Judge Rejects Passenger Data Lawsuits

[dArKeR]

ST. PAUL - A Minnesota judge dismissed seven class-action lawsuits brought against Northwest Airlines by passengers whose personal information was provided to NASA (news - web sites) for an aviation-security research project.

U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson rejected the plaintiffs' contention that Northwest had violated the Electronic Communications Privacy Act and the Fair Credit Reporting Act, saying attorneys failed to show that passengers were harmed by the data sharing.

In the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Northwest provided NASA with passenger data from the last three months of 2001, including names, flight numbers, credit card data, hotel reservations, car rentals and traveling companies.

The passengers who filed the lawsuits alleged that Northwest breached its own privacy contract.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040609/ap_on_bi_ge/airlines_privacy_1

I think many 'reasonable' people are offended. This is a bias ruling! I don't care who appointed this judge he should be impeached!

[Snazzy]

1. Glad they sued

Hope they go to appeal or another venue.

Who organized I wonder?

I know www.epic.org is on this.

So far: NW, Jetblue, American, and (especially) Delta have admitted giving over data. It's probably more pervasive.

Gee, why the fuck is NASA doing this? Got CIA, NSA, FBI, the rest of the alphabet and the Dept. of Homeland Security.

Yet NASA said it has no money to fix Hubble.

Could it be that the whole thing was supposed to be secret?

Nah.

Oh yes, we Americans have spoken and we want Total Information Awareness, and CAPPSII and the MATRIX. Clearly the space agency is best equipped to find terrorists who would dare to fly the friendly skies. NASA has been pursuing little green men for a long time, so it makes sense.

Seriously though, the stoplight three color airline system proposed by Ridge, who I suspect likes his color coding a bit too much (should send him some of those markers you can sniff that smell like fruit--he would clearly appreciate the simple joy of those things), is the first "Flying J" on road to fascism.

We get the privilege no check green light, and everybody else subject to search and arrest and hassles at the least. What the hell kind of America is that?

This is the kind of topic that needs people active, now, before any domestic terror or some sort of other enabling nightmare.

Anyway, I salute the people who sued. :yourock: