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Germany Begins Iris Scans at Frankfurt Airport

securitas writes "Deutsche Welle reports that at Germany's Frankfurt airport biometric iris scans of airline passengers have begun. The German government says that the six-month pilot project is part of Europe's 18-country Automated and Biometrics-based Border Checks initiative to improve 'border control routines' and domestic security, with a full-scale system to follow. The system uses an iris scan embedded in a passenger's machine-readable passport, which is compared to the passenger's iris with an onsite scan. Travelers must 'sign a data security document' and agree to be checked by border guards. The article also references the capability of an iris scan to determine drug and alcohol consumption. The European Parliament is considering replacing all of its traditional passports with a new European biometric passport by 2005. The IRISPASS system (press release) was built by Byometric systems, Iridian and Oki Electric Industry. More coverage at CNet/ZDNet, AP/USA Today and mirrors at AJC, and CNN."

2 of 322 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Surprise Surprise... by SparafucileMan · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Its a joke moron. And it has nothing to do with race, either.

  2. Re:Surprise Surprise... by SparafucileMan · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Too bad I didn't say German. And too bad that German is a race and a nationality. Its not my problem if u assumed I was referring to the German race when i said neither.