In May, I gave up my fingerprints and a scan of my irises and joined a program called Clear at the ­British Airways terminal at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, thus becoming one of the first "registered travelers." The registered-traveler program is based on a set of standards, issued by the U.S. government, that's meant to speed "safe" passengers through airport security checks. Launched in 2005 and implemented by private contractors, it's designed to help airports improve efficiency by separating trusted travelers from the unknown. Clear opened the first dedicated ­registered-­traveler lane at Orlando International Airport in 2005, and four more have followed. A whole nation's worth, of course, is planned.

Clear is operated by Verified ­Identity Pass, a startup company founded in 2003 by Steven Brill, a serial entrepreneur who also started the magazine American Lawyer and Court TV. Although Unisys and other companies are working on lanes of their own, Verified is the only company to have some in operation already. Access to the lanes is granted on a subscription basis, and membership in Clear's program costs $99.95 a year. More than 45,000 people have joined so far; equipped with an identity card featuring a chip full of biometric information, the Clear subscriber often passes through security in less than a minute.