Is Delta Airlines really a den of hackers? Passengers’ rights advocate Kate Hanni thinks so and is suing the world’s largest carrier over it. Hanni, of FlyersRights.org, alleges that Delta conspired with Dulles, Virginia-based Metron Aviation to yank e-mails from her computer in an effort to stall her “efforts to protect air travelers from lengthy tarmac delays and other inconveniences.”
She’s found an easy target for a war in the press – nobody is in favor of most of what airlines put us through. Hanni is asking for at least $11 million in damages and the opportunity to present her case before a jury. But, now that this has entered the legal system, we have to be especially careful not to indulge a public battle over everything except the evidence.
Delta spokesperson Trebor Banstetter can’t comment beyond, “Obviously, the idea that Delta would hack into someone’s e-mail is clearly without merit,” which was released in an e-mail to The Associated Press.
Hanni claims that her service provider, AOL (which owns Gadling), confirmed that her e-mail had been hacked. She also says, in the court filings, that Metron officials revealed that Delta provided the stolen e-mails, which included lists of donors and personal files.
The linchpin in all this is a graduate student, employed by Metron, with whom Hanni was sharing information. Metron executives confronted the student with the e-mails and said that Delta wasn’t happy that Hanni was receiving information that would facilitate the passage of the passenger bill of rights. The contents of the messages were not clear from the lawsuit.
Metron provides services around research, airspace design and environmental analysis to the global air traffic industry, and it has Delta as a client. The company didn’t immediately respond to requests by the AP for comment.
It’s too soon to draw any conclusions from the lawsuit; clearly, there’s a lot of information that has yet to be located and released. So, let’s sit back and watch this unfold before drawing any conclusions.
