Fingerprint checks 'are on the way'

Air travellers may soon face having their fingerprints checked, retinas scanned and faces analysed before they are allowed on to a plane.

It will be very different from a quick glance by a bored official to check your face matches your passport photo.

Fingerprint technology is now cheap and reliable enough for the task, experts say. "Scanners now cost less than £70 and in mass production would be much less," says Veronique Wittebolle, vice president of Keyware, an American firm which produces so-called biometric devices.

The Malaysian government is using fingerprint recognition for its multi-purpose identification cards, the first of their kind in the world.

Holders will be able to use them as a passport, driver's licence, healthcare card and electronic purse.

Many civil rights organisations, however, regard the cards as another method of tightening the control of citizens by Malaysia's dictatorial regime.

In the Netherlands, the Interior Ministry is creating a system to use iris scans to keep tabs on asylum seekers and immigrants.

Face recognition systems are also being developed which use pattern-recognition technology, originally developed to identify Soviet warplanes, to match the face in front of the camera with stored images. They are not fooled by glasses, wigs or false noses.

Iris recognition scans the iris with a laser and analyses the unique pattern and is quick and reliable.

Voice recognition is also cheap and easy, but people with colds risk being rejected.