back to article US, Australia may share SmartGates

Years of experience sharing intelligence data about airline passengers has given the USAand Australia confidence to put the data to work as a queue-buster, after the nations announced they would explore expedited access to immigration services in their respective airports. The potential new arrangements emerged in a speech by …

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  1. Esskay
    Meh

    What are the odds?

    So an "anti-terrorism" process has the (unintended) potential to make our lives easier at airports. I'd almost congratulate them - if it wasn't for all the other anti-terrorism guff that screwed everything up at airports in the first place.

  2. Melanie Winiger

    A rather large exaggeration

    This claim is hyperbole.

    "She also praised the Passenger Name Record (PNR) data program as having helped to prevent thousands of “individuals with potential ties to terrorism” from entering the US."

    What does happen daily is that passengers who've forgotten to renew their Green Cards get refused boarding for a flight to the USA. Typical profile: 50+ years of age, lived in USA for years, and "just forgot". In the old days, we would call the Embassy and ask for an exemption. Nowadays, we just offload them.

    These are not "individuals with potential ties to terrorism", but I suspect they are being included in the numbers...the days we do find someone suspicious are few and far between. And normally that's just someone with the same name/birthdate as a listed name.

  3. Steve Carr 1
    Thumb Up

    Same Smart Gate tech is in use in New Zealand

    The Smart Gate technology is already in use in New Zealand, and enables Australia/New Zealand trips to be so much more seamless. Given that, I'd say New Zealand passport holders will enjoy the same benefits as our Australian cousins.

    Actually, on a recent business trip to the US I was amazed at how simple and frictionless the cross border processes are now, compared to even just a few years ago.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    > data-sharing pilot that began in 2006 between Australia, the U.S. and three other countries

    What are the other countries? Top suspects: Canada, Mexico, the UK, NZ, the Bahamas.

    Funny how the article only talks a lot about data protection, and a bit about ease of travel. How about we know more about how long data is kept by the omnipotent border cops, who they give it to, and how long those people they give it to keep it and what they do with it?

    El Reg always cries about risks to privacy with the likes of Google or FB. This is another order of magnitude and not a word....

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    US Australia may share SmartGates

    For a minute I thought this meant Bill had applied for dual citizenship ...

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