From The Alpha and the Omega - Volume III
by Jim A. Cornwell, Copyright © July 20, 2002, all rights reserved
"Volume III - Biometrics Are Just Around The Corner"

Biometrics
"The statistical study of biological phenomena.".


    This file created on July 11, 2003 is a Volume III continuation of the original website at http://www.mazzaroth.com/ChapterEight/FifthGroupOfTwelveYears.htm regarding the subject of Biometrics Are Just Around The Corner as to what will happen during 1999-2010.

    My Comment: Most of us have pragmatic response to technology overload.    Biometrics is being touted to relieve us of that issue, as in keeping up with passwords.    For those of you that did not know the order of adoption of this new science it began with Australia, South Africa, South America, Europe, and lately the United States.
    Companies like Fingerscan Pty Ltd., Sydney, Australia, a subsidiary of Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Identix Inc., are original big players of biometrics in Asia (Jakarta, Indonesia), Australia.    GC Tech Inc., of France is a big technology vendor of smart cards.    Sensar, of Morristown, Pa., is a supplier of iris scanners.    Siemens Nixdorf, Paderborn, Germany, and Miros, Inc., Wellesley, Mass., display the facial recognition systems for the Pentagon.
    Credit cards will be the biggest potential application of biometric use in the future to avoid loss, stolen or recreated issues.
    Many of the above companies are planning to see more use of these applications in 1997.    I hope this article helps you understand what will be coming your way in the future.    I would say that it is inevitable in light of what happened on Sept. 11, 2001, but hopefully will not grow to reflect the prophecy in Revelation 13:15-17:


Unforgettable you Body scanning devices may make passwords obsolete.

by Doug Bedell The Dallas Morning News
March 12, 2000.


    DALLAS - For many consumers, the proliferation of computer passwords and personal identification numbers has added a memory-taxing layer of complexity to life.
    A new generation of technology companies is coming up with ways to confirm your identity by analyzing your:
    These products, loosely grouped under the category of "biometrics," have shown up at international trade shows such as Comdex and the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
    Most of the ideas are still too expensive to implement on a wide commercial basis.    Devices that map your retina for identity-checking at automated teller machines, for example still cost $700 or more.    Some, such as voice-printing, may have major hurdles to overcome, since a voice can vary depending on stress, intoxication and even the time of day.
    At the recent CES, however, a company called Applied Biometrics demonstrated a fingerprint-reading technology that can be used cheaply to secure access to palm computers, cell phones and home security systems.
    "The hardware's here," says John Catalano, Applied Biometrics president.    "The only thing that needs to be done is to develop some software."    Catalano's solution -- a wired glass pad powered by two AAA batteries -- maps the ridges and curls of a person's index finger, with a future cost possibly at $59 apiece.    Some future uses are to help curb welfare fraud, bank automatic tellers, and handgun and automobile security.
    Another source defines "Biometrics" as the science of devices that measure some form of biological response to determine a person's identity.


Extremely personal ID New company adapts biometrics to create fraud-fighting technology.

by Mike Maharry Scripps Howard News Service
August 13, 2000.


    Six years ago, two guys from the South Sound, Wash., area decided the world needed a better way to keep handguns away from children.    John A. Stiver and his friend, Dwight C. Peterson, are starting a new company called Advanced Biometrics Inc. that, they claim could revolutionize life in the 21st century.    They intend to use science of biometrics to identify people and decide if they can have access to locked buildings, e-commerce auctions, credit card transactions, automobiles and, eventually firearms.    The company holds a patent on a new technology "subcutaneous structure of the hand" that uses infrared scanners to take a digital picture of the inside of a person's hand.    Like fingerprints, those hand scans can be stored in a computer and compared with fresh pictures taken later.    If the two match, they were made by the same person, if not access will be denied.
    "Credit card fraud and identity theft are becoming major crime issues these days" said Bill Rogers, publisher of an industry newsletter called Biometrics Digest in St. Louis.
    Stiver scoffs at fingerprint scanners and voice recognition systems in that "I can lift a print from you and make a latex copy in 20 minutes, and then for all intents and purposes, I'm you."    "Voice recognition is the same way," Stiver said, "All I have to do is tape-record your voice."    Hand scans are virtually impossible to copy so they are bullish on their patented technology.
    Their first product is a biometric time clock, called ChronoLog, to avoid time clock fraud.    Next they will engage in a computer mouse with a built-in hand scanner and the circuitry to digitize the reading and send it out over the Internet.


