Airline passengers can keep their shoes on at security

[knowledge_of_self]

This article caught my eye today...[emphasis mine]
_http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/090907/national/airport_security_shoes

Airline passengers can keep their shoes on at security
Mon Sep 7, 4:32 PM
By Dean Beeby, The Canadian Press

OTTAWA - Good news for harried travellers who resent having to remove their shoes at airport-security checkpoints: now you can just say no.

Canada's airport security agency has issued a bulletin to front-line officers instructing them they cannot require domestic or international passengers to doff footwear before walking through metal detectors.

"Never suggest, ask or demand that passengers remove footwear prior to entering the WTMD (walk-through metal detector)," says the one-page directive, issued in April.

"This bulletin is effective immediately."

In a major exception, however, officers can still order passengers heading for the United States to remove their shoes, consistent with higher air-security standards set by Washington.

As well, if a hand-held metal detector signals an alarm for shoes after the walk-through, a passenger can be required to remove footwear for examination.

And "if a passenger offers to remove footwear, allow them to do so," adds the directive.

The Canadian Air Transport Security Authority, or CATSA, says the new bulletin will be written into the next edition of its operating manual.

The document was obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act.

Typically, shoes that passengers have been required to remove are sent through hand-baggage X-ray machines for closer inspection.

Footwear came under greater scrutiny by airport security officers around the world after British citizen Richard Reid was arrested in late 2001 for a failed attempt to bomb an American Airlines flight to Miami by igniting explosives hidden in his shoes.

A flight attendant managed to thwart Reid as he tried to hold a match to a fuse sticking out of the heel of one shoe.

The April shoe directive for Canadian screeners appears at odds with a "notice to passengers," currently posted on the CATSA website, that says "all passengers boarding any flights may also be requested to remove footwear for additional screening."

A spokesman for the authority said the spring bulletin is nothing new.

"It's a reminder to screening officers about the existing policy," Mathieu Larocque said in an interview.

"The purpose of the bulletin was simply to reinforce an existing policy. Nothing has changed. ... We're striving for consistency."

Larocque, who said the bulletin was not prompted by passenger complaints, declined to provide the relevant amendments of the screening manual, saying it is a secret document.

And he did not clarify why the bulletin indicated the shoe directive was "effective immediately" if it had already been CATSA policy.

The agency does not keep detailed enough records of complaints to indicate whether show-removal is an issue for travellers, Larocque said.

Tougher rules for shoe-screening that followed the Reid arrest have prompted a raft of passenger complaints around the world. Numerous blogs and travel websites allege that foot diseases are being spread and that security checkpoints are needlessly clogged by people struggling with shoelaces.

Several footwear manufacturers have also promoted "airport friendly" shoes containing little or no metal that might otherwise trigger alarms on metal detectors.

CATSA is a federal agency created in 2002 in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States. On Jan. 1, 2003, the organization took over sole responsibility for air-passenger screening, which had previously been handled by the airlines.

The agency contracts out airport screening to private companies, while ensuring security and service standards are consistent across Canada.

After reading this, I thought to myself.. hmm is this good news? Because in this world, if anything seems good, it just means there is more to it than meets the eye.
So I did some research and came a cross some interesting reading material. Like, "the shoe scanner", which has been talked about on this thread. I see that some air ports are really pushing this technology.
_http://www.tsa.gov/blog/2008/07/leave-your-shoes-on.html

Leave your shoes on?

Wouldn’t it be great to show up at a checkpoint and just when you were reaching down to untie your shoes, you heard an officer say “You can leave your shoes on.”

The TSA is well aware that the removal of shoes is not our most popular policy. In fact, it probably ranks up there with root canals and doing your taxes.

What you’ve seen up until now has been our officers enforcing an unpopular policy that is based on the unfortunate truth that intelligence tells us that terrorists are still very interested in hiding items in their shoes.

Today, the X-ray is simply the quickest, most effective way to ensure nothing is hidden inside. What you haven’t seen is all the hard work that’s been going on behind the scenes trying to find an alternative. Our experts and the private sector have been looking for ways to screen footwear while allowing passengers to keep their shoes on for quite some time.

