Northwest fesses up

last updated 8 January 2015

Minneapolis

Northwest Airlines last week admitted that it provided information on millions of passengers to the government for secret research on air security. After JetBlue apologized in September for sharing records with government contractors, Northwest executives had said they “did not provide that type of information to anyone.” The company changed its story in a new statement, saying it handed over three months of reservation files to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks for a study on improving passenger screening. The Electronic Privacy Information Center said the research amounted to a “serious violation” of privacy. Northwest said it “had a duty” to cooperate.