Jet Blue and Privacy

JetBlue messed up its passengers by leaked out their personal info to a Pentagon contractor - for a study. The study might have been useful, but the fact is that they did not look into the best interest of their customers - who trusted their info with them. Seth Godin didn't quite agree with the fact that customers sued Jet Blue for this.

Seth says:

"Do these folks have ANY IDEA how much buying and selling and sneaking and lying is going on behind their back? If you've got a credit card, you've got no secrets."

That is analogous to saying, people rob others in many parts of the world. If a cop sees a thief mugging some, he should let him go, after all there are so many thieves out there. Somehow I don't quite agree with the logic. My comments, posted on the site, reposted here:

"Seth, you might be correct in saying that the people suing JetBlue might be doing it for selfish reasons - or maybe they didn't want their trips to be revealed since they went places they didn't want others to know... whatever be the reason.

The fact remains that what Jet Blue has done is not in the best interest of their customers and is irresponsible on the part of a corporation. I am a staunch believer that the American legal system's approach towards law suites [that makes pursuing them (however trivial) a piece of cake] is killing our own industries, making us less competitive than, say the Japanese. In spite of this conviction of mine, I also understand that the only way we can curb irresponsible behavior in this country is to sue the perpetrator.

If everyone lets this incident go, it would be a precedent for others to follow - maybe even bring the back door agreements you were alluding to, to the mainstream - since no one really cares. At least with back door agreements, both parties need to take extra caution - and this overhead itself might be putting a ceiling on such activity."