.............ALERT #2003-5............
...................COUNCIL................
Originally Published on
ALERT ITEM SUMMARY:
***
***JetBlue Accused of "Data Rape" Conspiracy with Government
Agencies***
***URGENT - - Your Final CAPPS II Comments
Due Tomorrow by
***Privacy Tips***
***Privacy Reference Link of Interest - Privacy Rights Clearinghouse***
***Privacy Quote***
Welcome! This message is intended for members of the Fairfax County
Privacy Council, and anyone else who might be interested in advancing privacy
in
Privacy Notice: All communication from the Fairfax Privacy Council is sent
using blind carbon copy ("BCC") format for your security and privacy.
********************************************************************************************************
1.
2. JetBlue Accused of "Data Rape" Conspiracy with
Government Agencies: See http://www.dontspyon.us/jetblue.html.
With great alarm, we note that General (Ret.) Weslie Clark, now a
democratic candidate for President, has been implicated in the Jet Blue
conspiracy. Apparently, as a board member of Acxiom Corporation (a
"data warehouser") since December 2001, Clark was paid $300,000 to
provide access to government agencies and lobby for Acxiom business
opportunities to enhance proposed government surveillance projects (see
"Clark Worked For Ark. Data Firm: Acxiom Role Part of Surveillance Debate,"
The Washington Post, by Robert O'Harrow Jr., 27 September 2003,
Page A08 at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A7380-2003Sep26.html).
As the ACLU notes at http://www.aclu.org,
"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.
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. Take
Action: Click on http://www.acluaction.org/aclu/mail/compose/?mailid=3507041
to file your own request for a copy of any information that the government
might have about you connected to your travel with JetBlue."
3. Your Final CAPPS II Comments Due Tomorrow by Midnight, Tuesday,
30 SEP!: The recent JetBlue airline data scandal will become
"business as usual" if the TSA goes through with their CAPS II
passenger surveillance scheme, and you can be certain that the scheme will be
expanded over time to include trains, ferries, intercity busses, and hotel
reservations. TSA's Admiral (Ret.) James Loy has promised to close all the
"loopholes" (Loy called for "…security of the nation's
highways, railways, ports, and…[the closing of every] loophole;" see
"Security Official to Turn Focus To Other Transportation Modes:
Pilot Program to Begin on Highways, Rails, Ports, and Pipelines," The
Washington Post, by Sara Kehaulani Goo, 16 January 2003, p. A17).
But you
CAN Take Action! The DHS's notice of a new system of records under the
Privacy Act is found at http://www.dhs.gov/interweb/assetlibrary/CAPPSII_PRIVACY_ACT_NOTICE.pdf.
Americans have only until
**Or, you can just click here to send a preformatted email to the DHS in a few
seconds: http://action.eff.org/action/index.asp?step=2&item=2785.**
And while you are at it, click here to send your Congressional delegation a fax
to register your concerns with CAPPS II style surveillance, and to ask them to
shut it down: http://www.aclu.org/SafeandFree/SafeandFree.cfm?ID=12108&c=yourconfereratesatdontspyonme
4. Privacy Tips Every Citizen Should Know
and Teach Her Kids:
Phone
Number Privacy: In the digital age, your phone number is a key piece of
identifying information about you. As the recent setbacks to the FTC's
"Do Not Call List" show, government schemes to secure your privacy
are often inadequate, even for federal judges (see
"Judge who blocked do-not-call registry is on list," CNN,
5. Privacy Reference Link of Interest: The Privacy
Rights Clearinghouse - http://www.privacyrights.org.
6. Privacy Quote: "No one would ever know your SSN except
for you and the SSA." - President Franklin Delano
********************************************************************************************************
Questions, or to be added/deleted from future Alerts?
Contact Mike Stollenwerk at majstoll@aol.com.
Sincerely,