Northwest Airlines' Disclosure of Passenger Data to Federal Agencies
New Information Disclosed in EPIC's FOIA Lawsuit -- FBI Obtained
Passenger Data; TSA Informed of NASA Screening Research
As a result of litigation that EPIC pursued in the U.S. District Court for
the Northern District of California, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
(NASA) has released additional documents relating to its receipt and use of
passenger data from Northwest Airlines. The agency has also filed a "Vaughn
index," which describes other documents that are being withheld and provides
NASA's justification for not releasing the material.
The most significant revelation contained in the newly-released material
is that the Federal Bureau of Investigation obtained one full year's worth
of Northwest passenger data. In an internal NASA e-mail
message (pdf), a researcher states that Northwest provided the data to
the FBI on 6000 CDs. In an article
based upon this new information, the New York Times has confirmed the disclosure
of passenger data to the FBI -- from Northwest as well as other U.S. carriers.
Other new disclosures obtained through EPIC's litigation include:
-
NASA researchers informed the Transportation Security Administration
(TSA) that it was using Northwest passenger data to conduct research on
passenger screening systems. TSA expressed an interest in "understanding
the NASA-NWA relationship." These e-mail messages (which have been withheld)
"represent an exchange between NASA and TSA discussing areas of cooperation
between the two government agencies on a new passenger screening system."
The subject line of one message specifically references TSA's CAPPS II
initiative. (Vaughn index, pages 17-18).
-
After funding for NASA's passenger screening research was apparently
discontinued, agency researchers in February 2003 "speculat[ed]
as to whether any other program could use the [Northwest] data."
One e-mail message "identifies other possible uses for the NWA data."
(Vaughn index, page 11). An earlier message (December 2002) is "from the
lead researcher discussing the advantages of the NWA database for future
government research." (Vaughn index, page 24).
- NASA offered to provide copies of the Northwest passenger data to Voquette,
a contractor working with the agency on the Airline Passenger Identification
and Threat Assessment (APITAS) project. (Document 23). It is not clear whether
the contractor received the data (see links to Voquette contracts, below,
for details of the APITAS work). NASA also requested permission from Northwest
to "release NWA data to a non-NASA researcher and to allow IBM to run tests
on the text portion of the NWA data." (Vaughn index, page 12).
Relevant Documents (PDFs)
Background
In January 2004, EPIC obtained documents through the Freedom of Information
Act (FOIA) revealing that Northwest Airlines provided the National Aeronautics
and Space Administration (NASA) with three months of passenger data in late
2001 or early 2002.
In July 2002, EPIC received documents from the Transportation Security Administration
in response to a FOIA request indicating that NASA met with Northwest officials
in December 2001 to discuss NASA research, including the development of "non-invasive
neuro-logic sensors" as well as passenger screening technology. Soon thereafter,
NASA asked Northwest for "system-wide Northwest Airlines passenger data from
July, August and September 2001" to be used in NASA's "research and development
work."
In September 2003 it was reported that JetBlue Airways turned over passenger
data to a Defense Department contractor for use in a data mining and passenger
profiling study. At the time, a Northwest official told the New York Times,
"we do not provide that type of information to anyone."
In the wake of the JetBlue incident, EPIC submitted a FOIA request to NASA
asking for records related to negotiations for passenger data with Northwest
or other airlines. In response, NASA provided EPIC documents confirming that
Northwest gave NASA three months of passenger data for use in a data mining
and passenger profiling study. The documents show that in September 2003,
NASA returned to Northwest the CDs on which the passenger data were provided,
after retaining the data for almost two years. In an e-mail message to Northwest,
a NASA researcher noted, "you may have heard about the problems that JetBlue
is now having after providing passenger data for a project similar to ours."
NASA continued to withhold an unspecified number of documents. EPIC filed
suit
(pdf) against the agency seeking disclosure of that material, which settled
in September 2004 after NASA released a substantial number of documents detailing
its data mining reseacrh. EPIC also filed a complaint
(pdf) with the Department of Transportation alleging that Northwest's disclosure
violates its publicly posted privacy
policy and constituted an unfair and deceptive trade practice, and requesting
a formal investigation. In Semptember 2004, the agency dismissed
EPIC's complaint, finding that hat Northwest's privacy policy "did not unambiguously
preclude it from sharing data" with NASA, and that "even if it did, such a
promise would be unenforceable as against public policy[.]" The agency also
found no evidence of actual or likely harm to passengers affected by the data
transfer. EPIC has petitioned (pdf) the agency for review.
News
- Transportation Dept. Upholds
Dismissal of EPIC's Claims Against Northwest. The Department of Transportation has affirmed (pdf)
its dismissal of EPIC's complaint against Northwest Airlines,
concluding that "an enforcement action is not in
the public interest." EPIC had argued that the airline
violated its privacy policy by disclosing millions of
passenger records
to NASA for use in a data mining study, thus committing
an unfair and deceptive trade practice.
(Mar. 11, 2005)
FOIA Documents
EPIC v. NASA Documents
Department of Transportation Proceeding Documents
Related EPIC Policy Pages