http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7006009487


U.S. May Access Bank And E-mail Accounts Of Air Passengers: Report

January 1, 2007 3:02 p.m. EST

Shaveta Bansal - All Headline News Staff Writer

New York, NY (AHN) - Britons and Europeans, who use their credit card to book an air ticket to fly to U.S., could have their credit card transactions and e-mail messages inspected by U.S. officials, a British newspaper reported on Monday. The news comes more than two months after the U.S. struck a deal with European Union that required the European airlines to provide to U.S authorities full access to travel itineraries and payment details of the passengers.

Citing a document released by Britain's Department of Transport (DOT), the Daily Telegraph reported that the U.S. officials can request as much as 34 separate items of Passenger Name Record (PNR) - which airlines must hand over.

The document outlines the "undertakings" given by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to the EU after the October agreement. The DOT published the document following a Freedom of Information request by the Daily Telegraph.

Under that deal, the passengers who use their credit card to reserve the flights to the U.S. may face having other transactions on their credit cards inspected by U.S. authorities, the paper said.

The data will not only be used to combat terrorism but also to deal with other serious crimes, it said.

A department spokesman told the Telegraph: "Every airline is obliged to conform with these rules if they wish to continue flying. As part of the terms of carriage, it is made clear to passengers what these requirements are.

"The U.S. government has given undertakings on how this data will be used and who will see it."

However, the human right groups criticized the move as "horrendous" and "one-sided extradition."

"It is making the act of buying a ticket a gateway to a host of personal email and financial information. While there are safeguards, it appears you would have to go to a U.S. court to assert your rights," Shami Chakrabarti, the director of the human rights group Liberty, told the paper.

This was part of security measures the U.S. has taken following the Sept. 11 2001 terrorist attacks. Washington last year made an agreement with the European Union which allowed airlines to provide names, addresses, fare payment details and telephone numbers to U.S. authorities. But in May 2005, EU's top court ruled that the system was illegal, and gave the EU and Washington until Sept. 30 to negotiate a new deal.

Facing an exclusion threat from Washington, in October Brussels finally agreed to sweep away the "bureaucratic hurdles" and required its airlines to "provide the comprehensive information" about passengers.

Meanwhile, Washington has promised to "encourage" U.S. airlines to make similar information available to EU governments rather than force them to do so, the paper said.