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Comment by everdrive | Hacker News Reader

A grim view of things to come. More companies will do this, and eventually your defacto tracking device (ie, your smart phone) will become your government-mandated tracking device. I'd like to stop traveling by air altogether. Sadly, I need to travel for work this December.

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If you live in the EU, the euID app that's coming in the next few years will use the google play integrity API. It's all but inevitable.

It's really remarkable how committed the EU is to selling out to Americans.

> Sadly, I need to travel for work this December.

Tell your employer you need a phone.

Boarding an airplane, which requires that someone check your ID, is one of the most reliable tracking indicators available to show that a person was in a specific place at a specific time.

Nabbing people at airports is a common strategy for this reason.

Putting the boarding pass on a phone doesn’t make it easier for the government to know that you’re flying.

I just mean in general. If airplane companies normalize using an app then other companies may as well. Do you need a smartphone to pump gas? Or to use government services? How about to buy groceries? That sort of slippery slope is what I would be afraid of.

> If airplane companies normalize using an app then other companies may as well.

I fly a lot and can't remember the last time I had a paper boarding pass. When I board the vast majority of people also use their phones, so normalization has already happened with air travel.

You think this mandated budget airline app is only going to track a gate check-in and nothing else? My guess is that it will collect an absurd amount of extra data and waste endless amounts of time with up-sells and other dark patterns.

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