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JFK Displays Actual Wait Times Using Beacons That Monitor Mobile Phones

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Re: JFK Displays Actual Wait Times Using Beacons That Monitor Mobile Phones

#91

Post by riffic »

omouse wrote: post #55
forgottenpass wrote: post #45

When a device passes the beacons, its non-personal unique ID—called a MAC address—is recorded, encrypted and time-stamped. Blip, you make me laugh. You know this will raise privacy concerns and say the sweet nothings that placate the general public, but inspire no confidence in people who know what those words mean. I'm not here to say that as a JFK traveler I'm unhappy with the privacy considerations. I just want to…

Aren't MAC addresses supposed to be globally unique? That's the most personal it can get, right?

"supposed to be", but not really. There are no measures to prevent MAC collision other than a manufacturer assurance they won't duplicate the addresses.

Re: JFK Displays Actual Wait Times Using Beacons That Monitor Mobile Phones

#92

Post by jschwartzi »

dperfect wrote: post #76
forgottenpass wrote: post #45

When a device passes the beacons, its non-personal unique ID—called a MAC address—is recorded, encrypted and time-stamped. Blip, you make me laugh. You know this will raise privacy concerns and say the sweet nothings that placate the general public, but inspire no confidence in people who know what those words mean. I'm not here to say that as a JFK traveler I'm unhappy with the privacy considerations. I just want to…

I understand the concern, but isn't your face effectively just as personally identifiable, recorded in far more locations, and arguably much more personal because it can't be easily replaced/changed? That doesn't make either situation okay for privacy-conscious people like you and I, but I personally feel like MAC address tracking is a relatively minor concern when it comes to privacy.

There aren't any commonly available tools that let me search a large dataset for a face.

Re: JFK Displays Actual Wait Times Using Beacons That Monitor Mobile Phones

#93

Post by jschwartzi »

Thriptic wrote: post #58

Another simple thing that could be done to increase efficiency is have notices upstream in the security line instructing people to remove their shoes / belts and store their personal items like phones before they get to the conveyor belt used to feed items into the x-ray baggage scanner (assuming this is still a relevant bottleneck). A lot of time is needlessly wasted by people who start this process when they first…

I'm not going to take my shoes of in a common area until I absolutely have to. I think it's a stupid law anyway, and my not disrobing early is a form of protest at the indignity.

Re: JFK Displays Actual Wait Times Using Beacons That Monitor Mobile Phones

#94

Post by rhino369 »

Thriptic wrote: post #56
rayiner wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not like we didn't have airport security lines before the TSA. And with the new millimeter wave machines I'm not sure if they're appreciably slower than the old metal detector setup. The bottleneck was always putting your luggage through the X-ray, and we've had that for as long as I can remember.

I don't have the data to back it up, but from what I have personally seen, the bottleneck is now predominantly the body scanner, mostly because many airports are running a setup where they have two x-ray baggage detector lines feeding into one body scanner.

The bottleneck is definitely the xray scanners. I've never seen the line be held up by people waiting for millimeter wave machine. Also, if that line gets even a little long, the TSA agent will wave people through the metal detector real quick.

That said, things like taking your shoes off, taking your laptop out, removing belts, etc. really slow down the xray machine line.

Re: JFK Displays Actual Wait Times Using Beacons That Monitor Mobile Phones

#95

Post by harryh »

rayiner wrote: post #42
harmegido wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think they're concern is not foremost for the safety of the passengers. The main concern is airplanes going into buildings. Of course, this is definitely an example of fighting the last war. On a separate note, the TSA really pisses me off. Consider that UPS saves millions by not taking left turns. Removing or adding very small inefficiencies at a very large scale has tremendous cost implications. I don't think the…

It's not like we didn't have airport security lines before the TSA. And with the new millimeter wave machines I'm not sure if they're appreciably slower than the old metal detector setup. The bottleneck was always putting your luggage through the X-ray, and we've had that for as long as I can remember.

I think the key bottleneck increaser was the requirement to remove shoes and to remove more things (electronics & liquids) from luggage when being sent through the x-ray.

Re: JFK Displays Actual Wait Times Using Beacons That Monitor Mobile Phones

#96

Post by duderific »

jazzyk wrote: post #87

Perhaps, just perhaps... they should be spending money on additional stations to NOT have lines in the first place? You know, fight the cause rather than the symptom :-)

They will only spend enough money on staffing, to keep customer frustration just below the boiling point. You see that in every industry, not just at the airport. Although in industries with little or no competition (I'm looking at you, USPS), I would say have even less incentive to care about customer satisfaction.

Re: JFK Displays Actual Wait Times Using Beacons That Monitor Mobile Phones

#97

Post by morgante »

vigneshv_psg wrote: post #67

I am just curious. Wouldn't it be more easier to do this with specific devices than using the phones? Each passenger can be given a smart card along with the boarding pass (or embedded in the boarding pass). The sensors could merely check for the smart card at certain points and determine how long it took for the passenger to clear security, etc. The airline can then collect the smart card back just before boarding w…

Sounds like a giant pain. Nobody (passengers or airlines) wants yet another card to carry around when we already have perfectly usable devices.

Re: JFK Displays Actual Wait Times Using Beacons That Monitor Mobile Phones

#98

Post by Thriptic »

rhino369 wrote: post #94
Thriptic wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't have the data to back it up, but from what I have personally seen, the bottleneck is now predominantly the body scanner, mostly because many airports are running a setup where they have two x-ray baggage detector lines feeding into one body scanner.

The bottleneck is definitely the xray scanners. I've never seen the line be held up by people waiting for millimeter wave machine. Also, if that line gets even a little long, the TSA agent will wave people through the metal detector real quick. That said, things like taking your shoes off, taking your laptop out, removing belts, etc. really slow down the xray machine line.

To be fair my observations are solely based off n~= 20 flights through generally smaller airports, but I have seen extreme reluctance on the part of TSA staff to pass people through the metal detectors, especially during times like holidays. I do agree that the security theater surrounding the x-ray bag scanners is also a significant issue and might be the primary bottleneck at other airports or at different times.

Re: JFK Displays Actual Wait Times Using Beacons That Monitor Mobile Phones

#99

Post by eric_h »

jschwartzi wrote: post #92
dperfect wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I understand the concern, but isn't your face effectively just as personally identifiable, recorded in far more locations, and arguably much more personal because it can't be easily replaced/changed? That doesn't make either situation okay for privacy-conscious people like you and I, but I personally feel like MAC address tracking is a relatively minor concern when it comes to privacy.

There aren't any commonly available tools that let me search a large dataset for a face.

Perhaps not commonly available, but they most definitely exist.

Re: JFK Displays Actual Wait Times Using Beacons That Monitor Mobile Phones

#100

Post by a-dub »

Good. I suspect that many people aren't aware that most smartphones in common/default configurations leak a unique identifier that can be passively sensed and monitored. Products like this will help raise awareness as to how privacy invasive simple consumer devices have become.
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