A new report claims that U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has purchased passenger information from a data broker owned by multiple U.S. airlines.
According to 404 Media, documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request show that the CBP’s purchase of private airline passenger data was intended to help the agency identify persons of interest. The outlet noted that the Airlines Reporting Corporation (ARC), which is owned by at least eight of the top U.S. airlines, sold the data to the CBP, which included the names, financial information, and flight itineraries of passengers.
Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) told 404 Media, “The big airlines—through a shady data broker that they own called ARC—are selling the government bulk access to Americans’ sensitive information, revealing where they fly and the credit card they used.”
404 Media reported that the sale of passengers’ private information is part of the Airlines Reporting Corporation’s Travel Intelligence Program (TIP). According to a Statement of Work obtained by the outlet, federal officials claimed the CBP needed access to the program to “support federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies to identify persons of interest’s U.S. domestic air travel ticketing information.”
According to 404 Media, the CBP claimed that the data purchased from the Airlines Reporting Corporation is only used to locate individuals in investigations launched by the Office of Professional Responsibility.
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According to the documents obtained by 404 Media, the data obtained from the Travel Intelligence Program is expected to give the CBP “visibility on a subject’s or person of interest’s domestic air travel ticketing information as well as tickets acquired through travel agencies in the U.S. and its territories.”
404 Media reported that the Airlines Reporting Corporation asked the CBP not to “publicly identify vendor, or its employees, individually or collectively, as the source of the Reports unless the Customer is compelled to do so by a valid court order or subpoena and gives ARC immediate notice of same.”
“CBP is committed to protecting individuals’ privacy during the execution of its mission to protect the American people, safeguard our borders, and enhance the nation’s economic prosperity,” a CBP spokesperson told 404 Media. “CBP follows a robust privacy policy as we protect the homeland through the air, land and maritime environments against illegal entry, illicit activity or other threats to national sovereignty and economic security.”
Wyden told 404 Media that the Airlines Reporting Corporation has “refused to answer oversight questions from Congress,” prompting the Oregon senator to contact various airlines regarding “why they gave the green light to sell their customers’ data to the government.”
