How Fast 2011 Is Going By

The Upcoming Holidays

Well, on a personal note, as I look back on this year, I take stock on a number of things that have happened to me personally.  The best thing that has ever happened has been being with Anita, and being engaged, and finally getting married in July of 2012.  True other things have happened, such as gaining new skills on my job as a copywriter, continuing with even more content on this blog site, networking with contacts for BiometricNews.net, gaining more experience into the Biometrics Industry, and who can forget about the advancements I have been making in the martial arts. 

But probably the one thing that strikes me the most is just how fast the year has gone.  As a marker in time, I still remember fully well the days leading up to the blizzard of 2011, and its aftermath.  It seems like summer just flashed by with a snap of the fingers.  It is truly amazing just how fast time flies, and this year has been the fastest it has ever flown for me.  But, with the year coming soon to an end, there is one thing on people’s minds, and that is the upcoming holiday season.  For most of us, although time will be rejoiced with family and friends, we will be cutting back on spending in order to save during these turbulent economic times.  In fact, this time of the year is when people travel most-especially before and just right after Thanksgiving. 

But even then, people will also cut back on this, as it can be viewed as an expense.  But for those of us that do travel, especially by air, getting in and out of the airport quickly and smoothly will be the one thing we will cherish most.  To the traveler, there is nothing more frustrating when they have to wait in long lines going through security when they want to see their loved ones as quickly possible.  Or worst yet, being stranded at the airport because of late or cancelled flights.  Well, there could be very well a solution to all of this, and that is of course Biometrics. 

A Biometrics known as “Morpho” (and of the largest ones to) has just announced a new solution, and here are the details:  “Morpho (Safran group), the world leader in biometric technology, will be launching the new design of MorphoWay  its automated border control solution . . . The MorphoWay automated e-gates have been redesigned in a modern, transparent, low footprint format to meet the space constraints of border environments. With the fastest doors on the market, these e-gates have integrated document readers that carry out quick, reliable authenticity checks . . . Based on Morpho’s advanced biometric recognition technologies (fingerprint and face), MorphoWay™ speeds up passenger screening, reduces queuing time at borders, whilst guaranteeing optimum security.”  (SOURCE:  http://www.findbiometrics.com/industry-news/i/9334/).

My Take

Of course, there is nothing new about using Biometrics in order to speed up the lines of immigration and customs at the major international airports.  Heck, Biometrics in this regard even have been in use since the mid 90’s. But what I found unique about this solution is that it is all encompassing-in other words, a completely automated border control app, using primarily fingerprint recognition and facial recognition.  It is intended to speed people through long lines with a simple swipe of the finger, or a quick scan of the face.  Or, the two can be combined into a multimodal solution. 

As mentioned about the holidays coming, I think personally this would be great to use at all of the major international airports, especially our backyard airport-O’Hare International, which has its notorious fame because of its intrusive body scanning technology.  Heck, in why not extrapolate this to the US Mexican border???  Maybe that might help solve some of the illegal immigration issues-in fact it could be a good political ploy in the upcoming elections year.  But again, all of this technology goes back to the question-What if it all breaks down??? 

Remember, Biometric is just as prone to failure as anything else.  If we expect to use just this technology 100% of the time, the Biometrics Industry will for sure be staking of a lot of its reputation on it.  Take the example of O’Hare once again.  If there is a long line of passengers waiting in line to get to their turkey, and if this system fails, Biometrics and the industry will get nothing but a bad rap (and an even greater one), like it has before.  So again, we need a balance of both:  Technology and humans.