ThirdFactor | Heathrow collecting fingerprints from passengers

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Passengers using Terminal 5 at London’s Heathrow Airport will have to submit fingerprints and a digital photo before being allows into the terminal, according to a BAA spokesperson. BAA runs seven airports in the United Kingdom.

The biometric system is used for border control purposes to make sure international travelers who check in for a flight are on the plane. There is concern that international and domestic travelers will switch documents and tickets in the new terminal. Terminal 5, which opens in March, will mix international and domestic passengers so all travelers will have to submit biometrics.

Passengers are asked to provide the data before they proceed through security. At the gate, this information is reconciled to confirm the passengers’ identity and ensures that border control regulations are met. The data is used only by airport staff and is destroyed after 24 hours.

The system is already in use at other airports in the UK, including Gatwick and was introduced in Heathrow’s Terminal 1 on February 1.

Japanese police nab Chinese woman with altered fingerprints

In their investigation of a Chinese woman accused of credit card theft, Japanese police discovered that the woman had had her fingerprints surgically altered, according to an Epoch Time article. The woman, named Lin Xiuai, confessed to having a special clinic China perform the surgery to have her fingerprints changed for the equivalent of just under $4,500 due to wanting to enter Japan and having being arrested there in 2001 for suspicion of illegally entering the country. The surgery was successful enough that it enabled her to pass the biometric checkpoints at the airport.

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Passenger advocates rebuke SEPTA's smart card plan

SEPTA’s (Southeastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority) proposed smart card fare system has met some resistance from passenger advocates, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Essentially, the proposition entails railway passengers taking a free train into the Philadelphia’s Center City station and paying a roundtrip fare on ride home, reports The Inquirer.

UK employing biometric trial at Heathrow

Heathrow Airport in London is planning to implement a trial run of a new system enabling international travelers to bypass the long lines at immigration, according to a Daily Mail article. The new program sees foreign travelers in a hurry able to pay 50 pounds to skip the lines and by enrolling and utilizing an automated gate that reads a traveler’s biometric data.

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Bulgaria’s government has begun to issue biometric passports following the installation of the processing equipment necessary for collecting biometric data with the passport application at all planned locations, according to a Novinite article.

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Heathrow collecting fingerprints from passengers