Biometrics at Walt Disney World turnstile

[eris]

I guess because I don't really like Disney, and don't live anywhere near Florida I would have had no reason to read or hear about this. It appears to have been in place since around 2006?(Did a search on the forums for any previous discussion and didn't see anything) I am..well....shocked. The things we allow corporations to do to us without even a second thought blows me away. I tried to find some information on how it is stored, for how long, what steps are taken to insure privacy of the information but my google-fu has failed today. If I had no other reason to not want to go to Disney, having to let a theme park get and keep my fingerprint data would be an excellent start.

"Ticket Tag(TM); Finger Scanners; Biometric Readers

All guests of age 10 and older must put their fingers in the biometric readers (finger scanners) at the turnstiles to establish ownership of a pass and prevent sharing the pass with someone else.

All "adult" passes, including older Park Hopper Plus passes and the magnetic stripe tickets you exchanged your still-older cardboard passes for, require use of the biometric readers and the usage procedure is the same.

We suggest that you write the name of the person who will be using the pass on a blank area on the back. Also it is easy to hand out to family members headed in different directions, unidentified passes with the wrong number of ticket options (water park fun, etc.) or package options (flexes; wishes) remaining.

Simply insert one finger into the biometric reader (most turnstiles) and wait for the green light to appear. All you have to remember is to use the same finger each time. (The turnstile attendant will make special arrangements, usually using photo ID's, for guests unable or unwilling to do this.)

No special action is needed to use a ticket for the first time. Simply insert the ticket in the turnstile and use the finger scanner normally.

Except on rare occasions if the finger scanner system is malfunctioning, hand stamps are no longer used or needed to re-enter a park Signs will be re-posted at the park exit if needed.

Note: Sharing a pass with someone else was never permitted even when visiting on different days.

For those concerned about cleanliness, please be aware that railings, banisters, door handles and knobs, and ride seat belts and bars and laser guns are not cleaner than the interiors of the turnstile finger scanners.

Although some fingerprint detail is recorded, the data is digested (the technical term is "hashed") in a manner that your fingerprint cannot be redrawn. "

[g3k_]

Re: Biometrics at Walt Disney World turnstile

Most parks down here in Orlando do that now, it's kind of sad. Universal started doing it a while ago, I'm not actually sure when.

I do remember though, that if the scanner had a hard time reading your finger, they'd just let you go through. They look through all your stuff too, which is amazing ;/

[SHA-hi]

Re: Biometrics at Walt Disney World turnstile

Name: Rusty Shackelford
I wear gloves and glove accessories. Failing that, I burnt off my fingerprints. Failing that, I have no hands. What now Magic Kingdom? What now?

[streaker69]

Re: Biometrics at Walt Disney World turnstile

Name: Rusty Shackelford
I wear gloves and glove accessories. Failing that, I burnt off my fingerprints. Failing that, I have no hands. What now Magic Kingdom? What now?

They can do the same thing I told the operators at our plant I was going to do. Rectal probe, since no two assholes are alike.

"Sir, please sit on the rod for entry".

[YenTheFirst]

Re: Biometrics at Walt Disney World turnstile

Name: Rusty Shackelford
I wear gloves and glove accessories. Failing that, I burnt off my fingerprints. Failing that, I have no hands. What now Magic Kingdom? What now?

the post says:

The turnstile attendant will make special arrangements, usually using photo ID's, for guests unable or unwilling to do this.

This is a bit interesting - I was at Disneyland California just recently, and they didn't have anything like this. I would have figured the two parks would have kept parity with that sort of tech. Maybe pass sharing is a bigger 'problem' in Florida?

Also, I believe in the past, season passes had one's photo associated with them, so this seems to be in a similar vein, but perhaps more convenient for people. That doesn't necessarily justify it, but it's not like it's an entirely new idea for Disney.

Actually, this might not be a horrible thing either. If attendants aren't checking photos, then people might be able to share passes, by spoofing fingerprints.

[Ne0nRa1n]

Re: Biometrics at Walt Disney World turnstile

Wow, I am always the last one in the know about these kinds of things. That is beyond insane!

[g3k_]

Re: Biometrics at Walt Disney World turnstile

I'm going to be down there in a 4 weeks, I'll try to gather as much information as I can get from the folks working there.

[SHA-hi]

Re: Biometrics at Walt Disney World turnstile

Attempt to infiltrate.

If they issue a photo ID they'll probably just look for this month's sticker or similar without a second thought to check the picture.

