The European Commission has warned that a transatlantic
row may soon result if US demands for airlines to reveal passenger
information as an antiterroris measure are not backed by adequate
privacy safeguards.
In a letter to US secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge, the
European Union commissioner in charge of customs issues, Frits
Bolkestein, said that only a "tightly worded undertaking" about the
manner in which passenger information is handled and shared is
acceptable.
"Data protection authorities here take the view that [passenger]
data is flowing to the US in breach of our Data Protection
directive," Bolkestein said. "It is urgent to establish a framework
which is more legally secure."
Discussions on the issue have been going on since December 2001,
soon after the US began requiring all airlines flying into the
country to disclose the passenger name record (PNR) of all
passengers.
PNR information typically includes names, travel routes, credit
card numbers, special meals and other details which US authorities
said they would need to identify potential terrorists entering the
country.
The European Commission has been insisting on adequate privacy
safeguards relating to the manner in which the data can be accessed
and used by US authorities. The privacy issues being raised are
similar to the ones that US businesses need to comply with when
doing business in Europe.
The concerns relate to issues such as the purpose for which the
data is used, stronger protection, filtering out of certain types
of data and the need for a redress mechanism in cases where
mistakes are made.
Nevertheless, under an interim agreement between the two sides,
US customs and immigration authorities have been accessing such
information from European airlines since March.
"On a number of important points the US undertakings fall short
of what we need and it is urgent that these issues now be looked at
from a political perspective," Bolkestein's letter said. Otherwise,
there could be a "highly charged transatlantic confrontation" over
the issue, he said.
Jaikumar Vijayan writes for ComputerWorld