Creepy Computer-Generated Avatar Greets Travelers At Newark Liberty

Port Authority Of N.Y./N.J. Spends $180,000 On New 'Help' For Area Airports

NEWARK, N.J. (CBSNewYork) — The future was among the arrivals at Newark Airport on Friday, in the form of a computer-generated greeter at the gate.

Travelers met “Libby.” She’s Newark Airport’s newest — and perhaps most chipper — customer service rep. You may have noticed that she’s a bit shallow, and she’s completely two-faced, but she’s always smiling, and she never complains.

“Hello, and welcome to Newark Liberty International Airport. You have arrived at Terminal B,” the avatar says.

Libby’s presence seemed to catch arriving passengers off-guard Friday. Some loved her … or it, but not everyone was enchanted by her computer-generated smile, CBS 2’s Alex Denis reported.

“It’s a little bit freaky when you walk down there. Her body doesn’t look real but her head does,” one woman said.

“It’s freaky!” another woman said.

“I think it’s weird,” another said.-[First Article]

 

Police charge mother in Nashville airport altercation



The Tennessean

A 41-year-old Clarksville woman was arrested after Nashville airport authorities say she was belligerent and verbally abusive to security officers, refusing for her daughter to be patted down at a security checkpoint.

Andrea Fornella Abbott yelled and swore at Transportation Security Administration agents Saturday afternoon at Nashville International Airport, saying she did not want her daughter to be “touched inappropriately or have her “crotch grabbed,” a police report states.

After the woman refused to calm down, airport police said, she was charged with disorderly conduct and taken to jail. She has been released on bond...[Full Article]

TSA Pats Down Child in Spiderman Costume at Austin Airport

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogyjB1P5wHQ

Legions Of Biometric Face Scanning Cameras To Be Installed At Heathrow Airport Within Weeks

To be linked up to huge database of travelers through boarding passes

Steve Watson
Prisonplanet.com
July 21, 2011

In addition to full body scanners and enhanced grope downs, the latest big brother nightmare to hit airports comes in the form of biometric facial recognition cameras, set to be rolled out in terminals at London’s Heathrow Airport in September.

After an eighteen month trial, the Aurora Imaging Recognition (AIR) biometric system with enhanced image infrared cameras has been approved for use in the airport at terminals 1 and 5, reports the London Evening Standard.

Heathrow Skyport describes the process that travelers will have to undergo after the system is adopted:

Passengers are enrolled into the system and the biometric photo is linked with the boarding pass number on entry into the common user lounge, otherwise known as the departure lounge, at the first security check point.

Each passenger is then verified against their previous enrolment when the airside area before heading towards their departure gate.

It has the ability to identify people from a distance of 40cm to one metre, meaning that personal space is not imposed upon, and has been designed for people of different heights, including wheelchair users and children.

Tests conducted by the independent airport operator BAA and the UK Border Agency found that each face scan takes approximately 4-5 seconds.

There is no indication that anyone will be allowed to opt out of the procedure, meaning that for all travelers it will be compulsory to have a face scan and be added to the database in order to fly out of the terminal.

The justification for the system is to prevent passengers swapping tickets in the departure lounge, potentially allowing an international passenger to fly domestically, thus bypassing immigration checks.

The operators also say that the system will “help identify potential terrorists”, however it is not clear how this is possible given that they also claim that all data collected will be stored for up to 24 hours and then destroyed.

It is exactly this kind of loose justification and the bandying about of the word “terrorism” to sell nothing more than pure security theatre that has led to such a rampant backlash against the TSA takeover in the US.

The British government has been moving toward the use of such systems for some time. Three years ago we reported that passport control officers at UK airports were to be phased out in favour of the biometric cameras.

It was then revealed two months later that Interpol, the International Criminal Police Organization, wishes to integrate a facial database with its already existing fingerprint and DNA databases.

The organization, is planning to expand its role into the mass screening of passengers moving around the world by creating a face recognition database to catch wanted suspects, reported the London Guardian at the time.

Such a database will hold the records of every citizen who has ever traveled in and out of virtually every country in the world, representing intelligence agency style bulk interception of information.

We have previously noted that the vast array of databases currently being employed by intelligence agencies, government and law enforcement agencies worldwide were designed to be linked together in a system which will tie in the management and control of all facets of life for citizens to one central hub.

2008 saw the announcement of a vast intelligence program to establish a global biometric database known as “Server in the Sky” that will collate and provide an ” International Information Consortium” with access to the biometric measurements and personal information of citizens across the globe in the name of fighting the “war on terror”.

