JetBlue and CAPPS II
Current Affairs September 17th, 2003 |I don’t know anything about what area of the country they serve, as I’ve never heard of them before, but it seems like the JetBlue airline is going to be the testbed for the blatantly invasive CAPPS II program.
In a secret, off-the-record meeting held recently at TSA headquarters, TSA chief James M. Loy informed an elite audience of conservative opinion-makers that JetBlue Airways is replacing Delta Airlines as the “testing platform” for the CAPPS II internal border control system. The meeting was attended by former US Representative Bob Barr as well as leaders from several conservative public policy groups.
Don’t fly JetBlue.
(via Kottke)
[See also: More info on JetBlue | JetBlue class action lawsuit | Driving sounds better all the time | Full-time blogging | Diplomacy based on petulance ]
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September 17th, 2003 at 7:29 am
that’s really too bad, because Jet Blue was my favourite airline when i lived in NYC. The planes were new, the flights were cheap, the flight attendants were very cheerful, and they have live sattelite television at every seat. i could catch a hockey or baseball game on ESPN or watch the West Wing, as i flew across the country.
but CAPPS II kinda puts a downer on the whole thing.
September 17th, 2003 at 9:11 am
JetBlue is sort of the East Coast version of Southwest. It’s no frills and I’ve no end of good things about their service.
September 22nd, 2003 at 2:18 am
What I want to know is how can any of that be true? I’ve flown jetBlue a ton and they have never asked me for my ss#, any info about my family statis, ect. They have only asked me info that I personally have listed in the phone book. Are we all just too ready to believe such nonsense?
September 22nd, 2003 at 9:56 am
Misha — I don’t believe it’s nonsense at all. JetBlue may have had only a small set of your information, but when they released their records, that set could then be combined with other databases to build a profile to be used in determining whether or not you are “safe”.
For instance, you say that they only had what’s listed in the phone book. For the sake of argument, let’s say this includes your name, phone number, and address. That information will be connected to every flight you’ve taken with JetBlue. They then give all that information over to TorchConcepts, who used a data aggregation service called Acxiom to cross-reference that information with other databases, which is where it would be connected to your Social Security number, date of birth, DMV records, and credit history.
Once all that information is collected into one database, it can then be used to analyze spending habits, travel plans, etc., to build a “profile” that says what is “normal” for any given passenger. If for any reason you start to deviate from that pattern, flags start to go up, and suddenly the skies you’re flying aren’t so friendly anymore.
If you flew JetBlue between Feb. 2000 and Sept. 2002, your information may have been part of the data set that JetBlue provided, and you may be able to join a class action lawsuit against JetBlue.
September 22nd, 2003 at 9:57 am
More info on JetBlue
Wired has released more info on JetBlue’s release of 5 million passenger records.
September 22nd, 2003 at 10:04 am
JetBlue class action lawsuit
Did you fly JetBlue between February 2000 and September 2002? You may be eligible for a class action lawsuit against JetBlue being investigated.