A massive aviation industry clearinghouse that processes data for twelve billion passenger flights per year is selling that information to the Trump administration amid the White House’s new immigration crackdown, according to documents reviewed by the Lever.

The data — including “full flight itineraries, passenger name records, and financial details, which are otherwise difficult or impossible to obtain” for past and future flights — is fed into a secretive government intelligence operation called the Travel Intelligence Program and provided to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other federal agencies, records reveal.

Details of this program were outlined in procurement documents released Wednesday by ICE, which is a division of the Department of Homeland Security.

  • @[email protected]
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    7 days ago

    The company is jointly owned by nine major airlines, most of which are US-based: Delta, Southwest, United, American Airlines, Alaska Airlines, JetBlue, Air Canada, Lufthansa, and Air France.

    I hope EU starts some investigation, because it doesn’t seem this follows the GDPR for European travelers.

      • JohnEdwa
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        7 days ago

        Maximum GDPR fine is 4% of your revenue. For Lufthansa, that would be ~$1.4 billion, Air France ~$650 million, both of which are roughly their entire net income for one year.

        Not sure if anyone has been hit with the maximum ever though, as everyone just keeps track of the dollars and not percentage of revenue.

        • Rikudou_Sage
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          87 days ago

          AFAIK no one has triggered the biggest fines (yet?). Can’t wait for it to happen.

          • @[email protected]
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            7 days ago

            I think the biggest one by value is Meta with €1.2b. Although their revenue is in the $150b+ range, so not maxed out.

    • fmstrat
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      46 days ago

      Assuming the data doesn’t include international departures or arrivals (only their domestic counterparts), would GDPR even apply?

      • @[email protected]
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        36 days ago

        I think it applies to eu citizens worldwide for online purposes. You only need to do business in eu with eu clients (seperate terms) for it to apply.

        • fmstrat
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          36 days ago

          Yea, I guess because they are “selling” vs being compensated for? If the US govt dictates terms to that business under homeland security, GDPR probably wouldn’t matter, but I can only assume since it’s a sale, that’s not the case.

  • @[email protected]
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    987 days ago

    Nice racket. First you pay the airlines for their tickets, then the ICE with your tax dollars to buy your data from said airlines.

  • @[email protected]
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    96 days ago

    Everyone is stealing your data and selling it. Feeding it into AI. Building profiles on you to better send you ads.

    Yes. Literally every company. There’s no regulation so to them it’s free money.

  • @[email protected]
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    126 days ago

    As long as programs like 5-Eyes exist you just have to assume every time you interact with a company it is in the hands of all of the governments.

    • @[email protected]
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      25 days ago

      But useful idiots on lemmy keep telling me it’s china doing all the surveillance through companies.

  • @[email protected]
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    547 days ago

    IBM supplied Nazis with the machines and punch cards to track the population. Throwing that out there for no particular reason. What where we talking about?

  • @[email protected]
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    267 days ago

    I drive everywhere. Yeah, I know, fuck cars. But honestly they’re tracking everyone’s movement. Have you noticed all of the intersection cameras that have popped up everywhere? Fuck the authoritarian surveillance state.

    • @[email protected]
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      106 days ago

      Intersection cameras, license plate readers, face scanning. Expect some or all of it everytime you get behind the wheel.

    • @[email protected]
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      76 days ago

      They don’t need cameras. Your phone is constantly connecting to cell towers and broadcasting its unique identifier. Those towers keep a record of who has connected. So long as your in range of 3 or more towers they can triangulate your location.

    • @[email protected]
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      56 days ago

      You got one of those dongles, like State Farm’s Drive Safe and Save program? Carry a cell phone? You’re still being tracked.

      • @[email protected]
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        16 days ago

        No dongle, and I don’t always carry my phone. I get nonstop work calls, sometimes I turn it off and leave it.

  • Prehensile_cloaca
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    7 days ago

    Cue the airlines come with hand-wringing to beg the Feds for more bailouts because “nobody is flying anymore.”

    Parasitical business practices should lead to market exit.

  • Sibbo
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    297 days ago

    Since when does a government agency have to pay for receiving a companies data? I guess there is no law for allowing ICE to access that data, and then they just pay instead?

    • @[email protected]
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      227 days ago

      If I had to guess, obtaining the data by force may require a court order or legal process.

      Buying data that someone else is willingly selling bypasses those steps.

    • @[email protected]
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      187 days ago

      Yeah that’s one of the things that stood out as what the hell… the companies already have the data, if ICE wanted it legally they shouldn’t need to pay… Really shows how shady they’re being.

      • @[email protected]
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        26 days ago

        The government can’t just take every companies data. They absolutely can buy it if that is an option though. Just like how they pay for licenses for software, they can and do pay for data.

    • @[email protected]
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      57 days ago

      At least for foreigners travelling into the US, you’re willingly giving the US govt most of this information up front anyway via the APIS. And paying for the privilege!

      • @[email protected]
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        37 days ago

        Well you could have easily not fucking come here.

