Biometric passport

Symbol for biometric Passports, usually printed on the Cover of the Passports

A Biometric passport is an Information Age identity document that uses biometrics to authenticate the citizenship of travelers. The passport’s critical information is stored on a tiny computer chip, much like information stored on smartcards. Like some smartcards, the passport book design calls for an embedded contactless chip that is able to hold digital signature data to ensure the integrity of the passport and the biometric data.

The current staged biometrics for this type of identification system is fingerprint recognition, digital imaging, and retinal scans. For example, this would allow a computer to verify your identity by measuring the distance between your eyes. To store biometric data on the contactless chip, it is outfitted with a minimum of 32 Kbytes of EEPROM storage memory, and runs on an interface in accordance with the ISO 14443 international standard. This particular standard ensures compatibility among all systems developed for every version of identification books.

Types of biometric passports

European biometric passports

The European version of the passport is planned to have digital imaging and fingerprint scan biometrics placed on the contactless chip. This combination of the biometrics aims to create an unrivaled level of security and protection against counterfeit and fraudulent identification papers.

American biometric passports

The U.S. version of the passport will only have digital imaging placed onto the contactless chip. For the post 9/11 era, this still provides a valuable increased level of security, but not as complex as the European version. The reasoning behind the decision to omit additional biometrics was to keep the price of security, which is passed on to the American citizen, as low as possible. The base price for the passport will have about a $35.00 increase over the traditional paper identification passport.

Opposition

Privacy Activists in many countries question and protest the lack of information about exactly what the passports' chip will contain. The main problem they point out is that data on the passports can be transferred with touchless RFID technology (like wireless technology) which can become a major vulnerability. Although this would allow ID-check computers to obtain your information without a physical connection, it would also allow anyone with the necessary equipment to perform the same task. If the personal information and passport numbers on the chip aren't encrypted, it can create a very dangerous situation.

Additional concern has been raised about the technical feasability of biometrics in large-scale, real-world applications. This, combined with worries over added or unforseeable costs to the bearer, led to strong oppostion against the bill allowing the development of the British biometric national identity card, which uses the same biometric identification technology as the proposed European biometric passport.

The U.S. biometric passport program

History

A high level of security became the top priority in 2001. This tightened security required border control to take bold steps in cracking down on counterfeit paper passports. This concern led to the idea of biometric security. In October 2004, the production stages of this high-tech passport commenced as the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) issued awards to the top bidders of the program. The awards totaled to roughly $1,000,000 for startup, development, and testing. The driving force of the initiative is the US Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act of 2002 that stated such smartcard IDs will be able replace visas. Countries participating in the U.S. Visa Waiver Program are now required to start production of machine-readable passports that comply with international standards and support biometric identification. The citizens of these 27 countries will be able to offer their country’s biometric passport to retain their activity with visa-free traveling to the US. The goal of participating countries finally comes together; now tightened security exists aiding in the re-establishment of traveling ease.

Participants

Four companies were chosen to provide computer chips:

Axalto Inc, (www.axalto.com)
Infineon Technologies, (www.infineon.com)
BearingPoint/SuperCom Inc. (www.supercomgroup.com)
SuperCom Inc. (www.supercomgroup.com)

Four companies were chosen to begin the first phase testing:

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