Northworst For Privacy
I want my privacy back. Northwest Airlines, the flying cattlecar I take to my hometown, Detroit, very likely donated my private data to NASA without my permission. According to an AP story:
Northwest said it did not inform any passengers that it shared data with NASA. It also said it did not believe that the data sharing violated its privacy policy."Our privacy policy commits Northwest not to sell passenger information to third parties for marketing purposes," the company said in its statement to the Post. "This situation was entirely different, as we were providing the data to a government agency to conduct scientific research related to aviation security and we were confident that the privacy of passenger information would be maintained."
Well, I'm thrilled that they were "confident" about this. I just wish I'd gotten to weigh in, as it's likely that I was one of those informationally assaulted. Hmm, if I can't have my privacy back, maybe I can invoice them for a $500 Revealing My Private Data fee. Now, there's an idea.
Why on earth would NASA want this stuff anyway? What the hell are you flying in? A U.F.O.? Why can't NASA spend money on more important stuff, like sending Dubya to the moon?
Patrick at January 19, 2004 5:25 AM