Fingerprint biometrics instead of ticket/ID

by
Anonymous Coward
in security on (#GTBW)
story imageWishing the airline industry could get its act together to innovate around security hassles? Don't give up hope yet!

Security firm CLEAR has worked with Alaska Airlines to implement biometric identification of passengers willing to pay an annual fee of $245. Swiping fingers across a plate will replace a boarding pass and photo ID. The airline states that in their opinion 'Using biometrics as identification has a huge potential to simplify the travel experience and eliminate hassles'.

No word on what happens when someone decides to impersonate someone and hacks off their hand to use as identification.
Reply 4 comments

Sign me up (Score: 1)

by Anonymous Coward on 2015-08-08 14:37 (#GTFC)

I have always wanted to give my fingerprints away to private organisations and governments. That part about users paying for the priviledge of having their unchangable uniquely identifiable data stored is just icing on the cake. Are these people competing to see who can deliver the worst security ideas?

Re: Sign me up (Score: 1, Insightful)

by Anonymous Coward on 2015-08-08 19:07 (#GTZQ)

As a former US govt employee whose entire personnel file got stolen earlier this year, I'm already screwed. They got my fingerprints already, plus a whole lot more including some pretty specific personal information: dates and places, family member names and birthdates, the works. Thank God I'd just fucking updated it about a few months earlier due to requirements.

Yeah, let me tell you: it does not feel good.

For bonus points, my son had his passport stolen a few months later. It never ends: tough breaks for a guy who basically tried to follow the rules. The government hasn't even had the cojones to officially notify me of the theft - I had to read about it on the BBC, same as the rest of you mopes.

I am however in favor of less tedious bullshit at airports. The TSA is so out of control these days I don't even want to fly anymore. The procedures you go through to ride a train leave you with at least a modicum of dignity.

New security idea: the plutonium anal probe: each passenger is fitted with an anal plug with a unique nuclear signature. Because violating you anally is about the only thing left for the airline "security" industry.

Re: Sign me up (Score: 0)

by Anonymous Coward on 2015-08-09 05:07 (#GVTC)

Wrong. Friend of mine went to the US with his family. They squeezed his equipment then took him in for further investigation which included sticking a finger into his butt hole. The search for terrorists has expanded to searching for drugs. He will never go to the US ever again. Not if the trip was paid for.

Japan and US collect tourist fingerprints (Score: 0)

by Anonymous Coward on 2015-08-09 05:10 (#GVTD)

Which is why I decline to visit either.