Connect with us

News

Thailand’s Airports Introduce eGates to Expedite Immigration Clearing

egates Thailand

Starting next month, most outbound Travellers in Thailand will be able be able to pass through automatic channels to clear Immigration at Suvarnabhumi airport, reducing congestion. Passengers possessing Thai, Hong Kong, or Singaporean passports can currently use automatic processing at Suvarnabhumi.

Starting on December 15, 2023, the Immigration Bureau was updating its computer programming and revising laws so that other departing foreigners might also use automatic routes.

The Immigration Bureau anticipates that this will enhance outward passenger processing at Suvarnabhumi airport from 5,000 to 12,000 per hour.

According to the Immigration Bureau, Thailand Airports intended to add more automatic channels at Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang airports. Immigration officials could then be moved to expedite inbound traveler processing.

Automated Border Control Systems (ABC) or eGates are automated systems that use data contained on biometric passport chips and pictures or fingerprints obtained upon admission to the eGates to authenticate the identification of passport holders.

It’s a barrier to self-service. Biometric authentication is performed on travelers using facial recognition, iris recognition, fingerprints, or a combination of these methods. Once the identity verification process is complete and the passport holder’s identification has been confirmed, physical obstacles such as gates and turnstiles will be released to allow passage.

If the identity of the passport bearer is not validated, or if the system malfunctions, the gates and turnstiles will not open, and you will be met by an immigration officer. E-gate emerged in the mid-2000s as a method of automatically reading the new ICAO-mandated electronic passports. A machine-readable electronic passport or ID card is required for all eGate systems.

egates thailand

Fingerprint and iris scanning Airports of Thailand

Some governments restrict the use of automated border control systems to particular nationalities. EU/EEA/Swiss nationals, or holders of CAN/JPN/SGP/UK/US passports, etc. Citizens of all other nationalities must go to an immigration official and get their passports stamped.

The method for departing and incoming passengers is the same for each configuration, such as gate, kiosk and gate, or mantrap kiosk. Arriving passengers in a gated configuration place their passport data page above or below the scanner, see a camera that captures a live photo and compares it to their passport photo, and travel through a series of barriers that open when: the citizen’s identification is verified.

Immigration officers will intervene if your identity cannot be established or if something goes wrong during the passport scan or photo stage. Some devices can also perform fingerprint and iris scanning. Passengers approaching a kiosk for face, finger, and passport scanning in the kiosk and gate setup.

Then proceed to a series of doors and enter your fingerprint to gain access. Passengers enter the mantrap kiosk setup by walking past the first set of barriers to the kiosk for face, finger, and passport scanning.

They then exit through her second barrier. According to an Acuity Market Intelligence analysis from 2014, the number of e-gate systems installed worldwide is predicted to quadruple from 1,100 in 2013 to more than 3,200 in 2018. The majority of e-gates are located in airports in Europe, Australia, and Asia.

eGates Thailand

Automated Border Control Systems (ABC) or eGates

Automated border control systems refer to technological solutions that use various technologies to streamline and enhance the border control process. These systems aim to improve the efficiency, accuracy, and security of border control procedures while facilitating the smooth flow of legitimate travelers. Here are some key components and features commonly found in automated border control systems:

  1. Biometric Identification:
    • Facial Recognition: Automated systems often use facial recognition technology to match the traveler’s face with the data stored in their biometric passport or other identification documents.
    • Fingerprint Scanning: Fingerprint biometrics can be used for identity verification, providing an additional layer of security.
  2. e-Gates and Kiosks:
    • e-Gates: These are automated gates equipped with biometric scanners that allow pre-approved travelers to pass through the border without the need for manual inspection.
    • Kiosks: Self-service kiosks enable travelers to input their information and complete necessary procedures such as customs declarations.
  3. Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA):
    • Some countries require travelers to obtain electronic travel authorization before arrival. These systems use online platforms to collect and process information about incoming travelers before they reach the border.
  4. Document Authentication:
    • Automated systems can verify the authenticity of travel documents, such as passports and visas, using various technologies including optical character recognition (OCR) and document scanners.
  5. Advanced Passenger Information (API) and Passenger Name Record (PNR) Systems:
    • These systems collect and analyze information about passengers before they arrive, providing border control authorities with advance knowledge about travelers.
  6. Data Sharing and Interoperability:
    • Automated border control systems often involve collaboration and information sharing among various government agencies and international partners to enhance security and facilitate smoother cross-border movements.
  7. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning:
    • AI and machine learning technologies may be employed to improve the accuracy of identity verification and to detect anomalies or suspicious patterns in traveler data.
  8. Risk Assessment and Profiling:
    • Automated systems can assess the risk associated with each traveler based on various factors, such as travel history, biometric data, and the purpose of the visit.
  9. Mobile Applications:
    • Some border control systems incorporate mobile apps that allow travelers to submit information and complete pre-screening processes before arriving at the border.

Implementing automated border control systems can enhance security, reduce processing times, and improve the overall experience for legitimate travelers. However, it’s crucial to balance these benefits with privacy concerns and ensure that the systems comply with relevant legal and ethical standards.

