United States: Airport security face scan technology is questionable?

Face scan can’t tell Ryder from al-Qaeda
By Duncan Gardham
6 April 2009
The Daily Telegraph

AIRPORT face scanners designed to catch terrorists travelling on false passports would be unable to tell between Osama bin Laden and the actress Winona Ryder, it has been claimed.

In a leaked memo, an official says the machines have been recalibrated to an “unacceptable” level, with the result that they will pass faces which have only a 30 per cent likeness to their accompanying passport photograph. The machines, undergoing trials at Manchester airport, have apparently been questioning so many passengers’ identities that they were creating huge queues.

The technology was designed to help immigration officials spot people travelling under false passports, particularly terrorists, but the multi-million pound scheme now appears to be in jeopardy.

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Airport security face scan technology is questionable