Clear, the fast-track security program that has been signing up business travelers willing to pay for the privilege of avoiding airport lines, has had a rather murky week.
The “good news” as reported in the San Francisco Chronicle Tuesday: The company that runs the Clear airport security pre-screening program says they’ve found the missing laptop containing the personal information of 33,000 people. The bad news — it’s been more than a week after it apparently went missing.
The TSA had suspended new enrollments to the program after the password-protected, but unencrypted computer was reported stolen.
Officials with Verified Identity Pass, which operates the Clear program, said they found the computer in the same office where it had supposedly been lost. The laptop contained the personal information of applicants to the program.
Surprisingly, there is no mention of this problem on the Clear website. Though they state “Since our founding in 2003, we have been committed to the privacy and security rights of our members. We have created an exhaustive privacy and data security program and we will always clearly communicate any changes to that program with members.”
I guess lost laptops don’t count.
Allison Beer, senior vice president for corporate development of Clear, was quoted as saying that the laptop held names, addresses and birth dates for people applying to the program, as well as driver’s license, passport or green card information. But, apparently, no social security numbers, credit card numbers, fingerprints, facial images or other biometric information.
“Yes, it was sensitive privacy information, but not the stuff that was most sensitive,” she said. What a relief! — Not everyone agrees.
As a frequent flyer, I don’t worry that much about terrorists these days on planes. I’m figuring if nothing else, future attacks, if they occur, will be completely different from the horrors of 9/11.
But these days, we all show identification, then patiently march through the metal detector in socks or bare feet, after having dumped our dutifully-bagged shampoo and water bottles, removed our jewelry and belts and left sealed bottles of wine at home.
Once again, it’s hard to feel like our current airport security with its patched-together partnerships of the public and private sectors is really keeping us that much safer.
