Smile! You’re Being Photographed At The Airport And Your Face Is Being Sent To Foreign Governments

by Gary Leff

News and notes from around the interweb:

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Comments

  1. Pre-Covid, the TK lounge at IAD was often like that. LIne of 20 people to get in with PP, but *G and international J could walk right in. But since so crowded, I often then just skipped it and went to the LH lounge nearby. Haven’t seen it this year, but PP also added VS and AF (at least for now), and those on international *A J are over at the Polaris.

    Have never seen lines at the only Delta club in DC, at Reagan.

  2. It’s called the Plain View Doctrine. No person has a reasonable expectation of privacy if they are in public spaces. Airport facilities have posted warnings that surveillance cameras are in use. Airport facilities have posted warnings that all persons are subject to search. Even pre-security. Every person can expect to be photographed. Law enforcement agencies collaborate via the INTERPOL system. Yes, your image will be forwarded to other governments.

    If you walk into ANY casino in the world, guess what. For about 20 years or so, casinos have been using facial recognition and casinos have been sharing your photo with all other casinos. It all started in the mid-1990s as a result of the Madrid roulette family and the MIT card-counting club. Casinos recognized they needed to collaborate. Trust me on this one.

    If you are in your back yard and you are readily observable from any point not on your property (say, your next door neighbor’s yard or from a helicopter not directly over your property), the Plain View Doctrine applies. If you are inside your house and you are readily observable from any point not on your property, the Plain View Doctrine applies. If a bag of heroin resting on the back seat of your car is readily observable from any point outside your car, the Plain View Doctrine applies.

    This is long-settled law. Get over it.

  3. Yes, Disney can be expensive if you don’t know how to do it or want to live the premium life. I’m thinking these Disney enthusiasts are not actually people who go often.

    My wife and I both lost our jobs during Covid and are now making 40% less money after taxes. We take 3-4 day trips from the northeast to Disney to escape the cold weather and barely spend any money, our last trip the boarding fees for the dogs were more expensive than the trip.

  4. I’m not really worried about government surveillance from an agency that takes 6 months to respond to a simple pre-check application status email. It’s like being worried the post office is tracking your mail when half the employees don’t show up for work.

  6. I think that with so much information online as to how to achieve lounge access & with so many bloggers reviewing them, more people will find it appealing to them. Thus, more people with lounge access.

  7. If you don’t like the Cameras move to Africa there are very few in the Congo. but then again you are the main course for someone’s dinner. Google your name and you will see everything out there on yourself.

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