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Comment by chrischen | Hacker News Reader

Strictly speaking he’s right in that you are still leaking a little extra information that a targeted attacker could use against you in an attack. This is your first legal name, and which gate you may be heading towards in the future. It’s not much information but it is still extra information.

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If an attacker is targeting your first name, there are any number of ways they can extract it from you in ways that are far, far easier than having to more or less literally sit on your shoulders so that they're in the same spatial coordinates as you to be able to see the custom display. They could catch your name on your boarding pass, unless you never display it inadvertently. They could read it from a luggage tag. They could catch your name off an order at an airport restaurant or cafe, unless you never give out your real name. They could also just ask you at the gate, unless you always give a fake name when introducing yourself to people as well.

The point being that 'guarding my first name at an airport' seems like an extremely niche concern, that far surpasses this particularly technology.

Yea, and this is basically just yet another way for them to extract that information. Add it to the list… but having one more option does make it easier in case the person doesn’t have a luggage tag, opted for a digital boarding pass, or reasonably refuses to give their first name when asked. Just because there are other ways to do something doesn’t make extra ways moot. If you have multiple authentication methods your security is only as strong as the weakest one, and the same concept applies here in terms of the information being leaked. Having more attack surfaces increases the attack surface.

But... How?

They might know that Vlad is going to gate Los Angeles at gate A5. But, even assuming this display is not precise, how are they going to know that I'm Vlad?

They will know that someone around them matches that information, but airports are generally busy places. Especially with new technology that people would want to try out.

To clarify, my concern is much more about the privacy aspect than the security one. I agree that there's technically not much threat in giving up your first name. From a security standpoint, it doesn't really expose much more threat surface than what already existed. I'm more talking about the general creepiness factor; the expectation of public privacy. This is more subjective, but I think there's a logic to it that is worth questioning.

You likely have that information on a card in your hand anyway. It's a minor increase in the ability for this information to leak, but it's hardly private information.

You are telling me that if a random guy walks up to you and hits on you by addressing you by your first name that it would not be creepy and unexpected? Your first name is definitely not public information that is associated with your face. There is also no reasonable expectation that you have to hold up your boarding pass for everyone to see, which is what is implied by a big screen.

> hold up your boarding pass for everyone to see, which is what is implied by a big screen.

I feel like you missed the part where only the person standing at specific coordinates can see your name, i.e. you. That's the whole point of this tech.

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