48 MAY 2020 ÇPlane&PilotI
magine a world where complete strangers can track
your every move with the click of a mouse. You start
your car in the morning, and someone you’ve never
met gets a text message telling them that you’re leaving
as soon as you pull your car out of the garage. Along
the way, they can track your route and how fast you’re driv-
ing. They even know your destination before you get there.
As you drive through a neighborhood, a curious resident
hears your car go by, taps their computer screen, and gets
info on your car, who owns it, and even your address. They
can even tell how many people are with you in the car and
how much gas you have in the tank.
Replace the word “car” with “airplane,” and you don’t
have to imagine anymore; that world is here today. Many
of us grew up reading classic books like George Orwell’s
1984 , which illustrated a potential future world in which
the government could peer into our personal lives, and
privacy was no more. We understand that, to some degree,
“Big Brother is Watching” and ADS-B data can be used by
the FAA to track airspace incursions and other violations
of the FARs. What we may not have been prepared for is
that everyone else is watching as well, and more closely
than you might imagine.
Automatic Dependent Surveillance and Broadcast(ADS-B) technology has arrived, and it offers some signifi-
cant improvements in collision and weather avoidance,
safety and air traffic control. However, the technology
infrastructure that makes ADS-B possible is an open system
that allows anyone with an ADS-B receiver to gather track-
ing information from aircraft flying overhead. In addition,
the FAA publishes a feed of all flight data, including flight
plans, that any company or individual can subscribe to.
When these two sources of flight activity are coupled to the
public pilot and aircraft registry, virtually all information
about your flying can be made open to the public...unless
you take measures to protect your privacy.
The FAA and NTSB recognize these issues and recently
introduced a series of programs to attempt to protect the
privacy of flight information. However, they’re somewhat
limited in what they can do because some of the core issues
are beyond their control.
For example, the United States is one of the only coun-
tries in the world that makes pilot and aircraft registration
data publicly available. Even some of the top FAA officials
I’ve spoken to find this practice objectionable. However,
changing the regulations that govern data privacy requires
legislative buy-in. For that to happen, the industry groups
who represent pilots and aircraft owners need to lobby forWith the advent of
mandated computerized
surveillance, Big Brother is
indeed watching. Here’s what
you can, and can’t, do about it.
PRIVACY LOST
BY JEFF SIMON