SEC bought access to over a billion airline records to track travelers, no warrant required

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) obtained access to over a billion airline ticket records through the Travel Intelligence Program (TIP), operated by Airlines Reporting Corporation (ARC), without obtaining a warrant. This gave the regulator the ability to monitor individuals worldwide, tracking their travel patterns. The database included journeys outside the United States and could alert investigators when people booked new flights.

The records contained sensitive information such as passengers' names, credit card numbers, departure and arrival cities, flight details, and the agency responsible for the sale. This surveillance was not limited to historical searches; the SEC also used an alert system to check transactions against the names of people they were monitoring, issuing reports for travel booked within the preceding 24 hours.

The SEC sought between one and 25 of these alerts daily, though the agency did not respond to requests for comment. The airline-owned company ARC, which is co-owned by major airlines like American Airlines, Delta, and United, provided the records through the program. This revelation is particularly surprising as the SEC, a civil financial regulator, is not an intelligence or counterterrorism agency.

Critics argue that purchasing commercially available records allows government agencies to circumvent safeguards that would typically require a warrant or court order if the information were demanded directly. ARC announced the closure of TIP in November of the previous year, following pressure from lawmakers and reports about its government contracts.

However, the newly released SEC documents reveal that the program's reach extended far beyond what was previously known, including overseas travelers.