As reported by the London Guardian, the long term plan is being formulated by the FBI with the cooperation of the home offices and law enforcement agencies of American allies. The technology is being supplied by the US defense company Northrop Grumman.

Furthermore, the use of such technology, as we have already seen, will not be limited to the passport control office.

A 2007 British government report muted an extensive upgrade to cctv systems all across the country to incorporate facial scanning technology. The report suggested a central database of every camera and a network allowing access to it could be beneficial.

In the US there are several schemes that use Facial Recognition Technology in conjunction with Federal agencies, tying the technology to traditional documents such as drivers licenses, passports and credit cards.

A biometric face recognition system has already been approved in China and is expected to be used at airports, customs entrances, banks, post offices, residential areas and other public places in the near future.

Other proposals include placing the cameras in every seat on aircraft and installing software to try and automatically detect terrorists or other dangers caused by passengers.

We are assured that cigarette vending machines will employ the technology in order to enforce smoking laws. Similarly, supermarkets in the UK have already started trialing the technology with the justification being a crackdown on underage drinking.

In Japan facial scanning cameras are being installed in train and bus stations to replace tickets in a move to make the individual features of the face a “unique bar code” as part of an antiterrorism and anticrime initiative.

Police in Tokyo are also asking home and shop owners to mount the cameras outside their properties. “Police investigating an incident in the neighborhood would have access to these images.” according to reports.

Cell phones and computers are now also being produced with face scanning cameras, and even facebook has now integrated facial recognition software.

The prospect of the technology being so widely used was recently even critisized by Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt. A prominent Bilderberger and a man who once said that internet users should have no expectation of privacy, Schmidt said “Show us 14 photos of yourself and we can identify who you are,” before warning governments of adopting any “foolish” legislation that would see facial recognition technology become a part of everyday life.
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Steve Watson is the London based writer and editor for Alex Jones’ Infowars.net, and Prisonplanet.com. He has a Masters Degree in International Relations from the School of Politics at The University of Nottingham in England.

The six-year-old boy targeted for a pat-down by TSA TWICE

UK Daily Mail

The next in a string of heavy-handed Transportation Security Administration pat-downs, a six-year-old is examined twice by the department.

Disneyland-bound, the Long family has filed a complaint after their son was subjected to a very physical TSA search at the Washington SeaTac airport.

TSA officials at this airport were in the news only a few days before after demanding to perform a search claimed to be 'racially motivated' of a woman's hair...[Full Article]

New airport scanner which will take just five seconds

Passengers could clear airport security in as little as five seconds under plans for a sophisticated new screening system which would not require them to remove their personal belongings.

UK Telegraph

The 21 feet long smart tunnel combines all existing and imminent security technology in one place and would slash the time passengers wait at airports. Passengers would simply walk the length of the tunnel while they are scanned.

It would prevent the frustration many passengers feel when they have to partially undress at a security gate.

A version is expected to be trialled within 18 months and could be rolled out at major airports within five years. British authorities are known to be keen to use the next generation of airport security scanners as soon as possible...[Full Article]

Oops. Bomb at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport was only a drill

Star Tribune

With their guns drawn, police surrounded a man who reportedly was trying to get through security at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport with a bomb in a carry-on bag.

It was a drill, but the trouble was no one had told the cops, who thought it was real.

"I think a lot of people were alarmed," Patrick Hogan, spokesman for the Metropolitan Airport Commission, said of last week's incident. "There is always a danger that someone could have gotten hurt. It was unfortunate."...[Full Article]

Baby Food and Juice Box Confiscated at Airport Security Checkpoint

Reuters

At a Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport security checkpoint, the Tsa confiscates juice box and baby food due to the items allegedly testing positive for trace amounts of explosive materials.

FlyerTalk members are outraged not so much because the baby food and juice box were taken away from their rightful owners, but rather that if they indeed tested positive for trace amounts of explosive materials, why was further testing not performed by the Transportation Security Administration personnel — or, at least, treat the items as if they were indeed dangerous?

This incident leaves some FlyerTalk members wondering just how safe airport security really is in the United States...

Holograms to help passengers through security

The Independent / UK

Passengers at Manchester Airport will be greeted by holograms of staff from next week in a bid to reduce security check queues.

The images of customer service workers John and Julie were created by the same company which brought the chart-topping animated band Gorillaz to life on stage.

The recordings of actual employees John Walsh and Julie Capper will appear as travellers enter the security search area at Terminal 1. They will explain the liquid restrictions and remind passengers to have their boarding cards ready.

