Secure Flight Program Violates Privacy Act
The US Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) recently issued a report stating that the Department of Homeland Security Transportation Security Administration (“TSA”) did not act in accordance with the Privacy Act while testing its Secure Flight Program, which is designed to compare airline passengers against a terrorist watch list.
The GAO report explained that the TSA’s scope and objectives of commercial data testing were different from those described in Public Disclosure Notices published by the TSA in 2004. In particular, a TSA contractor, acting on behalf of the TSA, collected more than 100 million commercial data records containing personal information such as names, dates of birth, and telephone numbers without informing the public. As a result, individuals were not fully informed that their personal information was being collected and used, nor did they have the opportunity to comment on this collection and use or exercise their rights of access to this information. After hearing GAO concerns about the Secure Flight Program, the TSA issued revised privacy notices to more fully disclose the nature of Secure Flight Program tests and address privacy issues.
Posted by Brian Bennett