Global Entry and Medallion Net photo

[Incognito1]

So, I'm booking my Internet for an upcoming cruise and log into Medallion Net.  My security photo is NOT the photo I uploaded.  Instead, it's a photo of me from a recent trip where I passed through Global Entry at the airport.  The airport is clearly visible in it and I'm wearing apparel that I recently purchased, so I know exactly when and where, and I haven't taken a cruise since well before the photo was taken.  How does Princess have this?  I consider this a huge invasion of my privacy, a government agency giving information to a private company.

 

Does anyone know if there is a place in the contract I may have inadvertently agreed to this?  It's alarming to me, and it's not Princess' business where I've been.

 

 

[cr8tiv1]

Wow...that's alarming.  

 

I uploaded a photo that I thought was a nice one.  One person (muster station or somewhere on the ship) didn't like it and told me I had to take another photo for security.  As far as I know, security still has the same one that I uploaded.  At least that is the one showing up on my app.

 

But to have a third party download and access to something as sensitive as your Global Entry photo, I would be concerned too.

[VibeGuy]

CBP and the line certainly have an information sharing agreement, but I never would have assumed it included CBP photo data.  What is particularly bothersome about this is that CBP has an explicit policy that the kiosk photo data is deleted within 12 hours for US nationals. 
 

Further, I knew I read this somewhere:

 

“Secure Storage: Facial images are encrypted and stored only in secure DHS systems and, for a brief period of time, in a secure cloud environment for comparison against travelers’ historical photos. CBP’s approved partners such as airlines, airport authorities, and cruise lines are not permitted to retain any photos taken for the purpose of identity verification through the TVS, for their own business purposes.”

 

Source:  https://www.cbp.gov/travel/biometrics/biometric-exit-faqs

Someone’s got some serious explaining to do. The photos Princess takes can certainly be used for their own business purposes, but this is clearly a giant stinking violation of their Travellers Verification Service licenses. 
 

Please make a giant stink of this, as I don’t trust Carnivore Corporation to get data privacy all that right given their preferred application development partner.   There’s absolutely no excuse for this. 

Edited March 19, 2023 by VibeGuy

[Sprocket]

Did you enter your traveller number into the app?  There is a place for it but I have only entered my passport information.

[Incognito1]

Not sure; I don't think so (and their website is down so I can't check), but it's not the photo from the card.  It's the photo they take at the security line in the airport - and it's over a month old, not the "brief period" VibeGuy quoted.

 

I will update if they actually respond to me.

[VibeGuy]

The photo from the card in my case was taken with a handheld Logitech golf-ball webcam long after they were obsolete, but what pops up on CBP screens is my most recent passport photo. The idea that my sweaty, disheveled GE kiosk photos are out in the wild being shared with offshore developers via Carnivore is infuriating.  

[Steelers36]

1 hour ago, Incognito1 said:

So, I'm booking my Internet for an upcoming cruise and log into Medallion Net.  My security photo is NOT the photo I uploaded.  Instead, it's a photo of me from a recent trip where I passed through Global Entry at the airport.  The airport is clearly visible in it and I'm wearing apparel that I recently purchased, so I know exactly when and where, and I haven't taken a cruise since well before the photo was taken.  How does Princess have this?  I consider this a huge invasion of my privacy, a government agency giving information to a private company.

 

Does anyone know if there is a place in the contract I may have inadvertently agreed to this?  It's alarming to me, and it's not Princess' business where I've been.

 

 

So this is not a photo taken of you by anyone in your travel party at the airport? I suppose no cameras are allowed operating in the TSA area. 

 

More Princess IT incompetence it would appear.  This presumes you have not touched the Princess App to update/replace your security photo. 

 

 

[Incognito1]

No, it is the photo at the front of the TSA Global Entry line that THEY take.  I don't even have a photo of me at that airport.  I've written them to ask -- btw, passengerrelations@princesscruises.com and jpadgett@princess.com both got returned to sender.  Appears that customerrelations@princesscruises.com went through.

 

It's not just incompetence, though.  It's a legal violation.

[VibeGuy]

So I’m infuriated enough to do some reading. 
 

Assuming CBP isn’t lying about TVS (which is only supposed to keep the actual photos of US nationals for 12 hours, and reduce the stored data to a biometric hash), the system that *can* and does keep US nationals photos is  DHS IDENT - and the retention of those photos is consistent with the privacy policy of the various trusted traveler programs - they explicitly say they collect and store photos (as opposed to just machine-readable biometric hashes).  
 

This is all well and good, it’s a voluntary program, etc.   But I could swear there aren’t supposed to be any non-government users of the IDENT data.  
 

The PIA for IDENT is here:

https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/privacy-pia-cbp-002e-january2020.pdf

 

I’m trying to figure out who is allowed access to IDENT.  More to come. 

 

[Moondogy]

Big brother at it's best 🤣 you'd be surprised what they have on us 

[Incognito1]

I actually got a call from Princess security about this.  Turns out it is from a recent cruise.  Did not realize I had the article of clothing that I thought was newer than that.  My bad.  The cruise terminal looks really similar to the airport and the people in the background just happened to look very similar to where I was.

 

Anyway, I appreciate their actually reaching out.  She assured me that they have no access to the GE database, and would never breach someone's privacy like that.

 

Whew.

[VibeGuy]

Whew.   I was genuinely Not OK, and I have decades of professional experience as to why I don’t trust their app development partner.  
 

 

[beg3yrs]

2 hours ago, Incognito1 said:

I actually got a call from Princess security about this.  Turns out it is from a recent cruise.  Did not realize I had the article of clothing that I thought was newer than that.  My bad.  The cruise terminal looks really similar to the airport and the people in the background just happened to look very similar to where I was.

 

Anyway, I appreciate their actually reaching out.  She assured me that they have no access to the GE database, and would never breach someone's privacy like that.

 

Whew.

And I really appreciate you coming back and letting us know all is OK. When I read your post I immediately went and checked my security photo. It's terrible but it's still the one I supplied a year or so ago.