Dubai Airport Will Use Biometric Scanning By 2020 To Replace Entry With Passport (gulfnews.com)

dryriver quotes a report from Gulf News: For visitors or residents coming in to Dubai, a new face-recognition software in the offing at the Dubai International Airport will enable them to walk straight to the baggage claim area after deplaning without having to stop at passport control. British start-up ObjectTech announced that they will work with the Dubai government to install biometric tunnels that scan people's faces as they walk to baggage reclaim. The "biometric border" walkway takes a 3D scan of people's faces as they enter the airport and checks it against a digital passport using face-recognition software. If this project is completed, passengers arriving at Dubai airport will be able to step off their flight and walk straight to baggage reclaim via biometric verification tunnels -- allowing them to be registered into the country using a pre-approved and entirely digitized passport.

Comments

Error rate

[Anonymous Coward]

How many identification errors allowed per 1000? (officially, I mean)

Re:Error rate

[taustin]

Good question. I've never seen any form of biometric identification that can consistently exceed 80% accuracy in real world conditions. And that's generally 20% false positives and 20% false negatives.

What provision do they have for when their system says you're not you?

Almost there

[lucm]

The day they do that for exit instead of entry the world will be a safer place.

Re:Almost there

[lucm]

Good point. Maybe we need an immigration ban on those people until we can identify which ones are terrorists.

Re:Almost there

[sheramil]

The day they do that for exit instead of entry the world will be a safer place.

Indeed! This is good news for all the slave construction workers who can't leave Dubai because their contractors have taken their passports. Now they can just walk out.

Re:Almost there

[Anonymous Coward]

Good point. Maybe we need an immigration ban on those people until we can identify which ones are terrorists.

It's easy, just look for the ones flying the confederate flag.

Re:Almost there

[unixisc]

This was the first thought that occurred to me. Now, those contractors won't be able to ask for their passports, particularly if they leave it back home. It's unbelievable how any country can allow people to confiscate the passports of their employees, making them indentured servants, if not downright slaves.

Never been a fan of that country, despite all the glitz that they manage to parade. A French-Armenian worker, who had worked 30 years in Saudi Arabia, was once asked what he thought of that country. His response: "Money can buy anything. Except civilization."

That's true for all the Muslim OPEC states, not just KSA.

Re:Almost there

[PPH]

And we can call it Checkpoint Charlie

Re:Almost there

[houghi]

Not just them. A family member of mine had worked in the Al Burj Hotel and quit because the job was nothing as promised. Had to wait for a few days before getting the passport back.
No huge issues, but still.

(And the crowd goes "But I would never give my passport out of hand.")

New Zealand has been doing this for years

[idji]

nt.

Re: New Zealand has been doing this for years

[d7770]

Contrary to the parent comment, Australia absolutely requires a physical passport to be presented to an officer or an automated kiosk.

Cloth bags

[agm]

How does this work where people are forced to live in cloth bags because of their stone age superstitions?

Re:Cloth bags

[fustakrakich]

X-rays, can see right through them..

Re:Cloth bags

[zlives]

cobra commander says NO

Re:Cloth bags

[agm]

I don't have any superstitions. Why are you assuming I have nuts?

Re:Cloth bags

[bluegutang]

If you want the next generation of Dubaians (?) to all have birth defects...

Re:Cloth bags

[dave420]

Your comment only makes sense if one assumes all people in Dubai are Muslims, and that all Muslims are stuck in the stone ages. As neither is true, your point could do with some work. Try thinking about the actual reality of Dubai - normal people like you and me going about their business. Normal human beings who love and are loved.

Re:Cloth bags

[agm]

I've not assumed that all in Dubai are Muslims, nor have I assumed that all Muslims are stuck in the stone ages. People treat women as inferior to men are morally and ethically repugnant regardless of what superstitions they follow.

So.

[rmdingler]

passengers arriving at Dubai airport will be able to step off their flight and walk straight to baggage reclaim via biometric verification tunnels...

Best argument this week for traveling carry-on luggage only.

