Slashdot Mirror

Well, there was an MIT study that showed that random search was more secure than profiling.
http://www.acfnewsource.org/science/random_security.html

Also helpful is allowing frequent travelers who go through extra checks to have a special ID to go through speedily. This used to be a commercial service. Like HOV lanes, it speeds up traffic for everyone. And it makes sense that the travelers who travel the most would pay to have extra background checks to travel faster.
http://www.flyclear.com/

The TSA blacklist seems to be a very bad idea, it has lots of errors, and it's way too easy to use it as a harassment tool against people or political groups that any sort of government agency or official doesn't like.
http://vigilant.tv/article/3071/epic-publishes-tsa-blacklist-memos

didn't realize a private company [...] would not delete his personal information at his request

Given that their policy states that they will (would?) delete it upon membership cancellation, this seems like they're not complying with their policies. Unless they consider these people are still somehow considered members.

Your information security is one of our top priorities. We have a wide array of security features to protect your privacy, confidentiality, and data-security rights. For instance, we purge Social Security Numbers once we transmit them to the Transportation Security Administration as part of the security screening process.

and, from this site:

Although airport personnel are responsible for viewing the Clear cards, TSA runs the background checks needed to issue the cards. It's worth noting that, according to Clear's privacy policy, the TSA holds onto the client's security information, performing continuous reviews. And because the TSA operates under the Department of Homeland Security, other federal agencies will have the same access to your information, a consideration many Big Brother-wary fliers may want to take.

So, unless something has changed since January (when the second quote was published), the TSA is still conducting those checks.

The loss of the laptop (now found, based on a story here this morning) doesn't make me feel that comfortable, especially based on Clear's claims of security in the first quote.

And, of course, you have they typical "BB is watching" complaints in the second quote.

But, as someone who's been required to have all this stuff checked and rechecked far deeper than anyone getting a Clear card, the idea that "other federal agencies will have the same access" to my personal information isn't really a big deal for me. Whatever the TSA has, it's probably nothing compared to what the DOD found for my security clearance. Hell, I got a couple of phone calls from people I hadn't seen in 20+ years who got a call from an investigator.

Then again, I'm one of those "nothing to hide" types. I don't enjoy the fact that this kind of things is necessary, but it is what it is. I hold back against things like this from other areas of my life, because I might see them as a true threat to my privacy. But I'm not losing any sleep over what the government knows about me, or anyone else. The fact is, no matter what you do, if your government wants to find out stuff about you, there ain't much you can do to stop it short of dying, if you even ever knew they were looking at you in the first place.

The key thing to remember is that there are LOT of people in this country. Since the federal government isn't very adept at doing enything (I've worked for/with them for 25+ years), I doubt they'd do a very good job of keeping a big database of dossiers on every citizen in the country. Any attempt at doing that would eventually be destroyed by agency infighting, lack of funding, crap work by contractors, and just a general lack of movement due to the size of the bureaucracy that would emerge from such a plan. That's not counting the political and legislative in-fighting over the idea, or the endless string of lawsuits that would follow such an announcement.

I don't see the need to worry. This would eventually collapse under it's own weight.

But I still jump the line at the airport. Suckers!

Important Notice
We are currently updating our software and are unable to process enrollments at this time. Click here to enter your email address so we can notify you once enrollment is available.

It's just, well, let's say "understated".

Their privacy policy is an interesting read
http://www.flyclear.com/privacy_fairinfo.html#idtheft

What was that info doing on a laptop? That in itself is very suspicious. Nobody should have a full list of the "approved people" outside of an database where each access is logged. That's info a terrorist group would want. It gives them a list of people who won't be searched. Those are the ones to exploit to get something past security.

The laptop disappeared from a locked room at an airport. This wasn't an ordinary laptop theft. TSA has to assume that the database is now in hostile hands. So now everyone with a "Clear" card should be subjected to extra searches.

Let's check out the "Clear" privacy policy. "Clear and its subcontractors, pursuant to legal agreements, have a comprehensive information security program to ensure the privacy of Clear applicants and members as well as the integrity of our systems. We apply ID's and passwords to insure that access to systems and data is only on a need-to-know basis. We use encryption (a strong data coding process) for all program sensitive data communications." ... "In the highly unlikely event that a member is the victim of identity theft (defined as the taking of a member's personal information so that fraudulent transactions are made in the member's name) that is the result of any unauthorized dissemination by Clear or its subcontractors, or theft from Clear or its subcontractors, of the member's personal data collected by Clear, we will reimburse the member for any otherwise unreimbursable monetary costs directly resulting from such Identity Theft. In addition, Clear will, at its own expense, offer any such member assistance in restoring the integrity of the member's financial or other accounts." ... "Clear has appointed an independent, outside Privacy Ombudsman, Law Professor Paul Schwartz, noted privacy expert and advocate. He will be identified to members as the person to contact if a member has a privacy complaint or privacy problem with administration of the Clear system or fidelity to our published Privacy Policies. The Independent Privacy Ombudsman is empowered to investigate all privacy complaints, gather the facts, and respond to members, as well as to post responses publicly and prominently on our website."

Yet there's no announcement of the security breach on the Clear web site.

To clarify: This contest isn't about improving TSA procedure. The contest is an effort to improve a 3rd party screener's ability to expedite verification of passengers. Specifically, the throughput of paid "members-only" lanes.

Honestly, if they're not helping all air travelers, then it's really not something I'm interested in. This type of treatment is rife with inequity and is just another step towards a consummate terror state.

If you really want to increase throughput on all lanes, all you have to do is increase parallelism. Have self-service metal detectors and numbered/tagged x-ray bins prior to the checkpoint. Let people screen themselves. Instead of waiting in line, then waiting for the jackass in front of you to go through the metal detector 3 times looking for his belt buckle, you just wait in line. At the supervised checkpoint, everybody has already figured out what metal they need to remove and all their items are in bins already. If you can check your bins into the system way ahead of the line and retrieve them by number after the line, you've cut the wait time even more. If everybody does their own pre-screening simultaneously, every supervised check is reduced from a minute down to a few seconds.