The wife and I are booked on a Holland America cruise. The travel agent asked me to visit their web site and do some basic data entry for the line. There's a form (see https://www.hollandamerica.com/tahq/pdf/Immigration.pdf) to give them a bunch of personal information.
I'm assuming this is the data required by the new US "Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act" (Public Law 107-173). Start here http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c107:H.R.3525: and click through to the text of the enrolled bill, SEC. 402. PASSENGER MANIFESTS: "`(c) CONTENTS OF MANIFEST- The information to be provided with respect to each person listed on a manifest required to be provided under subsection (a) or (b) shall include-- `(1) complete name; `(2) date of birth; `(3) citizenship; `(4) sex; `(5) passport number and country of issuance; `(6) country of residence; `(7) United States visa number, date, and place of issuance, where applicable; `(8) alien registration number, where applicable; `(9) United States address while in the United States; and `(10) such other information the Attorney General, in consultation with the Secretary of State, and the Secretary of Treasury determines as being necessary for the identification of the persons transported and for the enforcement of the immigration laws and to protect safety and national security" First off, it's interesting to see this US law applied to a cruise by a non-US flagged ship which does not touch any US port. It's probably because it's all the information (and more) that will be required by the authorities in the various countries we will be visiting. So I can't really fault them for asking to have the data already entered - instead of having to do it on board after we sail. However, because of the sensitivity of the information, I checked the web site and privacy policy. The web site uses ssl, has a valid certificate and uses reasonably current versions of various software (specifically Apache/1.3.27, mod_ssl/2.8.12 and OpenSSL/0.9.7). So far so good. Next, I clicked on to the privacy policy, at http://www.hollandamerica.com/aboutus/policies/privacy.htm which says, "1. CONFIDENTIALITY Your confidential use of this site cannot be guaranteed by us. We shall not be responsible for any harm that you or any person may suffer as a result of a breach of confidentiality in respect to your use of this site." Huh? It's sad to see a web site that has done a decent job of making accessible a lot of scattered information, flop so miserably on the last meter. Needless to say, I will be providing them the information via the paper form. Anyone else have any entries for the "Wall of Shame"? --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
