JetBlue sued for disclosing passenger data = = = = Tuesday September 23, 7:50 PM EDT = LOS ANGELES, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Two groups of passengers have filed laws= uits against JetBlue Airways Corp in California and Utah (JBLU) for secre= tly giving the names of more than a million of its passengers to an anti-= terrorism screening program. Separately, an official at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said = it would examine whether anyone at the agency had misused the customer re= cords in the course of that project. In a lawsuit filed on Monday in Salt Lake City, a group of five plaintiff= s sued the low-cost airline for fraud, misrepresentation breach of contra= ct and invasion of privacy and asked that the complaint be cleared as a c= lass-action. The Utah lawsuit asks for compensatory, but not punitive damages. = A second proposed class-action lawsuit was filed in federal court in Los = Angeles on Monday charging JetBlue with violating the privacy of its pass= engers. A representative of JetBlue was not immediately available to comment on t= he legal claims. The pair of lawsuits were filed on the same day that The Electronic Priva= cy Information Center asked federal regulators to prosecute the airline f= or handing over the passenger data. New York-based JetBlue said last week that it had violated its own privac= y policy by giving information on 1.1 million customers to a U.S. Defense= Department contractor involved in an anti-terrorism project. Torch Concepts, of Huntsville, Alabama, a data-mining company, used the n= ames, addresses and flight information Jet Blue provided to produce a stu= dy intended to help the government assess potential terrorist threats. JetBlue Chief Executive David Neeleman apologized to customers in an e-ma= il and the company said it had hired Deloitte & Touche to review its priv= acy policy. "This is a good company. Mr. Neeleman has admitted that the company made = a mistake," said Utah attorney James McConkie, who represents plaintiffs = in the Salt Lake City lawsuit. "We want to fashion a fair and equitable r= elief." Nuala O'Connor Kelly, chief privacy officer at the U.S. Department of Hom= eland Security, said she would investigate whether anyone at the agency m= isused customer records. "My understanding at this point is there was virtually no involvement by = any now-component of DHS. However, I am reserving judgment until I know a= ll the facts and have done a thorough investigation of what employees and= what transpired and what conversations were had, but most importantly, w= hat data was held by what entity at what time," she said. Stephen Yagman, a prominent Los Angeles civil rights lawyer, who is repre= senting plaintiffs in the federal lawsuit could not be immediately reache= d for comment. (Additional reporting by Andy Sullivan in Washington) = =A92003 Reuters Limited. = Roger EWROPS