Home | Glossary | Timeline | New

Accenture Gets US VISIT Biometric Security Contract

A group led by Accenture has won the five year US Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology (US VISIT) biometric security contract. The intent of US VISIT is to track foreign visitors to the United States using digital photographs, fingerprints and other biometric data. Iris scans and other technologies are being studied for this effort.

US VISIT was initiated in January; it requires most visitors to have a digital photo and inkless fingerscan; about 4.5 million people have been screened so far and about 500 have been singled out for violations.

A recent New York Time article presented a number of critical viewpoints on the US VISIT system. Among the criticisms:

• A real-time system may not be possible, given the amount of data and the number of entry points; too many "false positives" might be generated.
• There were no small scale "test-bed" projects for this system; it may lead to large scale failures like the anti-ballistic missile systems that still fail in test environments after many years of work.
• Such a system might cost up to $1.5 billion per year to operate - in addition to the other costs of border services.
• At least one critic of the system stated flatly that "US VISIT isn't really designed to keep the terrorists out."

See ZdNet UK and Department of Homeland Security US VISIT Fact Sheet for more information. Also, the NYT article is here.

Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 6/2/2004)

| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |

Would you like to contribute a story tip? It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add it here.

Comment/Join discussion (Back On) ( 0 )

Index of related articles:

Biometric security overview
Biometrics Glossary
Characteristics of successful biometric identification methods
Biometric identification systems
Biometric technology on the leading edge
Biometric identification - advantages
Biometric security and business ethics
Biometric authentication: what method works best?
Iris Recognition
Iris Scan

Related News Stories - (" Security ")

Indian Court Says Brain Scan Proves Murder
Using a test called Brain Electrical Oscillations Signature, an Indian court convicts a woman based on her brain contents.

Background Draw-a-Secret (BDAS) Makes Graphical Passwords
Interesting security technique that takes advantage of the greater ease with which we all recall pictures, as opposed to the kind of alphanumeric strings IT techs want us to use for passwords.

ID-U Biometrics Eye Tracking Signature
Interesting new method of secure identification gathers a unique response to stimulus each time; old data cannot be copied and presented to the system.

PCASS And The Original Handheld Lie Detector
The idea that a simple device could tell a soldier who was lying is an attractive idea; but can it really work? You might be surprised about the origin of the lie detector idea.

 

	Web TechNovelgy.com

Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.

 

Current News

'Marauder's Map' Created By Carnegie Melllon
'Is that Dumbledore in his study?'

Cheetah Cub Robot From PKD's Android Dreams
'What about an exact electric duplicate of your cat?'

Dead Cellphone? Try Solar-Powered Public Charging Stations
'Then he saw the geek ... leaning against one of the slender stalks of a sunshade-photocell collector...'

Hungry? Grow Nutritious Insects At Home
'...I balked when my wife served me termites.'

Snowboarding On Mars? Heinlein Was Ready
How long ago did Robert Heinlein write about skiing on dry alien worlds?

Orwell's '1984' Hits Bestseller Lists Thanks To PRISM
'There was of course no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment.'

Roboroach Control? There's An App For That
'A cable, here, from the controller to the interface plug... wires from that to the brain.'

Court OK's DNA Collection Like 'Gattaca'
DNA sampling is not the same as fingerprinting.

Squid Vs. Whale Diorama Liked By Humans, Aliens
'Everything was ready, awaiting the Overlords' pleasure...'

Iceberg Harvesting Off Newfoundland's Coast
'Five hundred billion gallons worth of Antarctic iceberg had been towed into Santa Monica Bay.'

Sony's A4-Sized Flexible Digital Paper Notepad
'...he would plug his foolscap-sized Newspad into the ship's information circuit and scan the latest reports...'

Contact Lens Video Display Electronics Now Transparent
'He realized that it was not quite a clear lens. Speckles of colored brightness swirled and gathered in it...'

Tesla's Supercharge Station Plan
'To recharge the batteries, which can be done in almost every town and village...'

Millimeter-Scale Computing For 'Internet of Things'
'In their megalomania they thought to make the very sand beneath their feet intelligent...'

Your Own Handheld Biosensor
'I'm gonna do a hand-held Boink, real quick,' Littleberry said'

DARPA's Warrior Web
'Earth's scientists solved the problem to some extent by devising rigid metallic clothing not unlike armor...'

More SF in the News Stories

More Beyond Technovelgy science news stories