By Peter Cochrane, 18 April 2007 10:54
COMMENT
Written in Stansted Airport and dispatched to silicon.com via a commercial wi-fi service
For nearly a year I have considered joining the iris-scanning security trial at Heathrow Airport. But I have so far managed to miss every opportunity. How come?
What I am about to describe I have witnessed endless times without fail or improvement.
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After flying from some distant country I arrive at Heathrow to be confronted by a long line of humanity waiting for the immigration agent's eye. Right alongside is the empty aisle for the iris scanner, and I wistfully look over as some lucky individual strolls up with something of an air of superiority. No waiting in line for them!
'Damn,' I think. 'I should have joined the programme on the way out, and then I could be like them, no waiting and no questions. Just breeze straight back into my own country unimpeded.'
Dream on!
The traveller going through the iris scan enters the booth with full confidence. Then the 'dance of the immature technology' begins. Move closer, move to the left, stand further back, look up, look down and so on. The traveller is then asked to leave the booth, re-enter and start again. This dance is repeated until an attendant arrives to reboot the technology. By this time I'm at the front of the long line and on my way home.
Just what is going on here? More than 10 years ago I had this technology in my lab and it performed faultlessly. Integrated mechatronics would automatically scan your face, locate your eye, focus and take a picture. The electronic analysis was more or less instantaneous. So why all the fuss at Heathrow?
I would guess that in the airport system, because of price, the sophisticated mechatronics have either been simplified to near extinction or removed altogether. If it were present and effective customers would not be asked to move to the left, stand back etc. What a shame - for want of a few extra pounds a really good technology solution to airport security has been degraded to a joke.
Comments
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1. Robert Smith
This is unrelated to the current article, but I would be interested to here your opinion on the recent news of a conviction in the UK for using someone else's WiFi network:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/
4721723.stm
Details are sketchy but I assume he was accessing an open unencrypted network (which you claim to do often), rather than hacking an encrypted one
2. John Wilson
The technology at Amsterdam airport seems to be much better then. Although still not faultless, when the system is up I get through without a single request to adjust my position.
I believe that Amsterdam's system pre-dates that at Heathrow so why on earth didn't they just copy it?
The trouble at Amsterdam airport is that it is becoming so popular that for some business flights there is little or no advantage in making use of it!
3. anonymous
I signed up for Iris right when the office opened at Terminal 1 heathrow departures. Prior to this I also had been using Fraport's similar system for immigration.
The UK system has it's quirks... but it does work. I've realized now that only ONE eye needs to be seen by the system for it to identify. Having a fixed zoom/camera system was not the smartest thing as I do always dread someone in front of me doing their limbo dance. I've found you need to stick your face right near the camera to get it to activate and right away step back quite a bit. The further you are back the more reliable it seems to capture the iris(s) quickly.
Onto the Fraport system. Being German they want to make sure only people who know what it is can even get in the booth. Your passport is scanned to even open the entryway. Once in. The retinal scan requires you to put your face close to the unit and IT does the rest. Resulting in a good scan in 2-3 seconds. No dancing no squirming.
Either the Home office/UK immigration needs to switch to a different imager OR *ban* people who can't get a scan. Right now the system also takes more than 1 min to tell the user to "Go away" and use the regular line.... By that time those waiting could have gone through the regular line as you pointed out.
Needs work - but it's a start.
4. Peter Cochrane
Robert = I don't know the exact details of the case, but the cost of wifi is much less than an average light bulb! So will I get prosecuted for reading a map by the light of someone's home or shop window?
I use open wifi access all the time across the planet....and a lot of us leave our systems wide open for the very purpose of making it easy for people to hitch a lift! Why not - it costs nothing and it is just a nice thing to do.
It all begs one question; how would you locate the owner of an open wifi system in order to ask permission?
Anyway I'm sure it will keep the security folks and lawyers happy for a long time to come.
In the mean time the rest of us just get on life!
5. anonymous
I use the scanning system all the time. I agree the technology is slow to respond to movement so I can see how people end up never being in the correct position. On Monday I came back through T4, went into the IRIS scanner as usual, but there was an error message on the screen ( a windows error of sort) - it still tried to scan me, I heard the comforting 'shutter click' which is usually an indication that all has worked, it then failed to open the doors and then asked me to try again , this time on the lowest of the three scanners - I am 6 feet 1 inch, so that is difficult to do - eventually I had give up and join the queue - Oh and no-one was on hand to help me or, more importanly, REBOOT the system! Pathetic.
6. Camille Mendler
I'm an IRIS user at Heathrow. OK, it's not perfect. You have to dance around, take off your specs and be patient sometimes. But anything is better than a) standing in an immigration queue or b) running out of pages in your passport due to the number of immigration stamps. Believe me, as a frequent flying resident foreigner in the UK, I'll take the vagaries of the IRIS any day over the alternatives.
7. anonymous
i used it this morning at heathrow terminal 4 (and several times before) and it worked fine - the only problem was a couple of people ahead of me with nigerian passports who were trying to see if they could get into the country using it - the problem was, the machine held them locked between the two gates while it kept trying to read their eyes, rather than tell them to go and talk to an immigration officer, which took a bit of time
8. anonymous
Good observation! I, too, have worked with this technology and it can be made to work well.
