JET BLUE GAVE DEFENSE FIRM FILES ON PASSENGERS!!!

[tedzbear]

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/20/business/20PRIV.html?hp

Looks like nobody's safe from Big Brother at Jet Blue! Remind me to fly Southwest instead.
:bounce:

[E_Zapata]

1. They issued an apology today.

I hope this puts the little gem airline right out of business.

[dusty64]

5. I am VERY pissed

about this as my partner and I were among those whose private info was given. I really enjoyed my flights on their airlines and my town desparately needs competition with airlines. I do think they should be sued over this though, this kind of shit can NOT be allowed. They claim all info was destroyed, yeah that makes me feel better. I really trust corporations like that, NOT!

[FauxNewsBlues]

16. Civil Suit?

I am sure there must be one lawyer in the country willing to do a class action lawsuit for the one million people who had their privacy violated?

JetBlue could go bankrupt on this.

[Judi Lynn]

2. Unbelievable.

(snip) WASHINGTON, Sept. 19 — JetBlue Airways acknowledged publicly today that it had provided a Pentagon contractor with information on more than one million of its passengers as part of a program to track down terrorists and other "high risk" passengers. That data, which was turned over in violation of the airline's own privacy policies, was then used to identify the passengers' Social Security numbers, financial histories and occupations. (snip)

So we're all just helpless now, right?

Well, we should all learn to trust the Republicans. They know what's best for us, after all. Pray to God to help us to trust Bush more. That's the ticket. Then we'll all be just fine. :silly:

[SoCalDem]

3. First question

Why a Pentagon "defense contractor?? I thought the reason that we created the HOMELAND SECURITY DEPARTMENT, was so THEY could look into this kind of stuff.....Why are private contractors privy to that kind of information in the first place???

C'mon TommyBoy, get your act together..

[aquart]

20. Exactly what kind of "defense contract" are we talking about?

And why was a private corporation even asking this?

[saigon68]

22. PRIVATE CORPORATIONS HAVE NO RULES TO FOLLOW

They can basically do anything. Look for private corporations to do police work overseas. They can get away with anything. They have no rules, or policies, They only follow orders.

[jumptheshadow]

4. They have a privacy statement on their website

It states that the company won't share your information with third parties.

From the Times article:

>>Privacy rights groups expressed astonishment that JetBlue had shared so much passenger information with a contractor, describing the privacy breach as among the most serious reported by any American company in recent years.

JetBlue's announcement comes at a time when many civil liberties groups are warning that privacy rights are becoming victims of the government's struggle against terrorism and the desire of law enforcement and intelligence agencies for quick access to customer information that has traditionally been closely held by corporations.

The airline said it had provided Torch Concepts with records on about five million individual itineraries, reflecting the travels of about 1.1 million passengers in 2001 and 2002.<<

[saigon68]

6. THIS COMPANY IS ANTI-LABOR AND ANTI-UNION

That's how they keep their "costs' down

Scum

[saigon68]

7. More on Torch Concepts also

Scary shit read between the lines


http://www.torchconcepts.com/news/release-11.htm


http://www.torchconcepts.com/investor.htm

[lanlady]

8. Torch Concepts

--is a small software company specializing in "Content Management" and "data mining." It's based in Huntsville. Go to their website www.torchconcepts.com -- it's SUSPICIOUSLY devoid of useful information. Either they have a lousy webmaster or they're up to something....

Here's more info I found at http://www.dontspyon.us/jetbluescandal.html

In September of 2002, JetBlue Airways secretly gave the Transportation Security Administration the full travel records of 5 million JetBlue customers. This sensitive travel data was then turned-over to a private security contractor for analysis, the results of which were presented at a security conference earlier this year and then posted on the Internet.

Anyone who flew JetBlue on or before September of 2002 should assume that all information given by them to JetBlue, including credit card numbers, is in the possession of both the TSA and Torch Concepts. Furthermore, Torch Concepts (now doing business as Torch Technologies obtained the Social Security number, date of birth, and associated credit histories of many of the 5 million passengers in the JetBlue database. Some of this information, including SSNs, was posted by Torch Concepts to the Internet. The document was freely available for download on the Internet for over six months and was taken down on the 17th of September, 2003. The full document is available for download here.

The 5 million JetBlue records handed over to TSA appear to have been used to test off-the-shelf technologies to improve aviation security. These tests occurred prior to the formal announcement of CAPPS II, but it is obvious from the Torch Concepts presentation that a CAPPS II-like system was the goal.

Denials.

(more...)

EDITED BY ADMIN FOR COPYRIGHT REASONS

[izzie]

9. I am really interested in if this turned up on Free Rep.

This should really get them up tight but for the ones that are always saying 'anything Bush does is OK, and I have nothing to hide so'Really it is all filting down to everyday people. I hear people say. 'I do not like to fly because of what they put you through'and some are not.

[Noordam]

10. Worst is they lied on their apology.

from http://www.dontspyon.us/jetbluepants.html

JetBlue: Pants On Fire!
Which of the many lies told by JetBlue this week do they no longer wish us to believe?

<cut>

"Most importantly, JetBlue has never supplied, nor will supply, customer information to the Transportation Security Administration, or any government agency, unless we are required to do so by law -- not for CAPPS II or for any other purposes, whatsoever."

