On biometric passports
I wonder if NZ’s new biometric passports have been (or will be) tested with real people in the real world? Apparently there will be a beta-level test:
The computerised entry checks will be offered first to “registered passengers” who volunteer to use biometric kiosks to avoid queues at manned Customs booths.
Though rolling out something for a beta-level test means that you’ll be running it in production pretty soon.
In other biometric news, Siemens have “successfully tested” a finger-print based check-in system.
After a passenger’s finger is rolled over an optical reader unit, the system converts the fingerprints’ characteristics into a 2D code which the reader prints on the boarding pass. Just before boarding, the fingerprints are again scanned by a reader and compared with the barcode. The data is erased after the passenger checks in.
I’m guessing that you still have to pass some sort of human-based ID check and the biometrics only comes in to verify that the person getting on the plane is the person who checked in. Is that really a problem?
In any case, I’m not sure where I read it, but I’m sure I’ve been told that people don’t like finger-print based ID checking because of the criminal associations of being fingerprinted.
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