[sibios]

Re: Biometrics at Walt Disney World turnstile

Having run a few hacks on Disney myself, I would be curious as to your results with this. To be honest, I have never paid any attention to the finger scanners. I always assumed that they were probably just cheap props that would do a poor job of actually scanning a finger print. Considering the weather in Florida (especially during the summer months at park visitor peaks), I imagine that those things have to be coated in several layers of sweat and finger grease, making it even less likely that a decent scan could be conducted.

[hydruh]

Re: Biometrics at Walt Disney World turnstile

I go to Disney a lot, and have hundreds of experiences with the scanners.

They are low-quality scanners - I would imaging 50 or 75 points at most. My wife and I have occasionally switched cards and still had them pass us through.

the goal is simply to try and cut down on the collectives that buy four passes and share them among 50 people, which are very, very common. If you fail the biometric scan, you just have to show a picture ID. If it doesn't match he card, you are denied admittance. Not a really big deal.

I don't have data on how the information is stored. Based on the accuracy, though, I can't imagine that the date that is stored is a huge privacy concern compared to the rest of the data they keep about you.

S

[g3k_]

Re: Biometrics at Walt Disney World turnstile

A few things from what I recall about the last few times I went:

The employees, in their idle time often clean the scanners because they are bored. Also, if the scanner doesn't work, one of the first things they do after trying to make sure you aren't doing it wrong is to clean it.

Also, the scanners themselves take the image of the fingerprint at the turnstile. If you cannot scan properly and it is determined that you are you (without much effort, you just have to say 'hey, yo this is my card it ain't working', or present your ID depending on how busy the entrance is) it will rescan your fingerprint.

I think this time I'm going to bring my laptop. My iphone picked up some interesting wireless networks.

[g3k_]

Re: Biometrics at Walt Disney World turnstile

Ok, I remembered I would come up with some answers for this thread, and I tried my best, but the employees, I think are intentionally uninformed.

You can choose to refuse giving your fingerprint, but that will just cause confusion for the cast member. They don't know how to take a refusal because they are taught to assume that most people will just comply.

They also seem to arbitrarily decide when to use the scanners. It seemed, during peak hours they would turn them off, then they would turn back the fingerprinting machines when it slows down. In all honestly there doesn't seem to be a point. Also, it doesn't seem to be accurate either, I held my finger at a different angle, scanning a different side of my fingerprint each time.

I wanted to use my laptop at the park, but unfortunately it was raining heavily most days we were there. Also, I was dealing with the family wanting to do pesky things like go on rides and stuff. I want to go there one day with the only intent of doing recon/testing the network. Also, a few of us are interested in finding ot who does Disney's pens or if they do it internally for an event in the future. If anyone can hook me up with that info or get me in touch with them that would be greatly appreciated :)

[eris]

Re: Biometrics at Walt Disney World turnstile

Ok, I remembered I would come up with some answers for this thread, and I tried my best, but the employees, I think are intentionally uninformed.

You can choose to refuse giving your fingerprint, but that will just cause confusion for the cast member. They don't know how to take a refusal because they are taught to assume that most people will just comply.

They also seem to arbitrarily decide when to use the scanners. It seemed, during peak hours they would turn them off, then they would turn back the fingerprinting machines when it slows down. In all honestly there doesn't seem to be a point. Also, it doesn't seem to be accurate either, I held my finger at a different angle, scanning a different side of my fingerprint each time.

I wanted to use my laptop at the park, but unfortunately it was raining heavily most days we were there. Also, I was dealing with the family wanting to do pesky things like go on rides and stuff. I want to go there one day with the only intent of doing recon/testing the network. Also, a few of us are interested in finding ot who does Disney's pens or if they do it internally for an event in the future. If anyone can hook me up with that info or get me in touch with them that would be greatly appreciated :)

And that is why I was most outraged by the whole thing. It's theatre, again, and theatre being played out by the equivalent of High School Drama Club members. That's my fingerprint and data those damn kids are playing with. Get off my Lawn!

[Grendel]

Re: Biometrics at Walt Disney World turnstile

I just got back from a 7-day vacation at WDW in Florida, and made some interesting observations. Multiple times, my daughters failed the scan. In one instance, the youngest used the wrong finger (and failed). They asked her to try again (same wrong finger), and she again failed. Rather than go through any verification process, her "wrong" finger was added to the database and the next day she had to use this new finger to get through. Out of curiosity, the third day, I had her use her original finger on the scan at a different park - it failed (twice) and the attendee accepted the new scan for her card, necessitating the use of the original finger for the rest of the trip.

It seems that they simply accept new scans when there is a problem. They will also simply let them through after a couple fails.

[theprez98]

Re: Biometrics at Walt Disney World turnstile

Sounds as if they're using biometrics for show security without properly training the staff. You would think even the collective groups would figure this out pretty fast (and I assume they have).