Canadian Transport Minister Marc Garneau announces new laws and regulations concerning drone flights in Canada. Transport Canada has documented a spike in the number of incidents posing a risk to aviation safety in recent years. The number of reported incidents more than tripled to 135 in 2017 from 38 when data collection began in 2014.

An aerial photo shows the construction site of Beijing’s new airport in southern Daxing district in Beijing. (China Daily/Yang Zhiyong)

As part of ongoing efforts to improve airport security hardware,  Incheon International Airport Corporation (IIAC) has announced, in a press release dated last month, upgrades to the existing biometric security systems for employees. The recent upgrade features a “non-contact fingerprint recognition” system, and is intended to enhance airport security and efficiency.

The new system employs a technique known as “non-contact fingerprint recognition”; excluding the thumb, this system accurately captures biometric information from a person’s fingers by means of a “3D image (generated) via motion detection”, according to the press release. Compared to existing biometric security systems which require physical contact, the new “non-contact fingerprint recognition” systems record a higher recognition rate. The lack of physical contact also makes the new systems more hygienic.

Additionally, unlike existing biometric security systems, the new “non-contact fingerprint recognition” system is able to collect biometric data without having the person “remain stationary”, and “fingerprint recognition is automatically performed just once”.

The deployment of the new system is not intended to replace existing biometric security systems, but complement them. By using both systems simultaneously, IIAC hopes to boost employee gate security via a two-step authentication process — once via the new non-contact recognition, and a second time via physical scans by current biometric security systems.

A trial run of the new system is currently underway at the east staff exit of Incheon Airport’s Terminal 1. The scale of future deployment of the new system will be determined by the pilot test results.

“I will review the pilot operation results of the (new systems) and expand it to the entire (airport) by 2020,” said Chung Il-Young, president of IIAC. “We will also consider introducing it to passenger areas in future”. President Chung also pledged to make Incheon Airport “clean, convenient and safe with zero defects”.

The recent implementation of the new security systems is part of Incheon Airport’s modernisation program to maintain international competitiveness and upholds its image as a world-class airport. The IIAC has sought to achieve this via investments in enhancing and expanding airport infrastructure, participating in international research partnerships, as well as improving customer service and airport security by installing new hardware. Robots deployed by LG are currently being used at Incheon Airport to guide travellers as well as maintain airport cleanliness;  last month, “Drop&Fly” self-service bag drop units were also deployed at Incheon Airport’s Terminal 2, making baggage drop-off more convenient for travellers and baggage handling more accurate and secure.

Incheon International Airport has ranked consistently within the top 10 airports the world, according to Skytrax. The airport’s range of amenities such as a golf course, spa, and private lounges and excellence in customer service has received much international praise, and the IIAC emphasises on improving the customer experience as part of its ongoing airport modernisation initiatives.

Still, the IIAC’s emphasis on improving hardware and infrastructure does not address other pressing issues. In 2016, a Chinese couple and 25-year old Vietnamese man evaded Korean immigration and entered the country illegally; similarly in April this year, a sex offender identified as Shin managed to slip past airport security and was only by Vietnamese law enforcement personnel after his plane landed in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. In the dual incidents of 2016, the Chinese couple allegedly got past multiple security gates in a mere 14 minutes; an alarm had gone off when the Vietnamese man forced his way through an automated gate during peak morning hours, but it had gone unnoticed by duty personnel at the time. Experts have highlighted the lack of strong inter-agency coordination, and chronic understaffing of security personnel resulting in undermanned security systems.

source : opengovasia

on arriving and departing international flights, a move that airport authorities claim will speed up customs, while privacy advocates worry about the lack of formal rules in place for the data from the scans.

                                                                                      David J.Phillip/ ap

Florida’s busiest airport will be the first in the nation to require a face scan of passengers on all arriving and departing international flights, officials said Thursday, a move that pleases airport executives but worries privacy advocates.

Officials at Orlando International Airport said the expansion of face scans would speed up the time it takes for passengers to go through customs.

“It’s almost like Christmas in June for me,” said Phil Brown, chief executive of the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority. “The process of going into and out of Orlando is going to be greatly enhanced.”

But some privacy advocates say there are no formal rules in place for handling data gleaned from the scans, nor formal guidelines on what should happen if a passenger is wrongly prevented from boarding.

