Airlines Don’t Want You to Know They Sold Your Flight Data to DHS
1 min read
Summary
A data broker owned by major US airlines, including Delta, American Airlines and United, purchased travellers’ flight records and then sold them to the Customs and Border Patrol (CBP).
The data included passenger names, flight itineraries and financial details and was bought to track individuals’ air travel across the country.
The contract included a clause stopping the CBP from revealing where the information originated.
The broker, called the Airlines Reporting Corporation (ARC), is owned and operated by at least eight airlines, and provides ticket settlement services as well as acting as a conduit between airlines and travel agencies.
It is not the first time a US domestic flight data has been sold to the authorities without a warrant, with law enforcement frequently purchasing data from private companies.
Civil liberties experts have been alarmed at this growing trend.