Re:So.

[Obfuscant]

Best argument this week for traveling carry-on luggage only.

Even those who have only carry-on still need to go through immigration. You don't to skip that step just because you have no checked bags.

Won't this be wonderful that Dubai will have access to everyone's passport and biometric data so they verify who you are in case you come visit?

Qatar is already doing it

[Anonymous Coward]

Qatar has been doing this for over 5 years. Residents of Qatar don't need to show their passports. Instead, they put an ID card into a machine, then have their iris and their fingerprint scanned to confirm their identity.

Vaporware...

[Anonymous Coward]

Sounds like a sheik in the Dubai royal family has been fooled into paying billions for technology that doesn't exist.

Automated photomatching isn't that good, even under ideal circumstances. This startup claims to be able to recognize people while they are walking.

Dubai had over 80 million air travelers in 2016, so unless the error rate is incredibly small, this is going to be a big waste of money (like so many other things in Dubai).

Re:So Dubai will be about the 50th

[unixisc]

Singapore? I've been there a few times, and they've always used my passport. Never had to do a fingerprint or retina scan.

Re:So Dubai will be about the 50th

[GumphMaster]

Speaking for Australia and NZ, they do not do what was described. You have to queue, stop, insert your passport, take a ticket, proceed to a photo gate, insert the ticket, wait for it to take your 2D image, try to match the biometrics on the e-Passport and then it may let you in. I guess a better than 90% acceptance for the limited range of countries supported. However, if you are me with an Australian passport then your e-Passport has never worked in Australia (inbound or out): works flawlessly in NZ though. My e-Passport is not useful at e-Passport gates in Rome, so I guess that level of data sharing is not yet occurring.

Re:So Dubai will be about the 50th

[ook_boo]

Long-term Singapore residents go in and out of the country at the airport by scanning their passports, and then pressing on the fingerprint panel. Takes about 20 seconds total, and there is never a line-up. However, facial recognition is much more difficult, and I have personally experienced failures at borders testing this (particularly, in 2014 in Israel, where I was redirected to a human). I assume the technology they talk about for Dubai isn't just vaporware, but I think facial recognition software has a way to go before something like they describe becomes a realistic plan.

Biometric passport systems already exist

[bluegutang]

When I visited Israel, I saw they had a biometric passport control system for Israeli citizens, which apparently relies on a combination of hand geometry and facial imaging. I went over to check it out - it was pretty cool, you stick your hand into a field of pegs and based on that it measures the sizes of your hand bones.

This biometric system seems to have several advantages over Dubai's system. First and mostly importantly, it supplements the passport rather than replacing it. Biometric measurements are often not unique. If one in a million people shares your fingerprint or hand geometry, then even a small country will have multiple people with the same biometric, and it will be impossible to know who is entering the country. But if the biometric is combined with a passport swipe, then the chance of a randomly picked biometric matching the passport is extremely small, and your border is secure.

Second, hand geometry is a much better biometric than facial images. It is relatively constant - hand geometry is not expected to change much in adults (children aren't eligible for the system, BTW). This is in contrast to facial geometry, which changes frequently due to haircuts, makeup, shaving, illness, and plastic surgery. Perhaps more importantly, you know when your measurements were taken. There's no way of finding out what your hand measurements are except by putting your hand into a special machine. So nobody except border control can possibly possess your biometrics (unless border control's database was hacked). As for your facial features, anyone who passes you on the street can photograph and scan your face. So anyone can fake them and pretend to be you.

Re:So Dubai will be about the 50th

[petermgreen]

For EU/EEA/Swiss citizens the job of border control in a Schengen country is simple. If the passport matches the person and there isn't an alert in an international police database let them in.

For non-EU citizens the job is more complicated. Check they are folloing the rules on time in verses time out using the stamps in the passport (AIUI they don't yet have a database for this though they are talking about creating one). Ask them some questions to assess the risk that they are an illegal immigrant pretending to be a visitor, and finally stamp the passport to record the entry.