The IRS accessed a massive database containing hundreds of millions of travel records, including when and where individuals flew and the credit card they used, without obtaining a warrant, according to a letter signed by a bipartisan group of lawmakers and shared with 404 Media. This revelation has ignited a heated debate over privacy rights and government oversight in the digital age.
The report highlights that major airlines, including Delta, United, American, and Southwest, sell their customer data to the Airlines Reporting Corporation (ARC), which then distributes it to government agencies. The IRS case in the letter is the clearest example yet of how agencies are searching the massive trove of travel data without a search warrant, court order, or similar legal mechanism. Instead, because the data is being sold commercially, agencies are able to simply buy access.
Lawmakers are urging airlines to stop the data-selling program, following an update that ARC has already planned to shut it down. The letter addressed to nine major airlines warns that the IRS ‘confirmed that it did not follow federal law and its own policies in purchasing airline data from ARC.’ The letter also states that the IRS ‘confirmed that it did not conduct a legal review to determine if the purchase of Americans’ travel data requires a warrant.’
Privacy advocates have called this a major breach of civil liberties, arguing that citizens have a right to protect their personal data from being accessed without due process. While the IRS has not officially commented on the allegations, the report has sparked calls for greater transparency and oversight in government data collection practices.