Airlines Cough Up Passenger Data
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After initial complaints about the government order, U.S. airlines finally comply, turning over a massive amount of information about travelers so the feds can test a screening system. By Ryan Singel.
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Europe's top data protection official criticized plans for air passenger records like those gathered by U.S. authorities.
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An agreement could be reached Friday over swapping personal information about passengers.
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A service intended to help innocent travelers get off the No Fly List instead sent their personal information unencrypted to a Virginia company. Following a Wired News report, a congressman asks the TSA to explain itself. By Ryan Singel.
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ATLANTA - American airline passengers are carrying excess weight in more than just their luggage. A new government study says airlines are worrying more and more about the weight of the people flying.
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The FAA says Boeing's new 787 Dreamliner passenger jet may have a serious security flaw: The computer network in the passenger compartment is connected to the plane's control systems, making them vulnerable to attack. "It's serious," says a security expert.
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Travel information on everyone who took a commercial flight within the United States in June will be turned over to the government so it can test a new system for identifying
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WASHINGTON - Information on passengers who took a commercial flight within the United States in June will be turned over to the government so it can test a new system for identifying potential terrorists.    People will have a chance to tell the government what they think about the plan during a 30-day comment period, federal officials said on Tuesday...
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(InfoWorld) - An agreement sheltering airlines from European privacy laws, allowing them to hand over passenger data required by U.S. authorities, expired Saturday, leaving most European airlines in legal limbo. NoÂ disruption to flightsÂ has been reported so far. However, if the legal void remains for more than a week or so, airlinesÂ face being suedÂ by individuals or groups in Europe, said Chris Kuner, a data protection specialist with the law firm Hunton & Williams. In the wake of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, U.S. authorities demanded that airlines hand over passenger information covered by European Union data protection legislation. Airlines faced prosecution in the E.U. if they delivered the data, or fines in the U.S. if they don't. An agreement struck between the E.U. and U.S. in 2003 protected airlines from being sued for sharing the information, which includes names, addresses and credit card details. However, Europe's top court overturned the agreement in May and said it would become legally void at the end of last month. Efforts to negotiateÂ a replacement agreement intensified throughout September, but despite assurances of progress from both sides, the talks ended in impasse Saturday, as the deadline passed. As talks broke up, U.S. Secretary for Homeland Security Michael Chertoff made a draft proposal that European officials said may be discussed at a meeting of European justice ministers in Luxembourg on Friday. The Commission hopes an agreement will be reached that day. British Airways said that a Air Navigation Order issued by the U.K. government protects it legally in the absence of a new agreement. "The order from the government supercedes European data protection laws," said spokesman Richard Goodfellow. Air France spokeswoman Veronique Brachet said that although she was unaware of the French government issuing a similar order, her company would continue to supply the data to U.S. authorities and foresaw no disruption to its transatlantic flights. "The European Commission has said we can fly to the United States, so I see no problem," she said. Karim Retzer, a data protection specialist at the law firm Morrison & Foerster said airlines are unlikely to be sued. But Kuner, the lawyer with Hunton & Williams, warned that if the legal situation isn't resolved swiftly there is a danger that European data protection authorities will be forced to take action against the airlines. "The European Commission will probably ask the national data protection authorities (DPAs) not to take action, and will assure them that a new agreement is imminent, but if they fail to secure a new agreement within a week or so, there is a very real risk that a privacy group or even an individual passenger may lodge a formal complaint. This would force the DPA to take action," Kuner said. If a complaint was lodged then the DPA would order the airlines to withhold the information from U.S. authorities. If the airline obeyed then it would face fines of up to $6,000 per passenger in the U.S., and the possible withdrawal of landing rights there, Kuner said. Kuner said he was surprised by the failure to renegotiate the original agreement in time for the deadline at the end of September. "We were given the impression that it was simply a matter of changing the legal basis of the first agreement, and that no attempts to change the substance of the deal would be made," he said. However, last month Chertoff said the original agreement obstructed his efforts to maintain a high level of security. The agreement allowed for 34 categories of information to be handed over. The U.S. has been pushing to increase this number during the negotiations over the past month. "Chertoff is in a much stronger position to negotiate," Kuner said, adding: "He doesn't face any legal issues in the U.S., so he doesn't feel the same pressure to reach an agreement that his European counterparts feel."
