Patriotism my foot. JetBlue doesn't care about the privacy of the pax at all. Remember that they are the ones who put the cameras pointing at the pax in the cabin. I guess two airlines that were exposed to the Sep. 11 events were dumb and JetBlue was smart to calim "we are New York's hometown airline". United didn't do this becuase they are the hometown airline at IAD. It was a dumb move and I hope that someone takes them to cleaners. That'll teach them a lesson or two.. BAHA Fan of AirTran, civil liberties and freedom -----Original Message----- From: The Airline List [mailto:AIRLINE@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Bill Hough Sent: Thursday, September 25, 2003 6:28 AM To: AIRLINE@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: NYTimes.com Article: JetBlue Chief Wasn't Told of Decision on Passenger Data This article from NYTimes.com has been sent to you by psa188@xxxxxxxxx /-------------------- advertisement -----------------------\ Explore more of Starbucks at Starbucks.com. http://www.starbucks.com/default.asp?ci=1015 \----------------------------------------------------------/ JetBlue Chief Wasn't Told of Decision on Passenger Data September 25, 2003 By PHILIP SHENON WASHINGTON, Sept. 24 - The chief executive and founder of JetBlue Airways was not informed last year when it decided to give records on more than a million passengers to a military contractor for use in identifying terrorists, the airline said today. In a statement to customers on Tuesday night on its Internet site, www.jetblue.com/learnmore /privacypolicy.html, the chief executive, David Neeleman, apologized again for the release of the information and said, "Although I had no knowledge of this data transfer at the time it was made, I accept full responsibility for this action by our company." Mr. Neeleman did not identify the executive or executives who made the decision, nor did he say when he was informed of the release, which the company has acknowledged was a violation of its own privacy rules. But Mr. Neeleman defended the reasoning behind the transfer of the records to the military contractor, Torch Concepts of Huntsville, Ala. "I can understand why the decision was made to comply with this request from the Department of Defense," he said. "In the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, and as New York's hometown airline, all of us at JetBlue were very anxious to support our government's efforts to improve security." JetBlue, a three-year-old New York-based airline that has worked to build a reputation for low fares and customer satisfaction, acknowledged last week that the transfer of the passenger records was a mistake and publicly apologized. In a project intended to determine if passenger records from a major airline might help to identify terrorists, Torch Concepts tried to marry the JetBlue records with other databases in search of the passengers' Social Security numbers, financial history and family size. Torch Concepts said the Army hoped to use the study as a model for protecting military bases from terrorist attacks. The fast-growing airline is now facing lawsuits from privacy groups and passengers over the release of the customer records, which included names of passengers, their addresses and phone numbers. JetBlue's actions are also under scrutiny by the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Trade Commission. The American Civil Liberties Union announced today that it had established an Internet site allowing JetBlue passengers to fill out an online form that could be submitted to the government under federal privacy laws for information about them that might have been provided to the government by JetBlue. The site address is www.aclu.org/privacy. "We want to empower people to find out for themselves if they have been caught up in this experiment in using average Americans' personal information in a misguided effort to detect terrorists," said Barry Steinhardt, director of the group's Technology and Liberty Program. "We believe this page is an unprecedented tool. It lets Americans file official requests without having to hire a lawyer or become an expert in privacy law." A spokesman for JetBlue, Gareth Edmondson-Jones, declined to identify the executive or executives responsible for the release of the passenger information last year, and he said that no one would be disciplined for the breach of the company's privacy rules. "I don't think it's important," he said when asked to identify the executives. "The decision was made as a company. I don't think it's relevant." He said that the company was continuing to receive complaints from passengers about the violation and that telephone reservation agents had been briefed on how to respond to concerned passengers - by explaining that the move was made for patriotic reasons and out of concern for passenger safety. "We have provided them answers - it's not a script," he said. "Patriotism, good of the country, it's all very similar." He said that passengers seemed to be split on the release of the customer information to the military contractor, with many passengers saying they understood the airline's actions. "A slight majority seem to be more than ready to accept the reasons why we did this, regardless of whether we regret doing it," he said. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/25/business/25PRIV.html?ex=1065496493&ei=1&en =3593d0522b63a307 --------------------------------- Get Home Delivery of The New York Times Newspaper. Imagine reading The New York Times any time & anywhere you like! Leisurely catch up on events & expand your horizons. Enjoy now for 50% off Home Delivery! 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