Too much information

[zimzam]

There comes a time when I think a certain Country is really overstepping the mark.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jse ssionid=0Q3CS3JULKAVZQFIQMGCFFOAVCBQUIV0?xml=/ news/2007/01/01/nusnoop01.xml

[Bazile]

Are you really surprised ? - You shouldn't be .

The americans , or should I say the American authorities have become paranoid - rightly or wrongly - about security ; especially since 9/11 .

It is a fact that America is a huge market for business , which unfortunately cannot be ignored - and they know that . That is why they can demand and get away with things like this

I suppose you could chose not to travel there if you can avoid it .

However I think it is a case of they have got most people by the short and curlies

[Dom Tuk]

First saudi Arabia told us what to do
Now the Americans
Thank you Blair

[noxlumos]

Well not surprising at all since America is clearly out to take over the world. Thankfully despite their might they are amongst the most inept peoples on the planet at organising anything properly (Bay of Pigs, Vietnam, Iraq etc etc etc).
If this wanton invasion of our privacy and freedom has allegedly been done in the name of security and as a response to the terrorist attacks of 9/11, then perhaps the Captains of Inept might want to consider that all flights involved with that were internal and that it's as simple as this to get photo ID to board a plane in the good old US of A.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owvO640ODwA

[WaldoMcFroog]

Such information would be classified as 'Personally Identifying Information' under the Data Protection Act 1998.

It is your legal right not to have this data communicated to another party unless it meets one of the conditions under Schedule 3 of the Act (which the Telegraph article would suggest it would). Specifically, I imagine they would use the following condition:

7. - (1) The processing is necessary-

(a) for the administration of justice,
(b) for the exercise of any functions conferred on any person by or under an enactment, or
(c) for the exercise of any functions of the Crown, a Minister of the Crown or a government department.

The ticket vendor should have made you aware of the fact that they intended to pass on this information to an outside organisation (and this would likely be in the small print, of course).

You would be entitled to issue a "Section 10 notice" to the airline, giving them 21 days to cease processing your data on the grounds that such processing would cause you "substantial damage or distress which is unwarranted". You might attempt to argue potential for identity fraud is a major concern.

I don't give much for your chances of them agreeing that it does cause you distress, regretably.

[netibiza]

Well I shall supply my AB email - that should worry 'em!

[curlylfim]

just pay by cash..........but is what they are doing legal, i'm sure its not

[zimzam]

I know they have access to our Bank details and medical records, but I do wish to make it clear that while I abhor these latest demands I do wonder why the USA does not cough up their citizens records for the rest of the world to view. Mind you, the US people have it far worse than we do and my link is on no way blaming the American people - just their flipping President.

[Lonnie]

I'm just surprised it hasn't happened earlier, look how many terrorists this country has grown, exported, made safe homes for.

Their looking after themselves, good for them.

[WaldoMcFroog]

Is this the same PC and Human Rights crowd who were desperate to get Pinochet on trial, and were hugely vocally critical of the government for their failure to give him up..?

[suffragette]

It is sad that the Bush administration is keen to stoke up paranoia, enabling it to slowly dismantle the democracy that made America such a beacon of hope for peoples around the world in bygone days. I wonder what former presidents like Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Lincoln, F.D. Roosevelt and even Kennedy would make of the present situation. I suspect they would turn in their graves at the increased centralisation of power and erosion of liberties. Vigilance should not necessitate a descent into a system of pseudo-Stalinist surveillance of the populace and visitors to the USA.