SEC Bought a Billion Airline Records to Track Travelers—Likely Without a Warrant
The SEC bought access to a global airline ticketing database from Airlines Reporting Corporation, a clearinghouse owned by American, Delta, and United. The database contained over a billion records, including passengers’ names, credit card information, departure and arrival cities, and flight numbers. The subscription also included alerts that compared new bookings against a watchlist and flagged recent travel, with the SEC requesting up to 25 alerts per day. The purchase highlights a “data broker loophole”: agencies can buy data instead of subpoenaing it, often avoiding a warrant. The SEC, though a financial regulator, has used this kind of travel and payment data in enforcement efforts, including crypto-related probes. Critics say the same surveillance model has also been used by the IRS, FBI, and Homeland Security. ARC said the program was created after 9/11 and helped fight crime, including money laundering and terrorism.
