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Biometrics at the Statue of Liberty

Posted by michael on from the oh-the-irony dept.

gurps_npc writes "There is an interesting CNN article about the Statue of Liberty finally opening again (it was closed since 9/11 for security reasons). They have increased security to 'airport levels', and offer lockers for people to rent, partly to keep those incredibly dangerous objects like swiss army knives away from the fragile Statue of Liberty. But instead of keys, the lockers use fingerprint readers to open and close (approximately one reader for every 50 lockers)." The article notes that the design was dictated by the Transportation Security Administration.

4 of 452 comments (clear)

  1. What's the use of this stuff ? by vi+(editor) · · Score: 0, Flamebait
    1. It's a French and not an American symbol.
    2. Bombing it will not cause as much media interest as other terrorist acts e.g. beheadings.
    3. As a full metal construction and 18th century quality work it's hard to blow up with convention explosives. A mini H-bomb might do the trick however.
    4. And instead of bombs they could use the rust inducing propeties of nail polish. This stuff would react with the copper coating incuding a pretty nasty acid which eats metal away in no time. On the other hand, buckets of nail polish will raise some questions...
    5. Terrorists are very unlikely to do sightseeing tours in New York.
    6. Terrorist don't place bombs in lockers as they want to blow up people and not lockers.
    7. The metal construction of the statue of liberty renders radio, GPS and timer controlled bombs useless.
  2. Re:The prints are NOT run against the FBI database by Wingchild · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    To be fair, the article also doesn't say the prints are NOT being run through the FBI database. It's taken as read that this isn't occuring because there is no overt, explicit mention that it's happening.

    Which is curious, as the same article details that these lockers are also in use at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport and at Chicago's Union Station. If there were a publicly usable system that I would tie into the NCIC, this would be it - lockers can be used to store explosive devices, after all.

  3. Re:Freedom? by bob670 · · Score: 0, Flamebait
    "You are an asshole!" bob670, 12:45 p.m. Aug, 2004


    While I don't agree with everything that is going on for you to compare the current climate of terrorism with Nazi Germanies subtle but rapid shift to facism is an F'ing joke.


    This seems to be the latest issue with /. posters, it's gone from technoid geeks in mom's basement to "liberal" technoid geeks in mom's basement. I'd post as an AC if I were you too.


    And to the ass biscuit who wants to mod this guy up, F you too! Mod me down, I've go Karma to burn when people post garbage like this.

  4. Re:I was just there... by SiliconEntity · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    No offense, but bombing Canada's "Parliament Hill" would not have 1/100 the impact of destroying the Statue of Liberty! There is no comparison between the two.