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Verified Identity Pass Shuts Down "Clear" Operations

Posted by timothy on from the will-you-also-clear-the-database dept.

torrentami writes that Verified Identity Pass, operator of the "Clear" program, which allowed pre-screened passengers faster access to US airport gates, "sent out emails to its subscribers today informing them that as of 11 p.m. PST they will cease operations. Clear was a pioneer in speeding customers through security at airports and had planned on expanding to large events. The service, where it was available, offered a first class security experience for travelers willing to fork over $200 a year and their biometrics. Customers are now left holding their Flyclear cards with encrypted biometrics. The question now becomes, what happens to all that information? This is not the first time Clear has been in the news. A laptop containing customer records was reportedly missing from the San Francisco International airport recently but then turned up shortly thereafter. Another casualty of the recession's downturn in business travel."

2 of 171 comments (clear)

  1. Most people won't care, but at Orlando... by BenEnglishAtHome · · Score: 5, Interesting

    This is too bad for a few folks. One of the training companies used extensively by my employer is headquartered in Florida. All of their staff signed up for Clear and said it was either unavailable or pretty much worthless everywhere EXCEPT Orlando. There, seasoned travelers frequently found themselves in line behind hundreds of Disney-vacationing families with little kids, families unused to flying and doing everything wrong while still trying to herd the ankle-biters. It was supposedly a nightmare. For that airport and that airport alone, those guys thought Clear was a godsend.

    Everywhere else? Their attitude was...meh.

  2. A funny security theater story (OT) by pongo000 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    [Bruce] Schneier took from his bag a 12-ounce container labeled "saline solution."

    "It's allowed," he said. Medical supplies, such as saline solution for contact-lens cleaning, don't fall under the TSA's three-ounce rule.

    "What's allowed?" I asked. "Saline solution, or bottles labeled saline solution?"

    "Bottles labeled saline solution. They won't check what's in it, trust me."

    They did not check. As we gathered our belongings, Schneier held up the bottle and said to the nearest security officer, "This is okay, right?" "Yep," the officer said. "Just have to put it in the tray."

    "Maybe if you lit it on fire, he'd pay attention," I said, risking arrest for making a joke at airport security. (Later, Schneier would carry two bottles labeled saline solution--24 ounces in total--through security. An officer asked him why he needed two bottles. "Two eyes," he said. He was allowed to keep the bottles.)

    Well, I thought it was funny.

    http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200811/airport-security/2