Does turning off the Iris system at Manchester and Birmingham represent a failure of biometrics?

I'm glad that the folks at Allevate have put this story into its proper perspective. They possess a great depth of knowledge on airport biometrics and they are close to the story.

"Let’s not forget the system was originally introduced in 2004, initially as a pilot. At this time, such use of Iris technology was fairly innovative. That the footprint of the pilot was gradually extended and became a permanent system is indicative that the system was fairly well received. The fact that over 380,000 people have voluntarily enrolled (myself included) makes it difficult to argue that the system is derided.

In my opinion, the turning off of the system at these two locations is more in line with a planned phasing out of this particular solution, for some rather more mundane reasons: [...]"

Read on at the Allevate blog.

One more reason I'm glad: my procrastination has saved me from writing a post that would have paled in comparison. Read the whole thing.