FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - New TSA Credential Authentication Technology ID Scanners - No Boarding Pass Required
Old Jun 7, 2017, 1:07 pm
  #12  
WillCAD
 
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Originally Posted by phltraveler
The TSA has been looking for Credential Authentication Technology (CAT) and Boarding Pass Scanning Systems (BPSS) for years The Desko Penta scanners they have used for years for scanning paper/boarding passes check the digital signature on the boarding pass barcode (at least for those airlines offering precheck boarding passes are digitally signed regardless of whether or not the person gets Pre) but they aren't networked.

Online CAT against the credential would allow TSA to reconcile the person's name/D.O.B. and other info against Secure Flight. In theory, this would allow them to not only validate a person's identity and the matching reservations, but whether or not the person was selected for Secondary or given Precheck.

From the document I linked to above:



Guess we will see how it works in practice, but the documentation describes would stage the reservation data from Secure Flight to the reader. So verification of the boarding pass itself at the checkpoint would be unnecessary as long as the system works normally. (In case of inability to match name or find record, the boarding pass would probably be required).
Originally Posted by Often1
There is no mystery here. The pilot for IAD & DCA was widely announced.

The BP itself serves no purpose as the ID data match does the trick. The ID with the data means that: you are who you say you are AND you hold a valid ticket to depart IAD on the day you appear.

If you don't, then you are dealt with through a secondary check.
Originally Posted by iamflyer
I wonder if this would eventually allow non-participating airline passengers to get pre-check as in theory the airlines no longer need to have the right set-up to sign boarding passes, just need to submit secure flight data.
Yes, and all of this would eliminate the possibility of flying without ID. It would also place us at the mercy of government computer systems with ID information and PII stored on them, which are about as secure as a kitchen colander. How many data breaches has the federal government had in the last ten years or so? And how many innocent people are on the NFL by mistake with little to no legal recourse for getting off?

No thanks. Physically screen for WEI and forget the ID crap. It doesn't work, it isn't effective, it provides no value but does provide increased risk in other areas, and it's a tremendous, gigantic money-sucking quantum singularity. Just check people for explosives and guns. Secure enough.
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