News

Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding, But Still Accounting 48% Search Revenue

Google

Google is so closely associated with its key product that its name is a verb that signifies “search.” However, Google’s dominance in that sector is dwindling.

According to eMarketer, Google will lose control of the US search industry for the first time in decades next year.

Google will remain the dominant search player, accounting for 48% of American search advertising revenue. And, remarkably, Google is still increasing its sales in the field, despite being the dominating player in search since the early days of the George W. Bush administration. However, Amazon is growing at a quicker rate.

google

Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding

Amazon will hold over a quarter of US search ad dollars next year, rising to 27% by 2026, while Google will fall even more, according to eMarketer.

The Wall Street Journal was first to report on the forecast.

Lest you think you’ll have to switch to Bing or Yahoo, this isn’t the end of Google or anything really near.

Google is the fourth-most valued public firm in the world. Its market worth is $2.1 trillion, trailing just Apple, Microsoft, and the AI chip darling Nvidia. It also maintains its dominance in other industries, such as display advertisements, where it dominates alongside Facebook’s parent firm Meta, and video ads on YouTube.

To put those “other” firms in context, each is worth more than Delta Air Lines’ total market value. So, yeah, Google is not going anywhere.

Nonetheless, Google faces numerous dangers to its operations, particularly from antitrust regulators.

On Monday, a federal judge in San Francisco ruled that Google must open up its Google Play Store to competitors, dealing a significant blow to the firm in its long-running battle with Fortnite creator Epic Games. Google announced that it would appeal the verdict.

In August, a federal judge ruled that Google has an illegal monopoly on search. That verdict could lead to the dissolution of the company’s search operation. Another antitrust lawsuit filed last month accuses Google of abusing its dominance in the online advertising business.

Meanwhile, European regulators have compelled Google to follow tough new standards, which have resulted in multiple $1 billion-plus fines.

google

Pixa Bay

Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding

On top of that, the marketplace is becoming more difficult on its own.

TikTok, the fastest-growing social network, is expanding into the search market. And Amazon has accomplished something few other digital titans have done to date: it has established a habit.

When you want to buy anything, you usually go to Amazon, not Google. Amazon then buys adverts to push companies’ products to the top of your search results, increasing sales and earning Amazon a greater portion of the revenue. According to eMarketer, it is expected to generate $27.8 billion in search revenue in the United States next year, trailing only Google’s $62.9 billion total.

And then there’s AI, the technology that (supposedly) will change everything.

Why search in stilted language for “kendall jenner why bad bunny breakup” or “police moving violation driver rights no stop sign” when you can just ask OpenAI’s ChatGPT, “What’s going on with Kendall Jenner and Bad Bunny?” in “I need help fighting a moving violation involving a stop sign that wasn’t visible.” Google is working on exactly this technology with its Gemini product, but its success is far from guaranteed, especially with Apple collaborating with OpenAI and other businesses rapidly joining the market.

A Google spokeswoman referred to a blog post from last week in which the company unveiled ads in its AI overviews (the AI-generated text that appears at the top of search results). It’s Google’s way of expressing its ability to profit on a changing marketplace while retaining its business, even as its consumers steadily transition to ask-and-answer AI and away from search.

google

Google has long used a single catchphrase to defend itself against opponents who claim it is a monopoly abusing its power: competition is only a click away. Until recently, that seemed comically obtuse. Really? We are going to switch to Bing? Or Duck Duck Go? Give me a break.

But today, it feels more like reality.

Google is in no danger of disappearing. However, every highly dominating company faces some type of reckoning over time. GE, a Dow mainstay for more than a century, was broken up last year and is now a shell of its previous dominance. Sears declared bankruptcy in 2022 and is virtually out of business. US Steel, long the foundation of American manufacturing, is attempting to sell itself to a Japanese corporation.

Could we remember Google in the same way that we remember Yahoo or Ask Jeeves in decades? These next few years could be significant.

SOURCE | CNN

Continue Reading

News

2024 | Supreme Court Won’t Hear Appeal From Elon Musk’s X Platform Over Warrant In Trump Case

trump

Washington — Trump Media,  The Supreme Court announced Monday that it will not hear an appeal from social media platform X about a search warrant acquired by prosecutors in the election meddling case against former President Donald Trump.

The justices did not explain their rationale, and there were no recorded dissents.

The firm, which was known as Twitter before being purchased by billionaire Elon Musk, claims a nondisclosure order that prevented it from informing Trump about the warrant obtained by special counsel Jack Smith’s team violated its First Amendment rights.

The business also claims Trump should have had an opportunity to exercise executive privilege. If not reined in, the government may employ similar tactics to intercept additional privileged communications, their lawyers contended.

trump

Supreme Court Won’t Hear Appeal From Elon Musk’s X Platform Over Warrant In Trump Case

Two neutral electronic privacy groups also joined in, urging the high court to hear the case on First Amendment grounds.

