Voluntary Security ID to Debut in Florida

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Richard M. Smith" <rms () COMPUTERBYTESMAN COM>
Date: June 3, 2005 7:06:20 PM EDT
To: BIOMETRICS () PEACH EASE LSOFT COM
Subject: Voluntary Security ID to Debut in Florida
Reply-To: The Biometric Consortium's Discussion List               
<BIOMETRICS () PEACH EASE LSOFT COM>


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/03/ 
AR2005060300
936_pf.html

Voluntary Security ID to Debut in Florida

By BRIAN BERGSTEIN
The Associated Press
Friday, June 3, 2005; 6:03 PM

Beginning June 21, the Orlando airport will let travelers pay $80 a  
year for
a card that guarantees an exclusive security line and the promise of no
random secondary pat-down. To get this new "Clear" card, travelers would
have to be vetted by the Department of Homeland Security and submit to
fingerprint and iris scans.

Since the federal government began letting select frequent fliers  
with new
high-tech passes speed through airport security checkpoints, one of the
biggest complaints has been that the year-old program is too limited  
to be
of much use.

Now, a privately run version coming online in Florida could spur  
efforts to
broaden the program _ and boost media entrepreneur Steven Brill's  
vision of
installing such a system across the nation at airports and other
security-sensitive locations.

Similar systems exist at some European airports, and in five U.S.  
airports
as part of a test by the Transportation Security Administration.

But the TSA's "Registered Traveler" program, which is free for now  
while in
its test phase, has been capped at 10,000 participants, and cards  
obtained
at one airport don't work at others.

The company behind Clear is Verified Identity Pass Inc., which Brill  
founded
in 2003 in hopes of creating a nationwide, voluntary system that  
would give
pre-screened people a dedicated fast lane for entering secure areas _  
not
only at airports but also office buildings, power plants and stadiums.

Brill, the founder of Court TV and American Lawyer magazine, argues that
while more rigorous security checks are needed in post-Sept. 11  
America, it
doesn't make sense for everyone to have to go through them.

New York-based Verified ID has attracted such investors as Lehman  
Bros. and
Lockheed Martin Corp., which is providing the technology for Clear. But
until the Orlando deal, Verified Identity Pass had not snared a  
customer.

Brill says he has had talks with about 20 other airports.

He's giving them good reason to listen: In its proposal to Orlando  
officials
_ which beat a rival bid from technology integrator Unisys Corp. _  
Verified
ID promised to share 29 percent of Clear's first-year revenue with the
airport authority and as much as 22.5 percent in succeeding years. The
airport also would get 2.5 percent of Clear's future nationwide revenue.

The proposal says Verified ID expects to have 3.3 million members  
across the
nation within six years, with annual memberships likely costing $100.

That kind of participation is well beyond the scope of the TSA's  
Registered
Traveler tests, which have been limited to certain airlines'  
passengers in
Boston, Los Angeles, Houston, Minneapolis-St. Paul and Washington- 
Reagan. A
separate, older program, known as INSPASS, lets frequent international
travelers whisk through some U.S. Customs checkpoints with the use of
hand-shape biometrics.

The TSA is open to broadening Registered Traveler through public-private
partnerships, and several airports have expressed interest, said  
Steve Van
Beek, executive vice president of policy for Airports Council  
International,
a trade association. But he is concerned that the concept could run  
aground
unless the TSA enforces technology standards that enable cards to  
work at
more than one airport.

Not everyone, however, is ready for trusted-traveler programs to take  
off.

Chris Bidwell, who oversees security for the Air Transport Association,
which represents airlines, says it remains to be seen whether Registered
Traveler does much to enhance security, especially because many  
airports'
lines aren't that long anyway.

Privacy watchdogs have questioned how flyers' personal data will be  
handled,
although Brill pledges that Clear will obtain minimal information on its
members and store almost none. For example, the system will not  
record its
users' comings and goings the way automated toll-collection devices do.

"We have much less information about you, at our best, than any  
credit card
company has," Brill said.

(Brill also has distanced himself from Choicepoint Inc., the data  
aggregator
originally cited as one of Verified ID's partners. Brill said he  
wouldn't
work with the company until it fixes the problems that led to a  
massive leak
of personal information to identity thieves that came to light in  
February.
A private data-mining company like Choicepoint isn't necessary for  
Clear in
airports anyway, since the government is doing the vetting.)

Other observers worry that fast lanes will be tempting to terrorists  
whose
records are clean enough to earn them a "trusted" label.

"As soon as you make an easy path and a hard path through a security  
system,
you invite the bad guys to try to take the easy path," said Bruce  
Schneier,
author of "Beyond Fear: Thinking Sensibly about Security in an Uncertain
World."

"It's counterintuitive," Schneier said. "Everyone complains: `Why are  
you
frisking grandmas?' But if you don't frisk grandmas, that's who  
(terrorists)
are going to pick to carry bombs."

___

On the Net:

http://www.flyclear.com


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