Northwest Sued for Divulging Customer Information 22
ChazeFroy writes "Northwest Airlines is now being sued for giving customer information to the government. The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in US District Court in St. Paul MN, contends that the airline violated its own privacy policy as well as federal and state laws."
My fellow Slashdotters (Score:2, Interesting)
Key provisions of the Patriot Act are set to expire next year. (Applause.) The terrorist threat will not expire on that schedule. (Applause.) Our law enforcement needs this vital legislation to protect our citizens. You need to renew the Patriot Act. (Applause.)
How Ironic! (Score:3, Interesting)
The information they divulged was divulged to a researcher at NASA. Though I don't have the URL, I remember reading that the researcher basically concluded that airline passenger data could not be used to predict terrorist events; that the so-called passenger profiling efforts were effectively worthless. In other words, you couldn't reliably pick out terrorists based on statistical analyses of passenger flight records.
How ironic that Northwest is getting sued for something which didn't even achieve its intended result!
Re:My fellow Slashdotters (Score:5, Interesting)
Clarifications in bold
Re:My fellow Slashdotters (Score:5, Interesting)
The AC, of course, is quoting President Bush's State of the Union Speech given last night.
The applause for "Key provisions of the Patriot Act are set to expire next year" was predominantly by the Democrats, and was apparently unexpected by the Republicans.
To repudiate the Democrats, the Republicans rose to their feet and even more loudly applauded "The terrorist threat will not expire on that schedule."
Yes, that's right. The Republican majority clapped loudly and enthusiastically for the proposition that the terrorist threat won't end.
But besides being black humor at its best, it just makes sense: the continuing "War on Terrorism" gives the Republicans an excuse to grab more power, further limit our liberties, and direct more no-bid contracts to Halliburton. Our fear of terrorism is their ticket to the good life.
So it was telling that later in the speech, President Bush characterized the "War on Terrorism" as "a task that does not end."
Like the "War on Drugs", Bush knows he'll never win the "War on Terrorism", and so he'll always have it around to justify more and more intrusive government. So long as there's a "War on Terrorism", Bush and his Republican cronies get to keep their cushy jobs, old men like Admiral Poindexter get to stare into your bedrooms, and young men from poor families get to join the army and die for Halliburton's oil.
Re:My fellow Slashdotters (Score:3, Interesting)
Another one bites the Dust (Score:2, Interesting)
Wonder how many other airlines are just that much better at hiding their complicity...