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Local tech company vying for contract
Daily Texan - State & Local
Issue: 02/16/04
By Kristi Hsu
An Austin company that specializes in background checks for insurance and identity fraud is part of a national alliance vying for a Homeland Security contract.
Infoglide is part of the U.S. Freedom Alliance, a group of 13 companies led by the Computer Sciences Corporation. They are competing against other candidates, including Lockheed Martin, for a contract with US-VISIT, United States Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology.
US-VISIT is an initiative by the Department of Homeland Security aiming to tighten U.S. security by recording the entry and exit of non-U.S. citizens to and from the USA.
The first phase of the plan includes biometric data collection, which was implemented in early January. Some international visitors are now required to be fingerprinted and photographed at customs, said Kimberly Weissman, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security.
The second phase, which was awarded $330 million in federal funds, will expand biometric enrollment procedures to 50 major points of entry, including Laredo and Brownsville.
By December of next year, fingerprinting should be in place at all points of entry, said Michael Shultz, Infoglide's chief executive officer.
Infoglide has previously developed software to detect fraud, and companies like eBay use its program to ferret out fraudulent registration.
The software can also be applied to background checks at U.S. entry points.
"It's basically looking at data about people entering the country and comparing that to information we already have," said Julie Garcia, a spokeswoman for Infoglide.
The information is matched with national and local databases.
Citizens from most countries in South America, Africa, Asia and the Middle East, must be fingerprinted and photographed, while most European citizens do not.
Some foreigners have qualms about the new requirements.
"It's not good - my feeling is not good," said Young Jong Yang, a visiting professor from Hanyang Cyber University in Korea. "Why do you need to take my fingerprint? Are you a criminal? I am a normal person," he said.
Many travelers do not seem to have a problem with the new procedures because they have to face fewer questions at customs.
Asylbeck Osmonov, an accounting graduate student from Kyrgyzstan, said he likes the new system.
"I was actually afraid of the new system, but I found it surprisingly easy," Osmanov said."Other than asking me what my degree was, and where I was studying, I didn't really get questioned."
Deane Willis, the director the University's International Office, agrees that the new system seems fairly efficient.
"But on the other side of that, you hope that the information they're collecting is used appropriately," said Willis, the department's director.
