DHS considering plan to collect phone numbers from all arriving air travelers, including American citizens, for COVID-19 tracing. ACLU raises 'serious concerns about privacy and misuse.”
Federal health and homeland security officials are considering athat would require all incoming air travelers to the United States — including American citizens — to hand over phone numbers and email addresses regardless of whether they have contracted COVID-19, according to government and airline officials.
The policy under consideration by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Homeland Security is intended to allow airlines to alert travelers who may have come in contact with an infected passenger, but two sources with knowledge of the program say the information could be accessed by law enforcement agencies, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and potentially used to track the arriving air travelers.
Hina Shamsi, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s National Security Project, said such a program would be too broad to have a public health impact and “raises serious concerns about privacy and misuse.” “The public health logic seems strained to say the least, because it’s not clear why information already provided on flight manifests and on booking and check-in isn’t enough. DHS and CBP should not be collecting data without clear limits and safeguards to protect travelers’ rights,” she said.
Spokespersons for the Department of Homeland Security and the CDC did not respond to requests for comment.
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