US Lawmakers Seek Watchdog Review of Airline Privacy Enforcement
Two Democratic lawmakers have asked the US Government Accountability Office to investigate the Transportation Department's record on airline passenger privacy enforcement.
Two Democratic members of the US Congress have formally requested that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) examine the Department of Transportation's (DOT) handling of airline passenger privacy protections.
Senator Ron Wyden and Representative Shontel Brown made the request on Wednesday, asking the watchdog to look into why the DOT has not brought a single enforcement action related to passenger data in more than 40 years.
The lawmakers pointed to what they described as numerous widely publicised privacy failures that have affected hundreds of millions of travellers over that period. They argue that the absence of any enforcement cases raises serious questions about whether the department is fulfilling its statutory duty to protect consumer data in the aviation sector.
The GAO, which serves as the investigative arm of Congress, has not yet indicated whether it will take up the request. The move adds to growing scrutiny of how federal agencies oversee data privacy in industries that collect large volumes of personal information.