do you violate your own laws to appease the u.s.?

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

Delivered-To: dfarber+ () ux13 sp cs cmu edu
Date: Fri, 05 Dec 2003 14:41:59 +0100
From: the terminal of Geoff Goodfellow <geoff () iconia com>
Subject: do you violate your own laws to appease the u.s.?
To: Dave E-mail Pamphleteer Farber <dave () farber net>

Czech airlines must give USA personal data of its passengers-CT

PRAGUE- The USA demands that the Czech air carrier CSA provide it with data
on all its passengers citing terrorism, which the Czech Personal Data
Protection Office (UOOU) says causes the CSA to breach people's privacy, the
public television broadcaster CT said.

CSA provides passengers' personal data to the United States under a
temporary exception from the respective law, which however will cease to be
valid as soon as the Czech Republic enters the European Union in May next
year.

The data CSA sends beforehand to the USA include the first and family name,
the number of passport, the birth date and nationality. As from next year,
the Americans demand further information.

"The American side requests further personal data which are hidden in the
reservation code," CSA spokeswoman Marcela Pickova told CT.

Karel Neuwirth from the UOOU said that these are the address and way of
payment. Besides, it is also possible to read a possible physical handicap
or religious faith from the code.

"The risk arises that these data could be made accessible to interest and
other groups," Neuwirth said.

CSA thus faces a double pressure, according to CT. It will either comply
with the Americans'demand and breach Czech laws on personal data protection,
or will observe Czech laws and protect passengers' privacy, but the
passengers will risk that they will not be allowed in the U.S. air space.

"The American authorities are very strict and it could happen that they will
even ban us from landing at the airport," Pickova told CT.

The television said that CSA and the UOOU will discuss the issue next week.

http://www.ceskenoviny.cz/news/index_view.php?id=38931

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geoff.goodfellow () iconia com * Prague - CZ * telephone +420 603 706 558
"success is getting what you want & happiness is wanting what you get"
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/01/biztech/articles/17drop.html
http://blogging.cz

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