Government Weighs Computer ID Chip.

by Christopher Newton The Associated Press
Wednesday, February 27, 2002.


    WASHINGTON -- A Florida technology company is poised to ask the government for permission to market a first-ever computer ID chip that could be embedded beneath a person's skin.
    For airports, nuclear power plants and other high security facilities, the immediate benefits could be a closer-to-foolproof security system.    But privacy advocates warn the chip could lead to encroachments on civil liberties.
    The implant technology is another case of science fiction evoloving into fact.    Those who have long advanced the idea of implant chips say it could someday mean no more easy-to-counterfeit ID cards nor dozing security guards.
    Just a computer chip -- about the size of a grain of rice -- that would be difficult to remove and tough to mimic.
    Other uses of the technology on the horizon, from an added device that would allow satellite tracking of an individual's every movement to the storage of sensitive data like medical records, are already attracting interest across the globe for tasks like foiling kidnappings or assisting paramedics.
    Applied Digital Solutions' new "VeriChip" is another sign that Sept. 11, 2001 has catapulted the science of security into a realm with uncharted possibilities -- and also new fears for privacy.
    "The problem is that you always have to think about what the device will be used for tomorrow," said Lee Tein, a senior attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a privacy advocacy group.
    "It's what we call function creep.    At first a device is used for applications we all agree are good but then it slowly is used for more than it was intended," he said.
    Applied Digital, based in Palm Beach, Fla., says it will soon begin the process of getting Food and Drug Administration approval for the device, and intends to limit its marketing to companies that ensure its human use is voluntary.
    More than a decade ago, Applied bought a competing firm, Destron Fearing, which had been making chips implanted in animals for several years.


Ubiquitous computing could leave privacy in tatters.

by Elizabeth Weise USA Today
August 12, 2002.


    In 2054, as portrayed in the summer movie "Minority Report," surveillance is a constant presence.
    Lasers scan the irises of subway passengers and automatically deduct their fare.    Billboards and stores use the same technology to recognize passersby and call out their names.     But the real future "It's going to be extremely invasive of privacy, but we're going to forget using those words.    I think we'll get used to this stuff in alarmingly short amount of time," said Bruce Sterling, an Austin, Texas, science-fiction writer much in demand by think tanks to help them imagine and plan for the future.    He envisions cars cautioning us on road conditions, toilets that analyze our urine and notifying our doctor if problems, getting deductions from our accounts for fees to music we listen to.    Computer scientist Henry Kautz of the University of Washington in Seattle is already working on it.    His Assisted Cognition Project uses a network of digital devices and wireless sensors in the walls of homes, in appliances and furniture and clothing to monitor an individual, offer prompts when appropriate and summon help when needed.
    The military and law enforcement are eager to use the latest computer database technologies to track suspects.    The Senate has held a hearing on the possibility of creating a national system of biometric measurement -- using the body to uniquely identify individuals -- to help in the fight against terrorism.    Federal agents were able to re-create a detailed record of the lives of the Sept. 11 terrorists by using credit-card transactions, phone records and security-camera tapes.
    But it's not just terrorists who are tracked, and it's not just the government doing the tracking.    Already gigabytes of information are collected about us every day in databases compiled by the supermarkets where we shop (what we buy), our pharmacies, credit-card companies and phone companies.    The trade-off is between convenience and privacy.    Across the country, drivers can sign up to use palm-sized transponders that automatically deduct the cost of bridge and highway tolls as they drive.    So there is a digital record detailing each time and place their car made the trip.    The Fourth Amendment still applies in the home, but in public we're fair game.
    Computerized iris scanning has existed since 1994 and has been used at ATMs, in hospitals and airports.    We're already used to pervasive tracking of our daily routine online (i.e. cookies), promoted through corporate marketing.


Biometric ID devices begin to catch on.
Groups concerned that machines may impinge on privacy

by Jon Swartz USA Today
February 22, 2003.


