Paul Saffo, my friend and colleague at the Institute for the Future, points us to this interesting article in The Guardian about amateur "planespotters" who watch the runways and document what they see. Apparently, some planespotters are unintentionally aiding journalists and human rights groups by gathering info about the CIA's "extraordinary renditions," essentially the abduction of a foreign national to interrogate her or him outside of the law. From The Guardian article:
In January last year (Josep) Manchado saw a Boeing 737 on the airport tarmac (at Majorca's Son Sant Joan aiport). He pressed his camera shutter button while speculating idly that some US millionaire was in town. Then he put the picture of the Boeing (tail fin number N313P) on airliners.net, and forgot about it.
Within a few days Mr Manchado starting getting strange calls and emails. They came from the US and from Sweden. "People were asking me questions about the plane. They obviously weren't all planespotters because they were asking questions that people who know about planes don't ask," he said…
Months later, he got a call from Germany's ZDF television. A man called Khalid El-Masri had come to them claiming he had been kidnapped by the CIA from Macedonia, bundled onto a plane and taken off to a prison many hours away. Several months later, after allegedly being tortured, he was flown back and dropped in Albania.
One of the planes thought to be involved was one Mr Manchado had photographed. It was believed that it had flown on to Macedonia that very same day. With the photo in their hand, ZDF reporters were able to persuade Skopje flight control to give them a printout of the flight plan. The aircraft had gone from Palma to Skopje and from there to Baghdad and Kabul. Mr El-Masri's story, convincingly told but difficult to believe, fitted.
UPDATE: Thanks to Arlen Abraham for this link to a photo of the 737 with N313P on its tail fin. Link
