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Security Aide Prods Airlines to Yield Data on Travelers By MATTHEW L. WALD WASHINGTON, Sept. 26 ? Needing information on airline passengers for a test of the government's new computerized screening system, the Transportation Security Administration, rebuffed by JetBlue Airways, is looking for a substitute that can provide it, the agency's administrator said today. But the official, Adm. James M. Loy, said that because no one airline wanted to single itself out as the provider, he hoped to get the data from the industry as a whole. And if he cannot get the airlines' cooperation, he said, he will simply...

Clark Worked For Ark. Data FirmAcxiom Role Part of Surveillance Debate By Robert O'Harrow Jr. Washington Post Staff Writer Saturday, September 27, 2003; Page A08Retired Gen. Wesley K. Clark helped an Arkansas information company win a contract to assist development of an airline passenger screening system, one of the largest surveillance programs ever devised by the government. Starting just after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, Clark sought out dozens of government and industry officials on behalf of Acxiom Corp., a data powerhouse that maintains names, addresses and a wide array of personal details about nearly every adult in the...

Little Rock’s Acxiom Corp. has spent most of the two years since the attacks of Sept. 11 looking for government contracts to help fight the war on terror. It has found the contracts. Now it has a fight on its hands. The data-management company is involved in a growing dispute over the release of information on millions of airline passengers to a Defense Department contractor last year. Acxiom sold that contractor demographic data on roughly 2 million airline passengers — about 40 percent of those involved — as part of its role in the war on terror. As a...

LITTLE ROCK (AP) -- Acxiom Corp. didn't violate anyone's privacy rights when it gave information it accumulated on thousands of airline passengers to an Alabama company that was preparing an anti-terrorism study for the Defense Department, an Acxiom spokesman said Tuesday. The Little Rock-based data management company said it followed "applicable laws" and its own privacy policy in doing business with Torch Concepts of Huntsville, Ala. Torch Concepts produced the study, "Homeland Security: Airline Passenger Risk Assessment," with information from Acxiom and JetBlue Airways Corp. at Queens, N.Y. The Electronic Privacy Information Center, a nonprofit privacy group, filed a...

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - A group of passengers has sued JetBlue Airways Corp. for passing their personal information to a Defense Department contractor. The suit, filed Monday, follows JetBlue's acknowledgment last week that, in violation of its own privacy policy, it had given information from about 5 million passenger records to Torch Concepts of Huntsville, Ala. Torch produced a study, "Homeland Security: Airline Passenger Risk Assessment," that was purported to help the government improve military base security. The class-action lawsuit, filed in Utah's 3rd District Court, alleges fraudulent misrepresentation, breach of contract and invasion of privacy. Also on...

Millions of JetBlue passenger records were used in a military effort whose methods closely resemble those employed in the notorious Terrorism Information Awareness überdatabase program, the Army confirmed Monday. Last week, defense contractor Torch Concepts came under heavy scrutiny after Wired News revealed that the company had crunched fliers' private data without their knowledge. On Monday, Army spokesman Maj. Gary Tallman said the information was used by Torch Concepts to test a prototype of a data-mining system designed to screen out terrorists who might want to infiltrate or attack Army bases worldwide. According to a corporate press release from May...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 22 — Two federal agencies announced today that they had opened investigations into JetBlue Airways in response to the airline's admission that it had provided travel records on more than a million passengers to a Pentagon contractor, violating its own privacy rules. The moves by the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Trade Commission came as JetBlue disclosed that it had hired Deloitte & Touche, the accounting firm, to review the company's privacy policies and determine if they needed to be revamped. The fast-growing three-year-old airline, which is based in New York and has worked to...

Before the Federal Trade Commission Washington, DC In the Matter of JetBlue Airways Corporation and Acxiom Corporation.Complaint and Request for Injunction, Investigation and for Other Relief INTRODUCTION1. This complaint concerns the privacy practices of JetBlue Airways Corporation and Acxiom Corporation. As set forth in detail below, JetBlue Airways Corporation and Acxiom Corporation have engaged in deceptive trade practices affecting commerce by disclosing consumer personal information to Torch Concepts Inc., an information mining company with its principal place of business in Huntsville, Alabama, in violation of 15 U.S.C. § 45(a)(1). JetBlue Airways Corporation and Acxiom Corporation engaged in these activities...

Wesley Clark, the former Army General who announced his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination on Sept. 17, has not given up his board memberships, according to published accounts. Since retiring from the military in 2000, Clark has held a variety of industrial positions, including jobs with a Washington, DC-based technology firm, an investment company, and director or advisor positions with six other organizations. In most cases he was brought on board to assist with military or government contracts. One such company is Acxiom Corp., the Little Rock, AR-based data firm. Clark joined Acxiom in December 2001, and played a...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 19 — JetBlue Airways acknowledged publicly today that it had provided a Pentagon contractor with information on more than one million of its passengers as part of a program to track down terrorists and other "high risk" passengers. That data, which was turned over in violation of the airline's own privacy policies, was then used to identify the passengers' Social Security numbers, financial histories and occupations. JetBlue, a three-year-old discount airline, sent an e-mail message to passengers this week, conceding that it had made a mistake in providing the records last year to Torch Concepts, an Army...

