Some scandal about N# blocking

alaskaflyer

alaskaflyer

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Alaskaflyer
http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2010/04/09/pm-program-conceal-flights-abused/

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2010-04-08-blocked-flights_N.htm

Anyone familiar with this blocking program? From one of the legal filings...

In 1992, the FAA entered into a cooperative research agreement with the Air Transport Association of America to determine the value of providing Traffic Situation Display data to the aviation industry. The research found that providing such information would offer economic benefits to airlines by allowing increased dispatching flexibility and more efficient management of aircraft and crews. As a result of this finding, in December of 1997, the FAA created the Aircraft Situation Display to Industry (“ASDI”) data feed. The ASDI feed uses Traffic Situation Display information, but filters out aircraft being used for military and other sensitive government operations. In order to subscribe to the FAA’s ASDI data feed, a company must enter into a Memorandum of Agreement with the FAA. The Memorandum of Agreement sets forth the conditions and limitations by which a direct subscriber can make the ASDI feed available to users and by which the direct subscriber can market the data to secondary subscribers. Subscribers can obtain one of two types of ASDI data streams: (1) a near real-time display; or (2) an historical display that is delayed by at least five minutes. The Aviation Association decided that it wanted the option of blocking certain aircraft from the ASDI feed. Blocking the information at its origin — the FAA’s hub site — would preclude any possibility of information about the location of those blocked aircraft from ever reaching an ASDI primary or secondary subscriber. Accordingly, the Aviation Association asked the FAA if it could provide to the FAA a list of aircraft registration numbers to be filtered out of the ASDI feed; the FAA agreed. The Aviation Association now provides such a list, called the Block List, to the FAA on a monthly basis. The Block List contains only aircraft registration numbers. The FAA enters the numbers from the Block List into its system, and program software filters out those aircraft from the ASDI data feed. The FAA does not solicit Block Lists.
Click to expand...
 
'Use of the airspace is considered public information because taxpayers fund air-traffic controllers, radars and runways.'

OK, I am going to want lists of every vehicle license plate #, including the listed owner & their details plus the time and location they were seen.... for every vehicle using the public roads which has been captured by their speeding/red light cameras, or the license plate recognition cams, plus any that undergo traffic stops and captured by in-cruiser cameras.
 
Once at Jeffco about a year ago, I overheard a couple getting out of their 210. I didn't catch the whole conversation but she had just gotten off the cellphone and was fuming. There was 'not happy' conversation between the two as they moved their bags into Stevens and I did catch, (I paraphrase) "Well if he is going to continue to be a jack___ our only alternative is to block the N-number".
I think blocking is required to prevent stalking and protect privacy.
 
If you are a business, you don't need your competition tracking your corporate air travel. Numerous major corporations have their N-numbers blocked.
 
I know some businesses/people who have their n-number blocked. When tracking first became popular I thought it was spooky but now I have gotten used to it, just like I have gotten used to having all kinds of information out on the internet.
 
Typical McNewspaper Muckraking. Getting a little tiresome, actually, their battle against GA. Not sure what the beef is, but it's an off-week when they don't have some anti-GA screed on the front page. I never buy the rag, and getting annoyed enough to avoid their major advertisers.
 
We blocked ours at the last company that I worked at. We could still monitor it ourselves. Not everyone needs to know what you are doing when you are a private citizen. Its your own business what you do and when as long as what you are doing isn't illegal.
 
From Fltplan.com:

Blocked Tail Numbers, Flight Tracking, and Freedom of Information... Oh, My!
A recent Federal District court ruled that a list of FAA blocked tail numbers must be made available to the public. Naturally, many FltPlan.com users wonder how this affects them.

First of all, only those aircraft with tail numbers blocked at the FAA level will appear on the list. If your tail number is blocked at the ASDI vendor level, you are not affected.

Secondly, even if your N number is on this list (which is only available by filing a Freedom of Information Request with the FAA), your aircraft is still blocked from live tracking. This list does not make your travel plans public knowledge; it only shows that your tail number is blocked from view on tracking websites.

Why block your tail number at all?
In the not-so-distant past it was possible to fly your aircraft in relative privacy. Flight tracking vendors didn't release information to the general public - only to those in some way connected to the flight. This has all changed. Now your flight information and history are easily available from any internet computer or smartphone. Anyone who knows your N number can track every move that your aircraft makes. This could include the press, your competitors, your neighbor, disgruntled employees, banks, governmental agencies, etc. If you feel your flight schedule and history should remain private, you might want to block your tail number.

Blocking your tail number is a free process
Don't be fooled by companies that want to charge you hefty fees to block your tail number. This is a free service provided by NBAA. NBAA manages the BARR program, or Blocked Aircraft Registration Request. The BARR program is available free of charge to both members and non-members.

How to block your Tail Number
 
There are two different ways of blocking your number:

1. at the FAA level through the NBAA.

2. at the individual vendor level (e.g. flightaware).

A list of the tail numbers blocked at the FAA level can now be obtained using a FOIA request. To get an updated list, the nosy busybody needs to file another FOIA request.

Most of those tail numbers will come back to meaningless delaware LLC names. A sufficiently interested party can unearth the names of the owners from there, but it requires another step and probably can't be automated.

Real world impact of this court decision: Probably modest.
 
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