    San Francisco - Biometrics, a technology that identifies people by fingerprints, eyes and other physical characteristics, is seeing its first wave of commercial use after languishing for more than a decade.
    A wave of new users have adopted the technology with the goal: tighten security, reduce security costs and meet stricter laws imposed after the 2001 terrorist attacks.
    Concerns are also rising that such technology will impinge on privacy and give employers information they shouldn't have, including increased government and buisness scrutiny of citizens.    Privacy advocates fear that broad use of fingerprinting and other biometric technologies will impede a citizen's ability to move anonymously.
    ACLU's Jay Stanley said, "Whoever controls the database will know when you use a fingerprint scanner at the office, your apartment, retail stores and mass transit.    It's tantamount to being followed with a video camera."
    Despite the concerns, biometrics is being used more at:


Face-recognition system gone.

August 21, 2003.


    Tampa, Fla. -- Civil-rights advocates celebrated a decision by Tampa police to scrap a highly touted facial-recognition software system that was designed to scan the city's entertainment district for wanted criminals.
    But after two years, it yielded no positive identifications and no arrests.    "It was of no benefit to us, and it served no real purpose," Capt. Bob Guidara said, emphasizing that the decision to drop the software was based on its ineffectiveness rather than privacy issues.
    Tampa became the first city in the United States to install the software in June 2001 to scan faces in Ybor City nightlife district and checked against a database of more than 24,000 felons, sexual predators and runaway children.    But critics said it violated privacy rights, forcing Ybor City visitors to be in what amounted to an electronic police lineup.


Biometric visas may present challenges.
Visitors' passports must be upgraded by October 2004

by Brian Bergstein The Associated Press
August 24, 2003.


    New York -- Biometric technology that scans faces, fingerprints or other physical characteristics to conform people's identities is about to get its biggest, most public test: at U.S. border checkpoints.
    Yet significant questions loom about whether the U.S. and foreign governments can meet an Oct 26, 2004, deadline set by Congress for upgrading passports and visas to include biometrics.
    "This is the mother of all projects -- there's no question about it," said Joseph Atick, chief of Identix Corp., a maker of biometric systems.
    The Deparment of Homeland Security expects to begin taking fingerprints and digital pictures with face scanners, due to be in place at air and sea ports by the end of this year (Jan. 2004) and biometric visas and passports beginning to get into the hands of travelers next year, U.S. officials hope to keep the wrong people out, while letting the right people in without delay.
    Biometric visas and passports, certainly, will be harder to fake.    The challenge will be to equip the millions who will need the new documents in order to enter the United States, and to upgrade computer systems at border crossings.
    These are complicated endeavors and will cost billions.    "We're doing at a time when money is not exactly overflowing," said Bernard Bailey, head of face-recognition biometrics maker Viisage Inc.
    Biometric systems reduce patterns in a person's fingerprints, irises, faces, voices or other characteristics to mathematical algorithms that can be stored on a chip or machine-readable strip.    When arriving travelers put their fingers into biometric scanners or stand infront of face-recognition cameras, a computer will check whether the patterns it detects match the ones the subjects gave when they were first scanned.    The system also will check whether visitors appear on watch lists of suspected terrorists or immigration violators.
    The technology has been used for years to secure sensitive corporate and government facilities, and to help state motor-vehicle departments keep people from getting multiple licenses.    Mexico maintains 60 million face-recognition files to prevent people from registering to vote more than once.    Our State Department has already dispensed 6 million visa cards with fingerprint biometrics, made by Drexler Technology Corp., to Mexicans since 1998.
    After Sept. 11, 2001, interest surged in biometrics as a security tool.    Last year, Congress mandated that biometrics be added to a new automated entry and exit system for travelers known as U.S.-VISIT.    And it set several deadlines, with estimates of $1.4 to $2.9 billion initially, then $700 million to $1.5 billion annually.
    Biometric scans at land borders with Mexico and Canada -- which handle 80% of America's 440 million annual immigration inspections -- are due to begin in 2005 and have that technology by the end of that year, said Homeland Security spokeswoman Kimberly Weissman.
    The most haunting deadline is Oct. 26, 2004, where all foreigners with visas or passports issued after that date will have to carry biometric identifiers (enabled chips or strip) in those documents including having their fingerprints scanned and their facial image captured by a biometric-enable camera, if they want to enter the United States.
    The European Union has yet to resolve biometric standards for its member nations, although a meeting on the subject is expected by October.


U.S. will increase security - Most foreign visitors will be fingerprinted.

by Rachel Swarns, The New York Times
April 4, 2004.


