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U.S.-EU Air Passenger Data Accord Gets Sensitive Dave Eberhart WASHINGTON -- The United States and the European Union have agreed to the latest version of a security program that shares personal data about millions of U.S.-bound airline passengers.
The sensitive data potentially includes information about a person's race, ethnicity, religion and health, according to a report and documents just released by the Department of Homeland Security.
Under the international deal, which will take effect this month and continue through July 2014, the sensitive information specifically includes "racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership," as well as data about an individual's health, traveling partners and sexual orientation. Although the accord stipulates that Washington can only retain and use such sensitive information "where the life of a data subject or of others could be imperiled or seriously impaired," such as in a counterterrorism investigation, privacy advocates are upset. "This is like Swiss cheese -- for every rule, there is an exception or escape clause," Dutch member of the European Parliament Sophie in 't Veld recently commented to Spiegel Online. Story Continues Below
"This fails completely, despite all the statements to the contrary," 't Veld said. "The Americans basically declare on their word of honor that they will be very careful with our personal data. Based on our experiences in the past, that's not good enough." Stavros Lambrinidis of Greece, vice chairman of the parliament's Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee, warned that the agreement allows extra data collection not just in counterterrorism cases but for "a vast and in some cases unidentified number of crimes. So we have function creep," according to a report in the Washington Post. The more benign data now being stored under past agreements -- and which will continue to be stored and shared under the new accord -- includes names, addresses and credit card information, as well as telephone and e-mail contacts, itineraries, and hotel and rental car reservations. To the critics, Paul Rosenzweig, Homeland Security's deputy assistant secretary for policy, argues that to his knowledge the U.S. government has never invoked its authority to use data on religious beliefs and sex partners. Rosenzweig added, however, that despite the lack of history of use of the sensitive portion of data on international air passengers (known generally as PNR or Passenger Name Records), the U.S. is remiss to make such sensitive information wholly off limits, citing, for instance, a hypothetical case of U.S. authorities learning of an alert about passengers who request wheelchairs hiding bombs in leg casts, according to the Post report. For his part, Department of Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff touted the latest agreement as an important tool in the nation's vigilance against terror attacks: "Our frontline personnel did not have this tool on September 11th. Investigations after the attacks showed that PNR data would have, within a matter of moments, helped to identify many of the 19 hijackers by linking their methods of payment, phone numbers and seat assignments," Chertoff said. Under the new agreement, DHS will collect 19 types of PNR data. The data will be maintained for seven years in an active file, and eight years thereafter in a dormant file with limited access. "This ensures that we will be able to identify and investigate threats that might develop over a period of years," noted Chertoff. The new agreement also changes how the department collects PNR data from airline reservation systems. Air carriers will now transmit PNR data directly to the department. Beginning in January 2008, airlines will be required to send, or "push," data from their reservation systems to the Homeland Security Department 72 hours before a flight departs, expanding an existing "pull" system in which the department retrieves information from carriers. The particulars of the new accord were spelled out in a recent letter from Chertoff to Luis Amado, president of the Council of the European Council -- with an emphasis on the U.S. intent to limit access to the sensitive passenger data and inform EU officials when it is tapped. "DHS will maintain a log of access to any sensitive data in EU PNR and will delete the data within 30 days once the purpose for which it has been accessed has been accomplished… DHS will provide notice to the European Commission that such data, including sensitive data, has been accessed," Chertoff wrote. But such procedures don't impress Jim Dempsey, policy director for the Center for Democracy and Technology, a Washington-based advocacy group. "What Americans should be concerned about is it is now here in black and white: The government will maintain a database of all travelers -- including travelers of U.S. citizenship, including people who are believed to be no risk or threat . . . the government will maintain that and data-mine it," Dempsey told the Post. Such concerns aside, the treaty is a done deal, and, according to the Post report, may eventually serve as a model for like agreements covering air travelers from Asia, South America and other regions.
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