PADI gave member info to US Government

[robstrash]

I had not read this before so it was news to me. Here is an article from MSNBC about how PADI, without a warrant, voluntarily gave personal information about all members to the FBI.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5737239/

And the worst part is that they even say they would do it again!

 

[dlndavid]

Good for PADI, the ACLU has never represented me for anything. If the U.S. Government is looking to find terrorist this is a good thing. It could be real easy to blow up a bridge if you set the explosives under water where nobody could see you do it. I have nothing to hide. The FBI could even come talk to me as a result of this information provided, it wouldn't bother me in the least. I would be honored to help them out anyway I could.

 

[detroit diver]

Padi

Then your bookstore providing your purchases history.
Then your ISP providing your surfing habits.

Your privacy rights were aquired with blood, sweat, and tears. Don't give them up so easily.

 

[simbrooks]

Do PADI have a bomb placement speciality yet?? Do you have to have the PPB card to be able to have good enough buoyancy to be able to place a bomb under a boat or on a bridge piling?

 

[CincyBengalsFan]

Padi

Then your bookstore providing your purchases history.
Then your ISP providing your surfing habits.

Your privacy rights were aquired with blood, sweat, and tears. Don't give them up so easily.

Yeah, I'm sure worried about PADI giving up vital information they had on me anyway. Address, DOB, Certification Level.

SO WHAT! The govt. took the info. and profiled it for names from the middle east that have recently in the past 5-8 yrs. got certified.

 

[MikeFerrara]

but PADI was only able to provide information on certified divers. The FBI went directly to dive centers for information about divers who started training they didn't complete.

I owned a dive center at the time and I didn't get the impresison the FBI was going to take no for an answer. After speaking with my lawyer I gave them what they wanted.

None of my former students had expressed a desire to keep their dive training confidential. I never agreed to keep their dive training confidential. I didn't sell their contact information to advertisers but provided it to a law inforcement agency who would have taken it if I didn't give it. At that the only information they got from me that they couldn't get on their own was the fact that these people participated in some amount of dive training. If you wish to keep that secret don't go to a dive shop...maybe a priest or a doctor...but not a dive shop...they are public places and some one may see you.

They even asked me if any of them appeared "suspicious". Of course I think any one who doesn't complete their dive training is a little off center...and then there was the one with the beedie eyes...and the one who voted democrat.

 

[detroit diver]

I'm not worried about the information that PADI gave to the FBI. My concern is with the ease that people have in allowing any information to be available without their consent. We've got privacy laws here so that we don't have to show identification cards every block when we are walking down the street.

My point is that we shouldn't take these privileges for granted-the laws are here for a reason and we fought to make them that way.

 

[TwoTanks]

The only thing PADI knew about me that the government didn't, was my certification level.

If they even think that knowing my cert. level might help save lives then they can have it. It's not exactly personal info, lots of people know my cert. level.

I don't like the gov't. snooping around, but I don't mind them knowing about certifications.

TT

 

[MikeFerrara]

The only thing PADI knew about me that the government didn't, was my certification level.

If they even think that knowing my cert. level might help save lives then they can have it. It's not exactly personal info, lots of people know my cert. level.

I don't like the gov't. snooping around, but I don't mind them knowing about certifications.

TT

The only thing that PADI or any dive shop could have done would have been to insist that the FBI get a court order which they were willing to do and actually did in at least one case.

The fun part was that in the case of most shops the only way to produce a list of divers who didn't complete training is a manual page by page search of records which was very time consuming. It's not like they pay you for all those hours you spend doing it either.

 

[scubasean]

Padi

Then your bookstore providing your purchases history.
Then your ISP providing your surfing habits.

Your privacy rights were aquired with blood, sweat, and tears. Don't give them up so easily.

You think you have privacy?

Anyone with $15 can have your entire personal history, if they lie to a private investigator...