Passport pass-thru - [News]

PERFORMATIVE: security screening at airports creates interminable lines leading to the gates. The result: absurdities like needing to show up at the airport 3 hours ahead of the departure time for a 2-hour flight. The remedy may be computerized screening of the type done by a new system recently unveiled at an airport in Dubai. Before entering the "smart tunnel," a traveler submits to a quick automated iris scan. As the person passes through the portal, facial recognition technology confirms his or her identity without the need to ever display a passport. The process, say the system's developers, is completed in less than 15 seconds. The United Arab Emirates, where Dubai is located, is so bullish on the technology that it says, by 2020, it will no longer use human immigration officers at its airports.