facial recognition machines are to be installed at airports to replace passport officers, under border control plans announced in the UK by Home Secretary Jacqui Smith.
The new equipment automatically scans passport photos and matches them to the biometric records held by the authorities and open an automated gate when a match is registered.
It is claimed the machines will cut immigration queues and boost border security. The new system is being trialled at Manchester Airport.
However the new gates can only be used with people from the UK and EU who are over 18 and hold a new-style chipped passport.
But critics fear the the new technology will generate too many false readings, and scanners could clear travellers whom passport officers might otherwise observe to be behaving suspiciously.
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