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).
... the objective of a facial recognition system is not to be 100% accurate - or anywhere near for that matter.
The objective is to provide a tool that gives law enforcement the ability to *better* determine someone's true identity - and keep a terrorist off your flight.
How on earth does that interfere with my civil liberties? Even if there was a false alarm, the truth would be discovered soon. Do you think that if the system makes a match to a suspected bad person it shoots you on sight?
Personally, I have nothing to hide. If my facial scan was a false match and I had to spend a couple hours (or a day for that matter) in the airport getting cleared, I'll be happy knowing that something better than minimum wage security workers is keeping me and my family safer.
The idea of the airlines having fingerprints for every passenger is pretty scary - but banks and many stores fingerprint when you use/cash checks. What level of this type of stuff will we accept?
Scary? Maybe I just don't get it, but all this whining over civil liberties seems plain silly to me. Something has to be done to reassure people, and better airport security seems one of the more sensible options. IMO it's a hell of a lot better than some naïve military campaign against terrorism (if you think military action can prevent terrorism, take a look at Israel). Is it really going to hurt if they know which flight you're on?