Prosecutors, however, claim that the corporation never shown that Trump utilized the account for official purposes, therefore executive privilege is not a problem. A lower court also determined that informing Trump could have compromised the current probe.

trump

Trump utilized his Twitter account in the weeks preceding up to his supporters’ attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, to spread false assertions about the election, which prosecutors claim were intended to create doubt in the democratic process.

The indictment describes how Trump used his Twitter account to encourage his followers to travel to Washington on Jan. 6, pressuring Vice President Mike Pence to reject the certification, and falsely claiming that the Capitol crowd, which battered police officers and destroyed glass, was peaceful.

musk trump

Supreme Court Won’t Hear Appeal From Elon Musk’s X Platform Over Warrant In Trump Case

That case is now moving forward following the Supreme Court’s verdict in July, which granted Trump full immunity from criminal prosecution as a former president.

The warrant arrived at Twitter amid quick changes implemented by Musk, who bought the company in 2022 and has since cut off most of its workforce, including those dedicated to combating disinformation and hate speech.

He also welcomed back a vast list of previously banned users, including Trump, and endorsed him for the 2024 presidential election.

SOURCE | AP

Continue Reading

News

The Supreme Court Turns Down Biden’s Government Appeal in a Texas Emergency Abortion Matter.

Supreme Court

(VOR News) – A ruling that prohibits emergency abortions that contravene the Supreme Court law in the state of Texas, which has one of the most stringent abortion restrictions in the country, has been upheld by the Supreme Court of the United States. The United States Supreme Court upheld this decision.

The justices did not provide any specifics regarding the underlying reasons for their decision to uphold an order from a lower court that declared hospitals cannot be legally obligated to administer abortions if doing so would violate the law in the state of Texas.

Institutions are not required to perform abortions, as stipulated in the decree. The common populace did not investigate any opposing viewpoints. The decision was made just weeks before a presidential election that brought abortion to the forefront of the political agenda.

This decision follows the 2022 Supreme Court ruling that ended abortion nationwide.

In response to a request from the administration of Vice President Joe Biden to overturn the lower court’s decision, the justices expressed their disapproval.

The government contends that hospitals are obligated to perform abortions in compliance with federal legislation when the health or life of an expectant patient is in an exceedingly precarious condition.

This is the case in regions where the procedure is prohibited. The difficulty hospitals in Texas and other states are experiencing in determining whether or not routine care could be in violation of stringent state laws that prohibit abortion has resulted in an increase in the number of complaints concerning pregnant women who are experiencing medical distress being turned away from emergency rooms.

The administration cited the Supreme Court’s ruling in a case that bore a striking resemblance to the one that was presented to it in Idaho at the beginning of the year. The justices took a limited decision in that case to allow the continuation of emergency abortions without interruption while a lawsuit was still being heard.

In contrast, Texas has been a vocal proponent of the injunction’s continued enforcement. Texas has argued that its circumstances are distinct from those of Idaho, as the state does have an exemption for situations that pose a significant hazard to the health of an expectant patient.

According to the state, the discrepancy is the result of this exemption. The state of Idaho had a provision that safeguarded a woman’s life when the issue was first broached; however, it did not include protection for her health.

Certified medical practitioners are not obligated to wait until a woman’s life is in imminent peril before they are legally permitted to perform an abortion, as determined by the state supreme court.

The state of Texas highlighted this to the Supreme Court.

Nevertheless, medical professionals have criticized the Texas statute as being perilously ambiguous, and a medical board has declined to provide a list of all the disorders that are eligible for an exception. Furthermore, the statute has been criticized for its hazardous ambiguity.

For an extended period, termination of pregnancies has been a standard procedure in medical treatment for individuals who have been experiencing significant issues. It is implemented in this manner to prevent catastrophic outcomes, such as sepsis, organ failure, and other severe scenarios.

Nevertheless, medical professionals and hospitals in Texas and other states with strict abortion laws have noted that it is uncertain whether or not these terminations could be in violation of abortion prohibitions that include the possibility of a prison sentence. This is the case in regions where abortion prohibitions are exceedingly restrictive.

Following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, which resulted in restrictions on the rights of women to have abortions in several Republican-ruled states, the Texas case was revisited in 2022.

As per the orders that were disclosed by the administration of Vice President Joe Biden, hospitals are still required to provide abortions in cases that are classified as dire emergency.

As stipulated in a piece of health care legislation, the majority of hospitals are obligated to provide medical assistance to patients who are experiencing medical distress. This is in accordance with the law.

The state of Texas maintained that hospitals should not be obligated to provide abortions throughout the litigation, as doing so would violate the state’s constitutional prohibition on abortions. In its January judgment, the 5th United States Circuit Court of Appeals concurred with the state and acknowledged that the administration had exceeded its authority.

SOURCE: AP

SEE ALSO:

Could Last-Minute Surprises Derail Kamala Harris’ Campaign? “Nostradamus” Explains the US Poll.

Scientists Awarded MicroRNA The Nobel Prize in Medicine.

US Inflation will Comfort a Fed Focused on Labor Markets.

Continue Reading

Trending