You Want to Visit the UK? You Better Have a Google Play or App Store Account | Philip Heltweg
www.heltweg.org
New immigration rules for the UK are being enforced starting February 2026. This means citizens of 85 additional countries (including the USA and European countries) will need an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) to visit, even for tourism. Luckily, you can apply (and pay) digitally. Unfortunately, the government very much would prefer you to do so using the official app.

This is post is really wtf?

(Tinfoil hat on) Would be interesting to do an investigation on what the app is doing other than allowing you to register if they are insisting so much on having people install it.

  • Onno (VK6FLAB)@lemmy.radioEnglish
    14·
    2 days ago

    Link:

    Requirements:

    1. Take or upload a photo of the passport you will use to travel to the UK.
    2. Scan your face with your device, if it has a camera. Children aged 9 and under will not be asked to scan their face.
    3. Take or upload a photo of yourself.
    4. Answer some questions about yourself.
    5. Pay for your application.

    Note:

    • You will need to complete your application in one go - you cannot save your progress.
    • If you do not do anything for 20 minutes, the service will time out. Your answers will be deleted and you will need to start again.
    • By applying, you agree to the Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) privacy notice.
    • hector@lemmy.todayEnglish
      5·
      2 days ago

      So, is this information you are submitting, including a photo of yourself and your passport, held just by the government? By private companies? Do they share the information with private companies, other areas of government? How long do they keep it, what are the rules?

      That they don’t tell you, and knowing them, data brokers, and the US government will have it right away. Just another piece of information taken from us without real consent, with no way to say no and still function in life, with no advisement of how it will be used, for what. Of how it will be stored and subsequently stolen by hackers.

      This is small potatoes with everything going on in the UK right now, but it’s emblamatic of the rot that has spread throughout the whole, now visible on the surface of the fascist veneer they paint over with Starmer’s reasonable sounding fake voice and his ilk.