British Airways Plans To Google Passengers 177
itwbennett writes "British Airways wants to be the airline where everybody knows your name. The idea behind the 'Know Me' program is that by using Google Images to ID passengers, they'll be able to recreate the 'feeling of recognition you get in a favourite restaurant,' Jo Boswell, head of customer analysis at BA told the London Evening Standard. But the more privacy minded among us know that the airline could end up seeing a lot more than your face."
What if your name doesn't come up? (Score:5, Interesting)
Or what if it's the wrong person with your name? I know my name doesn't show up for me at all (I'm not registered by my real name on social networks etc.).
Re:What if your name doesn't come up? (Score:5, Insightful)
Exactly. My name is about as common as 'John Smith' here in the U.S.; there is a major Hollywood composer that's done the soundtracks of hundreds of films over the last 30 or so years, professional athletes, a country music star, and an actor sharing my name, and that's just off the top of my head. If you were to Google me I'd bet you'd have to go 30 pages deep to find a link that is even possibly connected to me in any way, shape or form.
Hell, just within my home state there are dozens of results for my name, nationwide, there's probably thousands of people with the same first and last name as me. Unless you have a very unique name, I don't see how this is going to be effective at all...
Re:What if your name doesn't come up? (Score:5, Funny)
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Actually no, but that's funny because I was thinking that someone might guess that name, based on what I said, as I was writing it.
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James Horner .. ?
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I guess they'd offer their condolences on your recent death.
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So it's a bunch of dead people are in charge of constructing a really, really tall tower in Jeddah [wikipedia.org]? Tower of the damned I guess.
Re:What if your name doesn't come up? (Score:5, Interesting)
The only things that show up when you google my real name are a few usenet posts that I made in one of the Linux kernel groups circa 1999. That ought to keep some airline people wondering.
Re:What if your name doesn't come up? (Score:5, Interesting)
Ditto. I do sometimes worry whether this will be an issue one day. At some point, will being unable to datamine you, be like not having a credit record; where, even though you're not a bad risk, they still won't/can't deal with you.
Having a company (an airline, hotel, etc) refuse you a booking, being denied a job, or even having legal problems [**], not because you've done anything wrong, but just because their screening procedures are so tied up with datamining social networking, that they literally can't process anyone who maintains separate online/offline identities. (And as there's fewer and fewer people who will fall into this category, they have no motivation to fix it, and frankly find "people like you" suspicious anyway.)
[** Not only are police using social networking sites to research suspects; but I wonder if separate online/offline identies are already considered "aliases"?]
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I have to admit, I'm curious as to who thought the parent post was a troll and why. Maybe we need dope testing for moderators...
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Maybe they worked for British Air...
Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)
Not always a bad thing (Score:5, Funny)
Or what if it's the wrong person with your name?
That's not always a bad thing - may be I'll get some free upgrades out of it! ;-)
Re:What if your name doesn't come up? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:What if your name doesn't come up? (Score:5, Funny)
It's OK, the seats are bolted down quite firmly.
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So in order to keep Steve Balmer happy, they will hide the truth from him.
And people wonder why Balmer is running MS into the ground. Maybe it's because everyone is tiptoeing around him, making sure his rose-colored glasses never come off
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Wouldn't it be far simpler and safer to simply tell the staff to not chat with the passengers? You never know what weird triggers some self-important douchebag might have, so why risk hitting any of them?
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Which brand of whisky is sold in rose coloured bottles, I haven't seen that one yet?
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Then I'm happy that my name is not too common...
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Sure, but what if you travel to the outer rim?
Use Digfer.com (Score:2)
If you're trying to figure out just how far down in search you are, http://digfer.com/ [digfer.com] is a good utility to "dig" through all those people that are... well, more important than you.
Re:What if your name doesn't come up? (Score:4, Interesting)
From TFS: "The idea behind the 'Know Me' program is that by using Google Images to ID passengers". They're not searching by name, they're searching for your name. They simply won't find yours.
But hell, I googled my 81 year old dad's name and found his picture and baby picture, and he's never used a computer in his life. Apparently a distant relative had been doing genealogy research and posting it. I found his mother there, too.
Try googling your full name and see what happens. You'll be shocked at what you find. Ever buy a house? If so, your full name is on the internet.
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Try googling your full name and see what happens. You'll be shocked at what you find. Ever buy a house? If so, your full name is on the internet.
With a Google Image search, I found my Facebook profile picture and my Google Plus profile picture -- but not on Facebook or Google Plus. They were on a "people directory" website that has scraped the public content of lots of social networks (etc).