Airports in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Las Vegas, Miami, New York, and Washington already use face scans for some departing international flights, but they don’t involve all international flights at the airports as the program’s expansion in Orlando would.

The image from the face scan is compared to a Department of Homeland Security biometric database that has passport images of people who should be on the flight in order to verify the traveler’s identity. The images are held in the database for 14 days before being deleted, said John Wagner, an official with US Customs and Border Protection.

The face scan expansion is costing the Orlando airport authority $4 million. The program should be rolled out at other airports in other US cities in the next year, Mr. Wagner said.

“We’re comparing you against a photograph you’ve given the US government for the purposes of travel,” Wagner said. “You know your picture is being taken. You’re standing in front of a camera. There’s nothing subversive about this, and we’re only comparing you against your passport photo.”

US citizens at these airports can opt out, but the agency “doesn’t seem to be doing an adequate job letting Americans know they can opt out,” said Harrison Rudolph, an associate at the Center on Privacy & Technology at the Georgetown University Law Center.

The Orlando announcement marks a step up in the scope of the face scan program, Mr. Rudolph said.

“We’re not talking about one gate,” he said. “We’re talking about every international departure gate, which is a huge expansion of the number of people who will be scanned. Errors tend to go up as uses go up.”

Orlando International Airport had about 6 million international passengers in the past year. Face scans for arrivals and departures should be fully in place by the end of the year, although passengers landing at Orlando International Airport currently undergo them upon arriving. Passengers who had their photos taken Thursday at the Orlando airport took it in stride.

“It was fine, efficient, very fast,” said Katrina Poulsen, a Denmark resident who arrived in Orlando on a flight from London.

Andrea Nabarria, who arrived on the same flight, said he understands the concerns about privacy but that passengers may have to give up something in exchange for beefed up security.

“At least that’s what we’re told,” said Mr. Nabarria, an Italian who is a resident of Denmark.

Rudolph said he has concerns about the face scans’ accuracy since some research shows they are less accurate with racial minorities, women, and children. Researchers say this is because photos used to train the face-scanning software underrepresent minorities, women, and young people.

Wagner said the agency hasn’t seen discrepancies based on race or gender using face scans at the other airports.

Two US senators last month sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security, which is home to the border protection agency, urging that formal rules be implemented before the program is expanded.

“It will also ensure a full vetting of this potentially sweeping program that could impact every American leaving the country by the airport,” said the letter from US Sens. Ed Markey (D) of Mass. and Mike Lee (R) of Utah.

This story was reported by The Associated Press. 

source : cs.monitor

ORLANDO, Fla. — Florida’s busiest airport

is becoming the first in the nation to require a face scan of passengers on all arriving and departing international flights, including U.S. citizens, according to officials there.
The expected announcement Thursday at Orlando International Airport alarms some privacy advocates who say there are no formal rules in place for handling data gleaned from the scans, nor formal guidelines on what should happen if a passenger is wrongly prevented from boarding.
Airports in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Las Vegas, Miami, New York and Washington already use face scans for some departing international flights, but they don’t involve all international travelers at the airports like the program’s expansion in Orlando would. The image from the face scan is compared to a Department of Homeland Security biometric database that has images of people who should be on the flight, in order to verify the traveler’s identity.
U.S. citizens at these airports can opt out, but the agency “doesn’t seem to be doing an adequate job letting Americans know they can opt out,” said Harrison Rudolph, an associate at the Center on Privacy & Technology at the Georgetown University Law Center.
U.S. citizens at the Orlando airport will be able to opt out just like at the other airports if they don’t want to provide their photograph, Jennifer Gabris, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in an email. However, a notice about a possible rule change for the program states that “U.S. citizens may be required to provide photographs upon entering or departing the United States.”
The Orlando announcement marks a step up in the scope of the face scan program, Rudolph said.
“We’re not talking about one gate,” he said. “We’re talking about every international departure gate, which is a huge expansion of the number of people who will be scanned. Errors tend to go up as uses go up.”

Orlando International Airport had about 6 million international passengers in the past year.

Rudolph said he has concerns about the face scans’ accuracy, since some research shows they are less accurate with racial minorities, women and children. Researchers say this is because photos used to train the face-scanning software underrepresent minorities, women and young people.

Two U.S. senators last month sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security, which is home to the border protection agency, urging that formal rules be implemented before the program is expanded.

