Slashdot Mirror
Updated Schedule for U.S. Biometric Passports
SRain315 writes "The story from the Chicago Times via Yahoo! give more details about biometric information to be added to U.S. passports. Trial run this fall, full production next year. Slashdot covered this last year."
Yes, they do. There's no reason to assume it's for any other purpose.
Or is this just another way of saying to the public, "Look, we're doing something! And it's intrusive to your privacy so it must really work!"
Your passport now contains your photo, your date of birth, your citizenship, where you applied for it, and everywhere you've been. There is zero loss of privacy with this new system.
How many "known" terrorists enter the US? How many of those enter on stolen passports?
This program will help answer those questions. Which, evidently, you don't have answers for.
As far as I know, all of the Sept. 11 terrorists were: a) unknown as terrorists and b) here on valid passports and visas.
False. Several were either on "watch lists" or on expired visas.
This kind of program would have had no effect on preventing them from entering.
That's like saying "firewalls can't prevent all possible intrusions, so they don't work."
On the other hand, many people do enter the US on forged documents, particularly people from poorer countries who come here illegally, looking for work. I could see how this kind of biometric ID could help identify such illegal immigrants, if that were the goal.
Fair.
But I just wish people would stop trying to tie everything in to the "war on terrorism" - it distracts from the real problems that this kind of technology might be useful for.
Perhaps you consider immigration and terrorism to be completely unrelated problems. You are mistaken, as September 11 proved.
This is from the Chicago Tribune.
But, what do I know. I only live there. :)
You are not the customer.
that is actually not correct. 3 or 4 of them were known terrorists (to CIA) but there were no shared database (that exists now) to cross-check and identify those individuals at the border.
Another group within 19 were here on expired / invalid visas.
There are cryptographic protocols that are well known and widely implemented to make sure that your smart card won't even talk to anything but an authorized system. There is no way that somebody can just go out and buy an ISO 14443 reader and war drive your pocket. They need the proper keys to talk to the card and if they don't have them they are out of luck.
Lasers Controlled Games!
Name a single Constitutional right which has been curtailed since September 11
The 1st Amendment
The 4th Amendment
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
So once these are issued, a little while later they're cracked and people make fakes relying on the notion that the passport will be checked with less scrutiny because it checks out on the computer. This is like how digital licenses are swiped to validate age when buying alcohol, but they look less at the photo. Technology like this can have the effect of making people less careful when checking someone's identity.
"Instead of wasting my taxpayer money on unless garbage"
unless garbage? sheesh, I think might head might explode...
"Johnny Cochran: Ladies and gentlemen of this supposed jury, you must now decide whether or not to reverse the decision for my client, Chef. I know he seeems guilty, but ladies and gentlemen, this? is Chewbacca. Now think about that for one minute: that does NOT MAKE SENSE! Why am I talkin' about Chewbacca when a man's life is on the line? Why? I tell you why. I don't know. It doesn't make sense. If Chewbacca does not make sense, you must acquit! Here, look at the monkey. Look at the silly monkey."
No. It's not jut the US, and it's not just 'foreign policy'.
Bombs found on a railroad track in France. US foreign policy? No
Explosion near a police station in Athens. US foreign policy? No.
OBL stated he wanted the US military out of Saudi Arabia. We were there at the behest of the Saudi govt.
They want to reverse 500-800 years of history, and restore Moslem rule in Spain. If not, hey...let's blow something up.
Blow up a hotel in Bali.
Gas a train in Japan.
Fertilizer bombs in London.
It's far more than the current US foreign policy.
We can't do nothing, because these fools will continue.
So...what should be done?