    Washington - The Department of Homeland Security said it planned to require travelers from 27 industrial nations - including longtime allies like Britain, France, Germany, Spain, Japan and Australia to be photographed and electronically fingerprinted when they arrive in the United States.    The program goes into effect by Sept. 30 at 115 airports around the nation, only diplomats, Candians and Mexicans carrying border cards, which are typically for 72-hour visits will be exempt from the new rules.    Homeland Security officials said the change was decided upon after it became clear that most countries would not be able, for technological reasons, to meet the Oct. 26 deadline to develop machine readable passports that include biometric identifiers, such as fingerprints and iris identification features.    Many of the terrorists that enter this country carried passports.


FDA approves medical microchip for human use - Critics: Confidentiality could be compromised.

by Diedtra Henderson, Associated Press
October 14, 2004.


    Washington -- The Food and Drug Administration approved an implantable computer chip that can pass a patient's medical details to doctors, speeding care.    But critics warn that it could open new ways to imperil the confidentiality of medical records.    The FDA said that Applied Digital Solutions of Delray Beach, Fla., could market the VeriChip, an implantable computer chip about the size of a grain of rice, for medical purposes.    With the pinch of a syringe, the minature microchip is inserted under the skin in a procedure that takes less than 20 minutes and leaves no stitches.    The dormant chip stores a code that releases patient-specific information such as allergies and prior treatments, when a scanner passes over it.    The big problem in health care has been that medical records has a problem since much of it is still on paper, and what is on computers fragment on computer systems that don't talk to each other.    So this is a way to make life simpler for the patient.
    The microchips have already been implanted in 1 million pets.    But the chip's possible dual use for tracking people's movements as well as speeding delivery of the medical information to emergency rooms has raised alarm.    Pushing for the strongest encryption algorithms to ensure hackers can't nab medical data as information transfers from chip to reader to secure database will help address privacy concerns.    The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced $139 million in grants to help make real President Bush's push for electronic health records for most Americans within a decade.
    To kick-start the chip's use among humans, Applied Digital will provide $650 scanners for free at 200 of the nation's trauma centers.


Ridge wants biometric data included on passports.

by Associated Press
January 15, 2005.


    London - Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge called for a new international standard for putting biometric data such as fingerprints on passports, and said the technology could play a vital role in combating terrorism.
    Ridge said in a speech at the London School of Economics and Political Science that the international community had made great strides in cooperating to tackle terrorism, but more needed to be done.
    "Common international standards of biometrics must be developed.    In my view, the sooner, the better," he said.    Biometrics include face-recognition technology and fingerprint and iris scanning.


High-tech fingerprint system called ' a great step forward' for Border Patrol.

by Richard Marosi, Los Angeles Times
February 20, 2005.


    San Diego -- The U.S. Border Patrol has arrested tens of thousands of people with criminal records, including suspected murderers, rapists and child molesters, since the agency last year installed a fingerprinting system that identifies criminals among 1 million illegal immigrants apprehended annually.
    The high-tech system is part of a broader effort by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to create a "virtual border" to stop terrorist and those with criminal pasts from entering the United States.
    The fingerprints of all detained illegal immigrants are now matched against the FBI's national criminal database through scanners installed at all 137 Border Patrol stations along the Mexican and Canadian borders.
    About 30,000 of the 680,000 illegal immigrants who were arrested from May through December were identified as having criminal records (from shoplifting to murder), compared with about 2,600 during the same period in 2002.    It also prevents suspects to flee the country and then return.
    Similar systems have been installed at many U.S. ports of entry and airports, where only a small percentage of visitors are screened, and will eventually scan the fingerprints of all foreign visitors to the United States.


Chipping Away at your Rights?.

by XPNews - Editor's Corner
May 1, 2006.