Bosses at the airport say it has become the first in the world to introduce holograms as part of its passenger security preparation...

[Full Article]

Suicide bomber kills 31 at Russian airport: reports

(Reuters) - At least 31 people were killed and more than 100 injured on Monday in a suicide bombing at Russia's biggest airport, Russian news agencies reported.

Russia's ruble-dominated stock market MICEX fell by nearly two percent following the blast, which ripped through the baggage claim area at Moscow's Domodedovo airport at 1332 GMT.

Smoke wafted out of the baggage claim area and people were seen running out of the emergency exits at the airport, local media reported.

Initial casualty figures were contradictory with ITAR-TASS saying about 20 people had been killed. A spokeswoman for prosecutors put the number of casualties at about 20.

Moscow suffered its worst attack in six years in March 2010 when two female suicide bombers from Russia's volatile Dagestan region set off explosives in the metro, killing 40 people.

The Kremlin is struggling to contain an Islamist insurgency in the mainly Muslim North Caucasus, and rebels have repeatedly vowed they will take their battle to the Russian heartland.

Man Strips at Va. Airport Checkpoint in Protest

RICHMOND, Va. -- Police say a man stripped to his underwear at a Virginia airport checkpoint in a protest against security procedures.

Airport police said the man took off his shirt and pants at Richmond International Airport on Thursday. He had scrawled across his chest a reference to the Constitution's 4th Amendment protections against unreasonable search and seizure...

[Full Article]

Get your flu shot on the fly at an airport near you

Robert Gibbs stays busy running his marketing agency and says finding time to nail down a doctor's appointment is getting harder and harder.

So on Monday, when he arrived from Chicago and saw that the Harmony Pharmacy store at New York's JFK airport was offering flu shots, he took off his heavy tweed jacket and rolled up his shirt sleeve. "I'd shopped there before and just thought 'Now is as good a time as any.' I didn't feel weird at all," said Gibbs, "In fact, getting a flu shot while running through the airport seemed pretty cool."

Cool and easy, says Spokane, WA-based Teresa Ide, "Talk about convenient! I would definitely get a flu shot at the airport."

First marketed to travelers by the medical clinic at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport seven or eight years ago, in-airport flu shots are being offered this year at clinics and temporary kiosks at close to two dozen airports stretching from Los Angeles to Miami...

[Full Article]

[Webmaster - Now you can get radiated by body scanners and shot up with cancer viruses in flu shots all at one location. How convenient...]

Picture this, airplane passengers get scanned

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - It's one more tool to prevent a terrorist attack. Full body scanners are now at the Honolulu airport. The Transportation Security Administration rolled out the new device, officially called Advanced Imaging Technology, on Friday as a way to stay one step ahead of security threats.

Since 9/11, getting off the ground hasn't been easy. "Make sure you take out all items - cellphones, keys, coins," says a TSA security officer directing passenger traffic at the checkpoint and towards the new body scanners.

With body imaging, employees can detect metal and non-metallic items - anything from cellphones to liquids, powders, and plastics to explosives. No passenger pat downs necessary. TSA spokesman Nico Melendez says, "They don't want to be touched, and we understand that. That's why we pursued technology like this - so we can get away from having to touch passengers needlessly."

The process works like this: passengers take their shoes off, enter into a tall, cylinder-shaped enclosure, and stand on yellow foot markings, shoulder-width apart. They put their hands over their head, bent at the elbows, for five to seven seconds - as the machine scans the body. In a private room nearby, a TSA screening officer views the black and white body images on a computer screen - looking for anything suspicious...

[Full Article]

Full-body scanners arrive at Sea-Tac Airport

Full-body scanners will soon be fully operational at Sea-Tac Airport despite worries about privacy, health effects and longer lines.

Traveling through Seattle-Tacoma Airport soon? Be prepared to remove your wallet, take off your watch and belt, empty your pockets and stand with your hands over your head while an X-ray machine scans for anything hidden under your clothing.

Fourteen full-body scanners will be installed at Sea-Tac security checkpoints with some fully operational within the next week, Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officials said Friday.

The machines, called "backscatter" devices, allow agents to see through clothes by scattering low-dose X-rays at a passenger's front and back. The X-rays produce a chalky, nude image that detects hidden metallic and nonmetallic items alike, such as plastic weapons and explosives...

[Full Article]

Naked body scanners for Manchester Airport terminals
Technology to be rolled out one year after trials

All three of Manchester Airport’s passenger security areas will have body scanners by the end of October.

Work to install a body scanner in Terminal 3 is underway, a year after they were first trialled at the airport. The scanners allow security staff to see through clothing...

