Subscribe[Clear customers are] not paying a premium to get pulled aside for random intensive searches.Or, you know, maybe they are. As everyone and their dog has pointed out, any terrorist smart enough to tie their shoelaces would get a Clear pass. And if they were denied, they'd try to find someone in their org who wasn't. So, I'd think that Clear holders would be marginally more probable to be terrorists than non-Clear passengers. (That is, if there were enough terrorists on US airlines for us to be able to speak statistically about them.)
It's potentially a hangover from printOr maybe just the way newswires work. Back when I had newswire access via clari.*, it was common for me to see a wire story be updated half a dozen times over its lifespan, as new facts came in and so on. Presumably the idea was that each print newspaper would use the most current version of the story when they went to press. The fact that these updates are now visible to the end reader is one of the advantages and disadvantages of electronic publishing, I guess.
Dear XXX,
We take the protection of your privacy extremely seriously at Clear. That's why we announced on Tuesday that a laptop from our office at the San Francisco Airport containing a small part of some applicants' pre-enrollment information (but not Social Security numbers or credit card information) recently went missing. None of your information was in any way implicated. However, we were prepared to send those applicants and members who were affected the appropriate notice on Tuesday detailing that situation.
Before we could send out that notice, the laptop was recovered. And, we have determined from a preliminary investigation that no one logged into the computer from the time it went missing in the office until the time it was found. Therefore, no unauthorized person has obtained any personal information.
Again, none of your personal information was on the computer in any form, but we nonetheless wanted to give you details of the incident that could have affected others applying for Clear memberships because the incident involves Clear's privacy and security practices and policies.
We are sorry that this theft of a computer containing a limited amount of applicant information occurred, and we apologize for the concern that the publicity surrounding our public announcement might have caused. But in an abundance of caution, both we and the Transportation Security Administration treated this unaccounted-for laptop as a serious potential breach. We have learned from this incident, and we have suspended enrollment processes temporarily until all pre-enrollment information is encrypted for further protection. The personal information on the enrollment system was protected by two separate passwords, but Clear is in the process of completing a software fix - and other security enhancements - to encrypt the data, which is what we should have done all along, just the way we encrypt all of the other data submitted by applicants. Clear now expects that the fix will be in place within days. Meantime, all airport Clear lane operations continue as normal.
As you may know, our Privacy Policy states that we will notify you of any compromise of your personal information regardless of whether any state statute requires it. This letter is a good example of our policy: no law requires that we notify you of this incident because our investigation of the recovered laptop revealed no breach and because in any event none of your own information was affected. But we think it's good practice to err on the side of good communication with all Clear members, especially when, in this case, we did make a mistake by not making sure that limited portion of information was encrypted.
Please call us toll-free with any questions at (866) 848-2415. Again, we apologize for the confusion.
Sincerely,
Steven Brill
Clear CEO
P.S. A reminder: One of Clears unique privacy features is that all members and applicants are given an identity theft protection warranty which provides that, in the unlikely event you become a victim of identity theft as a result of any unauthorized dissemination of your private information by - or theft from - Clear or its subcontractors, we will reimburse you for any otherwise unreimbursable monetary costs directly resulting from the identity theft. In addition, Clear will, at its own expense, offer you assistance in restoring the integrity of your financial or other accounts. So had there been any actual compromise of your personal information, you would have been additionally protected.
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HA-HA!
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posted by mr_crash_davis at 11:48 AM on August 5 [17 favorites]