Legal Research

Gimme My Iris Scan Back. And My Fingerprints Too.

Clear, the screening service that would zip you through the airport check-in process, folded yesterday. According to the Website, “Clear’s parent company, Verified Identity Pass, Inc. has been unable to negotiate an agreement with its senior creditor to continue operations.”

At least 2 of the 20 or so commenters on TechCrunch so far had either just subscribed or just renewed their membership. If that was me, I’d be ticked. But I’d be more interested in where the personal info I had to give Clear — name, address, previous addresses, height, credit card number, two pieces of approved government-issued identification, and images of my irises and fingerprints — will wind up. Given their previous history, I’d be concerned.

FWIW Clear’s Privacy Policy (still available online) states the following:

“When your account is cancelled for any reason, we will remove your personal information from our system automatically after 90 days. There are some limited exceptions. Our credit card processors require us to retain a record of the financial transactions we conduct for 24 months. This includes your name, credit card number, address, and email address, so we can notify you if the financial transaction is disputed. Also, a copy of your biometric information (but not your name) is retained by the Transportation Security Clearinghouse to prevent fraudulent enrollments under alternate identities.”

I don’t know how all this will work if there’s nobody left to follow the procedures. It’s kinda like the digital version of On The Beach.

Full post as published by Jenkins Webblits on June 23, 2009 (boomark / email).