Last year, TSA tested a shoe scanner from General Electric in Orlando. Today, we’re testing shoe scanning technology at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) from L3 Communications. If all goes well, these tests could lead the way to quelling of one of our most unpopular policies.

LAX received two units from L3 Communications last week. Since this is a test to collect data, passengers will still need to remove their shoes prior to walking through the magnetometer. Hey, don’t kill the messenger. I’m just giving you a heads up! :)

DHS Science and Technology, a sister agency of TSA, is also testing this shoe scanner and will collaborate with us on their findings.

Programs like the shoe scanner, the checkpoint friendly laptop bag and diamond lanes are not only good for passenger convenience but they help to reduce the chaos and frustration at checkpoints. This is good for security because it allows more than 2,000 Behavior Detection Officers to better focus on passengers with harmful intent.

Now, the original article that brought me to do research didn't mention anything about foot scanners, it really didn't say anything about WHY they all of a sudden want to stop implementing people from taking their shoes off, other than

Tougher rules for shoe-screening that followed the Reid arrest have prompted a raft of passenger complaints around the world. Numerous blogs and travel websites allege that foot diseases are being spread and that security checkpoints are needlessly clogged by people struggling with shoelaces.

But somehow i think there is more to it than mere complaints. I finally came across this article that i must admit, scared the bejesus out of me. Yes it is a little old, but there is some references to 2010 implementation which is what scared me. SOTT also ran the article here

_http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/12/02/airport.security/index.html

Behavioral screening -- the future of airport security?
TEL AVIV, Israel (CNN) -- Keep your shoes and belts on: Waiting in long airport security lines to pass through metal detectors may soon be a thing of the past.
Security experts say focus is shifting from analyzing the content of carry-ons to analyzing the content of passengers' intentions and emotions.

"We are seeing a needed paradigm shift when it comes to security," says Omer Laviv, CEO of ATHENA GS3, an Israeli-based security company.

"This 'brain-fingerprinting,' or technology which checks for behavioral intent, is much more developed than we think."

Nowhere is the need for cutting-edge security more acute than Israel, which faces constant security threats. For this reason, Israel has become a leader in developing security technology.

Several Israeli-based technology companies are developing detection systems that pick up signs of emotional strain, a psychological red flag that a passenger may intend to commit an act of terror. Speedier and less intrusive than metal detectors, these systems may eventually restore some efficiency to the airplane boarding process.

One firm, WeCU (pronounced "We See You") Technologies, employs a combination of infra-red technology, remote sensors and imagers, and flashing of subliminal images, such as a photo of Osama bin Laden. Developers say the combination of these technologies can detect a person's reaction to certain stimuli by reading body temperature, heart rate and respiration, signals a terrorist unwittingly emits before he plans to commit an attack.

With these technologies, the emphasis is on speed and seamlessness. Ehud Givon, CEO of WeCU, envisions a day when a passenger can breeze through a security checkpoint in 20 to 30 seconds.

Although traditional security profiling can discriminate by race and religion, security experts say behavioral profiling is more fair, more effective and less expensive.

WeCU has received grants from the Transportation Security Administration within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which hopes to implement a system to pinpoint internal threats such as airline employees intending terrorist acts.

Once these technologies are in place, a passenger may pass through a security screening without realizing it. For example, passengers could use an automated check-in system or gaze at a screen with departures information without realizing they've just been exposed to the words "Islamic jihad" written in Arabic.

These stimuli, explains Givon, will intrinsically elicit some sort of biometric response -- whether the passenger knows it or not -- that can be picked up by WeCU's strategically placed sensors.

"I believe that we introduce a new layer in security," Givon says. "This is something that couldn't be done in the past: finding the connection between a certain individual and the intent to harm."

The Orwellian-sounding startup has gone further to develop a system that detects a passenger's behavioral intentions by scanning their every step, literally. While walking around certain parts of the airport terminal, a passenger may not realize he has stepped on a "smart carpet" filled with hidden biometric sensors.

The technology is still under development, says Givon, who believes it will be strong enough to pick up biometric information from a footstep. If a passenger is wearing heavy hiking boots, for example, WeCU will rely on biometric sensors combined with video and thermal biometric imaging to detect malicious intent.

Another option from WeCU is a "smart seat," or cushion full of hidden biometric sensors that could provide a more detailed read on someone sitting in an airport waiting area, Givon says.

