Slashdot Mirror
Rogue Employees Sell World Cup Fans' Passport Data
An anonymous reader writes "Reports are coming in that the Information Commissioner's Office has started investigating FIFA, the world football governing body, over allegations that details of thousands of World Cup fans' — including their passport data — were accessed by one or more members of staff and then sold on the black market. It is alleged that the details of more than 35,000 English fans — who visited Germany for the 2006 World Cup — had their passport and allied data sold to ticket touts for marketing purposes."
When they catch the people who did this, they should be forced to listen to those vuvuzelas at high volume until their ears bleed. That'll teach 'em.
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www.moneybythenumbers.com
Why would FIFA even have passport data at all? At what point to they collect passport data from attendees? What happens if you refuse to show them your passport?
Um, I really don't see whats so bad about "scalping" tickets. If people are willing to pay more than the listed price, let them. Now, granted, selling personal data is bad, but scalping isn't. Its simply the free market at work, if I've got something I bought at $5, why should I -have- to sell them at that price? If someone wants to spend $10, $20, $50 on them, let them.
Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/sep/05/fifa-passports-claims The most interesting bit is that Sepp Blatter's nephew is involved with the company at fault.
What exactly does my passport data reveal about me? Here's what (with US passports anyway):
- My name (for common names, no big deal)
- My birthday (kinda private, but I give i
- My gender
- My birthplace
- Where I got my passport (issuing authority)
- Date validity (when I got it and when it expires)
That's it.
My name is not exactly a secret (I give it to total strangers all the time). Plus, it's a common one in the US, so (obviously) a lot of people have it.
My birthday is kind of personal, but there very little someone could do with it without having more data.
My gender is easily guessable once you know my first name.
My birthplace lists only the country, and not the city. Useless.
My issuing authority is even less specific: 'US Department of State'.
Date validity is also useless.
It's not as if my passport lists my SSN, home address, credit history, or anything else that can be used to steal my money or identity. Perhaps they have a lot more personal info in other countries' passports, but not in mine.
I judt got a nre Kinesis keybiartf so please excusr ant egregiou typos.
Just because you can be a cunt, doesn't meant you have to be.
Divide a cake by zero. Is it still a cake?
It's because nobody likes leaches that jump in the middle of a transaction and grab money from both sides. Such people contribute nothing and so should gain nothing.
If the tickets were an unlimited resource, few would care, but more typically the scalpers descent and snap up all of the tickets leaving people no choice if they want to see the event.
The original seller may well have an interest in the affordability of the event. For example, it's strongly in their best interest to not have fans give up on getting tickets ever again and lose interest.