The Price of Convenience will always be less Privacy

Airports are transit control centers, and as surprising as it will be to learn it, the square footage of airports is not part of any country. Airports are neutral islands within countries that operate under their own rules. Facilities at transportation hubs such as airports have changed over the years. They’ve become more comfortable, cozy, modern and above all convenient places for travelers. With the advent of technology, airports became even more attractive to anyone who visited family for the holidays or who took a vacation abroad. With more influx of passengers, airport administrators sought to make them even more convenient and comfortable. That comfort undoubtedly depends on access to technology such as WiFi, charging stations, large TV screens, shops and now, a fast check-in experience. Who doesn’t like to run through security without being molested by a security guard at an airport checkpoint? Who would rather go right through the check-in desk instead of having to queue while having to listen to screaming babies? But, what is the cost of all this convenience? The Pros and Cons of Convenience Flying without worrying about carrying your passport or ticket, not waiting to check your luggage and even forgetting about it because there is no chance of it being lost when you arrive at your destination, not having to go to the airport in advance is a dream come true. In fact, how about validating your boarding pass at different gates or interact with security agents directly from your cell phone? Although it may seem somewhat futuristic, the features cited above are already available in the control processes at airports around the world. The number of air passengers not only continues to grow, but it is expected to double over the next 20 years, according to SITA, a technology provider for terminals and airports around the world. Consequently, the number of flights will also increase. But not the number of airports. For example, Geneva’s airport cannot expand its infrastructure. It is between a lake, the city and a mountain range. According to experts, the key to managing this increase in travelers is to incorporate more technology in the process of checking in passengers and luggage. The air sector already uses technology in their processes: from purchase to check-in, luggage management, passenger boarding, operations control or risk prediction. In 2018 alone, they spent $50 billion, according to SITA’s 2019 Air Transport IT Insights study. The largest investment was in cloud services and cybersecurity. But in the sector it is committed to all kinds of technologies: internet of things, digital payments, computational vision, blockchain, artificial intelligence and 5G. As people become more dependent on mobile phones, 5G technology and cloud computing, airport administration enterprises move along in the same direction. Those who were born in a digital society deal with travel as they deal with any other aspect of their life: through the telephone. While the mobile phone becomes an integral part of the life of users, and more and more people depend on this technology to interact in society, more companies join this trend. While facilitating the lives of passengers, they also negatively impact your privacy, since all movements inside and outside your homes are recorded and saved by air companies, social networks, Wi-Fi networks and others. The question is, what is the price we are willing to pay for convenience? In 2025, the number of travelers born in the digital age will double from the predigital era -68% from 32% -. Experts allege that passengers don’t want to buy tickets or have to talk to someone to check in to another person to leave luggage, for boarding, or wait for queues. They want to go from point A to point B without flight delays. That is a single simplified experience in which there are not so many steps and only have the strictly necessary human interactions. Currently, more than half of the travelers use technology to check-in – through the web, their mobiles or machines at airports -, according to the aforementioned report. In addition, in 2018, 44% of passengers used automatic passport control. That is, twice as much as the previous year. For example, the Milan airport installed about 50 e-gates or automatic doors capable of verifying travel documents or the identity of travelers. It has also implemented virtual assistants. They are machines that answer 10,000 passenger inquiries every month. Convenience is not only about convenience Facial recognition has also landed in some airports. Face scanning eliminates the need to show your passport or boarding pass at different controls. This technology, which is already part of our daily lives and can apply a series of biases, has raised controversy in recent years among organizations defending privacy rights. San Francisco became the first city in the United States to ban its use by considering that the right to privacy of citizens must prevail. On the contrary, the European Parliament has approved the creation of a biometric fingerprint or face scanning database of the more than 500 million inhabitants of the EU that will be available to the security forces. In addition, 70% of airlines plan to invest in this type of biometric solutions before 2021. Some have already conducted tests at airports such as Hamad International, Qatar, Muscat, Oman, or Orlando, in the U.S.. SITA claims to have achieved the milestone of boarding 240 passengers in approximately 10 minutes. Its president […] Read the rest below at the source link