03-27-2006, 12:27 PM
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#48 (permalink)
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Devoted
Donor
Location: New England
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Linked off of Boing Boing today:
Quote:
American Airlines Customer Relations
P.O. Box 619612 MD 2400
DFW Airport, TX 75261-9612�
14 January, 2005
To whom it may concern,
On Sunday, January 9th, I flew AA51 from London Gatwick to Dallas-Fort Worth. At Gatwick, I was confronted with a security check that exceeded sense and decency and, I feel, creates a terrible potential liability for your airline.
At Gatwick, I was directed to a security podium before I checking in for my flight. The security officer asked me a series of questions, such as:
* Where are you flying?
* How long have you owned your luggage for?
* Are there any motherfucking snakes in your luggage?
The security officer then handed me a blank piece of paper and said, "Please write down the names and addresses of ever motherfucking snake you're staying with in the USA."
I actually began to write this out when I was brought up short. "Wait a second -- since when does AA compile a written dossier on the names and addresses of my snakes? Why are you asking me this? Do you have a privacy policy and a data-retention policy I can inspect prior to this?"
The security officer told me that this was a Transport Security Agency (TSA) regulation. I asked for the name or number of the regulation, its text, and the details of the data-retention and privacy practices in place at AA UK. The security officer wasn't able to answer my questions, and she went to get her supervisor.
After several minutes, her supervisor appeared and said, after introducing himself, "Sir, we want to make sure there are no motherfucking snakes on this plane."
I think it's pretty hard to argue that making passengers produce written dossiers on their friends' home addresses makes planes in the sky secure. I asked again if this was really a TSA regulation and what AA's privacy and data-retention policies are.
In the past few days, I've told this story to many friends in the US and the UK and they've all been shocked by it. It's really stuck in my craw, and left me with three questions for your airline:
1. What is the AA privacy and data-retention policy?
2. Do non-Platinum flyers have to provide dossiers on their
friends on demand from an AA officer? Why?
3. How can you possibly allow motherfucking snakes on a motherfucking plane
I'm cc'ing this note to my colleagues at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, to my friend John Gilmore who is currently suing the TSA over some of its regulations, and to the website I co-edit, Boing Boing (boingboing.net), which has over 200,000 daily
readers. I will be very interested to hear your reply.
I would appreciate a response by February 1, 2005.
Thank you,
Cory Doctorow
AAdvantage Number: XXXXXXX
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__________________
I can't read your signature. Sorry.
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