes copies to friends Y and Z, who slightly paraphrase the wording and send it in to the news organization through different channels. X, Y and Z then all get paid for their work. Governmental information agencies have long understood how this "verification" process works.

the important question is....

[Lumpy]

Has the DEA been sending him a yearly 1099 for taxes? if not, then the IRS needs to audit the DEA.

From endangered to extinct

[rmdingler]

From now on, if somebody-somewhere-for some reason, keeps records of my comings, goings, and preferences, I will be under the assumption some governmental 3 letter acronym has instant access to this information.

Articles such as this will henceforth only be of interest to me if they include examples where my data is not collected.

Whirrr...click. Adjustment Bureau confirms your new filter parameters.

Perfectly normal business

[MadKeithV]

Sounds like perfectly normal business to me. Getting paid $900.000 to tell you something you already know? That's called Consulting.

Re:How is that possible?

[Shados]

Only if the train crosses a border that requires it. Amtrak trains go to and from Canada.

Otherwise its pretty much like buying a bus ticket, except they only check the ticket while the train is on its way instead of at the entrance.

the DEA isnt about drugs.

[nimbius]

This is probably rather controversial, but it should be said. The DEA was never created in order to police drugs.
Richard Nixon created the DEA in part as a reaction to the 60's neo liberal counter culture, and in part at the behest of southern constituents in response to the 1964 civil rights amendment. this is evidenced by the fact that the DEA targets disproportionally minority communities for enforcement, regardless of the well documented fact that affluent communities exhibit similar levels of drug posession. its also supported by the lack of any DEA presence or investigation during the iran contra scandal as well as the existence of numerous politicians and heads of state whom have repeatedly divulged their consumption of narcotics despite our nations zero tolerance policy.

as the push for drug sentencing reform continues, the DEA is finding itself increasingly useless as anything but an obstructionist wing of the government clinging for federal dollars. Blowing a million dollars on an amtrak mole despite existing access is just one example, but their raids on California dispensaries and legislative obstructionism shouldnt be ignored. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

Re:the DEA isnt about drugs.

[Anonymous Coward]

You realize those California dispensaries may be legal according to state law. but run afoul of federal law because of the federal prohibition on drugs.

because? i don't know why...why did it take a constitutional amendment to ban alcohol but did not require one for other drugs?
i believe they often use the interstate commerce clause...but if the state views it as legal and it never crossed state lines, then it seems the fed's shouldn't be able to touch it.

Hard to know which to be more disgusted by..

[Rigel47]

The staggering idiocy of paying a million dollars for something you already have or the all-too-common practice of law enforcement to regard the Constitution as an irritating afterthought.

Theft?

[bradley13]

Surely this is illegal? I know that the US has no privacy laws, but it is still theft. Both he and the individuals purchasing the stolen data should be prosecuted.

Of course, it won't happen because "War on Drugs", and anyway, anything the US government wants is ok.