Depends on who is checking.
Sold, not simply handed over??
I would assume the government knows any flight I take on a US carrier, and any flight I ticket in the US.
On the other hand, it could be argued that buying this data amounts to hiring the airline to spy on you, no different than if they had hired a private investigator to follow you. But if everything is tracked and stored indefinitely, a mere warrant isn't much of a shield [1]. Nor does this solve the problem of corporate surveillance, which I see as just as big a threat.
[1] https://web.archive.org/web/20140718122350/https://www.popeh...
Nobody is forcing these companies to do this. They just happen to have stuff the government wants to buy and are more than happy to sell it for a profit. And Congress doesn't forbid it.
Note there's an exception for cell tower data because courts ruled that cellphones are absolutely necessary for people to live their lives today. They collect so much data that applying Third Party Doctrine to that data is tantamount to a 24/7 100% carte blanche surveillance system across the entire country, so SCOTUS carved this one out.
They gotta get a search warrant for a storage locker or bank box. They ought to have to get the same warrant for your gmail or fitness app records or whatever. "Papers and effects" and all that.
Incentives ensure that Congress will always chose pork and campaign donations over handing the Executive a blank check every day of the week.
All it costs is your citizens’ privacy, which if we’re being honest was never a priority in the first place.
chiefalchemist•8mo ago
Irrelevant and pointless. If CBP had such data where else could it come from?
Uncle Sam, who could legislate privacy protections, loves the fact there is so little protection. No need for legal channels and approvals when the data can be purchased directly or indirectly.
fluidcruft•8mo ago
chiefalchemist•7mo ago