Yes, you did. You even admit it in the next sentence:


However, I regret that, more than a year ago, we responded to an exceptional request from the Department of Defense to assist their contractor, Torch Concepts, with a project regarding military base security.

<more at site>

[lanlady]

11. they sure did!

They tried to create the impression that the info was given directly to Torch Concepts, leaving out the fact that Torch was under contract to TSA.

[lostnfound]

12. I believe jetblue is not the only one.

[jumptheshadow]

21. All the more reason why there must be a follow-up lawsuit

I hope we see a class action lawsuit with the law firm doing some very intensive FOIA research into this situation.

And let the chips fall where they may.

[teryang]

24. What is the FOIA penalty?

Let's see 5 million violations times $1,000 would be a 5 billion dollar penalty.

[rexcat]

13. I heard an interview on Demcracy Now

Friday concerning this issue. Bill Scannell, Founder of the internet site Dontspyon.us; Ryan Singel, contributing writer for Wired.com; and Garreth Edmondson-Jones, spokesperson for JetBlue Airways were on the show. It was not a pretty picture for Jet Blue.

http://www.democracynow.org/

[Robb]

14. Check out eBay

Different DU thread, same story.

IIRC, Haaretz broke both stories?

[Pastiche423]

15. "The report said that after receiving

the passenger information from JetBlue, Torch Concepts matched the passenger names against a variety of databases that it had purchased from Acxiom, a large consumer research company."

Now what have we heard about Acxiom lately?

Ah yes, Wesley Clark is on the board of Axciom.

[ThirdEye]

17. Clark is beginning to scare me...

Is it me, or is Clark Corporate America's answer to the problem of keeping the New World Order on track after Bush messing everything thing up? Being on the board of Acxiom is a VERY important nugget of information. Clark seems to be connected to all the wrong people... kind of like Dick Cheney and the likes...

[Pastiche423]

19. Every day that goes by

I am learning new reasons to be afraid of clark. He may be marketed as the new and improved Democrat, but one must look inside the box at the real product and check all of the ingredients.

[chasqui]

25. What did you expect?

GEN Wesely Clark is a retired 4 star General. There is no way in hell his hands have not been contaminated in one way or another.
Caveat Emptor.

[tedzbear]

27. Clark could be a Trojan Horse candidate...

...waiting to get elected to put in place the Fortune 500/Pentagon policies, as opposed to what he promises us voters. Sort of like Bush did to the moderates.
I wonder what Michael Moore is saying now about his endorsement of Clark? Looks like I will stick with Dean after all.
:kick:

[hippiechick]

23. shit ! Axciom !

my company (conseco) among many others in the insurance industry contracts with axciom to maintain and scrub state and national no-call and email lists .... imagine the TONS of information axciom has at it disposal !!


:scared:

[rocktivity]

18. Do they keep their fares low by selling customer data?

Mr. Neeleman, the founder of JetBlue...insisted that none of the passenger information was shared with the government. "The sole set of data in Torch's possession has been destroyed," he wrote. "No government agency ever had access to it"...A lawyer for Torch Concepts, Richard Marsden, said that the passenger records provided by JetBlue were destroyed by the contractor earlier this week after the existence of the project was reported...
I guess we'll just have to assume that you're telling us the truth this time. But doesn't that amount to destroying evidence?

Mr. Marsden said the company and its study had no link to the Pentagon's broad electronic surveillance project known as Terrorist Information Awareness...Nor, he said, was there any link between the Torch Concepts' project and a huge government passenger-screening program that is now being developed by the Transportation Security Administration...
I guess we'll just have to trust you on that one, too.

Gareth Edmondson-Jones, a spokesman for JetBlue, said...the decision to provide the passenger information to Torch Concepts was a clear violation of the company's own policy. "We have the strongest privacy policy in the industry, which clearly says that we don't supply customer data to third parties..."
Um...but that's exactly what you did! And did you make a few extra bucks, too? I doubt you handed over five million passenger records for nothing.

...(Mr. Edmondson-Jones said)..."In a post 9/11 word troubled by security issues and terrorists, we had a special request from the Department of Defense to assist in a military project...The decision was made to assist."
But your boss said (in writing, I might add), that "no goverment agency ever had access" to the data. Get your stories straight--that's what you're being paid for!

JetBlue, which has...has prospered because of its reputation for low fares and consumer friendliness...
Well, it was fun while it lasted. But now I'm wondering if all the airlines are doing it and simply haven't gotten caught.


rocknation

[calimary]

26. Information destroyed after the project's existence was reported.

CUTE. Hey let's all fly JetBlue.

NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[grasswire]

28. here's my thread from Thursday on this...

....with a link to the original story in Wired. I suggest you read that Wired story. It has lots more info.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=361053

[bobthedrummer]

29. Cryptome has an article on JetBlue/Axicom

http://cryptome.org/jetblue-spy.htm

[kurtyboy]

30. IIRC, a couple of major supermarket chains (Safeway?) turned over

their records (you know, the little club cards you need to get less-inflated prices on your groceries...) to the FBI--WITHOUT HAVING BEEN REQUESTED. They just wanted to help in the wake of 9-11....

Anyone else remember this?

[monobrau]

31. Exactly why

I don't do that club card crap. I was explaining this very scenario to my girlfriend before 9-11, and she acted incredulous that such a thing would happen.