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

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.