Today’s smartphones and PDAs could have a new use in the nation’s airports：helping passengers avoid long lines at security checkpoints.
今日的智慧手機和個人數位助理可能在國內的機場有新用途：協助乘 客避免在通關安檢時大排長龍。
The Transportation Security Administration is looking at installing devices in airports that home in and detect personal electronic equipment. The aim is to track how long people are stuck in security lines.
運輸安全署正打算在機場安裝可鎖定並偵測個人電子設備的器材，目的是要掌握民眾排隊等候 安檢的時間。
The technology has been tested by Purdue University researchers. Thumbnail-size receivers near checkpoints detected serial numbers emitted by some electronic devices being carried by passengers. The receivers recorded the time when a passenger entered a security line and the time when the same passenger cleared the checkpoint.
這種技術 由普渡大學研究人員測試過。設於安檢站附近約拇指大小的接收器，可偵測乘客攜帶的電子設備所發出的序號，記錄乘客進入安檢隊伍和通過安檢的時間。
Information about wait times could then be posted on websites and in airports across the country.
等候時間的相關資訊稍後會被張貼在網站和全國各地機場。
"This technology will produce valuable data that can be used in a variety of ways," TSA spokeswoman Lauren Gaches said, noting it could help prevent snarls of checkpoints long lines.
「這項技術將產生寶貴資訊，可用於多種用途，」運輸安全署發言人賈契 斯說，並強調這可能有助於避免安檢站大排長龍的混亂。
But civil-liberties experts worry that such a system enables the government to track people’s whereabouts. "It’s serious business when the government begins to get near people’s personal-communication devices," said American Civil Liberties Union privacy expert Jay Stanley.
但是公民自由專家擔心，這類系統能讓政府追蹤民眾動向，「當政府開始要接近民眾的 個人通訊設備時，便是嚴重的事情，」美國公民自由聯盟隱私權專家史丹利說。
新聞辭典：
flier： 名詞，飛行員、飛行者，在本文中意指搭機的旅客。
home in：動詞片語，瞄準、朝向（某個目標或問題）。例句：His argument homed in on the fault of the system.（他的論點直搗這套系統的缺失。）
snarl： 動詞或名詞，咆哮、混亂。A cow wandering on the highway causes the traffic snarl-up.（一隻在公路上閒晃的牛造成交通大亂。）
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