[Infowarrior] - DHS Noting Union Affiliation Of Air Travelers Is Protested

[Richard Forno]

DHS Noting Union Affiliation Of Air Travelers Is Protested

By Ellen Nakashima
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, October 12, 2007; Page D03

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/11/AR2007101102
403.html?nav=hcmodule

U.S. labor leaders have written a biting letter to Homeland Security
Secretary Michael Chertoff, voicing concerns that the government is
collecting labor union data on airline passengers flying to the United
States from Europe to determine whether they pose a terrorism risk.

As part of an agreement reached in July between the United States and
European Union, airlines are required to provide personal data on millions
of U.S.-bound passengers, such as names and credit card information.
European negotiators won restrictions on the use of such sensitive
information as religion, sexual orientation and union membership.

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But the Passenger Name Record Agreement states that that data can be used in
exceptional cases, "where the life of a data subject or of others could be
imperiled or seriously impaired," such as in a counterterrorism
investigation.

"We agree with the department's objective to identify those representing a
genuine threat, but we categorically reject the notion that union membership
has any bearing on this determination," AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney
and Edward Wytkind, president of the AFL-CIO's Transportation Trades
Department, wrote in a letter dated yesterday. "Even the suggestion that
union membership is somehow indicative of a threat to security is offensive
to the millions of workers we are proud to represent."

Sweeney and Wytkind said they were "extremely troubled" by an agreement that
anticipates the transfer of such data. They asked Chertoff to state that the
Department of Homeland Security will not collect such data.

Department spokesman Russ Knocke said information on union membership is not
collected. "It's an egregious assertion without any merit," he said. "This
information simply does not go into data fields. That information is
shielded out."

In a letter to European Union Council President Luis Amado in July, Chertoff
said that the use of any sensitive data in exceptional cases would be logged
and that after the purpose for its use is accomplished, the data would be
destroyed within 30 days. He said that if such information is not used, the
department "promptly" deletes it.

In an interview, Wytkind said the unions' concerns extend beyond the
possibility that union membership data will be collected to the fact that
Homeland Security has said the European agreement would be a template for
agreements with other nations.

"We're going to try to nip this before it becomes embedded in all future
bilateral agreements," he said.

Civil libertarians said sharing information gathered under the July
agreement without appropriate safeguards poses privacy risks.