Since biometrics is a major topic of discussion among security professionals, especially when it comes to its use in the public sector, I wanted to mention some news coming from Japan this week.
It seems that two major airports near Tokyo have begun testing a new biometric identification system. Immigration officials at Tokyo's Haneda airport and Narita airport in Chiba Prefecture beginning this week will take photographs and fingerprints of traveling Japanese citizens who give their approval and compare them with the biometric data stored on their electronic passports, according to The Japan Times.
The pilot is scheduled to last until Sept. 30, after which the results will be reviewed to determine how accurately machines are able to use biometric data to identify travelers.
It still feels like a movie, but it's only a matter of time until the TSA agent checking my passport will be replaced with machine taking a photo of my iris and comparing it to the binary iris code contained on my passport.
