A data broker owned by the country’s major airlines, including American Airlines, United, and Delta, is selling access to five billion plane ticketing records to the government for warrantless searching and monitoring of peoples’ movements, according to a new contract and other records reviewed by 404 Media. The contract provides new insight into the scale of the sale of passengers’ data by the Airlines Reporting Corporation (ARC), the airlines-owned data broker. The contract shows ARC’s data includes information related to more than 270 carriers and is sourced through more than 12,800 travel agencies.
ARC has previously told the government to not reveal to the public where this passenger data came from, which includes peoples’ names, full flight itineraries, and financial details. This has raised significant privacy and civil liberties concerns, as the data is being used by agencies such as the FBI, Secret Service, ICE, and many others. Senator Ron Wyden has criticized the practice, stating, "Americans’ privacy rights shouldn’t depend on whether they bought their tickets directly from the airline or via a travel agency. ARC’s sale of data to U.S. government agencies is yet another example of why Congress needs to close the data broker loophole by passing my bipartisan bill, the Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act," he told 404 Media in a statement.
The sale of this data has sparked a debate over the balance between national security and individual privacy. While the government argues that such data is crucial for tracking suspected criminals and terrorists, critics argue that it undermines the fundamental right to privacy guaranteed by the Fourth Amendment. The controversy highlights the growing concerns over data collection and surveillance in the digital age, as private companies increasingly play a role in providing sensitive information to government agencies.