Security management Toolkit

Biometrics to speed travel between UK and US

Nick Heath silicon.com

Published: 04 Jul 2008 09:23 BST

Biometric technology is to be used to speed up travel between the UK and the US.

Fingerprint, iris and facial-recognition technology will be used to speed up frequent travellers' journeys through immigration control, as part of a UK-US agreement for a fast-travel option for trusted travellers going between the countries.

The agreement is aimed at boosting business travel. Borders and immigration minister Liam Byrne revealed the agreement on Wednesday.

Read this

Trend Micro: Antivirus industry lied for 20 years

Chief executive Eva Chen argues antivirus companies have over-hyped the effectiveness of their products, and misled customers, for years...

The government said the deal will build on the success of the Iris scheme (Iris Recognition Immigration System) for trusted travellers, which enables registered passengers to enter the UK without queuing, following an eye scan.

More than 200,000 people have already enrolled in the scheme and it has been used more than one million times since its launch in March 2006.

Iris-enrolment stations and gates are available at all five Heathrow terminals, as well as at Birmingham, Gatwick and Manchester airports.

Byrne said in a statement: "Speedy travel between the UK and the US is crucial to large financial organisations."

Credit: Biometrics to fast track 'trusted' travellers from silicon.com

Did you find this article useful?
2 out of 3 people found this useful

More In Security management

Company/Topic Alerts

Create a new alert from the list below:

Install Flash Player Plugin

Featured Talkback

It seems to me this is a burden being placed on the wrong shoulders. There is not an It system in the world that can stop an individual taking information in their heads and spewing out at the nearest undesirable third party.