Since being born, married, or dying is a matter of public record in the UK, on the same website I also found basic information about my birth (full name, place and year, the exact date is public but the website charges). Of course, it looks worse to me that it
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"That means hes a car thief. Blast him!"
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My real name is fairly uncommon and I use it on social networking sites, because I'm not a tinfoil-hat-wearing secrecy wonk. Despite this, the only images of me that come up for my name are my github and facebook "avatar".
Even searching for my nick that I use everywhere and have done since the early 90s, I only show up twice on the first page of results - one of those being the aforementioned avatar, and one taken years ago at a barbecue. My cat has better google juice than me.
In your case, it'll work exactly how BA wants and expects it to work, since you had the foresight to be a good, compliant citizen. Congratulations.
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Why is this post modded troll and flamebait? The bit about "tinfoil-hat-wearing secrecy wonk" might be somewhat flip, but I really see nothing in the post to cause offense.
Reliability (Score:5, Funny)
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This was my thought as welll, when I did a google image search for my name it came up with several hundred results, 2 of which were me, neither of which were nice clear head shots useable to identify me. So regardless of the other implications, I'm not even sure how effective this could possibly be.
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I got my Facebook photo, a random pic of my dad, and a proboscis monkey as the top 3 hits. Then a map of the US, followed by a run of women. Kudos for Google getting the only online pic of me, but I'm kinda worried about a monkey being #3, lol.
Re:Reliability (Score:5, Funny)
I got my Facebook photo, a random pic of my dad, and a proboscis monkey as the top 3 hits. Then a map of the US, followed by a run of women. Kudos for Google getting the only online pic of me, but I'm kinda worried about a monkey being #3, lol.
But were those women all women you dated? (Or all women that your dad or the proboscis monkey dated?)
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Me & dad, no. (Some where from 1940s movies!) As for the monkey... they're crafty.
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I was the first three and none of the rest, with a globally unique name, as far as I know (though there are alternate spellings of my name that aren't unique). I even had Barak Obama on the first page.
Forge yourself a note:
By Executive Order of The President of The United States,
The bearer of this note is entitled to unlimited free upgrades to first class, unlimited drink refills and an extra bag of nuts.
- Barack
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Are airline nuts really that expensive?
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Of course we all have unique names and faces and Google images contains only correctly tagged photos so this won't cause any confusion at all.
I thought Google was running an identity service?
(Sorry to spoil the joke by beating a dead horse, but this deserves it.)
http://gigaom.com/2011/08/29/its-official-google-wants-to-own-your-online-identity/ [gigaom.com]
He (Eric) replied by saying that G+ was build primarily as an identity service, so fundamentally, it depends on people using their real names if they’re going to build future products that leverage that information.
If you think about it, the Internet would be better if we had an accurate notion that you were a real person as opposed to a dog, or a fake person, or a spammer or what have you So if we knew that it was a real person, then we could sort of hold them accountable, we could check them, we could give them things, we could you know bill them, you know we could have credit cards and so forth.
Fake personal touch != personal touch (Score:5, Insightful)
If I'm recognised in a favourite restaurant it's because we know each other well enough for that. If a stewardess I've never met before "recognises" me I know it's fake. The feeling I will probably get is of someone playing manipulative games with me.
Re:Fake personal touch != personal touch (Score:5, Insightful)
One would think BA would have learnt from Starbucks' [bbc.co.uk] mistake. Scratch that, British Airways should already be fully aware of the British people's contempt for such phoney chumminess. By and large, we just want to be given our coffee or shown to our seat and then left in peace.
I'm sure the flight attendants are nice people, but they're not my friends and they ought not to act like they are. They should act like professionals instead.
Re:Fake personal touch != personal touch (Score:5, Funny)
Scratch that, British Airways should already be fully aware of the British people's contempt for such phoney chumminess.
Understandable. If I'd ever had a strange guy with an Irish accent come up to me in a crowd and whisper in my ear, "We know where you live, boyo," I'd be tad skittish too.
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Interesting that Starbucks thing. Whenever I go to one of those places where you place your order at the counter, sit down, then 10 minutes later someone calls you (places like Fuddruckers etc), they never, ever get my name right. I have to listen to some bastardized pronounciation of it, even though my name isn't obscure and there's even a very famous songwriter who uses the same name.
It gets so annoying I seriosly consider using a pseudonym instead.
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I actually quite like it. I find many shops, especially supermarkets, dehumanizing. Self service checkouts are the worst. Contrast with Japan where it is all about personal service and a good experience.
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The
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So people were serious about that?
