From: Robert Hettinga <rah@shipwright.com>
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1998 11:00:54 +0800
To: cypherpunks@cyberpass.net
Subject: IP: INS Offers Biometric System for Frequent Flyers
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Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1998 09:18:32 -0500
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Subject: IP: INS Offers Biometric System for Frequent Flyers
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Source:  Wired
http://www.wired.com/news/news/technology/story/15014.html

 US Takes Immigration in Hand
 by Theta Pavis

 4:00am15.Sep.98.PDT
 It's been 44 years since Ellis Island closed
 shop, but immigration can still be a long,
 tiresome process. In an effort to speed the
 process for international travelers, the US
 Immigration and Naturalization Service is offering
 a biometric system for willing frequent flyers.

 So far, 71,000 people in six airports have signed
 up for the system, called INSPASS. It employs
 a biometric kiosk to scan and match the
 geometric dimensions of travelers' hands, verify
 their identities, and perform standard
 background checks. The INS plans to expand
 the program to four additional airports by the end
 of the year.

 "It creates a fast lane for people," said James
 Wayman, head of the federally funded National
 Biometric Test Center at San Jose State
 University.

 The kiosks were integrated by EDS, which has
 had a US$300 million contract with the INS for
 automation support and software development
 since 1994. This summer, the INS awarded a
 new, five-year information-technology contract
 worth $750 million to EDS and four other
 companies.

 Ann Cohen, an EDS vice president in the
 government services group, said the fact that so
 many people have signed up for the INSPASS
 system shows that biometrics are becoming
 more popular and could be commonplace in the
 future.

 "Were getting over that 'Big Brother' hurdle,"
 Cohen said. As e-commerce develops and
 terrorism grows, biometrics increasingly are the
 "only sure way to get security."

 US and Canadian citizens flying overseas on
 business at least three times a year are eligible
 for the free INSPASS program. People from
 Bermuda and 26 other countries that have
 visa-waiver agreements with the United States
 are also eligible.

 The INSPASS kiosks, which look like ATM
 machines, were recently installed at the Los
 Angeles International Airport, where more than
 1,000 people have enrolled in the program. Rico
 Cabrera, a spokesman with the INS Los Angeles
 regional office, said travelers like the fact that
 INSPASS can check their identity in 16 to 60
 seconds, a process that can take up to three
 hours at some airports. The largest group of
 INSPASS users at LAX are US citizens,
 followed by Australians and New Zealanders.

 After filling out a one-page form and passing a
 background check, travelers can be issued a
 Port Pass card with their picture and a
 12-number ID on it.

 A traveler inserts the card in the kiosk, which
 reads the ID number and links to a centralized
 database run by US Customs. A geometric hand
 template is called up from the database and
 transferred to the kiosk. After a green light
 flashes, the right hand is placed on a reflective
 surface -- the ID-3D Handkey, made by
 Recognition Systems. The HandKey uses a
 video camera to take a geometric image of the
 traveler's hand and fingers, and the data is
 converted using compression algorithms. If it
 matches the template of the hand stored in the
 database, the traveler is in.

 INSPASS kiosks are also in use at airports in
 Newark, Miami, Kennedy (New York), Pearson
 (Toronto), and Vancouver, British Columbia. The
 INS eventually plans to install them at most
 busy international airports around the country,
 including Washington, San Francisco, Seattle,
 and Honolulu. The department has geared the
 program toward business travelers, diplomats,
 airline personnel, and other "low-risk" visitors.

 Some argue that the INS hasn't done enough to
 market the program. Jeffrey Betts, WorldWide
 Solution Manager for IBM -- which has developed
 FastGate, a kiosk similar to INSPASS -- said
 people aren't enrolling fast enough in the INS
 system.

 International arrivals at airports across the globe
 are growing every year by 7 to 10 percent, Betts
 said, but border control resources are flat or
 declining. In 1996, some 65,000 people were
 enrolled in the INSPASS program, but the
 program has added just 6,000 new users since
 then.

 IBM, which has been running a small pilot
 program of FastGate in Bermuda for the past
 year, is building a system where people can
 swipe a credit card through a kiosk at the airport
 and connect with a database where the
 biometrics are stored.

 "Governments will have to find ways to do more
 with less or force travelers to queue like cattle,"
 Betts said.

 While the government plans on marketing
 INSPASS more aggressively in the future,
 Schmidt said, INS is counting on word of mouth
 to get new people enrolled. "We don't really have
 the budget for a huge marketing campaign," she
 said.
-----------------------
NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is
distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior
interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and
educational purposes only. For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
-----------------------




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-----------------
Robert A. Hettinga <mailto: rah@philodox.com>
Philodox Financial Technology Evangelism <http://www.philodox.com/>
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'