[IP] American Airlines disclosed passenger data
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Date: Sat, 10 Apr 2004 20:40:08 -0400 (EDT)
From: GLIGOR1@xxxxxxx
Subject: American Airlines disclosed passenger data
To: dave@xxxxxxxxxx
American Airlines disclosed passenger data
Last modified: April 10, 2004, 11:20 AM PDT
By <mip://04f7f678/2040-1096_3-0.html?tag=byline>Reuters
American Airlines' passenger names and travel itineraries were released to
four research companies vying for contracts with the U.S. Transportation
Security Administration, the airline disclosed on Friday.
AMR's American is the third U.S. airline to admit to turning over passenger
data since the government tightened airline security following the Sept.
11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The revelations have raised privacy concerns
and sparked several lawsuits.
American said in a statement it had authorized one of its vendors to give a
week's worth of passenger name records--about 1.2 million records--to the
security agency in June 2002. Instead, the vendor, Airline Automation, gave
the data to the four research companies.
American discovered the disclosures recently during a review that followed
other carriers' announcements of data releases, the airline said.
"Our desire to assist TSA in the aftermath of the events of Sept. 11 was
consistent with our focus on safety and security," American spokesman John
Hotard said in a statement released late Friday afternoon.
"No passengers were harmed by the transfer of the data," Hotard said.
A TSA official said the agency was looking into the matter.
A passenger name record is created when a person makes a travel reservation
and includes a name and travel itinerary.
Airline Automation required each company that received the data to sign a
nondisclosure agreement and required the destruction or return of the data
after the project was finished, American said.
Officials at Airline Automation could not immediately be reached for comment.
JetBlue Airways and Northwest Airlines have been hit with class-action
suits following revelations they secretly gave passenger data to government
researchers.
<mip://04f7f678/2106-1099-0.html>Story Copyright © 2004
<http://www.reuters.com/>Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
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