However, it misses the point. The airport queueing problem, like all queueing problems is driven by rate of arrival of people in the queue and processing time for the event. Iris scanning (and I have timed it) does not take significantly longer than a human passing the passport through a reader and is rather slower than the more cursory review done in some countries.
Thus queueing time would rapidly return to that of the human based system unless (unlikely!) sufficient systems were installed to handle peak loads.
So another great technology idea fails - unless you feel that high levels of authentication are the only aim and queueing time is secondary. For more on that topic - google Bruce Schneier and "Security theatre"!
9. anonymous
As a marketer, I can see another missed opportunity in the iris scan implementation. The time to get people signed up is when they are waiting in the interminable queue to go through passport control. They are a captive audience at this point, and highly motivated to seek an alternative! Instead, there's a well hidden office after the security check in departures, which was closed the first six times I tried to register. I did feel extremely smug the first time I used it though. It's tricky, but it still beats standing in line.
10. Tony Mudd
Peter: It all begs one question; how would you locate the owner of an open wifi system in order to ask permission?
Set the ssid to a valid email address.
Not perfect, since they have to connect to something to send you an email, and you might not reply in time if they're just passing through.
11. alan marten
I use IRIS once a week as a frequent flyer - I used to dread the end of the flying process now being fast tracked through IRIS is a happy ending to each flight - good work!
12. Eiren O
Although there is a slight dance I have yet to have experienced it to the degree described. My best experience was my flight returning about 3 weeks ago - I came to the entrance hall overflowing; I've never seen it so busy.
How wonderful to see that the iris scan was operational and stroll through, go to it, scan and leave. I was the first one to the baggage carousel and out of the airport before more than a dozen people from a full flight had come through... and they were the fast pass holders.
The first time is the trick and thereafter it's fairly easy to line up and leave.
13. anonymous
The system at Amsterdam was put together c. 5 years ago by a leading Anglo-Dutch system integrator...that then got taken over (allegedly 'merged') by a single-minded UK system integrator that was unable to recognise the value of what it had, totally demoralised the Anglo-Dutch company's workforce (most of whom left or got kicked out), was unable to organise sales effort to promote the system installed at Schiphol to UK government and consequently got beaten to the post by another vendor with an unproven system.
We could have had the Schiphol system in and working at UK airports, 'off-the-shelf', three or four years ago.
14. anonymous
As much as i like the idea, i really don't trust the government to have a record of my iris. it's one thing to get a new credit card after your identify has been stolen/hacked, it's quite another to get a new face!
I am suprised at the number of IT literate folks reading peter's blog who really trust the government with what is truly personal information!
I prefer the 5 minute wait in immigration!
15. Robert Turner
Well, all I can say is that Cochrane must only travel at the same time as the certified, clinically stupid. I'm a registered IRIS user - and have been since virtually Day 1 - and somehow I've managed to master where to stand and where to look; took all of about 10 seconds....
And, yes, I go straight into the booth - avoiding the long queues at EU Passport Control (and the even longer queues for my fellow non-EUs) - and get out without delay or fuss.
If I'm without hold baggage I'm out of the Terminal before the naysayers have shuffled forward to be "greeted" by the "friendly" officials... It's perfect; as a regular business and leisure traveller I could not imagine travel-life without it...
16. Peter Cochrane
John = The only advantage I have found with Amsterdam is price! But you are right - it sure can get crowded. Peter
17. Peter Cochrane
Anonymous
Thanks for this update - gives a good perspective. In my view they could do much better - and you confrimed!
Peter
18. Peter Cochrane
Tony = In short you cannot! And so I take the view that if it is an open WiFi system it if free to use. Just like a street light! Peter
19. Peter Cochrane
Alan = You are blessed - a happy customer. What is your secret?? Peter
20. Peter Cochrane
Eiren = I am encouraged that someone is getting thro. My trick is to never check a bag into the hold. If I can get this scanner to work I'll be in heaven! Peter
21. Peter Cochrane
Anonymous Consultant
I never saw that happen before!!
What a shame, and what an opportunity missed.
I just wonder if the people who did the purchasing understood anything about the technology. I also wonder if they tested it before buying?
Peter
22. Peter Cochrane
Anonymous London MD
Oh boy - I could write a book on security, trust, and government. But what makes you think you have any secrets and identifiers not unknown to government already?? Shoyld they choose to go get them of course!
Personally I don't care. The 5 minutes worries me....a lot of 5 minutes....
23. Peter Cochrane
Robert = You seem to be unique in all the responses I have received. Congratulations, you have reached an enviable state. And to be able to travel at only the times of lightest loading at the airport too. What customers you must have.
Of course you have yet to discover FedEx! Still cryying luggage...oh dear!!!
24. Steve Wynn
Having recently signed up to the IRIS scheme, I was very pleasantly surprised to clear an in-bound flight to Gatwick in under 20 minutes by using the booth there - the queues for the manual counters were all about 30-deep, and the IRIS booth was completely clear. I would point out that the above-mentioned 20 minutes included baggage collection as well!
Seems fairly good to me (but, then again, I suppose that's while it's working OK)