[Full Article]

Italy To Abandon Airport Body Scanner Project

AFP - After a six-month test, Italy's government will drop the use of full-body scanners for security checks in airports, judging them slow and ineffective, Italian daily Corriere della Sera reported Thursday.

The scanners in the airports of Rome, Venice and the southern city of Palermo are no longer in use, and Milan's airport is likely to stop using the machines in the near future.

"We didn't get good results from body scanners during testing, it takes a long time to examine a person, more than with a manual inspection," said Vito Riggio, the president of Italy's aviation authority...

[Full Article]

Coming Soon: Body Scanners at JFK, Newark, LaGuardia

[NBCNewYork.com]

Full body scanners that have stirred controversy for producing virtually naked images of airline passengers are coming to airports near you next month.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey announced that the hotly debated machines will be installed at Newark Liberty, John F. Kennedy and LaGuardia international airports in September. TSA officials contend that the technology allows security screeners to see non-metal weapons like explosives that go undetected by existing metal detectors.

In March 2010, the agency started sending out 450 machines, which were bought with funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Forty-one airports across the country already have the imaging technology installed at security checkpoints, according to the Transportation Security Administration.

While the TSA calls the technology less invasive than a pat-down, the Washington-based Electronic Privacy Information Center is suing the Department of Homeland Security to stop the use of the machines, charging that the scanners are unconstitutional.

“Body scanners produce detailed, three-dimensional images of individuals,” the group states on its Web site. “Security experts have described whole body scanners as the equivalent of ‘a physically invasive strip-search.’”

Only passengers that are flagged for extra security screenings are asked to go stand in the machines for imaging.

The TSA has tried to allay the public’s privacy concerns by stating that the scanners cannot store naked images of travelers, but through a Freedom of Information Act request EPIC found that one of these machines at a courthouse in Florida had stored 35,314 images.

Acting director of the TSA, Gale Rossides, said in a letter to EPIC, “It seems that though the machines at airports are manufactured with the capability to store images, that capability is used in ‘testing mode’ only – and not at airports."

Outrage At Secret Probe Into 47,000 Innocent Flyers

Police secretly investigated the travel habits, family, friends and backgrounds of 47,000 innocent people last year after they bought plane tickets to fly into and out of Britain.

The intrusiveness has provoked fury among civil liberties campaigners and now may be stopped by Britain’s new coalition Government.

The flyers were singled out by the ‘terrorist detector’ database, introduced by Labour, monitoring millions of British tourists and other travellers.

Checks included scrutiny of the police national computer, financial records and analysis of ‘known associates’ before people were cleared for travel.

Police secretly investigated the travel habits of 47,000 innocent people last year

Yet it is understood the £1.2billion system has never led to the arrest of a terrorist – and police now use it to target ‘sex offenders and football hooligans’.

Police have also used it to produce 14,000 intelligence reports on travellers for ‘future use’. They can be shared by security services worldwide...

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1278782/Outrage-secret-probe-47-000-innocent-flyers.html#ixzz0o6TNZWSB

U.S. Changing The Way Air Travelers Are Screened

The Obama administration is abandoning its policy of using nationality alone to determine which U.S.-bound international air travelers should be subject to additional screening and will instead select passengers based on possible matches to intelligence information, including physical descriptions or a particular travel pattern, senior officials said Thursday.

After the attempted bombing of an Amsterdam-to-Detroit flight on Christmas Day, U.S. officials hastily decided that passengers from or traveling through 14 specified countries would be subjected to secondary searches. Critics have since called the measures discriminatory and overly burdensome, and the administration has faced pressure to refine its approach.

Under the new system, screeners will stop passengers for additional security if they match certain pieces of known intelligence. The system will be "much more intel-based," a senior administration official said, "as opposed to blunt force."...

Airport Device Follows Fliers' Phones

WASHINGTON — Today's smartphones and PDAs could have a new use in the nation's airports: helping passengers avoid long lines at security checkpoints.

The Transportation Security Administration is looking at installing devices in airports that home in and detect personal electronic equipment. The aim is to track how long people are stuck in security lines.

Information about wait times could then be posted on websites and in airports across the country.

"This technology will produce valuable data that can be used in a variety of ways," TSA spokeswoman Lauren Gaches said, noting it could help prevent checkpoint snarls.

But civil-liberties experts worry that such a system enables the government to track people's whereabouts. "It's serious business when the government begins to get near people's personal-communication devices," said American Civil Liberties Union privacy expert Jay Stanley...