Foreign Keys: Travel Surveillance

This week we're discussing borders, biometrics and more, as we take a look at what kind of surveillance you might experience if you're traveling to the World Cup, or to the EU schengen area. Links World Cup: ⁠https://privacyinternational.org/long... USA Trump Administration: ⁠https://privacyinternational.org/news... Airport Phone searches: ⁠https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/31/tr... Customs and Border Protection phone searches: ⁠https://www.cbp.gov/travel/cbp-search... Snooperbowl 2000/2001 NFL season: https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/f... Omar Artan, the Somali Referee not allowed in to the US: ⁠https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/ar... Some more info on the Iranian team's travel restrictions: ⁠https://www.reuters.com/sports/soccer... The EU's database complex - the EES and ETIAS PI on EU travel surveillance from 2020: ⁠https://privacyinternational.org/expl... Statewatch on the ETIAS: ⁠https://statewatch.org/news/2026/apri... Statewatch's full report: ⁠https://statewatch.org/wp-content/upl... Statewatch on expanding EU stravel surveillance: ⁠https://statewatch.org/news/2026/janu... Court cases against Passenger Name Record directive: ⁠https://freiheitsrechte.org/en/themen... ⁠ UN Counter Terror PI's Travellers' Surveillance report from 2024⁠: https://privacyinternational.org/site... Travellers surveillance report dec 2024_0.pdf⁠ PI's briefing: ⁠https://privacyinternational.org/repo... UK Border Search of digital devices: ⁠https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons... UK's law on seizure of electronic devices from asylum seekers and migrants: ⁠https://www.gov.uk/government/publica... Tommy Robinson Court Case: ⁠https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/tommy-robin... Muhammad Rabbani - Director of Cage - Schedule 7 terror charges: ⁠https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41394156⁠ Acronyms ETIAS: European Travel Information and Authorisation System (new for visa exempt; no biometrics - run by a central unit operated by frontex; this is where manual checks carried out if automated checks flag problems) VIS: Visa information System (obvs for visas; age lowered to 6? - will soon check other systems) EES: Entry/Exit system (biometrics on entry; records all border crossings) CIR: Common Identity Repository (only non-eu citizens; weak anti-discrimination; identity info from visa and ta - data from other databases lives here and is used for purposes beyond travel e.g. police checks in country) Eurodac: (all asylum seekers, and trying to add undocumented migrants) ECRIS-TCN: European Criminal Records Information System for Third-Country Nationals (data on non-EU citizens convicted in one or more EU member state) SIS: schengen information system (an EU database for police, judicial and border control cooperation, to see whether they are wanted by the police or subject to an entry ban; checked on crossing external schengen border inc eu citizens) MID: Multiple-Identity Detector SLTED: Interpol’s Stolen and Lost Travel Documents database (checked on crossing external schengen border inc eu citizens) PNR: Passenger name record