Top airline executives will meet in Washington this week to discuss the development of an industry-wide privacy policy to protect consumers, in light of disclosures last weekend that Northwest Airlines shared passenger records with the U.S. government as part of a secret aviation security project.
Northwest chief executive Richard H. Anderson suggested that the Air Transport Association, the industry's chief lobbying group, discuss privacy standards at a meeting scheduled for Thursday, the association said. The meeting will include chief operating officers from the nation's top airlines.
"It would be appropriate for the industry to develop elements of a privacy protocol," said James C. May, chief executive of the airline lobby. The industry wants to develop privacy standards to offer as part of a computer screening system, called CAPPS II, being developed by the government. Federal officials ultimately will determine the privacy policy for the new program.
"We've said all along we want to have appropriate privacy protections in place, so it's our view that we need to at least offer up some thoughts," May said.
Meanwhile, a privacy rights organization alleged yesterday that Northwest engaged in "unfair and deceptive practices" when it failed to inform its passengers that it gave information about them to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
The Electronic Privacy Information Center, a Washington nonprofit that advocates open government, filed a complaint with the Department of Transportation's Office of Aviation Enforcement and Proceedings, asking it to investigate Northwest's participation in a NASA data-mining project.
The department said in a statement that it "will review the complaint and determine what action, if any, should be taken."
A Northwest spokesman declined to comment on the complaint.
Northwest acknowledged on Friday that it provided three months of passenger data, which usually contain passengers' names, phone numbers, addresses and credit card numbers, to NASA Ames Research Center soon after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. NASA said it was considering creation of a data-mining project that would assess passenger risk. The project never got off the ground. It is unclear how many passengers' records NASA obtained, but 10.9 million passengers flew on Northwest during the three-month period.
The Electronic Privacy complaint asks the Transportation Department to investigate Northwest's alleged privacy breach under its authority to protect against "unfair and deceptive trade practices," a charge usually applied to airlines' advertising of fares. In this case, Electronic Privacy said Northwest's actions with NASA were unfair and deceptive because customers were not informed that their personal details would be shared with the government and the company's actions ran counter to company policy, which states that passengers are "in complete control" of their information.
The group contends that the agency has jurisdiction to ensure that airlines adhere to privacy rules that they spell out to passengers. The complaint "creates a very important test case in terms of the adequacy of U.S. legal protections in this area," said David L. Sobel, Electronic Privacy's general counsel.
The disclosure that Northwest shared the data comes as the Transportation Security Administration is developing a computer screening program that will compare passenger names, addresses, date of birth, and other details against databases to assess the risk travelers pose to the aircraft. Privacy advocates have objected to the program, known as the Computer Assisted Passenger Pre-Screening program, or CAPPS II, because they say it is an invasion of privacy. They also are concerned that the project allows the government to use the data for more than just anti-terrorism purposes.
The airline industry has supported the development of CAPPS II, but carriers have refused to share passenger data with the TSA because they have concerns about protecting customers' privacy.
Northwest is the second airline to have acknowledged participation in a previous, unrelated aviation security project involving passenger records. JetBlue Airways apologized to its customers in September for violating its own privacy policy when it turned over 1.1 million records to a defense contractor.
Unlike JetBlue, Northwest has maintained that it did not violate its own policy and it gave NASA data as part of "a duty and an obligation" it had to the government after the terrorist attacks. In a statement posted Saturday on its Web site, Northwest said its "current policy is not to provide passenger name record data to private contractors or federal government agencies for use in aviation security research projects."
Northwest chief executive Richard H. Anderson suggested that the Air Transport Association, the industry's chief lobbying group, discuss privacy standards at a meeting scheduled for Thursday, the association said. The meeting will include chief operating officers from the nation's top airlines.
"It would be appropriate for the industry to develop elements of a privacy protocol," said James C. May, chief executive of the airline lobby. The industry wants to develop privacy standards to offer as part of a computer screening system, called CAPPS II, being developed by the government. Federal officials ultimately will determine the privacy policy for the new program.
"We've said all along we want to have appropriate privacy protections in place, so it's our view that we need to at least offer up some thoughts," May said.
Meanwhile, a privacy rights organization alleged yesterday that Northwest engaged in "unfair and deceptive practices" when it failed to inform its passengers that it gave information about them to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
The Electronic Privacy Information Center, a Washington nonprofit that advocates open government, filed a complaint with the Department of Transportation's Office of Aviation Enforcement and Proceedings, asking it to investigate Northwest's participation in a NASA data-mining project.
The department said in a statement that it "will review the complaint and determine what action, if any, should be taken."
A Northwest spokesman declined to comment on the complaint.
Northwest acknowledged on Friday that it provided three months of passenger data, which usually contain passengers' names, phone numbers, addresses and credit card numbers, to NASA Ames Research Center soon after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. NASA said it was considering creation of a data-mining project that would assess passenger risk. The project never got off the ground. It is unclear how many passengers' records NASA obtained, but 10.9 million passengers flew on Northwest during the three-month period.
The Electronic Privacy complaint asks the Transportation Department to investigate Northwest's alleged privacy breach under its authority to protect against "unfair and deceptive trade practices," a charge usually applied to airlines' advertising of fares. In this case, Electronic Privacy said Northwest's actions with NASA were unfair and deceptive because customers were not informed that their personal details would be shared with the government and the company's actions ran counter to company policy, which states that passengers are "in complete control" of their information.
The group contends that the agency has jurisdiction to ensure that airlines adhere to privacy rules that they spell out to passengers. The complaint "creates a very important test case in terms of the adequacy of U.S. legal protections in this area," said David L. Sobel, Electronic Privacy's general counsel.
The disclosure that Northwest shared the data comes as the Transportation Security Administration is developing a computer screening program that will compare passenger names, addresses, date of birth, and other details against databases to assess the risk travelers pose to the aircraft. Privacy advocates have objected to the program, known as the Computer Assisted Passenger Pre-Screening program, or CAPPS II, because they say it is an invasion of privacy. They also are concerned that the project allows the government to use the data for more than just anti-terrorism purposes.
The airline industry has supported the development of CAPPS II, but carriers have refused to share passenger data with the TSA because they have concerns about protecting customers' privacy.
Northwest is the second airline to have acknowledged participation in a previous, unrelated aviation security project involving passenger records. JetBlue Airways apologized to its customers in September for violating its own privacy policy when it turned over 1.1 million records to a defense contractor.
Unlike JetBlue, Northwest has maintained that it did not violate its own policy and it gave NASA data as part of "a duty and an obligation" it had to the government after the terrorist attacks. In a statement posted Saturday on its Web site, Northwest said its "current policy is not to provide passenger name record data to private contractors or federal government agencies for use in aviation security research projects."
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