Airlines do not want you to know that they sold your flight data to DHS

Data broker The country’s main airlines, including Delta, US Airways, and United, have gathered local airlines records for American travelers, selling them to customs and border protection (CBP), then as part of the contract, CBP told not to reveal where the data came from, according to the internal CBP documents obtained by 404 media. Data include passenger names, full airlines, and financial details.

CBP, part of the Ministry of Internal Security (DHS), says it needs this data to support the local state and the police to track people with air interest all over the country, in a purchase that caused the concern of civil freedom experts.

Documents for the first time in detail reveal the reason for at least one part of the Ministry of National Security purchased this information, and comes after the enforcement of immigration and customs (ICE) Detailing Buy data. The documents also show that for the first time that the data broker, which is called the airline reporting (ARC), tells government agencies not to mention where the flight source source from them.

“The major airlines – through a shaded data broker, called ARC – sells government government for sensitive information to the Americans, and revealed the place where they fly and the credit card they used.”

ARC is owned and managed by at least eight American airlines, another The documents released public appear. Company board of directors It includes representatives from Delta, southwest, United, US Airlines, Alaska Airlines, Jetblue, European airlines Lufthansa, Air France, and Air Canada in Canada. more than 240 airlines depends on an arc For ticket leveling services.

Other work lines in ARC include being a channel between airlines and travel agencies, Find travel trends In data with other companies such as Expedia, and the prevention of fraud, according to the materials and site of the ARC YouTube. The sale of US Fliers travel information to the government is part of the ARC (TIP) travel intelligence program.

A The work statement included in the newly obtained documents“To support federal, state and local law enforcement agencies to determine the local ticket information for the United States,” says CBP, who describes the reason for the agency to purchase a specific tool or capacity, to obtain the ARC’s TIP product. 404 The media obtained the documents by requesting the Freedom of Information Law (FOIA).

The new documents obtained by 404 media also show ARC asking CBP “not to publicly identify the seller, or his employees, individually or collectively, as a source of reports unless the customer is forced to do this with a valid court order or a summons order, and gives an arc on that.”

The work statement says that TIP can show the intention of a person who is driven for travel and tickets purchased through travel agencies in the United States and its lands. The documents say that the data from the TIP program (TIP) will provide “clarification on information on a topic or person arousing attention, in addition to tickets obtained through the travel agencies in the United States and its regions.” They add that this data will be “decisive” in both administrative and criminal issues.

A Evaluating the effect of DHS (PIA) is available online He says that TIP data is updated daily with ticket sales the day before, and contains more than a billion records that extend over 39 months of last and future travel. The document says that the advice can be searched for by name, credit card, or airline, but ARC contains data from ARC travel agencies, such as Expedia, and not the seized flights directly with an airline. “If the passenger purchased a ticket directly from the airline, the ICE research will not appear in the ARC report,” says Pia. PIA notes that data affects both the United States and the non -United States, which means that it includes information about American citizens.

“While obtaining data from local airlines – such as many other transactions and purchase records – it is generally not required, it is still supposed to go through a legal process that guarantees independent and unrelated supervision on the records that will support the investigation.” “As with many other types of sensitive data and detection, the government appears to be determined to use data brokers to buy their way about raids and important borders.”

The CBP contract with Arc began in June 2024 and may extend to 2029, according to the documents. The CBP 404 contract was obtained by documents with a treatment of $ 11,025. Last Tuesday, the public procurement database added a update of $ 6,847.50 to this contract, which he said was practicing “General Option 1”, which means that it provides the contract. The documents are revised but reminiscent of the CBR brief Part looking to corruption by CBP employees.