Canada Moves to Biometric Passports

ancarett writes "The Toronto Star reports that Canada's Passport Office is preparing to roll out a biometric passport in 2005. The new e-Passport will include a digital chip that can store the holder's photograph and other personal information. Nothing but vague assurances on privacy and security of data: who's surprised?"

Comments

Not impressed!

[bogaboga]

Yes, not impressed and very very concerned about its deployment, especially after the poorly implemented gun-registry . There is a related story here . Sometimes, "developed" nations get it wrong too!

How would a hash work?

[phorm]

Ummm. Pretty hard to store a hash of a digital photo, fingerprints, etc. When they scan the actual, there are bound to be enough discrepencies (alignment, scanner, etc) that the hash wouldn't align with the electronic copy.

PPT Sucks

[billcopc]

Having worked there, I can honestly assure you that any technical endeavor is half-assed licensed crap from some clever contractor who knows how to milk a cow.

So what if we have this whizbang electronic passport ? Who else has the hardware to verify its integrity except the canadian authorities ? The purpose of a passport is to authenticate your identity ABROAD. Do you think border guards in Mexico will have the e-reader ? Hell no. Anything that relies on local verification is doomed to fail, just like it does on our beloved Internet. Someone out there is going to get their hands on a chip programmer and a holographic printer because there is sufficient monetary and criminal incentive to do so. No way around it unless the whole world gets together and implements a central DB, and even then, sysadmins can be bought.

It's always a race against crime, except the bad guys have all the trump cards.

Re:This is pressure from Washington

[DM9290]

Perhaps true.
However, canadian/US citizens don't require passports to travel between USA/Canada.

This is just the first step to justifying biometric measurements on drivers licenses, and other forms of government ID.

afterall, what is the point of having biometrics on the Canadian passport, if an enemy combatant can simply use a fake drivers license and a fake birth certificate to enter the "homeland".

Or, use the age old ploy of simply using legal documentation obtained properly or even fraudulently. Not every enemy combatant is an illegal alien, and not every person with legal documentation told the complete truth on their immigration application.

I'm surprised

[chia_monkey]

First, I'm surprised that there's only 18 comments on this so far. I would think there would be a whirlwind of discussion. Hmmm...

Next, I really wonder about counterfitting. I didn't see anything really that really stood out as being a supremely secure and safe solution to this. I dunno, maybe I'm just paranoid. Sometimes I think going digital would be safer and harder to counterfeit, other times I think such archaic ways (like the funky paper US money is printed on now) is safe too. Maybe a combination of a smart card and funky paper is the way to go.