- If you're thinking that the $39 million iris-scanning
program announced for Canada's major airports yesterday is just a clever
new way to avoid those sometimes awkward and embarrassing eyeball-to-eyeball
encounters with customs agents, think again.
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- The 12 kiosks that will go into service at Pearson airport
and the Vancouver airport next March may be the ideal way for frequent
fliers to save time, but there will still be random checks and customs
agents watching to see if passengers are smuggling in an extra bottle of
booze.
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- "People who sign up are expected to obey the law,
as they have in the past," said National Revenue Minister Elinor Caplan,
after unveiling one of the kiosks at Pearson's Terminal 3.
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- Toronto and Vancouver are about to become the first airports
in North America to use biometrics ó iris recognition technology
ó to try to cut frustrating waits for frequent travellers without
jeopardizing security. Within five years, 27 of the machines, which look
like an express check-in kiosk with a lens, will be in place at eight Canadian
airports under the CANPASS-Air pilot project.
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- The United States is looking at the technology as well.
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- The iris scan is touted as being virtually foolproof
as an identification tool because the colourful ring around the pupil is
unique from eyeball to eyeball and person and person. Unlike a fingerprint,
it can't be replicated, and the machines recognize only "live"
eyes.
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- "With 300,000 people crossing the border every day,
experts say looking for a terrorist in a crowd like that is like looking
for a needle in a haystack. This technology ... reduces the size of that
haystack," Caplan said.
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- The machines are meant to ensure that costly post-Sept.
11 security at Canada's airports is focused on "people we don't know
instead of those that we trust," she added.
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- For a $50 annual fee, Canadian and U.S. citizens will
be able to register for a CANPASS-Air card starting in January. They'll
have to pass annual background checks for criminal or immigration offences
to get their photo ID card.
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- Like other travellers entering the country, participants
will still have to fill out declaration cards on the plane, detailing how
much they spent while out of the country. But instead of having to line
up at the customs counter behind a planeload of fellow passengers, participants
can just swipe their card at a designated kiosk and put an eyeball up to
the lens. When a match is registered, the machine prints out a ticket.
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- If a passholder goes over the $200 to $750 travellers
are allowed to spend, depending on the length of stay outside Canada, the
machine will even charge any duties to a preapproved credit card number.
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- But even CANPASS participants can't avoid customs altogether.
An agent won't let participants exit the customs area until they've handed
over both the ticket and declaration card. Passholders will also be subject
to random checks.
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- The kiosks, designed by IBM, use technology developed
by New Jersey-based Iridian Technologies but marketed and distributed by
Mississauga-based RYCOM Inc.
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- Similar technology is already used in airports in the
Netherlands and Britain, as well as some prisons, where it's used to prescreen
staff and frequent visitors.
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- In time, it could also be used to scan airport staff.
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- While there are privacy concerns around the technology,
Caplan stressed it is a voluntary program. The machines screen an iris
from a limited range of just 8 to 25 centimetres, making them incapable
of acting like traffic-light cameras ó able to do a scan without
a person's knowledge.
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- New security and detection devices continue to be added
to airports, ports and border crossings. Caplan said 369 new staff have
been hired, 130 at border crossings alone, since last year's terrorist
attacks.
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