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Passengers flying from some regional airports are being charged twice for services, an air watchdog says.
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The federal government said yesterday that it will order airlines to turn over millions of passenger records by November so it can begin testing a vast computer program that will hunt for suspected terrorists seeking to board commercial aircraft.
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Flying through South America's busiest airports has become frightening and time-consuming for passengers and pilots alike as a surge in travelers overwhelms underfunded air traffic control systems.
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Thousands of credit card numbers and other personal data may have been compromised.
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New software helps corporate travel managers track down business travelers who overspend. But it also poses a dilemma for honest travelers who are only trying to save money.
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(InfoWorld) - The U.S. may be willing to give some ground in a dispute with European regulators over access to trans-Atlantic passenger data, although reaching a compromise before a July deadline remains uncertain. The issue of how long the U.S. holds onto passenger data has been one of the sticking points in the dispute, which threatens airlines' ability to carry passengers to the U.S. without violating U.S. or European law. "I anticipate that there may well be a decrease, and perhaps even a significant decrease, in the amount of time [the passenger data] is retained," said Hugo Teufel III, chief privacy officer for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, in a meeting with journalists in Paris on Thursday. The U.S. requires airlines to hand over 34 facts about each passenger traveling from Europe, including where and how their airline ticket was purchased. The U.S. says it needs the information to help identify terrorism suspects, but some European regulators have fiercely opposed sharing their citizens' data, citing concerns about privacy. A 2004 agreement on the matter was struck down by the European Court of Justice earlier this year, and an interim agreement will expire on July 31. If a new accord isn't reached before then over the "passenger name records" (PNRs), airlines face being sued in Europe for sharing the data, or being denied landing permission in the U.S. if they do not. "I believe that there will very likely be increased privacy protections with respect to the PNR data," Teufel said on Thursday. "Whether it happens before the end of July or after the end of July is very difficult to say." He cautioned that he is not directly involved in the discussions, and would not elaborate on what the increased privacy protections might be. It was unclear if the concessions had been communicated to the European Union or would prompt it to ease its position. European parliamentarians have also expressed other concerns with the PNR system, including the amount of data being collected and the ways it will be used. A spokesman for Franco Frattini, the E.U.'s commissioner for Justice, Freedom and Security, said it would be inappropriate to comment on Teufel's remarks while the talks are ongoing. "We are in the midst of negotiations," the spokesman said via e-mail. Teufel is a political appointee responsible for privacy policies at the Department of Homeland Security. He was in Europe to meet with privacy representatives in France and Germany to gather feedback and smooth relations between the two sides. He sought to dispel what he characterized as misinformation about the PNR system. The U.S. does not ask about meal choices to identify potential Muslim travelers, he said, calling that "absolutely false." Asked if credit card data is collected, he said: "To my knowledge the department is not pushing for that." He acknowledged theÂ divisions between U.S. and European attitudes to privacy. "I think Europeans are beginning to have a better understanding of U.S. privacy and U.S. privacy laws. I don't think Europeans as a whole have a sufficient understanding now," he said. "I am not surprised when I hear from a European their often-held view that the U.S. has no privacy laws. That's just false. We do have privacy laws, we care about privacy. What we do have is a different approach to privacy and a different approach to government."
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Frequent Fliers on Finnair will be get flight info and seat assigments as text messages on their cells. Once they reply, they are checked in.
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PHILADELPHIA -- Federal transportation officials say they want to know more about why thousands of US Airways travelers have been separated from their luggage.