Yes, absolutely. British people don't like
- fake friendliness
- rushed familiarity
- invasion of privacy
and what Starbucks do (did?) breaks all three of these.
the ones I can remember which do are staffed almost exclusively by foreigners who might have some pronunciation issues
Depending on the region, anywhere between zero and 100% of the staff will be foreign; but I don't think that's an issue here. The non-English-named customers will be more difficult (it's easy to learn most English names if you're Polish, say. But it's not easy for anyone to learn all English, British, European, Asian, African etc names, whatever your
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I've not seen an objection like in Ever After, "Do not address me so informal, madam." (why yes, I do remember nearly ever line from every movie I've e
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
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It is the same fake personal touch some callcenters insist of using my name 27 times in a 30 second conversation.
No problem for me. I'm blessed with a name that English speakers in general and Indian English speakers in particular are unable to pronounce, having both an uvular trill (think Edith Piaf "regrette rien"), a vowel that has disappeared from English, and ending on a vowel instead of a diphthong -- all in two syllables and five letters.
Non-Scots English speakers better call me by my middle name, and if they even attempt my first name, it's going to be so wrong that it's unrecognisable.
Re:Fake personal touch != personal touch (Score:5, Interesting)
I agree for "regular" people, but it sounds like they're targeting this at first-class passengers who might expect to be recognized, and may even have their egos bruised if they aren't. So BA is going to pull up a bunch of photos for the flight attendants peruse, in order to ensure that they don't accidentally fail to recognize a CEO or pop star or whoever.
It's still fake, but seems like a kind of faking that might work. Especially with people who want to believe it's real, that they're so famous that of course the flight attendants recognized them.
Personal touch comes from the TSA (Score:3)
A TSA chick stood to block my way and told me, "Sir, there was something suspicious on the scan, we are going to have to pat you down."
You have to know, ahem, that in middle age, a lot of us havet the Frank Costanza physique from that Seinfeld "bro" episode. A TSA dude with blue gloves felt my left moob through my clothes and then touched up the middle of my left thigh.
I was
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I would also feel creeped out. I'm instantly wondering what else they know and if they are talking about me in their private area. Yeah, I'm a touch paranoid.
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Actually, you probably wouldn't get such feeling.
Lufthansa and Swiss already do this in a way for frequent flyers with gold or higher status. What they do is to have a list of all such travelers and where they're seated. Then, during the flight they come to you and greet you by (last) name and ask you if everything is fine and such.
This happens if you fly coach or business/higher class.
While it doesn't improve on the food or leg-room in coach it at least gives you a feeling that they appreciate your busines
Re:Fake personal touch != personal touch (Score:4, Funny)
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My wife would definitely freak out if a stewardess calls me by name! I would expect the flight to be canceled owing to blood on the carpet!
Ooh, taking rug burn to a new level in a threesome!
Well done, that man.
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BOFH goes to vacation.
- Welcome aboard mr. Foobar!
- Oh, you know my name?
- Yes sir!
And yet they still won't know what the real Mr Foobar looks like!
I don't want this. (Score:5, Insightful)
I want British Airways to fly me from LHR to wherever in the shortest time at the lowest cost. I don't want them to LIKE me on Facebook as part of the process of doing that.
If they need a nice little pocket sized document with my photo, my date of birth and a unique reference number they can use the nice booklet that cost me £90 from HM Passport Agency.
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You're not a B-level movie celebrity who's ego is wider than a first class seat. You know, the kind that shows up on the news for having been tossed off a plane for being an abuse, inebriated asshole.
I think they're doing it so they can keep tabs on these bozos. If they get too rowdy, a few milligrams of haloperidol [wikipedia.org] will get them to sit down and enjoy the flight - staring straight ahead and drooling the entire way. A definite improvement on their usual behavior.
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BA has never lost my bag. I fly BA about 30 times a year.
Flying in the pre-9/11 United States, my bags would be "lost" (ie arriving later) about 50% of the time.
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Kinda reminds me of the KLM fiasco where they're trying to get people to hook up before they fly via facebook. Yeah there's a disaster waiting to happen.
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I was "recognised" by a computer at LHR last time I went through.
I don't fly very often, but then had to make two trips in two months. On the first trip, as expected, I had to be photographed before going through security -- I think it's something to do with them checking that that people don't somehow get through to the wrong flight.
