Loss of Privacy

Several months ago, I wrote about Qantas airlines’ new RFID-enabled Q Tags that tracks passengers’ luggage. It’s now launched its first retail store to customers.

The store, in the Sydney Qantas Club (Terminal 3), will remain in Sydney in July and August, move to Melbourne for September and October and then to Brisbane in November and December.

Qantas Club members and their guests can take advantage of a special deal with a “buy one get one free” offer until December. The tags normally retail at $49.95 each.

The Q Bag Tag has been designed to streamline the bag drop functionality of Qantas’ new faster, smarter check-in system. It replaces the need for paper tags and improves the speed and ease by which a customer moves through the airport. The tag contains world first RFID technology, allowing the tag to be electronically imprinted with the information of the passenger and their flight details.

You can also purchase them online, but they only work on Qantas’ domestic network for now. If things go as smoothly as Qantas hopes, it will roll out to the entire Qantas network. When that happens, look for other airlines to introduce similar measures.

Over the last year, travelers in the United States left behind more than 11,000 mobile devices at our nation’s airports. As well as forgetting laptops, tablets, smartphones, and USB sticks, they also left behind eyeglasses, hearing aids, dentures, urns, and pets.

Surprisingly, travelers tend to leave laptops, tablets and smart phones behind at a much higher rate than USB sticks. Credant’s research showed that, 4,416 laptops (37.5 percent), 4,380 tablets/smartphones (37.2 percent) and 2,952 USB sticks (25.1 percent) were left behind.

While security checkpoints are the most popular locations for devices to be left behind, airports also report food courts, baggage claim areas, restrooms and check-in gates also make the list.

“Our survey of five airports in the United States shows that travelers are leaving behind their portable devices at an alarming rate. Extending these results across a larger number of airports would indicate that hundreds of thousands of devices are left behind every year,” said Bob Heard, CEO of CREDANT Technologies. “Unsecured data on lost devices can end up in the wrong hands with potential consequences of fraud and identity theft. To combat this it is critical for all devices accessing corporate networks or carrying sensitive information to use encryption software.”

While it’s amusing to think someone may have left behind their dentures, the major security risk is that many travelers have some type of mobile device with sensitive information on it. If it’s not secured and encrypted, there could be dire consequences for the individual as well companies and others whose private information is on said devices.

Today, four friends of mine flew from Denver to Las Vegas. One friend in particular, did not want to go through the millimeter wave scanner, the rest didn’t really care. In total, two went through the scanners, one went through the regular x-ray machine, and the third opted out. This is the account of the one who opted out.

My friend, Veronica, stood in line for security. She was directed into the line for the full body scanner and decided that she was, indeed, going to opt out. At first she was scared, but had the resolve to ask for an opt out. As she approached the full body scanner, she timidly said to the TSA agent, “I’d really rather not go through that thing.”

“So, you’re asking for an opt out?” the TSA agent asked.

“Yes.”

The TSA agent called for a female to pat down Veronica. It was only a few minutes wait until one arrived. The female TSA agent was very nice to Veronica. She explained that Veronica had done nothing wrong and then proceeded to detail everything she was going to do before she did it.

Denver Airport, July 6, 2011

Veronica relayed to me that the female TSA agent was very nice and appropriate and she did not feel that the pat down was invasive at all. At first, the TSA agent was a bit apprehensive, but Veronica struck up a conversation with her. The lady has been working as a security screener for eleven years and said that people mostly yell at her and are extremely rude when they have their pat downs. The TSA lady felt that most people had an attitude before she ever arrived and often blamed her for the pat down.

During her pat down, Veronica was not groped and the most invasive part was when the TSA lady inspected her pants area. The TSA lady only went inside the pants as far down as the belt area, approximately an inch from the top of the pants.

Overall, Veronica said that the pat down was professional and didn’t make her feel uncomfortable. She intends to let me know how the experience is when she returns from Las Vegas so that she can see how different airports are doing different things.

I think one thing we, as travelers, could do when facing the TSA and the security theater at the airport is to be a bit more polite. One thing that the TSA lady seemed to stress was that people were being jackasses just because they could. While I don’t agree with what is going on at the airport, we could at least be a little bit more respectful. We don’t need to escalate the situation because we can, we should only do so when it is warranted.

One final note on all of this. The TSA lady told my friend that, because of complaints and the uncertainty of the effectiveness of the full body scanners, she doesn’t think they will last long at the airports. I know the last time I flew through Denver, the puffer machines were collecting dust in a corner. Let’s hope the full body scanners end up the same way. In the mean time, remember, a lot of what occurs at the airport is attitude. Don’t be a jerk just because you can.

For the first time, an airport in the United Kingdom is using a scanner that can test for liquid explosives. Durham Tees Valley Airport will use the scanner on a day-to-day basis to test its usefulness.

The scanner can identify the presence of dangerous liquids without the need to actually open the container or handle the material inside within 20 seconds.

It follows the announcement in October last year that Kromek, based at NETPark, near Sedgefield, County Durham, has received official EU certification to provide colour x-ray liquid detection systems to European airports.

New laws mean passengers using UK airports are expected to be able to carry liquid items bought in transit when transferring between flights from the Autumn, provided the appropriate screening measures are in place.

All EU airports will be required to comply by April 2013, ahead of a complete end to the ban on carrying liquids.

The scanner is able to check any item against the ‘spectral signature’ of all internationally-recognised dangerous materials, providing a simple ‘pass’ or ‘fail’ reading.

“The scanner developed by Kromek is safe, easy to use, quick and requires no physical sampling.

If this works out, we’ll have another scanner to put our stuff through before we can pass security and board our planes.

Some notes on the video below. Olajide Oluwaseun Noibi isn’t Nigerian. He’s a Nigerian-American and holds dual citizenship. Stating that he’s solely a Nigerian is disingenuous and misleading.

The Nigerian-American man who managed to get on a New York to Los Angeles flight last week without a valid boarding pass used only an identification card from the University of Michigan, federal authorities said. But federal rules indicate that a university ID alone should not be enough to board a flight.

It is perfectly legal to fly without ID on a national flight. Airlines can still deny you if they ask for ID and you refuse, but it’s not a requirement to actually fly.

In a statement to authorities, Noibi claimed he was able to board the Virgin America plane by showing his university identification as well as a police document in which he reported that his passport had been stolen. It is unclear whether authorities saw the police report.

Noibi has been charged as a stowaway and an investigation is underway as to the exact course of events that occurred.

This entire event is further evidence that the TSA and everything that surrounds air travel is nothing more than security theater. No one in the TSA detected anything wrong with what Noibi did. It was alert staff on the plane that caught what was going on.