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SNET: [FP] FW: Want to Travel? Not W/O Your Biometric Passport
From: "ScanThisNews" <[email protected]> (by way of [email protected] (Jeremy Compton))
Subject: SNET: [FP] FW: Want to Travel? Not W/O Your Biometric Passport
Date: Wed, 16 Sep 1998 15:01:38 +1200
To: [email protected]
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SCAN THIS NEWS
9/15/98
[forwarded message]
US Takes Immigration in Hand
by Theta Pavis
http://www.wired.com/news/news/technology/story/15014.html
Sep 15, 1998
It's been 44 years since Ellis Island closed shop, but immigration
can still be a long, tiresome process. In an effort to speed the
process for international travelers, the US Immigration and
Naturalization Service is offering a biometric system for willing
frequent flyers.
So far, 71,000 people in six airports have signed up for the
system, called INSPASS. It employs a biometric kiosk to scan and
match the geometric dimensions of travelers' hands, verify their
identities, and perform standard background checks. The INS plans
to expand the program to four additional airports by the end of the
year.
"It creates a fast lane for people," said James Wayman, head of the
federally funded National Biometric Test Center at San Jose
State University.
The kiosks were integrated by EDS, which has had a US$300 million
contract with the INS for automation support and software
development since 1994. This summer, the INS awarded a new,
five-year information-technology contract worth $750 million
to EDS and four other companies.
Ann Cohen, an EDS vice president in the government services group,
said the fact that so many people have signed up for the
INSPASS system shows that biometrics are becoming more popular
and could be commonplace in the future.
"Were getting over that 'Big Brother' hurdle," Cohen said. As
e-commerce develops and terrorism grows, biometrics increasingly
are the "only sure way to get security."
US and Canadian citizens flying overseas on business at least three
times a year are eligible for the free INSPASS program. People
from Bermuda and 26 other countries that have visa-waiver agreements
with the United States are also eligible.
The INSPASS kiosks, which look like ATM machines, were recently
installed at the Los Angeles International Airport, where more
than 1,000 people have enrolled in the program. Rico Cabrera, a
spokesman with the INS Los Angeles regional office, said travelers
like the fact that INSPASS can check their identity in 16 to 60
seconds, a process that can take up to three hours at some airports.
The largest group of INSPASS users at LAX are US citizens, followed by
Australians and New Zealanders.
After filling out a one-page form and passing a background check,
travelers can be issued a Port Pass card with their picture and a
12-number ID on it.
A traveler inserts the card in the kiosk, which reads the ID
number and links to a centralized database run by US Customs. A
geometric hand template is called up from the database and
transferred to the kiosk. After a green light flashes, the right
hand is placed on a reflective surface -- the ID-3D Handkey,
made by Recognition Systems. The HandKey uses a video camera to
take a geometric image of the traveler's hand and fingers, and
the data is converted using compression algorithms. If it matches
the template of the hand stored in the database, the traveler is in.
INSPASS kiosks are also in use at airports in Newark, Miami,
Kennedy (New York), Pearson (Toronto), and Vancouver, British
Columbia. The INS eventually plans to install them at most busy
international airports around the country, including Washington,
San Francisco, Seattle, and Honolulu. The department has geared
the programtoward business travelers, diplomats, airline personnel,
and other "low-risk" visitors.
Some argue that the INS hasn't done enough to market the program.
Jeffrey Betts, WorldWide Solution Manager for IBM -- which
has developed FastGate, a kiosk similar to INSPASS -- said people
aren't enrolling fast enough in the INS system.
International arrivals at airports across the globe are growing every
year by 7 to 10 percent, Betts said, but border control resources
are flat or declining. In 1996, some 65,000 people were enrolled
in the INSPASS program, but the program has added just 6,000 new
users since then.
IBM, which has been running a small pilot program of FastGate in
Bermuda for the past year, is building a system where people can
swipe a credit card through a kiosk at the airport and connect with
a database where the biometrics are stored.
"Governments will have to find ways to do more with less or force
travelers to queue like cattle," Betts said.
While the government plans on marketing INSPASS more aggressively
in the future, Schmidt said, INS is counting on word of mouth
to get new people enrolled. "We don't really have the budget for
a huge marketing campaign," she said.
-----Original Message-----
From: Patrick Poole [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Tuesday, September 15, 1998 5:09 PM
Subject: Want to Travel? Not W/O Your Biometric Passport
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Don't believe anything you read on the Net unless:
1) you can confirm it with another source, and/or
2) it is consistent with what you already know to be true.
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