[Clips] Paying Extra for Faster Airport Security

[R.A. Hettinga]

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Date: Thu, 2 Jun 2005 20:40:26 -0400
To: Philodox Clips List <clips at philodox.com>
From: "R.A. Hettinga" <rah at shipwright.com>
Subject: [Clips] Paying Extra for Faster Airport Security
Reply-To: rah at philodox.com
Sender: clips-bounces at philodox.com

Security needs identity like a fish needs... well, you get the idea...

Cheers,
RAH
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<http://online.wsj.com/article_print/0,,SB111767537888648936,00.html>

The Wall Street Journal

 June 2, 2005



Paying Extra for Faster Airport Security
Orlando Kicks Off Program
 Offering Quicker Screenings
 To Holders of Special Cards

By AVERY JOHNSON
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
June 2, 2005; Page D3


Starting this month, air travelers in Orlando, Fla., can pay for a
high-tech card that promises to whisk them through the airport's security
lines.

Under the program, travelers who use Orlando International Airport and are
willing to pay a $79.95 annual fee will be able to register for a
government security screening, which includes fingerprints, iris scans, as
well as an application that asks for basic identity information. Travelers
who pass the screening -- and who will be subject to continuing checks
against government watch lists -- will then receive a special card that
permits them to use an express lane through airport security. That lane
expedites the screening process and frees cardholders from secondary
searches.

The program will be operated by New York-based Verified Identity Pass Inc.,
a private company run by Steven Brill, whose former ventures included Court
TV and The American Lawyer magazine. The program marks the first time a
private company has teamed up with the government to speed up airport
security lines. Yesterday, the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority board
awarded the contract for its new system to Verified Identity Pass's system,
opting for its prospectus over a proposal from Unisys Corp.

Enrollment will start June 21, and the company hopes to open a lane for
card holders as early as next month. The card will initially be good only
at the Orlando airport. The proposal says that in the second and third
years of the program, prices could climb by about $10 annually.

Orlando International is Florida's busiest airport, handling more than 31
million passengers last year.

Other airports and the Transportation Security Administration -- the
government office in charge of safeguarding transportation -- are watching
closely. After launching a similar, though smaller, test program for
frequent fliers in five airports last summer, the TSA is evaluating future
private-public partnerships depending on how the Orlando system works.
Other airports say they are studying the system and could submit their own
proposals to the TSA soon.

In its initial phase, the program in Orlando will accept as many as 30,000
travelers. Membership is open to anyone who clears the government watch
lists and is willing to pay. Most of the process of signing up takes place
online at www.Flyclear.com, but travelers still need to come into the
airport to get their iris images and fingerprints taken.

The TSA's own expedited checkpoint system, called the Registered Traveler
pilot program, is capped at 10,000 members and is available only to
frequent fliers who are invited by participating airlines. Signing up
requires thumb and index fingerprints, as well as paperwork and an iris
scan at the airports in Minneapolis, Houston, Boston, Washington's Reagan
airport and Los Angeles. The 10,000 people continue to be members for as
long as the program runs, and the TSA says it hasn't any plans to expand
the group of either passengers or participating airports in the near
future. Mr. Brill's program, though, expects to be able to synch up with
the five airports in the government's system in the fall.

Programs like these, as well as the TSA's Registered Traveler plan, have
been slow to get started. The Orlando program was initially expected to
launch in May, but got greenlighted yesterday. The rival Unisys proposal
had suggested linking up the card with a debit card for shopping, would
cost about $100 a year and said it would offer immediate use in the five
participating TSA airports.

The fast-lane system has been hampered by concerns about privacy and the
safety of personal information, as well as synchronized systems run by
different companies at different airports. Tim Sparapani, the legislative
counsel for privacy rights at the American Civil Liberties Union, says that
at least the government screeners are held accountable to privacy laws --
he takes issue with outsourcing the management of sensitive data such as
fingerprints to for-profit companies.

Mr. Brill says his system won on its pricing and privacy policies. It gives
customers guarantees about the safety of their personal information by
issuing a "warranty" for any breaches.

In addition, the card doesn't track movement -- it doesn't know where its
members are at any given time, or what their final destination is when they
check in. The system only holds their information for a few hours.

The card also gives members reserved parking and access to a skycap system
that can pick up luggage at a hotel, route it through security, and deliver
it to the destination hotel.

-- 
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R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah at ibuc.com>
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'
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-- 
-----------------
R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah at ibuc.com>
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'

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