Biometrics in Airports

asv108 writes: "Extremetech has an article by renowned security expert Bruce Schneier about why face recognition in public places such as airports is not a good idea." Schneier is being generous - real world results show that facial recognition systems are a lot less than 99.99% accurate even under laboratory conditions (people posing for the camera under ideal lighting).

Comments

WRONG

[none2222]

If he has a very long beard, don't let him in.

I don't even know why I'm responding to your bigoted crap, but I feel forced to point out that the al Quaeda training manual instructs terrorists to shave their beards. Hence, beards aren't a good marker for future terrorists. Arab names, however, are.

Re:Better security means better people

[alen]

It's not only the airlines. If security personel do their jobs well they get harassed by the passengers. Everyone wants to know why they are being searched because they aren't a terrorist.

So what would you do?

[cryptochrome]

The problem I have with so many of these sorts of arguements, is that they generally fail to offer solutions. I've seen: many petitions and rallys for peace in the wake of the attacks; dire predictions of the end of civil liberties; Not one of them addressed the issue of "well if we don't do this than what should we do?". Which tells me that they don't know, don't have any better ideas, and don't want to draw attention the fact because it may thwart their political agenda. But ignoring the problem isn't going to make it go away.

So, facial recognition isn't perfect. As he said, if you cross-reference the system against an identity card or fingerprint or retina, which I believe is entirely acceptable for someplace as security-sensitive as an airport, you have a much stronger system. In which case, if someone was flagged by the biometric system you could discreetly stop them and verify their identity. And even if you didn't use a secondary means of identification, looking for one terrorist in a thousand is MUCH easier than looking for one in a million. It would at least be enough for the system to tell you to take a closer look at what you are doing.

Your personal rights end where other people's begin. This is why you have to have a license to drive, or fly, or shoot a gun in the first place - vehicles and weapons are extremely dangerous to others if used improperly or intentionally. If it were up to me, I'd be adding these systems to every car, truck, boat, and weapon rental or dealership as well. I doubt the terrorists will strike again by air anytime soon, but these other routes are wide open.