My Network World colleague Ellen Messmer recounts an interesting conversation she had recently with a business traveler who has nothing but praise for an experimental biometric security-screening program run by the government at the Orlando airport. Give up your fingerprints, get a special “Clear” card, and zipitty-do-dah you’re waltzing past the serpentine security checkpoint without so much as a cursory glance.
The downside? … Eighty bucks … and that’s $80 a year, bub.
Which raises a fairness question, in my view. I’ve got no problem with airlines selling premium service — no problem other than first-class envy, of course — but something just doesn’t seem right when it’s the government giving the well-to-do yet another painless privilege while the rest of us get to the airport two hours early just so we’ll have time to remove our belts and shoes.