“It will also ensure a full vetting of this potentially sweeping program that could impact every American leaving the country by airport,” said the letter from U.S. Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass. and U.S. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah.

source : nypost

There has been a steady stream of announcements regarding deployments of biometric technology in airports around the world over the past several years, but deployments in the U.S. have mostly been pilot projects. Since biometric exit was first mandated in the U.S. by Congress in 1996, and again in 2002, concerns about a variety of issues, including cost, privacy, and accuracy have largely prevented it from being utilized in the country.

The continued growth in passenger numbers which the travel industry expects is making it increasingly necessary for the aviation industry, along with U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and Customs and Border Protection (CPB), to find ways to move passengers through security checkpoints and other areas during the travel process in an efficiently and securely.

The Secure Journeys Working Group brings together stakeholders including those government agencies, the aviation industry, security experts, and technology providers to increase efficiency and put forward suggestions and best practices for aviation security. The group looks at aviation issues holistically to collaborate on utilizing innovative technology to close gaps with an additional layer of security, founding member David Menzel explained to Biometric Update in an interview.

“That’s the angle we take into this with Secure Journeys working group,” Menzel says. “We ask how we can take some of these technologies that we’re already using, or we’re already exploring within the airport space, and make them another layer of security.”

In addition to his role with Secure Journeys, Menzel is also sales director of government markets for SITA, which is participating in several trials of biometric technology in airport applications. Airports have limited options for adapting to the new travel environment, Menzel points out, as their infrastructure can only be significantly improved by building new terminals, and funding is not about to be dramatically increased.

“You can’t resource your way out of this problem, you’ve got to look at technology.”

Deploying the appropriate technology is not a simple matter of identifying and procuring it, however. The processes required for deployment, including certification by TSA, can significantly slow deployment.

“At numerous conferences or events where TSA or CBP is addressing the industry, I’ve heard airport directors talk about the concerns and the frustrations about seeing new technologies get deployed in a timely basis because of the process that, for instance, TSA needs to go through to certify these technologies,” Menzel says. “That can be somewhere in the range of 18 to 24 months from the time they develop the requirements and capabilities all the way through testing at TSA TISA center before the product can hit the market.”

Menzel thinks the industry has reached a turning point, however. The pilot run by SITA and British Airways at Orlando International Airport is the first time an airport has proactively dedicated funds to deploy biometric technology, which sets a precedent, and also creates the conditions for consumers to generate more data and make different choices.

“The challenge has always been who’s going to pay for it,” Menzel explains. “Orlando stepped up.”

Other deployments in the U.S. are all trials being run by government agencies. CBP recently announced two more trials, in San Francisco and Seattle, in addition to the eight they already have operational, Menzel points out. The trials will generate the data to guide policy-making, but Menzel points out that plenty of data about the efficiency and convenience of the technology has been gathered from existing pilots, and the long-established applications of biometric processing in countries around the world.

“At some point they have to plant a flag, and say ‘we’ve done it, here are the results, here’s what’s happening.’”

Menzel reports the number of people choosing not to participate in trials of biometric technology so far have been close to zero. As statistics for public acceptance, processing times, and security assurance are collected, the TSA, CBP, and industry stakeholders will have to arrive on the same page and work together to maximize the gains from the technology and motivate adoption.

“The only way this really benefits the industry and works for everybody, airlines and airports, is for it to be seamless, end to end, curb to gate,” he argues. “Until we get to that point, some airports will take the position that they’re going to invest, some airlines will invest, but I do believe we’re starting to see momentum now with regards to a potential rollout.”

A rollout across every airport in the U.S. could take years, but is hardly the endgame. Eventually, Menzel says, government to government biometric sharing can enable travel between different regions, such as the U.S. and Europe, without a passport.

“Biometrics have been discussed for a very long time, it’s used in other industries, and I think we’re now finally seeing the aviation industry move to using biometrics throughout the process, for operational efficiency, for customer satisfaction, and for security effectiveness” he says. “It really is critical to touch all three of those areas.”

If that is achieved, then the evidence of benefit will be clear. Agreement and cooperation between agencies and industry should then be within reach, and investment will follow.

source : Biometrics update

But passenger traffic is as important. A combination of dogs, cameras, radar, guards mitigates the risk for the airport and creates a coherent customer experience.