ID Validation Scanner
 

I happened upon another crown jewel in the TSA arsenal today in Atlanta. There were four pre-check lanes open on the south-side. Two lanes went into the old screening area, so I avoided those to avoid the scanners that lurked there (granted - I saw most people going through WTMD). Two lines went into the area that has been used for pre-check most of this year. I always avoid the right lane, as they had another scanner on that side. That one is now dedicated to the sky-priority lane that had been moved there for the last couple of weeks.

Anyway, I noticed the left lane (which I was in) was going very slow. When I got to the front, I found out why. TSA was putting all ID's into a machine that beeped in a high pitch (which I guess was pass) or a low pitch (which I guess was a non-pass). A gentleman two people in front of me got two lot pitch beeps, but he still went through. The gentleman in front of me and I both recevied one high pitch beep, so they let us through. The math was this: the lane to our right which had the old process was scanning two people for every person scanned by the ID machine.

The machine had one single striper manning it. There were two vendor-looking people watching, and a double stripe was watching them. The two stripe followed me through the WTMD. I asked him why they would put that slow machine on the pre-check lane, and he said they were getting lots of fake ID's in the pre-check lanes. Whatever.

Did anyone else have the joy of experiencing the ID scanner today in Atlanta?

What a bunch of malarkey. If they are getting lots of fake IDs in pre-check, then they are getting lots of fake IDs period. One does wish that if the TSA is going to come up with tall tales, that they could at least make them a tad bit believable.

Maybe it was also a randomizer to pick which lane you go through?

What irks me about this whole situation is that they were doubling the amount of time to clear security with their new device. Keep the white shirts, slow x-ray techs, and new testing devices out of Pre-Check. I paid for faster service. You can put the trainees and testing devices with the "normal lines" who don't care.

But you are correct - another TSA dog and pony show/witch hunt with their own rules.

This was pre-check - no randomizers needed. They were taking ID's, feeding them into the machine, and getting responses. I'm probably in yet another database now.

Does anyone wonder just what information TSA may be collecting from this ID scanner and why? Is TSA completely insulated from Federal Privacy Act requirements?

And to suggest that people using "normal lines" don't care about the how their time is wasted by TSA is offensive. I don't know how you could be anymore disrespectful to others.

TSA didn't roll out PreCheck to make your life easier. It was done to deflect growing criticism of TSA and its unreasonable screening policies. What is disappointing is how many people ate the TSA PreCheck bait instead of demanding reform that would benefit all travelers.

Now TSA has reduced the number of WTMD's for PreCheck lines replacing them with Nude-O-Scopes plus this new device slowing down things even more. I'm sure you will side with TSA since they have your $85 dollars.

I wonder what range of IDs the scanner is programmed to recognize. Passports? Passport/TT cards? Military/government IDs? Foreign IDs?

Costco cards and student IDs?

I do pre-check, as I don't see any TSA reform coming out of Congress. I absolutely agree with you that the TSA should go/be reformed. Until then, I will continue to pre-check, refuse the scopes, and enjoy my freedom gropes (even if given by "creepy old man" at IAD who lingers on the resistance).

I only looked at the slot that took credit-card sized ID's, so I am not sure if there was a passport scanner. I fully intend to SDOO out of that line next week, but I will try to get a photo if it returns. Considering the number and types of ID's even per state, it would be a programming challenge to scan, identify the pattern, determine if data were valid, and ring a response. They could be scanning the name/address/DL #/birthdate on the front and comparing the text with the data coming from the bar code scans that are on the back (these are not necessarily on every ID). It also could be part of the Real-ID effort: http://www.dhs.gov/real-id-public-faqs

That would be even harder if it has to do passports and Costco cards.

I'm not supposed to tell you this, but it's just a Machine That Goes Ping. :D

*ping*

:D

I would be uncomfortable with this.

When I was in undergrad many clubs used ID scanners like this. In addition to verifying the ID, they stored all the info on the card. Shortly after my 21st birthday I got massive amounts of junk mail because these student bars sold my info to marketing companies.

Do they scan passports? I'd be inclined to use my passport since it doesn't have my address.

"TSA system may make boarding passes obsolete"
 

I read an article today in National Defense Magazine that described the Credential Authentication Technology (E-CAT) program. It uses a scanner by MorphoTrust USA that can verify the authentication of identity cards and passports from "a database of more than 2800 domestic and international credentials."

"The goal is to reduce the approximately 24 seconds the agent spends looking at the document, boarding pass and the passenger's face down to 12 seconds."

"Once the E-CAT scanner is connected to TSA's network, this information will simultaneously be verified against boarding information from Secure Flight, TSA's watchlist matching system"

MorphoTrust. Great. That's the company that is collecting a full set of fingerprints on every registered engineer and architect in TX thanks to an AFS state legislator. Apparently, practicing engineering or architecture in TX is even more suspicious than trying to get on an airplane.

I w:eek:nder what that company is going to morph into...

Confirmed this today. MorphoTrust was stamped right on the front of the machine. It's the Cat - B - Piss system. No photo, as there were not enough people in Pre-Check to allow photo discretion.

http://findbiometrics.com/morphotrus...t-us-airports/

No mention of Costco or Student ID's. Maybe that will be in the full roll-out.

Complete security theatre. Dog and pony show hot rodding as if they were LEO