It’s been revealed the US Federal Bureau of Investigation has been using information collected and stored by Sabre, the world’s largest travel data holder.
The FBI conducts widespread and extensive surveillance the world over, with company staff instructed by Bureau agents to “actively spy” on targets, even while they’re in the midst of traveling?
Forbes reports that in December 2019, the FBI asked Sabre for “real time” weekly surveillance of Indian fugitive Deepanshu Kher for a period of six months, providing agents with “travel orders, transactions or reservations”.
Kher, was eventually caught in January this year and placed under house arrest.
In 2015, the FBI was hunting Aleksei Yurievich Burkov, whom investigators suspected was running Cardplanet, a US$20 million online marketplace for buying and selling stolen credit card data.
Burkov was eventually extradited from Israel in November 2019 and pleaded guilty to charges of fraud, identity theft, computer intrusion, wire fraud and money laundering in January 2020.
Sabre originally made headlines after it helped US authorities retrace the paths of the 9/11 hijackers after their attack.
However, its ongoing relationship with security services, and willingness to watch suspects and known criminals upon request, without the knowledge or consent of the individual(s) in question, were hitherto unknown – and raise significant privacy concerns.
USA rules our planet by military might, financial manipulation, media power – and personal-data collection. One either respects the Empire’s thoroughness, or despairs of our present human condition.
Sputnik / ABC Flash Point News 2020.
These tactics are in line with the regulations?
FBI, another spy agency on the loose?