U.S. Biometric Passports By Late 2004

truthsearch writes "The Register is reporting 'Current plans call for the new passport books to include a contactless smart chip based on the 14443 standard, with a minimum of 32 Kbytes of EEPROM storage. The chip will contain a compressed full-face image for use as a biometric. European biometric passports, by contrast, are planned to feature both retinal and fingerprint recognition biometrics on their smart cards.' How they tie this to '9/11 fears' is curious considering the hijackers had valid paperwork."

Comments

Re:False Privacy

[eyegor]

Although I agree with much of your post, retinal scanning from a distance is pretty far-fetched. Think about how a lens works for a second. In order to see a significant portion of the retina, you'd have to be very close.

Iris scanning is possible from a bit farther away click here for info and facial scanning from even further away.