    In the Brave New World of many of numerous science fiction stories, a totalitarian world-wide government uses implanted microchips to control the minutia of its citizens' lives.    Twenty-five years ago, the theme made for entertaining, if somewhat far-fetched sci-fi.    Today it doesn't seem that far-fetched at all.
    The technology is certainly here.    Chips are routinely implanted in animals for various purposes.    RFID (radio frequency identification) tags are placed in the ears of livestock so farmers can know which cattle are theirs, replacing traditional methods of branding.    Veterinarians offer products such as HomeAgain and 24PetWatch, chips that can be implanted in pets to store owner identification, medical information, etc.    http://www.wxpnews.com/8XG55S/060502-Implanted_Chips
    In 2004, it was reported that a number of government officials in Mexico, including the Attorney General, had been implanted with microchips that function much like electronic keycards to allow access to secure areas.    The difference is that you can't forget or misplace this key, and it would be difficult (although not impossible) for someone to steal it.    http://www.wxpnews.com/8XG55S/060502-Secure_Access
    That was also the year the Food and Drug Administration approved the use of RFID chips by hospitals to identify patients.    http://www.wxpnews.com/8XG55S/060502-Patient_RFID
    Then in 2005, Tommy Thompson, the governor of Wisconsin and former U.S. Security of Health and Human Services, announced that he was having an RFID chip injected into his arm to provide quick access to his medical history and records.    Although this announcement made big news, we've not been able to find verification that he ever went through with the procedure.    http://www.wxpnews.com/8XG55S/060502-Tommy_Thompson
    This year, "chipping" made the news again when a company in Ohio used RFID chips implanted in workers to control access to certain rooms.    The company's CEO said the chips are no different from ID cards.    http://www.wxpnews.com/8XG55S/060502-Workers_RFID
    A number of bars and private clubs, in places as diverse as Barcelona, Spain and Glascow, Scotland have offered to let customers pay their tabs via an implanted RFID tag.
    Most of these examples have used chips marketed by VeriChip, a Florida company that makes the chips, which are about the same size as a grain of rice and can be easily injected under the skin, usually into the fatty tissues of an arm or leg.    It's a safe medical procedure, done with only local anesthetic.    They push the chips as a solution to problems ranging from lost dogs to kidnapped children to wandering Alzheimer's victims.
    The technology being used for these applications is a "passive" one - that is, the chip just stores information and transmits it over a short range (a few meters).    To access it, you need a special scanner.    The next logical step is a more active chip that can transmit over longer distances.    Some chips can be tracked by satellite, and some companies have announced plans to incorporate a Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) transmitter into implanted chips, which would allow for the implanted person to be tracked wherever they go in the world.    Chips could also record a person's movements and activities and store the log on the chip itself or send it to a monitoring station.
    Certainly this technology could offer lots of advantages.    As an access control method, it would be much harder to tamper with or steal than keys, passwords, smart cards and the like.    It's cheaper than biometrics.    As a medical information store, it could provide emergency workers with instantaneous, valuable information about a person's health history that might save lives.    As a law enforcement aid, it could prove or disapprove the whereabouts of accused persons.    It could also make it much easier to keep track of (and thus keep safe) animals, children and mentally disabled people.
    But where does it stop? How much of a step is it from allowing parents and pet owners to keep tabs on their charges to allowing employers to keep track of their workers and then to allowing governments to keep track of all of us, all the time? Of course it will happen in increments.    Who's going to argue with implanting a tracking chip in a sex offender who's been released from prison?    Or implanting chips in soldiers going to war, so they can be more easily located if they're wounded?    Or in children, for their own safety?    And so forth.
    As chips become more widely used for these noble purposes, they'll also become more accepted by the public.    Employers can require implanted chips that act as time cards, logging when workers start and stop work.    Who could object?    After all, it's voluntary; if you don't like it you can work somewhere else - at least until all companies are routinely using this method.    Chips could also replace passports.    Again, you don't have to get one if you don't want to leave the country.    Except that if it works for passports, it will probably soon be extended to drivers's licenses.    I guess you can just not drive, but we all know we're headed toward requirement of a national ID card.    Having that info "chipped" will probably be voluntary.    In the beginning.    But if national security is at stake ...
    The problem is that it's hard to make a case that chips are bad.    Like any technology, they can be used for good or evil.    Here are some of the uses (many of them commendable) that were proposed by Digital Angel, a company that makes RFID and GPS implants for pets, fish and livestock: http://www.wxpnews.com/8XG55S/060502-RFID_GPS
    However, the idea of such technology in the hands of government makes many privacy advocates very nervous - especially in conjunction with other political and social trends.    For instance, most babies are born in hospitals today, and all children are required to have immunizations before attending schools.    Since the implant procedure is a simple injection, it would be very easy for health care personnel to implant chips immediately after birth or in early childhood without the recipient even knowing it was being done.    And with many in the U.S. advocating government takeover of the healthcare system (and nationalized healthcare already in place in many countries), well, you can see where this could go.
    Chips could also be used to further political agendas.    Conrad Chase, director of the Barcelona nightclub that uses the VeriChip payment system, has been quoted as saying all gun owners should be required to have a microchip implanted in their hands to own a gun.    A "smart gun" could be designed so that it wouldn't fire unless in the hands of someone with a chip.    This could give the government almost complete control over who does or doesn't have the ability to ability to defend themselves with a firearm.    On the other side of the aisle, the Patriot Act gives the government broad powers that bother many people, such as the ability to access library records.    If an implanted chip were required to check out library books, that information would be much easier to obtain as it would always be with the individual.
    In response to all this, some lawmakers are trying to ameliorate the possible damage.    A state representative in Wisconsin has introduced a bill that would prohibit requiring anyone to have a chip implanted or doing it without their knowledge.    http://www.wxpnews.com/8XG55S/060502-Wisconsin_Bill
    What do you think?    Do the benefits of implanted chips outweigh the dangers?    Are implants okay for kids, animals, and the elderly?    Should implants always be voluntary or is it fine to mandate chips for prisoners and parolees?    Should implanted chips be banned by the FDA?    Should be government have control over implants?    Under what circumstances - if any - would you have yourself implanted?


