Technology and Liberty | Consumer Privacy

Feature on JetBlue's Unauthorized Release of Passenger Data

Did you fly JetBlue?

~ Airline shared five million passenger itineraries ~

YES: If you flew on JetBlue before September 2002, a file containing a variety of personal information about you may have been created by a Department of Defense subcontractor called Torch Concepts. On this page you will find information about what kind of information may be in your dossier, and how you can find out.

NO: If you did not fly on JetBlue before September 2002, you would not have been affected by this privacy invasion -- but you should know that this is just the kind of invasion you and other airline passengers are very likely to experience under the governmnent's new airline profiling system CAPPS II.

Homeland Security Report on JetBlue Confirms TSA's Involvement in Privacy Scandal, ACLU Says (02/20/2004)

Request your JetBlue travel records from the Pentagon and the TSA

Take Action against CAPPS II

Find out if the government has a dossier on you

In September of 2002 JetBlue turned over the personal and travel records of five million of its passengers to the Defense Department. In an attempt to learn how to identify terrorists, the defense contractor Torch Concepts combined that data with detailed personal files purchased from a company called Acxiom, a "data aggregator" in the business of compiling personal information on Americans.

If you flew on JetBlue before September 2002, you may have been the subject of a detailed dossier containing information including:

Your travel itineraries. This includes the date, time, origin, and destination of your flights. But JetBlue turned over entire ""Passenger Name Record"" (PNRs), entries in the airlines' reservation system that can include a vast array of other personal information: details of your car and hotel reservations, your in-flight meal preferences, who you traveled with - even whether you stayed in a room with one bed or two. (Learn more about PNR data here.)
Your income and other indicators of your economic status
Your occupation
Specifics on your home, such as whether you are an owner or a renter
The length of time you have lived at one residence
How many children you have
How many cars you own
Your Social Security Number

If you flew JetBlue prior to September 2002, you may be the subject of one of these dossiers. The Privacy Act and the Freedom of Information Act give you the right to access files kept by the government about you. Click here to file your own request for a copy of any information that the government might have about you connected to your travel with JetBlue.

The ACLU has already filed a general Freedom of Information Act request to gain details of the Torch ""Airline Passenger Risk Assessment"" and its use of the JetBlue data.

You can use this feedback form to let us know the results of your Freedom of Information Act request with the Pentagon and the TSA.

Links

"Homeland Security - Airline Passenger Risk Assessment" Torch Concepts' presentation to the TSA in February 2003 (PDF)
ACLU's Freedom of Information Act request on JetBlue data
ACLU letter to the FTC Chairman regarding JetBlue's violation of passenger's privacy
FEATURE: CAPPS II

Press Coverage

JetBlue Sued For Disclosing Passenger Info, Associated Press, Sept. 23, 2003.
Ryan Singel and Noah Shachtman, Army Admits Using JetBlue Data, Wired News, Sept. 23, 2003.
JetBlue in Privacy Faux Pas, Associated Press, Sept. 20, 2003.
JetBlue Apologizes For Divulging Info, Reuters, Sept. 19, 2003.
Ryan Singel, JetBlue Shared Passenger Data, Wired News, Sept. 18, 2003.

Feedback

Let us know the results of your FOIA request with this feedback form.