While the technology sound like something from a James Bond flick or even "A Clockwork Orange," Givon insists that passengers will not find the techniques intrusive. "We don't want you to feel that you are being interrogated," he says.

Givon is negotiating contracts with airports worldwide and believes his company's technology may be implemented as soon as 2010.

Nemesysco, another Israeli-based technology company, believes the key to a person's emotions and intentions lies in their voice. The company's patented LVA, or Layered Voice Analysis, technology can pick up verbal cues from a passenger who may pose a threat.

Unlike a polygraph test, which checks for lies, Nemesysco's systems work as an "emotion detector," says Nemesysco CEO Amir Liberman. In other words, it's not what passengers say, but how they say it.

Nemesysco's devices use a series of patented signal-processing algorithms that can differentiate between a "normal" voice and a"'stressed" voice. If emotional stress is detected, officials can determine if the passenger should be taken aside for further questioning.

The system works on the premise that all voices have a certain frequency, and any deviation of that baseline frequency can indicate stress.

Liberman says it takes approximately five to 10 seconds for their system to capture a "normal" voice in casual conversation, which establishes a baseline. Their system then measures changes from the baseline voice that signify an increase in stress, excitement, anticipation, hesitation or other emotions that can indicate a potential terrorism threat.

A computer processes the voice patterns and then flashes words such as "high risk," "medium risk," "excited" and "highly stressed." Through his system, Liberman says, he "can see what's going on in your brain."

Versions of Nemesysco's system already have been successfully tested at Moscow Domodedovo International Airport, where officials used it to target criminals and drug traffickers. A version was recently implemented at another major international airport which Liberman declined to identify.

Layered Voice Analysis also has been used to test for insurance fraud and on the TV program "Big Brother Australia."

Layered Voice Analysis has limitations, including the inability to trace the vocal patterns of a person with a speech impediment. But the system is more effective than current security measures, claims Liberman, who believes a terrorist currently can pass through airport security with explosive material "that can take down any plane."

In fact, many experts express little confidence in the current state of airport security.

Philip Baum, London-based editor of Aviation Security International magazine, says would-be terrorists could easily slip through security checkpoints, even with new regulations that check for liquids.

"The archaic system of an X-ray machine and metal detector cannot pick up other potential threats posed by passengers," Baum says. "I can have a ceramic weapon or chemical weapons and walk through an archway metal detector and it won't be picked up. Yet we have huge faith in these metal detectors that can only pick up one substance."

Laviv, whose consulting firm focuses on securing mass transportation systems, is equally skeptical.

"It is possible today to hijack an aircraft using only five or six able-bodied passengers who are well-trained in Kung Fu fighting," he says. "There is no technology in place in airports to detect a threat like that.

"The question is, should our desire be to look for each and every threat agent, rather than focus our efforts on identifying the [violent] intention of the passenger?"

Considering the fact that Vancouver has been implementing Israeli security features throughout the city, and 2010 being just around the corner, I don't know whether to be expecting shoe scanners or behavioral screening when I go to the air port next time. Either way, it's just another grim look at our way of life currently on the BBM.

 

[Voyageur]

Thanks Deedlet,

Read that on CBC and it too gave me pause; good job looking further into this – “So I did some research and came across some interesting reading material. Like, "the shoe scanner", which has been talked about on this thread. I see that some air ports are really pushing this technology.”

This reminded me about long ago the commonality of people having their feet x-rayed when buying shoes (see below) and then the kids in Israel being subjected to x-ray’s concerning lice or so they said!

Shoe Fitting X-Ray Device

In the late 1940's and early 1950's, the shoe-fitting x-ray unit was a common shoe store sales promotion device and nearly all stores had one. It was estimated that there were 10,000 of these devices in use. This particular shoe-fitting x-ray unit was produced by the dominant company in the field, the Adrian X-Ray Company of Milwaukee WI, now defunct. Brooks Stevens, a noted industrial designer whose works included the the Milwaukee Road Olympian and an Oscar Meyer Wienermobile, designed this machine.

The radiation hazards associated with shoe fitting x-ray units were recognized as early as 1950. The machines were often out of adjustment and were constructed so radiation leaked into the surrounding area.