Despite being from 2020, this vulnerability persists in 2025 with many airlines still exposing sensitive data on boarding passes and luggage tags, making "don't post your boarding pass" still relevant security advice.
> Based on advice I got from two independent lawyers that was definitely not legal advice: I haven’t done a crime.
I will trust his lawyers are right _for Australia only_ (although I have my doubts, and would love to see their reasoning), but in the UK this feels like a clear breach of the Computer Misuse Act[0], and I can't recommend enough that you don't do this.
Echoing this advice in the USA. Don’t fuck with this, the language in the laws is loose enough to prosecute almost anything security-related, even well-meaning efforts like this.
Also a security tip, mosaic like he used in the picture is not a safe way to hide sensitive data, especially the one that has movement like in the gif where he is scrolling down, the mosaic changes and gives more data to reconstruct original. The safe way is to fully black out, but be wary of not plain color almost opaque marker tools, it could look like black out but playing with contrast will still reveal the data.
Reading the "Why is it bad for someone else to have your passport number?" is scary, especially since when traveling to countries like Spain and Italy, every Airbnb / Hotel requires you to send a picture of your passport. Japanese stores take your passport stamp picture for their tax-free, which contains the number on the page. Some embassies even take your passport for a few days before returning it with the visa.
Why do we treat passport numbers as passwords instead of a login?
Earth revolves around the Sun? Let's see. In a twin-star system which one is going around the other? Let's make one of them have higher mass. Did the heavier one completely stop going around, or does it still wobble a bit? That wobble mean the heavier one is still going around their common center of mass. Also, since there is no static fixed point in the space, the interpretation of movement of Sun and Earth could be very subjective to the reference frame selected. There is nothing wrong if someone wants to consider Earth as that fixed point for some arbitrary local reference frame. Infact, a lot of calculations that matter to human life on Earth require that.
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[ 4.5 ms ] story [ 53.6 ms ] threadFinding a former Australian prime minister’s passport number on Instagram (2020) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34966909 - Feb 2023 (41 comments)
When you browse Instagram and find Tony Abbott's passport number - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24488224 - Sept 2020 (340 comments)
What is the "vulnerability" by the "airlines" here?
I will trust his lawyers are right _for Australia only_ (although I have my doubts, and would love to see their reasoning), but in the UK this feels like a clear breach of the Computer Misuse Act[0], and I can't recommend enough that you don't do this.
0: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1990/18/section/1
Why do we treat passport numbers as passwords instead of a login?