According to an article in the Helsingin Sanomat, Finnair [1] is going to pass the personal data of their passengers to the US authorities [2]. It looks as if the company is getting in conflict with the Finnish Personal Data Act (523/1999) [unofficial translation, 3] also Finnair states that:
[..] no laws are violated, as passengers are asked for permission to submit the personal information to authorities. If a customer declines the request, a ticket is not sold.
We had a similar discussion earlier this year [4] on behalf of 10th annual report of the Swiss Federal Data Protection Commissioner.
[1] http://www.helsinki-hs.net/news.asp?id=20030903IE2
[2] http://www.finnair.co.uk
[3] http://www.finlex.fi/pdf/saadkaan/E9990523.PDF
[4] http://circle.ch/blog/p920.html
