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Apple's Secret Plan To Join iPhones With Airport Security
Hugh Pickens writes "Currently — as most of us know — TSA agents briefly examine government ID and boarding passes as each passenger presents their documents at a checkpoint at the end of a security line. Thom Patterson writes at CNN that under a 2008 Apple patent application that was approved in July and filed under the working title "iTravel," a traveler's phone would automatically send electronic identification to a TSA agent as soon as the traveler got in line and as each traveler waits in line. TSA agents would examine the electronic ID at an electronic viewing station. Next, at the X-ray stations, a traveler's phone would confirm to security agents that the traveler's ID had already been checked. Apple's patent calls for the placement of special kiosks (PDF) around the airport which will automatically exchange data with your phone via a close range wireless technology called near field communication (NFC). Throughout the process, the phone photo could be displayed on a screen for comparison with the traveler. Facial recognition software could be included in the process. Several experts say a key question that must be answered is: How would you prove that the phone is yours? To get around this problem, future phones or electronic ID may require some form of biometric security function including photo, fingerprint and photo retinal scan comparisons. Of course, there is still a ways to go. If consumers, airlines, airports and the TSA don't embrace the NFC kiosks, experts say it's unlikely Apple's vision would become reality. 'First you would have to sell industry on Apple's idea. Then you'd have to sell it to travel consumers,' says Neil Hughes of Apple Insider. 'It's a chicken-and-egg problem.'"
Clearly once this technology was introduced, owning an iPhone would become compulsory for travellers who didn't want to be butt probed.
Why should Apple allow the US government to own a monopoly on creepiness?
When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
I guess we all just assumed that the hammer-throwing chick represented Apple.
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iPhone 6, duh. Apple's phones are pretty predictable these days, new tech comes a cycle late.
I don't know if I mind if millions of terrorist get sexually assualted.
if you suffer from this type of PARANOIA regularly, seek professional help.
Trust a psychiatrist? .. that's crazy talk!
The TSA is actually a wonderful institution that has brought cheap healthcare to thousands in America.
Now if I take a fall and am afraid I broke something rather than go to the ER and get an X-Ray ($500). Pay the hospital for their time ($500) and then pay the Doctor. ($1000) I just buy the cheapest plane ticket ($200) I can find and go through security with change in my pockets. Enough times that I can get a few good views of the problem.