On the second trip, they still had my picture (I looked at the camera, as the guy in front of me had been asked to do so, and the man on the desk said I didn't need to as they
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AFAIK this is for domestic flights (which magically includes flights to Ireland BTW) only. No clue why they're doing it but I guess it's somehow related to the common travel area [wikipedia.org]. It's extremely annoying since I once managed to accidentally get all the way to the gate for a flight back to Dublin without having my picture taken. When they found out I had to go all the way back (including another round of security theatre, thank FSM I didn't just buy me a bottle of water) to do that, and nearly missed the dam
First class (Score:5, Informative)
From the article, it says at the bottom: ""The Google Images search app helps our customer service team to recognise high profile travellers such as captains of industry who would be using our First class facilities enabling us to give a more personalised service."
I think this is almost certainly something they're aiming at first class passengers only (probably as they approach the lounges at airports). I doubt they care that much about everyone in cattle class...
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The Google Images search app helps our customer service team to recognise high profile travellers such as captains of industry who would be using our First class facilities enabling us to give a more personalised service.
"Sorry Mr. Gates! We didn't recognize you without the pie in your face [google.com]!"
Consider the service an upgrade! From first class to zero class!
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ITs sad that we allow money to be the catalyst for better treatment of a human....sad indeed.
You obviously have not waited tables at any point in your life.
Oh, great (Score:5, Funny)
to recreate the 'feeling of recognition you get in a favourite restaurant'
So, now the airline is going to spit in my food too?
Good luck with that (Score:5, Funny)
If I google myself, I find either a very large black NFL player, or an Airforce general. YAY, instant upgrade.
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At least you know they won't mess with you!
Scanner Data Calls for Integration (Score:5, Funny)
the airline could end up seeing a lot more than your face
Sounds like they also want to integrate the results from full body scanners.
CC.
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"Fakyness" = bad customer service (Score:2, Insightful)
It kinda creeps me out when clerks act all "chummy".
Which Feeling of Recognition? (Score:4, Insightful)
they'll be able to recreate the 'feeling of recognition you get in a favourite restaurant,'
I think they're a little more likely to create the feeling of recognition that you get when the creepy, slightly desperate receptionist asks about your dog by name, despite the fact that you haven't told anyone at the office that you have a dog.
Creepiness is not the feeling resturants go for (Score:5, Interesting)
There are several ways to do this that don't involve invading your privacy any more than they already have by making you present papers to fly. They already have all the information you could want in their database about your trips with them. Attaching a photo to it does nothing more than give someone a feeling of unease the moment you've pulled off this sham.
I dislike it when the coffee shop employees use my name without having been introduced because it's unexpected. The first thing that goes through your head is how did this person know my name, then you work backwards and figure it out. "Oh, they read it off my credit card." The uneasiness goes away but the feeling that something wasn't quite right with your experience is still there. Now try it in a situation where you can't figure it out because there’s a third party involved?
Situation: Man you've never seen before approaches you in an airport and says "Mr. Smith?" What is your immediate reaction?
First you're trying to figure out where you've met the person before, then you're trying to figure out if something is wrong or if they're a thief or confidence man playing you because obviously they've overheard your name from somewhere? You're never able to make the connection that they've "recognized" you because they haven't. They weren't even introduced by a mutual acquaintance like the front desk clerk because in a giant airport it would be impossible to believe that the front desk clerk described you well enough to be tracked down.
You will always be left with a feeling that shenanigans have happened and it won't make you happy. Unless you're an extremely trusting grandmotherly type person who finds the novelty to be so interesting you forget your suspicions; If you are in that particular demographic then the novelty of hearing your name called over the intercom so you can come to the desk and be updated would be just as effective as the above.
Finally, I'm in a position of choice in what has become an increasingly hostile market due to security theater. Every chance I get I will choose the airline that isn't creepy internet stalking me.
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Situation: Man you've never seen before approaches you in an airport and says "Mr. Smith?" What is your immediate reaction?
If my name isn't Smith: "Sorry, no" or ignoring the person.
Unless she's truly babelicious: "For you, I'll be Smith, Jones or any name you want."
If my name is Smith, the reply would be: "Who's asking?"
Common courtesy is to always introduce yourself first. On the phone too, by the way. Someone who calls and asks for someone by name without giving theirs will (and should) get "who's calling" or simply be hung up on. Neither is the callee being rude - it's the caller being rude.
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Creepiness is not the feeling resturants go for
I'll take differences between restaurants and airports for 200, Alex.
"Seeing a lot more than your face" (Score:2)
smarter and smarter (Score:2)
Now if they ask for my online nicknames they'd be like "We see that you don't like microsoft, you're into tech support, and you hate the Phoenix Knights guild in DDO. Welcome aboard!"
be real or gtfo (Score:2)
And then there's the fake ass waitress and hotel and other staff that are trained to be friendly but it's blatently obvious that it's a very thinly veiled attempt to hide the fact that they
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All this will actually result in is people asking "oh, did we to school together?" and them having to explain they merely digitally stalked you.
