Slashdot Mirror
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).
There's one thing that no one wants to hear:
There is no way to stop a determined terrorist on a suicide mission.
They will somehow find a way to accomplish their goals, and if one of them fails, there will be thousands waiting behind him to try again. Wipe out one terrorist group and another will rise to take their place. Stop a terrorist from boarding an airplane and they'll drive a bomb in on the ground floor.
All of this going to war, extra security measures, etc... it will make us feel more secure, and feel like we're accomplishing something, but when it doesnt stop terrorism (it wont) then what will we do?
-J5K
The libertarian solution to the failures of capitalism is to apply more capitalism til the failures are fixed.
According to the FAS website, the KH-12 "IMPROVED CRYSTAL", which is the best the US has in orbit, can..."readily identify and distinguish differing types of vehicles and equipment with resolutions better than 10 centimeters."
a cr osse.htm
h -1 2.htm
So unless you are playing with big cards, I doubt the Man can read your hand.
The optical sensors like KH-11/KH-12 can't see through clouds, so they also have the Lacrosse series, which use Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) to image thier targets.
http://www.fas.org/spp/military/program/imint/l
http://www.fas.org/spp/military/program/imint/k
My guess a face recognition station will be like the metal detector. And I bet they will make you take off any hats or sunglasses before they scan you.
It's really stupid to think that after WTC they will just put a few of them up, scan randomly and pray they catch someone.
Anthrax isn't deliverable by water. Your worst fear should be clouds of anthrax delivered via air, since anthrax:
;) If we don't have enough vaccine for everyone, why the hell not? Anthrax has been well known to be a major bio warfare hazard for years, and the vaccine has likewise been known for years. Livestock handlers and livestock have been getting vaccinated for anthrax for ages.
*lasts 30-40 years in the open
*is easy to produce
*is infectious in miniscule amounts
*when inhaled is nearly 100% fatal once symptoms occur, regardless of treatment
*the US government isn't letting anyone but the military be vaccinated!
Vaccination appears to provide a 95%+ immunity to airborn anthrax (evidence is sketchy for humans, since we don't experiment with infecting the vaccinated
I worked for Viisage Technology for a couple of years, and they use a system in the building where two cameras scan for faces in the hallway (as you're approaching to enter) and if a face found matches one in the employee database, it unlocks the door.
It was sophisticated enough to identify me as me even when I was wearing my eyeglasses, and later, when I grew a goatee type beard and moustache. No ID code to enter, no badge to carry. If you didn't match anyone in the database, it would summon security and leave the doors locked.
Having run their Technical Support Department for 2 years, I can tell you that the products not only work, but work very well. They use the facial recognition in Massachusetts at the Department of Transitional Assistance (Welfare) offices to identify those people obtaining multiple ID's under assumed names to weed out Welfare fraud.
The kind of access system they have in their entry could be used in an airport entry to identify a suspected terrorist trying to move about the country and alert security. It's pretty close to an Orwelian concept, except this type of monitoring would definately have oversight by a committee or White House office to prevent civil rights abuses.
I personally am against the idea on principle, but sometimes one principle takes precedence over another.
The Dopester
"Yes, I'm a Karma Whore, but I'm doing it to pay my way through school."
Don't forget psycotics. After the Egypt Air crash a few years ago the theory was that the pilot committed suicide because of depression.
As far as your comment, state governments require you register handguns, automobiles and other personal property. When you go to a rock concert you get checked by a metal detector. All you stock trades are recorded just in case the SEC needs evidnce against you.
My personal motto is you have the freedom to do anything you want until it can negatively affect me or someone else. When people get together for common activities they have to give up personal freedoms for the security of everyone. We have laws that not everyone can drive and how to do it safely. Just like driving, air travel is a privilige and not a right and we may have to put up with inconveinences to make sure people live through the experience.
You have the freedom to travel anonymously all you want. No one will stop you from riding your bike from NYC to LA. But if you wish to use a mode of transportation that is owned by someone else you may have to put up with inconveinces.
