Thailand’s main police force is planning to install facial biometrics scanners at the country’s borders. Their aim is to screen visitors and immigrants against criminal databases.
According to the Bangkok Post, the Royal Thai Police see it as a security measure against terrorism and other serious crimes, as well as a means of improving efficiency in immigration screening. While the latter rationale has certainly been an important motivation in biometric screening at America’s airports, in Thailand’s case the security concern is likely the more important factor. The country suffered a deadly bombing this summer at the Erawan Shrine in Bangkok; 20 were killed and 130 were injured. That has likely helped to propel the police toward more advanced security technologies.
In the wake of that bombing, Thai authorities were already mulling how facial recognition technology could be used to help to track down those responsible. Now, police are taking things a step further, looking to preventive deployments at the country’s borders. While this could prove controversial as it has in other countries such as Australia, for now the measure is just in its planning stages, with no firm timeline as to when the facial biometric screening could be implemented.
Source: Bangkok Post
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October 21, 2015 – by Alex Perala
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