Expert: BA doesn't need permission to google your face British Airways (BA) may not need passengers' consent in order to identify them using images available on the internet, an expert has said. Data protection law specialist Danielle van der Merwe of Pinsent Masons (the law firm behind Out-Law.com), said that the company could argue that it is in its legitimate interests to …
Not at all, I've flown in first and business plenty of times. What homework would you appreciate? Them getting your identity from a facial recognition program instead of from on your ticket? If you want a fluffer then hire one. I'd rather just have unobtrusive service and no insincerity.
If you would appreciate it then thats fine, what the rest of us (mostly) are saying is it's either creepy or they would prefer it be an opt in system. Not all of us need to be 'recognised' by somebody who most likely hasn't ever seen us before to make us feel like we got our moneys worth. I pay for space and the chance to rest, there are some nice perks along with it but making some poor sod gush over me because I want to feel important is not on my list, nor is it on everyones.
I fly very regularly (and quite often in First or Business due to my airline status, not due to tightwad bosses) and I think this is a stupid idea.
Perhaps BA could fix the basic service aspect of their business before this kind of B/S? I gave up flying with them years ago after being ripped off three years in a row by them asking me to pay full price for a flight after I missed a connection to theirs. Having all their phone staff in India who have no concept of how the airline business works (except the part of ripping off customers) doesn't help.
I don't understand. The second you put your bum in a seat, the cabin crew know who you are. So all of this jiggery-pokery just so they can say your name ten seconds before said bum hits said seat?
Like many others here, I'd prefer it if BA could focus a little more on courtesy and efficiency among their cabin crew and drop this effort to kiss bums before they hit seats.
They have the name of every passenger, along with passport details etc etc etc. I don't see how having an image is going to help them in delivering any service that they cannot already deliver with the information they have.
BA are not exactly rolling in profits: why are they wasting money on this?
If a business / 1st class traveller desperately wants his / her ego stroked why not stick a webcam on the checkin desk and offer the person a personalized loyalty card with their picture on it. This can be used for greeting at the gate and other "perks". It's not hard to implement, is far more certain from a privacy standpoint and is more reliable than googling for a pic when very few people have such a unique name.
That's a perfect application for Google Glass, where the flight attendants see your photo and name in the Glass as you approach the plane. Of course the reverse would also be true, where passenger's Glass would have the flight crew photos id's (and customer reviews) available to know what to expect. Passengers could even backup their poor reviews with actual video of the event!
Good points were made by many others above regarding the insincerity and, IMO, creepiness, of forcing staff to treat people with a familiarity they do not have.
Aside from that, an excellent comment was also made on the first page as regards copyright status of those pictures.
But lastly, I'm not too sure whether there would or not be data protection issues with this (let's not forget this may fall under more than one jurisdiction, depending on how this is implemented--and not all data protection laws in Europe are as toothless as the DPA). What I wonder however is how this sits with privacy laws. I had to become reasonably familiar with various bits of data protection legislation as part of my job and business activities, however I am wholly ignorant when it comes to privacy laws--I think this would be an interesting angle to cover.
In any case, BA and all those other companies that do the same kind of bullshit should stop making both their staff and their customer's lives more miserable with this rude nonsense.
I'm not sure that pointing the finger primarily at BA is warranted as they've probably been sold this idea by Google, a company who only last year told Time.com
“In fact, we are NOT ‘introducing a mobile application’ (as the CNN piece claims) and as we’ve said for over a year, we would NOT add face recognition to any app like Goggles unless there was a strong privacy model in place. A number of items ‘reported’ in the story, such as a potential app connecting phone numbers, email addresses and other information with a person’s face, are purely speculative and are inventions of the reporter."
Source: http://techland.time.com/2011/03/31/googles-facial-recognition-app-take-my-photo-get-my-contact-info/
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