Official airport iPhone app prompts privacy fears

The British Airports Authority (BAA), owner of Heathrow, has released an app for both iPhone and Android handsets that aims to aid aviators make the most of the their passage through through the airport. However, it is already drawing flack from downloaders for demanding personal details such as name, email address, date of …

[Anonymous Coward]

Well you can always lie you know

.. and this site is useful if you need a temporary email address www.guerrillamail.com

[Anonymous Coward]

Enforce the DPA?

BAA will cry national security or some such (though not being a nationally owned...) since this is a very obvious breach of the data protection act, specifically the third principle since I can't understand why any data is necessary when users can browse the same content online without hassle.

[Anonymous Coward]

Reason for registration

It is so when some nutter gets throught the wet paper bag that is security at, say, Stansted Airport, (as security in such places is largely misdirected) and runs amok, they can add everyone who ever downloaded the app to the list of people "likely to have material of use to terrorists" and arrest them and search their houses. And computers/smartphones etc

Remember, the train timetable and a map of the tube was useful to the 7/7 bombers.

[Danny 14]

but

I cannot see how mr asdf assadf with account [e-mail] with phone number 0123456768868 will help them though?

[I ain't Spartacus]

Excuse me Mr asdf assadf

That name looks suspiciously foreign to me sir. Would you mind stepping into this room and lowering your trousers - while I snap this elbow-length glove on?

[Anonymous Coward]

Personally I welcome...

...the opportunity to further prove the pointlessness of such exercises. I wonder how many 105-year old women from outer-Mongolia they have in their records?

[Neur0mancer]

obviously

2 at the moment.

[Anonymous Coward]

The only proper way ...

to answer unnecessary requests for personal information such as this is with a first name of "Noneof" and a surname of "Your Business".

And the perpetrators should be forcefully reminded by the Information Commissioner that asking for unnecessary personal information is a criminal offence.

ps -- posted anonymously only because I can !

[Britt Johnston]

spam and counterspam

I keep a budget mobile with a low battery and a hotmail address specially for this kind of request

[Fred Flintstone]

Might be illegal

I think it may be illegal to collect personal data without a hint what for - and especially if there is no obvious need for it at all. I'd call the Information Commissioner's helpline and get an opinion..

[Mark 65]

Why

Would you bother trying to flog the pro version for 1.79 when

1. The information is available on the website

2. Someone else doubtless has a free app providing such data.

[Danny 14]

hmm

not for the icrap crowd though. If you want a free one i'd look in androids marketplace, probably a free one there.

[Wize]

Maybe its of use to someone who travels a lot...

...but the casual traveller isn't going to cough up the cash for something they may only use once in the next few years.

And what about the rest of us with non-apple smart phones. You'd think there was only one device out there. Grrrrrrrr

[Anonymous Coward]

They may ask for data, but they don't validate it...

Just registered the app under the name Mr Bat Poo, with email address [e-mail] and mobile number 07654 321123

I hope they collect lots of similarly useful CRM data.

Typical BAA - intrusive and incompetent.

[Heathrow Airport]

Introducing a skip registration button

Thanks for your comments on our recent app. We clearly didn't get it quite right on the pre-registration front, so we're introducing a skip registration button. Let us know what else you'd like to see on future updates. Heathrow App Team