You're a fish? How do you type?
Airport shocker (Score:5, Funny)
"OK, Mr Goatse, if you could just step over here".
brings tears to my eyes (Score:2)
Wyndham did this to me to sell a timeshare (Score:5, Interesting)
A buddy of mine invited me and another friend to come stay at a Wyndham resort in WI for a ski weekend a few years ago. We stayed at a resort with multiple restaurants and shops on site.
Very long and creepy story short, in an attempt to sell more points to my friend (who was on his parent's million+ account) they Googled for us and knew everything about me including my preferences for music, good food, etc and tried to use that as leverage.
Outcomes:
1. It was uncomfortable because they only had a cursory knowledge of what I liked and they weren't really applying it well enough.
2. It was fucking SUPER creepy that they knew anything at all about me. Honestly, it was unnerving.
3. I don't want strangers treating me like I am eating at my favorite restaurant where I know the owner. You know why? Because they forgot the steps involved to get to that point--the one where you get to know someone from more than a cursory glance at Google.
--
Do not fucking do this. Thanks.
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Where did you get that? I agree with GP, and having read his post, I didn't get that at all. What I got is that he published information (period) and someone used it to pretend they are something they are not. That's the freaky part. Nobody's surprised, I hope, when they post info online and other people know it. People are surprised when things like restaurants, who if you've never been there, are not expected to act like they've known you for years. It's not customer intimacy. It's customer snoopin
It's not about economy class... (Score:2)
Privacy Minded? (Score:2)
If you were privacy minded, you wouldn't stuff on the WWW which could be googled which don't want people to know.
I am shocked, shocked. (Score:2)
I guess I'd better ... (Score:2)
Literally a Half-Cocked Idea (Score:2)
They are completely leaving out the other half of the equation.
You know -- that bit about you knowing and having a camaraderie with the staff of your favorite restaurant?
I'd be more creeped out than anything by some flight attendants I had never seen before seemed to know stuff about me.
I think I'll just pass on ever taking a flight on British Airways -- which should be easy since I've long since vowed TO NEVER GO TO BRITAIN BECAUSE IT'S A POLICE STATE. Which is a shame, because I carry on quite well with
Personally, I hate this sort of thing. (Score:2)
It's not new, really, just a new implementation. The one that comes to mind is cashiers at grocery stores thanking my by name. No, it doesn't make me feel like a regular or like you "know" me, it makes me feel like you can read the name on my loyalty card, credit card, or something else. Worse, it feels like false intimacy because your company told you to act like you know me based on nothing more than being able to read my name off something. If you've ever been a regular somewhere, or had really great
They're not human (Score:2)
Okay, it's official. Customer relations people are not human. They can't be, nobody with human emotions or personality could possibly think this was a good idea.
Scroogled: Obligatory Cory Doctorow Story (Score:2)
Read Scroogled [blogoscoped.com] by Cory Doctorow for a treatment of how this might go...
Ok, Seriously (Score:2)
I hope no one claims it's a privacy issue (Score:2)
What they'll learn about me... (Score:3)
What they would learn about me from the first page of a Google search on my name:
I'm a Adobe Worldwide Video Evangelist.
I live in Gaithersburg, Maryland.
I used to work for Boodah Joo Music, Ltd. of San Francisco.
I'm @Beatlejase on Twitter.
I've been running the site Queso.com since 1999 and am a physician.
I'm the producer of "Kid in a Candy Store" and the son of television director/producer Michael Levine.
I'm jaselevine on Facebook.
I'm an associate in the Boston office of Summit Partners, a growth equity firm for exceptional companies.
What they would actually learn about me:
Nothing, because none of those links were about me and all of that information was about other "Jason Levine"s.
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if we wanted to go to Cheers we would have gone to Cheers rather than our local.
Except that there is no Cheers. It's a made up bar, a fictionalized version of the Bull & Finch pub in downtown Boston.
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It was probably made in response to the TV series but there is (or was) such a bar - I've been there.
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I heard it closed (the real one); anyone know? Neat place, wife & I stopped by on our honeymoon in Boston.
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I thought Startup Weekend was an interesting exercise in pitching and ad-hoc collaboration, but I agree, anyone who takes a serious project to it is just in for a world of hurt.
That said, none of the ideas at the SW I attended had any hope of becoming the 'next big thing', so I don't think anyone had their ideas stolen.
As for what happened to you, the people who run these things are 'entrepreneurs' not 'coders' and as such, I'm not sure you can really be surprised by their reaction. These folks are outgoing