DMB
05 Apr 2009, 10:40 AM
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/transport/article6036353.ece
AIRPORT face scanners designed to stop terrorists getting into the UK have been “rigged” to cut passenger queues and are creating an “unacceptable” security risk, a confidential Whitehall e-mail has claimed.
...Because of the growing number of “false negatives”, immigration officers say they were ordered last month to recalibrate the machines, lowering the match threshold from 80% to 30%.
...Using facial recognition software employed at Sydney airport in Australia, he found that even people of strikingly different appearance, such as Kevin Spacey and Winona Ryder, the Hollywood stars, showed a match of well above 30% with Osama Bin Laden. Gordon Brown was assessed as bearing even more similarity to Mel Gibson, the actor.
I like the idea that it couldn't tell Winona Ryder from Osama bin Laden.
It would, of course, be ridiculous to expect 100% accuracy. I wonder what the operational rules were for this system. After all, they also have human beings manning it. If the system throws up a resemblance, why can't they just do a visual check?
My knee replacement sounds the metal detector alarm every time I go through. So I always get a body search. This must happen to many other people. The body search is done by a human being. I don't think ti is going to be very efficient to try to remove the human element, fallible though it may be, from security checks.
AIRPORT face scanners designed to stop terrorists getting into the UK have been “rigged” to cut passenger queues and are creating an “unacceptable” security risk, a confidential Whitehall e-mail has claimed.
...Because of the growing number of “false negatives”, immigration officers say they were ordered last month to recalibrate the machines, lowering the match threshold from 80% to 30%.
...Using facial recognition software employed at Sydney airport in Australia, he found that even people of strikingly different appearance, such as Kevin Spacey and Winona Ryder, the Hollywood stars, showed a match of well above 30% with Osama Bin Laden. Gordon Brown was assessed as bearing even more similarity to Mel Gibson, the actor.
I like the idea that it couldn't tell Winona Ryder from Osama bin Laden.
It would, of course, be ridiculous to expect 100% accuracy. I wonder what the operational rules were for this system. After all, they also have human beings manning it. If the system throws up a resemblance, why can't they just do a visual check?
My knee replacement sounds the metal detector alarm every time I go through. So I always get a body search. This must happen to many other people. The body search is done by a human being. I don't think ti is going to be very efficient to try to remove the human element, fallible though it may be, from security checks.