Remember, they flew the routes beforehand. They had studied the routes and passenger loads, picking the flights that would have the fewest passengers thereby minimizing their risk of failure?
So, the question becomes, if your on a Government list are you allowed to use mass transportation? Would we stop at terrorist? What about know protesters for major events? Say if some G7/G8 meeting or IMF meeting is going on, do we monitor or prevent know organizers of the protests that follow? What if they had violent behaviour before?
Really, the only security that I wouldn't mind in an airport is similar to that portrayed in the Total Recall, where everyone walks past a screen which highlights solid objects. Its totally fair and cannot be considered intrusive for it doesn't violate you.
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
The KH-11/KH-12 are basically hubble telescopes pointed at the earth.
As a student in HS, my teacher was involved in the spec'ing of the hubble telescope. We're talking about using mid/late-eighties technology up there. The CCD was equivalent to what you can purchase at Best Buy today on a decent digital camera.
The optics were pretty good, and chances are that the military bought the good optics instead of the lowest contract price (I seem to remember 2-3 companies that each produced optics).
Anyhow, needless to say, all the "hubble-like" telescopes received upgrades these past few 2-3 years. There's a good chance that the resolutions have gone from the 4/8 megapixel (best of the 80s) to the 268+ megapixels. (The optics will probably never get much better).
Pan
I said no... but I missed and it came out yes.
I was king code-monkey on the original implemenation of INSPASS. A system designed to expedite one's wait as they enter the U.S. from a "friendly" country. It was designed to reduce the lines so that INS inspectors had more time to focus on bad guys and people from "unfriendly" countries.
... and a far girthier size. Imagine, I walk into an airport. I scans my face, or fingerprint. From there the image is sliced and diced into various quadrants. Even with a beowolf, there are thousands of minutea points I share with the rest of the worlds population.
... where it's easy for a bad guy to take advantage of the overworked employees with managers demaning they keep the line moving.
... that can also be used to confirm my baggage on the flip side.
It was essentially a "good guy" system. Meaning, I'd swipe my card, which claimed I was "Joe Smoe". I then put my hand in the box and had it's geometry scanned. If it passed, it would "confirm" my identity and send me along to the Customs line. If it threw a false result, I was compelled to stand in the long line with everyone else.
Using biometrics to determine "bad guys" is a horse of a much different color
So up comes a list of "close matches". Then human intervention comes along and finishes the job. This is a poor-man's quick and dirty explanation of our current "bad-guy" systems work to match figerprints. Like I said, a far girthier and much colored horse.
If biometrics were to be implemented as an airport, I would see it as again, a "good guy" system to expedite the long lines currently at the airport
I would think it better to be a system provided by the airlines. Heck, credit cards are already putting my face and other info on smartcards, why not a frequent flyer plan along with it
We'll see.
healyourchurchwebsite.com - WWJB?
It's already being used in Iceland:h tm l
www.visionics.com/newsroom/press/PRs/2001/0619.
Here's an idea combining the two:
The government has publicly stated that it's goal is to have 1 sky marshal for every ten flights. According to informed sources, the realistic ratio of sky marshals to flights will be closer to 1 in 20.
If I were a suicidal terrorist then a 1 in 10 chance of getting a sky marshal, or better yet a 1 in 20 chance, is good odds. Especially if my group is trying to capture 5 planes at the same time.
So what if we combine the two measures? Have face recognition software which flags *possible* terrorists and then takes a sky marshal from the pool available at that airport and puts the marshal on *that* flight? The odds of getting a marshal onto a flight with terrorists would be substantially higher (assuming you had pictures of the terrorists in question) than through random assignment.
Just a thought.
Max
My god carries a hammer. Your god died nailed to a tree. Any questions?
A really well thought out paper against facial recognition systems in public places can be found here.
It makes all the problems with public facial recognition quite clear.