DEA Paid Amtrak Employee To Pilfer Passenger Lists

Via Ars Technica comes news that an Amtrak employee was paid nearly $900,000 over the last ten years to give the DEA passenger lists outside of normal channels. Strangely enough, the DEA already had access to such information through official channels. From the article: The employee, described as a "secretary to a train and engine crew" in a summary obtained by the AP, was selling the customer data without Amtrak's approval. Amtrak and other transportation companies collect information from their customers including credit card numbers, travel itineraries, emergency contact info, passport numbers, and dates of birth. When booking tickets online in recent years, Amtrak has also collected phone numbers and e-mail addresses. ... Amtrak has long worked closely with the DEA to track drug trafficking activity on its train lines. The Albuquerque Journal reported in 2001 that "a computer with access to Amtrak's ticketing information sits on a desk in the [DEA]'s local office," wrote the ACLU.

From endangered to extinct

[rmdingler]

From now on, if somebody-somewhere-for some reason, keeps records of my comings, goings, and preferences, I will be under the assumption some governmental 3 letter acronym has instant access to this information.

Articles such as this will henceforth only be of interest to me if they include examples where my data is not collected.

Whirrr...click. Adjustment Bureau confirms your new filter parameters.

Perfectly normal business

[MadKeithV]

Sounds like perfectly normal business to me. Getting paid $900.000 to tell you something you already know? That's called Consulting.

Re:Let's play the who goes to jail game....

[Khyber]

Drug traffickers shouldn't have access to the Amtrak database which would allow them to see if they're being monitored in the first fucking place. What pseudo-IT nonsense are you talking about?