Security chip imbedded in privacy issue.

by Dawn Sagario, WorkBytes at The Des Moines Register.
May 1, 2006.


    My workplace has enhanced security measures in our building.    The stricter rules mean I have to swipe an access key in the elevator to navigate most of the floors.    If you forget the key, users find themselves automatically shuttled to the first-floor security desk.    I'm pretty delinquent when it comes to carrying my access key.
    One possible solution for forgetful employees like me comes from two workers in Ohio who recently had access cards embedded in their forearms.    The employees at City-Watcher.com, a company in Cincinnati that provides security cameras and surveillance services, volunteered to test the radio frequency identification chips, according to a report from The Associated Press.
    The chips act as access cards to vaults where police departments' information and photographs are kept, the company's chief executive said.    A physician implanted the chip, about the size of a grain of rice, underneath the skin.
    The company adds that the chips do not serve as employee tracking devices.    But the whole situation sounds like a slippery slope to Paige Fiedler.    "I don't think there's anything in the law right now to prevent private employers from saying that we're going to track employees with this kind of technology," said Fiedler, of Fiedler and Newkirk PLC in Johnston, Iowa.    "There's something really invasive, physically, saying that something has to be implanted in your skin.    It's just so personal."
    Fiedler said that with this technology, a company hypothetically could keep tabs on a worker's personal business.    For instance, a company could see if employees are complying with rules about smoking in a designated area.
    On a broader scale, Fiedler sees the implants as a potential portal of entry by the government into worker activities.
    She said businesses might feel compelled to assist the government in "spying on Americans."
    There are a variety of liabilitiy issues to worry about, said Joanne Webster, a member of the Society for Human Resource Management's national expertise panel for employee relations.
    One concern includes the potential for medical error when these chips are being implanted, Webster said.
    The other issue: "Is the employer going to require that employees have these chips implanted as a condition of employment?" she asked.    "It's not something that I would advocate," Webster said.    "There would have to be a very serious, high-risk security kind of situation.    I don't see this kind of practice suddenly proliferating."

 


Despite concerns, electronic U.S. passport system to start Monday.

by Associated Press.
August 12, 2006.


    Washington - Despite ongoing privacy concerns and legal disputes involving companies bidding on the project, the State Department plans to begin issuing passports with smart chips to Americans as planned.
    Not even the foiled terror plot that heightened security checks at airports nationwide threatens to delay the rollout, the agency said.    Any hitches in getting the technology to work properly could add even longer waits to travelers already facing length security lines.
    The new passports will include a chip that contains all the data in the paper version -- name, birthdate and sex, for example -- and can be read by electronic scanners at equipped airports.    The State Department says the new passport will speed up customs and help enhance border security.
    Privacy groups continue to raise concerns about the security of the electronic information.    One concern, electronic cloning, does not constitute a threat because the information on the chips, including the photograph, is encrypted and cannot be changed, according to the Smart Card Alliance, a New-Jersey-based not-for-profit.
    Another concern is that hackers could pick up the electronic signal when the passport is being scanned, said Sherwin Siy, staff counsel at the Washington-based Electronic Privacy Information Center.


Airport scanners allow some to skip security lines - Convenience will cost $100 for now.

by Stephen Majors, Associated Press.
January 14, 2007.


