And so it begins

[ciphergoth]

adjectivemarcus pointed out this news article to me:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/newsid_1808000/1808187.stm

Heathrow Airport is to test a new hi-tech identity system which examines a passenger's eye, rather than their passport as they go through immigration control.

Heathrow is the first UK airport to carry out a large-scale trial of the iris recognition technology.

The aim is to speed up the movement of passengers through the terminal.

A total of 2,000 passengers who frequently fly from North America to Heathrow on Virgin and British Airways flights are taking part in the five-month trial.

I've written about this before: see

http://www.livejournal.com/talkread.bml?itemid=11363679
http://www.livejournal.com/talkread.bml?itemid=11402972

If you enjoyed those, you might also enjoy:

http://www.livejournal.com/talkread.bml?itemid=11755499
http://www.livejournal.com/talkread.bml?itemid=11773811
http://www.livejournal.com/talkread.bml?itemid=11848043

Comments

[hfnuala.livejournal.com]

I was under the impression a version of this already exists in some US airports. You get a card with your photo on it which also has sorted on it info about your finger print. You stick it in a slot and put your finger against a reader and you're through. The photo was in case the machine was down but you generally needed a passport anyway for the airport at the other end. It was sold to people on convenience, I believe - I heard about it from someone who works in the airline industry so does a hell of a lot of traveling.

I'll look and see if I can find some references cause it obviously never really caught on and it would be interesting to know why.

[valkyriekaren.livejournal.com]

In a recent Innovations catalogue, they were selling a mouse with a fingerprint identifier, so you could 'lock' your terminal and make it 'impossible to hack'. I believe they worked the word 'encryption' into there at some point too. Bollocks.