It sounds like something out of a sci-fi novel, but if you’re willing to pay a fee and get your iris scanned, you can jump to the front of the security line at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport.
A company called CLEAR is offering the option to subscribers. After detailed verification, a member is issued an encrypted identity card that offers security gate privileges at participating airports.
“So when you enroll we authenticate your driver’s license and your passport,” CLEAR CEO Caryn Seidman-Becker explained. “We then gather your fingerprints, your iris images and your photo; building that impermeable link between your identity and your biometrics.”
The length of a few security steps is shortened, but members won’t go straight from the parking lot to the gate. CLEAR members are still required to go through the standard security check – the difference is, they don’t have to wait in line.
“So the CLEAR process is about ensuring your identity. So once you’ve gone through the process once, as opposed to flipping out your driver’s license every single time, all you have to do is put your card in and your finger down,” Seidman-Becker said.
The idea of handing over sensitive personal information has some concerned, but Seidman-Becker assured, “We [CLEAR] have built a highly-encrypted secure system, to ensure not only the integrity of the data but the privacy of our members data. We would never share or sell our members data.”
CLEAR has set up kiosks in Terminal E at DFW Airport. The service costs $170 a year.
The CLEARcard registered traveler service provider went bankrupt in 2009, but is back up and running under new management.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) also has a pre-screening program that is free.
Source: DFW CBS LOCAL
{Matzav.com Newscenter}