        Americans are just fucked (and they stole the election so we get to be hated for voting for him while we didn’t even vote for him, our allies have every excuse not to lift a finger to care. Really convenient.)

        • @[email protected]
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          27 days ago

          Unless of course you’re forced to, like for your job. My place would have little to zero sympathy for my personal reasons not to travel unless it’s on a govt advisory not to.

            • sunzu2
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              26 days ago

              Always but this is also a naive. These parasites have the same incentive structures so they always exploit

  • Rentlar
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    1077 days ago

    Can we get the courts to determine that as an “unreasonable search” already?

    • @[email protected]
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      477 days ago

      Yeah so bad news. The government has routinely purchased data like this as an end run around the 4th Amendment. The data is collected by a third party, often with the customers “consent”.

      This is why we need stricter privacy controls around our data. The fact that this data was collated in the first place is problematic. The fact that it’s being sold for profit is abhorrent.

      • @[email protected]
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        147 days ago

        The fact that it’s being sold for profit is abhorrent.

        Not even just profit now, but literally for the furtherance of the cruelty and suffering being dispensed by ICE

      • Avid Amoeba
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        157 days ago

        The mental trick that keeps on giving. When government does it - it’s automatically bad, but when a private business does it - it’s between the business and its customers. Then all the gov’t needs to do is become a customer on the B2B side.

          • @[email protected]
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            5 days ago

            And we vote them in because the people that will do shit will inevitably fuck with the money of affluent neo-liberals.

          • Avid Amoeba
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            47 days ago

            True. But I think to a great extent that’s the case because business funds the weak ones and spends good money to convince us to elect them. Then they keep the profits rolling. Rinse and repeat.

      • @[email protected]
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        37 days ago

        The government was voted by us so at this point you need to be telling your fellow citizens that there are fucking stupid and we must remove everyone from office at this point.

        So we’re fucked. We’re fucked!

        • @[email protected]
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          36 days ago

          It’s not really a problem with the government though. This company collates and sells the data. They sold it to the government, who have every right to buy it if it’s being sold legally.

          For those thinking this would only be a new thing under the current government, think again. These records are a goldmine for any and all intelligence agencies around the world, and it’s all been available for as long as online flight bookings have been a thing.

          • sunzu2
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            46 days ago

            Patriot Act just never stops giving

            Idiots supported it because it was gonna be used against the “right people”

            Literally provided political support for the machinery of oppression

            • @[email protected]
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              26 days ago

              It’s the same reason why I find the lefts calls for censorship, prosecution of political opponents, stuffing the courts, banning of political parties, etc to be so incredibly stupid and naive.

              They don’t understand that while those things are “great” when it’s their beloved do-no-wrong party in power - they won’t be in power forever! When they aren’t in power, those very same laws will be used against them but 10x worse due to the effects of those laws being used against the now-in-power party.

    • ThePowerOfGeek
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      487 days ago

      The same courts that the government routinely ignores, and that has a sham, corrupt supreme court at it’s head? Yeah, good luck with that, unfortunately.

      • @[email protected]
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        26 days ago

        Still it’s good to get it on record. Either the court is compromised, or gives good rationale, or ice is in breach. At this point it’s stilll a question.

    • @[email protected]
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      97 days ago

      Flock operates thier ALPR cameras the same way. They own the data but will happily hand it over to law enforcement. Cities are contracting with Flock to install the network of ALPRs.

      If we had cops on the street recording everyone’s license plate as they drove by I’m sure a savvy lawyer could argue successfully that it’s an illegal search. Somehow, when a private company does it and makes the database accessible it’s not?

    • @[email protected]
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      107 days ago

      yo, the exec has said they’re actively trying to suspend habeas corpus. we’re going back in time now. i thought the tea tariffs on the UK would have been enough symbolism to work with.

  • @[email protected]
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    27 days ago

    Twelve billion

    I thought we we’re approximately 8.2 Billion on earth? Am i missing something?

    • y0kai
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      57 days ago

      You’re right, everyone is only allowed one flight per year this doesn’t add up

      • @[email protected]
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        27 days ago

        12 billion passenger is a bad way of saying it, 12 billion flights would’ve been better.

        • @[email protected]
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          No, passengers is the correct way of saying it. A flight can have hundreds of passengers. A person is a passenger every time they fly a leg on a plane.

          Also it’s “passenger flights” in the OP, which would be a record of a passenger on a flight. If a person took 4 flights in one journey, that would count as 4 “passenger flights”.

    • Joe Dyrt
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      117 days ago

      One person can have multiple flights per year. Its still a huge number considering the billions in Asia who never fly.

  • @[email protected]
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    87 days ago

    Do foreign airlines that come into the country do this? Would an EU plane be safe from this bullshit?

    • @[email protected]
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      217 days ago

      Even if I trust the flying itself, I don’t trust not being detained upon entering the USA. I’m not flying there again anytime soon.

      • Dzso
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        97 days ago

        Even as a white male US born citizen, I also don’t see myself flying back any time soon. I’m nobody, but I’ve run my mouth against fascists online enough that I’ve probably triggered some flag in the system.