    While thousands of travelers daily at International airports have to remove their shoes and everything to go through X-ray machines, a select few get to avoid the hassle during the latter part of 2006.    As a test of the next generation of airport security systems expands, these travelers paid a $100 fee and underwent a background check to be part of the test program.    They were able to bypass the line and step into what may be a glimpse of the future: They inserted a biometric identification card into a kiosk that scanned their irises and their fingerprints to verify their identity, placed their fingertip on an explosives scanning device and stood on a scanning platform that determined whether their footwear hid a bomb.
    Operated by Verified Identity Pass, a New York company headed by Court TV founder Steven Brill, the GE Security screening kiosks will go into official use this month in Orlando International Airport, Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, Indianapolis, San Jose, Calif., and New York's JFK International Airport.
    Only the shoe scanner has received Transportaiton Security Administration approval for official use to date.    The device uses AM radio waves to cause shoe materials to vibrate at their unique frequency.    At present there are obstacles standing in the way of widespread deployment of the new technology.


Chips could help in tracking - Kids, pets among likely beneficiaries.

by Peter Svensson, Associated Press.
December 23, 2007.


    New York - In one high-tech thriller after another, the hero attaches a tiny tracking device on the villian and follows him as a blinking dot on a computer screen.
    In real life, this technology would be great for tracking pets or kids, even packages or luggage -- anything that tends to wander.
    But it doesn't really exist.
    There are GPS devices, of course, but strap a half-pound GPS collar to a dog and you'll realize it's far from "Mission Impossible."    GPS-enabled cell phones are becoming more common, but they can be accurate indoors, and they aren't cheap.
    A Utah company, S5 Wireless, is looking to bring reality closer to the movies, with small, cheap chips that can be powered by a single battery for up to two years and tracked indoors and outside, over long distances.
    For instance, an S5 chip could go into a dog collar, complete with battery, in a package about the size of a stick of gum that costs $3 to $4 to make.    When the battery runs down, it's time to buy a new collar.
    The concept could be applied to a kid's backpack by running an antenna through the strap.
    The drawback to this technology is that unlike the Global Positioning System, which is quite literally global, S5's technology would only work where the company has a network of stations to receive S5 signals.    S5 is planning to start building those in some major U.S. cities next year.
    What the chips do is basically GPS in reverse.    GPS satellites operated by the AIr Force send signals to recievers in devices like car navigation systems.    Those receivers need a line of sight to the sky, so they work only outdoors, and are fairly power-hungry.
    By contrast, the S5 chips send radio signals that will be picked up by receivers that S5 plans to build.    By measuring the difference in time the signal takes to arrive at three different receivers, S5 can compute the location of the sender to within about 30 feet outdoors, or 45 feet indoors.     The technology will be given to others to incorporate the functions into existing chips, like those in cell phones.    S5 plans to make money by charging for the location service, though at low rates, around $1 a month, said Chief Executive David Carter.    The S5 network will be able to tell you via Web browser or cell phone where the item you are looking for is.
    The company is planning to piggyback on existing cell-phone towers and antennas in building out its network, and expects to be in 35 cities or more within three years.    S5 plans to use free, unlicensed spectrum in the 900-megahertz band, which is already crowded by cordless phones.


Machines may help spot terrorist in a crowd.

by Thomas Frank, USA Today.
September 21, 2008.


    Upper Marlboro, Md. - A scene from the airport of the future: A man's pulse races as he walks through a checkpoint.    His quickened heart rate and heavier breathing set off an alarm.    A machine senses his skin temperature jumping.    Screeners move in to question him.
    Signs of a terrorist?    Or simply a passenger nervous about a cross-country flight?
    It may seem Orwellian, but Homeland Security Department showed off an early version of physiological screeners that could spot terrorists.    The department's research division is years from using the machines in an airport or an office building, but could be used someday to do a bioscan to spot dangerous people.
    Critics say it will subject innocent travelers to the intrusion of a medical exam.
    The futuristic machinery called "Future Attribute Screening Technology" (FAST) works on the same theory as a polygraph, looking for sharp swings in body temperature, pulse and breathing as people walk by a set of cameras, which cannot be detected by the human eye.
    The five-year project, in its second year, will do the job of 2,000 screeners, it will be portable and fast.    Those flagged by the machines would be interviewed in front of cameras that measure minute facial movements for signs they are lying.
    Well for now it is still in test stage.

 

    This page updated on August 25, 2003, January 13, 2006, May 15, 2006, October 30, 2006, August 17, 2007, January 23, 2008, and January 31, 2009.

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