Travellers fear biometrics

The US Travel Industry Association's most recent travel trade barometer shows fewer people from the UK and Germany visited the US during 2006.

The barometer reported year-end bookings and travel demand 1% to 3% below 2005 levels for visitors from the UK to the US, with the outlook for the 2007 winter and spring seasons projected to remain flat as well. Booking rates from German visitors were also flat during 2006.

According to the barometer, the top deterrent for travel to the US is the implementation of the biometric passport. Biometric passports incorporate electronic fingerprints and images onto a digital chip that make them more difficult to counterfeit.

The British Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) has expressed concern at government plans to require all non-EU nationals in the UK to have a biometric immigration document proving their status. The document constitutes the first phase of the government's roll-out of its ID card scheme.

While individuals will not have to carry it at all times, they will be required to present it if asked to do so by police or immigration authorities. But the JCHR has said only "very careful scrutiny" will prevent racial or ethnic profiling under the scheme.

"The fact that such a document exists for non-nationals and can be requested to prove entitlement to services makes it highly likely in our view that members of black and minority ethnic communities in the UK will be disproportionately required to prove their immigration status," it said.

The European radio frequency identification (RFID) market is set to achieve significant progress, given its past and existing initiatives in retail, healthcare, manufacturing, logistics and anti-counterfeiting measures as well as the increasing investments in this space.

While this market has not demonstrated growth to the same extent as the RFID market in the US, it is nevertheless poised for growth, a new analysis from Frost & Sullivan says. The company adds the European RFID middleware market earned revenue of $41 million in 2006 and estimates this to reach $181.8 million in 2013.

Analysts say there is a strong case for RFID in places where the unit cost is high and also in places where inventory loss is widespread. Likely growth segments for RFID middleware will be in the areas of drug manufacturing and tracking, medical equipment tracking in hospitals and asset tracking.

A new smart banking card, using a microchip instead of a magnetic strip to store the client's details, should reduce card banking fraud by about 75%, banks say.

This response comes after at least seven Port Elizabeth residents fell victim to card fraud called skimming, where syndicates attach a card reader to an ATM, then use the information obtained from the device to clone the bank card. These cards are then used to withdraw funds from the account and perform debit card transactions at various businesses.

Walter Volker, GM of Absa's group management systems, said Absa had already begun rolling out the smart card technology in March. "We began experimenting with the technology seven years ago and have been field-testing the cards since 2003. First our back-end systems were upgraded, then the various network protocols were put in place, then our branches and about 99% of all our ATMs and point of sale devices have been upgraded to read the chips, before we began issuing the cards," he said.

Opposition by state governments has forced the Indian government to abort a plan to use smart cards in the distribution of kerosene through ration shops.

The ministry of petroleum and natural gas planned to issue smart cards to families living below the poverty line in three districts across three states as part of a pilot project that was to have started on 1 January.

Had the project taken off, ration shops in these districts would have received just enough kerosene to supply to the families; other buyers would have had to pay market rates for the fuel.