A science-fiction-like identity card system that uses both iris images and fingerprints and allows enrolled passengers to use an expedited pre-flight security lane will soon enter into operation at Toronto's Pearson International Airport. The system is based on biometrics, a rapidly growing technology that stores an individual's physical characteristics, in this case on a wallet-sized card that can be inserted into an automated reader.
The Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA) has signed an agreement with Verified Identity Pass Canada to develop a security program for travellers through Canada's busiest airport. Participants in the program will need to provide biometric data (iris images and fingerprints), complete an online application, and pass an interview assessment. After approval, biometric information about the traveller will be stored on a "Clear card," which enables the holder to fast-track through security. Clear card holders will still have to pass their hand luggage through a scanner, but will be exempt from random searches unless they act suspiciously or trigger an alarm.
"We're ready to launch 30 days after the GTAA gains approval from the appropriate Canadian government agencies," says Alison Beer, Verified's Director of Business Development.
Beer says Verified is "talking to all the major Canadian airports" and the company's long-term objective would be to integrate the program with other registered travellers' programs.
Verified says it doesn't track members' movements or sell or share information with third parties, but the information collected is stored in a databank to which the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has access. The company offers an "identity theft warranty" to address possible cases of data compromise related to this storage of information.
The Verified system is already in use at Orlando International Airport in Florida, where it has about 17,000 enrolled members and is the only registered traveller program operating in the U.S. Beer says Indianapolis, San Jose, and Sacramento have also signed up to use the Clear card, which costs about $90 a year. Hyatt Hotels and Resorts provide the card gratis for select customers. Biometric technology is becoming widely used in industries such as banking and in workplace security.
The Nexus Air card, a Canada–U.S. program that's been used in a pilot project at the Vancouver International Airport since November 2004 and has 5,000 members, provides U.S. pre-clearance in Vancouver for those going south, and allows speedy passage through customs for inbound passengers. Costing $80, the card contains an iris scan that is stored jointly by authorities on both sides of the border. A member can clear customs and immigration by simply inserting his or her card into an automated reader and looking into a camera that recognizes the individual's iris as proof of identity.
Mary Mahon Jones, CEO of the Council of Tourism Associations of British Columbia, says cards already in use in Canada, such as the Nexus and Fast cards, are helpful to tourism because they reduce long line-ups, especially at the Canada–U.S. border. Although Mahon Jones is unfamiliar with the Clear card, she says that with new regulations coming up at the end of 2007, mandating a passport to cross the border, it would benefit the tourism industry if there were a single biometric card. She says a proposal by the state of Michigan to make driver's licenses into passport-like cards is "the ultimate solution."
"There needs to be one card per traveller, for all of Canada and for all modes, and the cost structure needs to be affordable. What we're trying to get away from is long line-ups at the border."
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