Shontel Brown.

Lawmakers seek GAO probe of DOT passenger privacy

Wyden and Brown are pressing the GAO to investigate the Department of Transportation for decades of inaction on airline passenger privacy, arguing that the DOT’s failure to regulate has left Americans’ data exposed to corporate exploitation, surveillance, and potential foreign interference, with the ARC data broker’s tens of millions of records cited as a key example. They note a 2024 DOT review into airline privacy has yielded no public findings or enforcement actions, and call for proactive audits and accountability as regulators have largely remained reactive.