Border Security Officials Face Tough Tech Investment Choices When Travel Eventually Returns
Photo Credit: A couple pre-pandemic gets new passport documents thanks to a Bangladesh identity solution partly powered by tech firm Veridos. Veridos
Skift Take
Many border security agencies aren't ready to cope with a return to pre-pandemic levels of travel if they have to track additional pieces of information like traveler health. Blame the holdup on a debate about tactics and tech, not just budgetary shortfalls.
The pandemic has drawn governments worldwide' attention to the need to track the visitors crossing their borders for more than immigration and security reasons. Yet many governments have decades-old technology and lack the flexibility to ingest new data sources such as medical information. Many nations also lack the latest techniques for verifying people's identities.
One factor holding up progress has been a delay in agreement on the best standards to put in place. Questions abound.
Should border control agencies identify people using a thermal infrared image, which analyzes a face's heat-signature for a pattern for recognition? This technology might work well in low-light conditions like a land border at dusk, but objects like eyeglasses might throw off sensors at a drive-through checkpoint, one report noted.
Is it best to capture standard photos of faces, given that countries worldwide of all sizes can afford and access technologies to analyze and manage such imagery? Or is
