New Age of Biometrics Promises Seamless Travel, Raises Privacy Concerns
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This article originally appeared in The Innovation Issue of APEX Experience magazine.
APEX Insight: A new age of biometrics – using your unique physical characteristics as ID, promises to make air travel more secure and an overall faster experience. But as more and more of our likeness is digitized, privacy concerns grow.
Passports, until just a decade ago, were little more than glorified travel logs to collect a country’s stamp. Many of today’s passports, however, are much more sophisticated than the ones we used on our first trips and far more difficult to replicate. Armed with RFID chips, they contain all your basic information plus biometric indicators such as your fingerprints, a digital picture and a digital signature.
Digital passports – a direct response to security concerns following the 9/11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, DC – are meant to stamp out the use of falsified travel documents. Biometrics are used in Trusted Traveler programs like Global Entry and Nexus, the US-Canada joint initiative that gives pre-approved, low-risk travelers certain privileges such as dedicated lanes at land crossings and access to self-serve kiosks at airport border control.
Fun Fact: Blood vessel patterns are unique to each person and are nearly impossible to alter.
Airlines are also testing whether biometrics can replace traditional forms of identification. Alaska Airlines recently completed a pilot project out of Mineta San Jose International Airport, where it asked hundreds of frequent flyers to swipe their finger on a tablet in order to gain access to the cabin. The airline first used the fingerprint technology, developed by US-based Clear, to grant eligible travelers entry to its lounges. “Customers were delighted with the service,” shares Jerry Tolzman, Customer Research and Development manager, Alaska Airlines. “More than 80 percent of those who responded said they wanted to see the service the next time they flew.”
However promising these technologies may be for global security, detractors cite privacy concerns and error rates as major issues. In 2011, a couple at Manchester airport were able to walk through the facial recognition gate despite having mixed up their passports, and in 2008, the European Parliament brought to light allegations that up to one-sixth of France’s 6.5 million biometric passports in circulation at the time were obtained using fake documents.
And while biometrics are thought to be more secure than your standard password, there’s also a lot more at stake, says David Cowan, a partner at venture capitalist firm Bessemer Venture Partners. Though his company has invested heavily in digital securities, he told public broadcaster NPR that they aren’t putting their money into biometrics. “Either a password or a biometric can be stolen,” he said. “But only the password can be changed. Once your fingerprint is stolen, it’s stolen forever, and you’re stuck.”