Secret database kept on airline passengers
Congress ordered the Transportation Security Administration not to gather personal information about airline passengers. So, the TSA hired private data brokers to do it for them, and put it in a secret database--which looks like a violation of the Privacy Act of 1974. Another example of using privatization to get around limits on government action?

WASHINGTON -- A federal agency collected extensive personal information about airline passengers although Congress told it not to and it said it wouldn't, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press. A Transportation Security Administration contractor used three data brokers to collect detailed information about U.S. citizens who flew on airlines in June 2004 in order to test a terrorist screening program called Secure Flight, according to documents that will be published in the Federal Register this week. The Privacy Act of 1974 prohibits the government from keeping a secret database.