GUWonder

A significant group of the foreign "security" contractors hired by US airlines to check out passengers flying to the US are scanning (and storing) at least parts of the personal information/photograph pages on passports -- including US passports -- of the passengers flying to the US.

These (mostly foreign) contractors have all the required passport information/photo image to make real the dreams of identity thieves -- some being government employees engaged in identity theft for a variety of purposes, including espionage and other related criminal activity -- and make a headache for persons whose personal passport details are mishandled/misused by the contractors.

Add in that such contractors have been known to sometimes print-out the scanned passport page(s) and do who knows what with the print-outs, and this is a recipe for more trouble than has been the case already for victims of identity information being misused.

chollie

?? How are they gaining access to US passports if they are overseas and the pax are US-bound?

I'm just reviewing my travel experiences, and the only time anyone overseas has access to my passport (regarding flying) is when I actually present myself at airport checkin and passport control.

yyzvoyageur

Please substantiate this.

Ari

Don't hold your breath-- it is often a "trust me, I'm right, I know" sort of thing. Though one can hold out hope . . .

GUWonder

They gain access to US (and other) passports when the passengers are overseas and are in the line to get checked in on US-bound flights on US airlines. They being the contractors who scan the passports into the portable computer devices just before the passengers even check-in with the airline rep at airports, the contractors who also ask questions of passengers waiting to check-in for the US-bound flights on US airlines.

chollie

Oops, you're right, completely spaced on those folks. At the very least, they seem to be using laptops and we all know how secure data on a laptop is...

GUWonder

The data (including scanned image files) on some of those computers ought to be a concern for those who really care about preventing misuse of passenger identity as noted in currently valid passports (US passports or otherwise); also what ought to be a concern is the airline- and/or contractor-handling of print-outs made from the scanned images made by the contractors.

How much do DHS and State care about these substantial "opportunities" for identity thieves (government-employed identity thieves or otherwise) to get access to US passport info/images and exploit the use of the same? Not enough is my answer.

Caradoc

They don't even care about TSA employee data enough to safeguard it.

Why should they care about random passengers?

Ari

I happen to agree with you here; do you know which private contractors do this? Do all? Some don't scan my passport at all.

exbayern

And who are these people ie are the local, or US employees, or other? I ask because at MUC the last few times I encountered several who spoke almost no German or broken German (granted, it was a US carrier bound for the US, but still....) A few also used 'ma'am' and other American forms of speech. At LHR it was not as pronounced to me in my last few experiences.

Ari

Private contractors; it will vary from airport to airport. Sometimes it might be the local airport security people under contract to do the extra screening, sometimes it might be an Israeil contractor* or a US contractor or one from another country. The employees seem to be 'of all nations'.

*ICTS International was the Israel-owned security contractor in charge at AMS when the panty-bomber boarded.

exbayern

Thanks for clarifying.

GUWonder

I happen to know of some who have done this -- it's not all of them.



They are usually not US government employees and most of the referred to contractors are not Americans. Many of them are not even citizens of the country in which they are working at the airport in these roles -- and at some airports the majority of them are foreigners. Almost none of them would qualify for a so-called Yankee White in the US. They are mostly private contractors retained by the US airlines but some others of them work for the airport operators.

bluenotesro

Very disturbing.

KCK

Besides this august group, who have you notified of this practice? Have you complained to the airline(s) involved? Have you contacted your Congresscritter about this very real threat to your personal security and potentially to national security?

Honestly, what percentage of Americans would qualify for a Yankee White clearance?