retinal scans

despite all the scifi elements and cloak and dagger mystery associated, i myself am not a strong advocate of retinal scanning technology. having wasted many hours of my life standing in a queue at immigration at Heathrow Airport, i longed for a quicker way to get through the endless lines of tourists, students, businessmen and all sorts of shady characters looking for ways into the cash-rich bonanza of the UK.

finally, one immigration official - as i was LEAVING the country for Hong Kong - suggested that i sign up for the retinal scan tech which fast tracks me through immigration. so i went in and got my eyes scanned and data registered in about 5 minutes.

coming home, on a flight that arrived around 7 am (peak arrival time for overseas flights), i sidestepped the hour-long queue and went to the scanning machine. one woman was in front of me and she took 5 seconds to get through. you walk onto the spot, place your face near the camera which scans you and matches the scan to the data in their computers. since i'm a permanent resident here, i can come and go as i please. within a few seconds, i was through. i was literally the SECOND person at the baggage carousel. ahead of all the fat cats from first class and all!

of course, if your suitcase is the last one off the plane, it's all in vain!

i'm just assuming that i'm not getting some Manchurian Candidate style implant as a result of those brief encounters with the scanning technology :)