Boston Logan Unveils Document Scanning System - 2002-09-23

Boston Logan International Airport today became the first U.S. airport to deploy a new scanning technology to authenticate drivers' licenses and passports, check the document bearer's name against government watch lists and record a history of document verification.

The airport first will use the iA-thenticate technology to verify the documents of airport employees, according to Thomas Kinton Jr., Massport director of aviation. He said the system, provided by Bedford, N.H.-based Imaging Automation, could be used to check IDs presented by all airport passengers, but Massport said it would turn to the government to cover the full installation, which could cost up to $2 million.

The iA-thenticate platform reads each document's scannable area and tests other areas of the document for tampering. In a test this summer, the technology detected several forged documents. According to Imaging Automation, the system already is used by police in Canada, Finland, Hungary and Sweden and can incorporate biometrics.