NEW YORK (AP) -- Violating its own privacy policy, JetBlue Airways gave 5 million passenger itineraries to a Defense Department contractor that used the information as part of a study seeking ways to identify "high risk" airline customers. The study, produced by Torch Concepts of Huntsville, Ala., was titled "Homeland Security: Airline Passenger Risk Assessment" and was intended to be a proof-of-concept analysis for a project on military base security. "This was a mistake on our part," JetBlue chief executive David Neeleman said in an apologetic e-mail sent to angry customers. Neeleman insisted the data JetBlue provided was not...

<p>JetBlue Airways confirmed on Thursday that in September 2002, it provided 5 million passenger itineraries to a defense contractor for proof-of-concept testing of a Pentagon project unrelated to airline security -- with help from the Transportation Security Administration.</p> <p>The contractor, Torch Concepts, then augmented that data with Social Security numbers and other sensitive personal information, including income level, to develop what looks to be a study of whether passenger-profiling systems such as CAPPS II are feasible.</p>

In September of 2002, JetBlue Airways secretly gave the Transportation Security Administration the full travel records of 5 million JetBlue customers. This sensitive travel data was then turned-over to a private security contractor for analysis, the results of which were presented at a security conference earlier this year and then posted on the Internet. JetBlue 'fesses-up in this Wired article: http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,60489,00.html

Governor Bush Announces Jetblue Selects Orlando For New Flight Training Center And Maintenance Hanger ~Low-Fare Airline to Create More Than 150 New Jobs in Central Florida~ ORLANDO- Governor Jeb Bush today joined JetBlue President and COO, Dave Barger at the Orlando International Airport to announce the low-fare airline will build its first flight training center and maintenance hanger in Orlando. The $160 million facility will employ more than 150 people at an average salary of approximately $57,000 per year. Orange County Chairman Rich Crotty and Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer joined the Governor at the announcement. “JetBlue had a choice in...

Governor Jeb Bush is in Orlando to announce an expansion of Jet Blue. We've been telling you the discount carrier will train it's work force here by building "JetBlue U". The company will spend 160 million dollars to build "JetBlue U". They'll get 4 million in incentives from the city, county and state. Governor Bush says it's a winning approach, "You see in Florida we recognize that people, if we build the right business climate investment will occur, and jobs will occur and then local and state governments and the needs of people will be taken care of not by...

SAO PAULO, Brazil - JetBlue Airways placed a $3 billion order with Brazil's Embraer for 100 regional jets as the low-cost carrier embarks on a growth strategy that involves challenging the country's largest carriers in mid-sized markets. The strategy represents an evolution for JetBlue on two fronts. First, it means the New York-based carrier is abandoning its reliance on a single aircraft, the Airbus A320. It also means JetBlue is ready to compete with major airlines on short-haul trips. David Neeleman, JetBlue's chief executive, said Tuesday's announcement makes the carrier "well-positioned to offer a better product to markets of all...

Embraer today announced an order from JetBlue Airways (NASDAQ: JBLU) for 100 EMBRAER 190 airliners with deliveries starting in the third quarter of 2005. The airline also took options on 100 additional EMBRAER 190s. The total value of the firm contract at list price is US$ 3 billion, with a potential value of more than US$ 6 billion if all options are converted. With this order, JetBlue becomes the launch customer for this model of the EMBRAER 170/190 family of airliners. JetBlue will outfit the aircraft with 100 leather seats, four abreast at 32-inch pitch with its signature DIRECTV satellite...

When JetBlue Airways Corp. recently announced that it had ordered 65 A320 aircraft from the French Airbus company, with options for 50 more, a lot of the boycott-France folks got up in arms - none more so than a former Capitol Hill staffer who helped write the FAA rules, which were designed to discourage such foreign airliner purchases in the first place. JetBlue's newly ordered aircraft will be delivered starting in 2004. In addition to the 41 aircraft in service, JetBlue already had 46 A320s on order. With the latest French order, JetBlue's fleet could grow to as many as...

When JetBlue Airways Corp. recently announced that it had ordered 65 A320 aircraft from the French Airbus company, with options for 50 more, a lot of the boycott-France folks got up in arms - none more so than a former Capitol Hill staffer who helped write the FAA rules, which were designed to discourage such foreign airliner purchases in the first place. JetBlue?s newly ordered aircraft will be delivered starting in 2004. In addition to the 41 aircraft in service, JetBlue already had 46 A320s on order. With the latest French order, JetBlue?s fleet could grow to as many...

Re: e-mail received Thursday, 04/24/03 5:00 AM, Speak Up 377444 Hello Oliver, Thank you for your e-mail regarding our choice of the Airbus A320 aircraft. Airbus is, in fact, not a French company. It is a European organization owned by British, Spanish, French and German concerns. While the A320 is assembled in France, Airbus also operates numerous manufacturing and assembly plants throughout Europe and spends more money with suppliers in the U.S. than in any other country. In 2002 alone, Airbus spent $5.5 billion in the U.S., supporting 120,000 American jobs at hundreds of companies located across some 40 U.S....