Big Brother & his mates
The other concern here is that our own government HMRC has been involved in "stealing" private banking records and details by paying bribes to employees. Not really interested in getting into the rights and wrongs of going after tax dodgers but it does set a moral precedent. Now the question is...... dear uncle Putin, Bush or any other hatter decides they also want info and find a suitable candidate to grease? Splash out the dollars and you've got the lot. And forget about data security. Data is stored for access and as the old saying goes, many ways to skin a cat. And they are yet to prove that an ID system will actually improve aviation safety and trust they never will. They will try the old...."ah.. erm ... in the interests of security we cannot divulge where it may help"... nice one boys and girls. Passport & Licence current pass etc... work just fine. Please would the good folk in the DFT and home office just take a long holiday and enjoy their pensions without bothering us.
Skyloone