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Passports and Visas to Add High-Tech Identity Features
August 24, 2003
By JENNIFER 8. LEE
WASHINGTON, Aug. 23 - Technologies that scan faces and
fingerprints will become a standard part of travel for
foreign visitors next year, and for all travelers in the
near future.
The technology, known as biometrics, has been developing
for years, but largely because of security concerns after
the attacks on Sept. 11, its arrival has been greatly
accelerated.
One deadline looms large - Oct. 26, 2004. In a little more
than a year, the State Department and immigration bureau
must begin issuing visas and other documents with the
body-identifying technologies to foreign visitors. The
change is mandated by border security legislation passed by
Congress last May. The federal government has started
issuing border-crossing cards for Mexican citizens and
green cards that display fingerprints and photos.
By the same deadline, the 27 countries whose citizens can
travel to the United States without visas must begin
issuing passports with computer chips containing facial
recognition data or lose their special status. People from
those countries with passports issued before the deadline
may still travel to the United States without visas as long
as their governments have begun biometric identification
programs.
Given the complexity of the technology, many countries are
struggling to meet the deadline, and some in the industry
say that it may have to be extended.
Privacy advocates expressed dismay at what they see as
pressure being applied to Europe.
"Our government has forced on European governments the
obligation to adopt biometric identifiers though most in
the U.S. still oppose such systems," said Marc Rotenberg,
the head of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, an
advocacy group. He predicted, however, that the United
States would soon adopt those same technologies.
Officials from the State Department said mandatory use of
the biometric identifiers is scheduled to begin in three
years. They have announced plans to test American passports
with computer chips by Oct. 26, 2004. At a recent card
technology conference, the deputy assistant secretary of
state for passport services, Frank Moss, said the
department planned to have all new passports containing
biometric data by 2006 at an estimated annual cost of $100
million. About 55 million American passports are in
circulation, and 7 million are issued annually.
"Including the standards and implementing the standards,
not only is it more secure for other countries, it's more
secure for us," said Kelly Shannon, a spokeswoman for the
State Department. "The idea is that it is contingent on
reciprocal treatment for United States citizens."
The adoption of biometric technologies has been held back
for years by concerns about privacy and reliability, along
with a lack of uniform standards. But in the last two years
policies and standards have begun to catch up with the
technologies.
The new biometrics technologies are meant to cut down on
subjectivity in photo identification. Right now, the border
agent must decide if it is really the person in the
photograph or simply someone who resembles that person.
Biometric systems take digital measurements of a person's
fingerprints, face, retinas or other characteristics and
store the information on a computer chip or a
machine-readable strip, which can be retrieved at border
check points.
Upon arrival, travelers will be asked to put their fingers
on scanners and to stand in front of facial recognition
cameras to see if their measurements match the ones stored
on the visa or passport. Biometric systems tested by the
United States at the Mexican border have been sensitive
enough to distinguish between identical twins.
The biometrics are part of a larger arc of tightening
security with identification documents as people have
become more mobile over the last century, a trend that
intensified after the 9/11 attacks.
The new computer-chip passports are based on an
international standard set in May by the International
Civil Aviation Organization, a United Nations agency.
The new passports will use facial recognition technology
contained on encrypted computer chips similar to those
found in so-called smart cards.
"What was required was a globally interoperable biometric -
one biometric that could be used worldwide and can be read
worldwide," said Denis Shagnon, spokesman for the
organization.
Under the new standards, countries would also be allowed to
add additional biometric technologies to the passports,
like fingerprints or iris scans.
"It's very user-friendly; it's unobtrusive," he said.
Many privacy advocates have raised concerns about the
reliability of the systems, noting that the city of Tampa
decided in the last week not to renew its facial
recognition surveillance system because of a lack of
results. But Mr. Shagnon said the passport system relies
partly on facial measurements that do not change as people
age or even get plastic surgery.
The International Labor Organization, another United
Nations agency, has recently set a biometric standard for
identity documents for the 1.2 million workers on ships
worldwide. The new identity cards for maritime employees
use fingerprint data and photographs stored digitally in
what is known as a two-dimensional bar code.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/24/national/24IDEN.html?ex=1062838882&ei=1&en=aa6eb2691c52d455
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