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Biometric Passports Agreed To In EU

Posted by samzenpus on from the look-into-the-scanner dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The European Parliament has signed up to a plan to introduce computerized biometric passports including people's fingerprints as well as their photographs, despite criticism from civil liberties groups and security experts who argue that the move is flawed on technical grounds. (Back in 2005 Sweden and Norway began deploying biometric passports.)"

3 of 217 comments (clear)

  1. As our American friends say, "good luck with that" by Anonymous+Brave+Guy · · Score: 5, Informative

    I can't see this one going very far. Several of the most influential EU nations have general elections coming up within a year or two, centralised European power is already under the spotlight because of the way the Constitution^WReform Treaty was handled by diktat, and governments already lost at sea over the economic mess won't want to rock the boat any further.

    In the UK, in particular, I suspect the NO2ID anti-ID card campaign will pick this up in about ten seconds. At that point, it will become associated with the National Identity Register and National ID Card biometrics programmes, and become a political suicide pill.

    With a bit of luck, it'll finally bring down the catastrophe that is centrally dictated European policy, make us aware that we don't have to jump just because some guy at 1600 said so, and restore a little of the democracy we've had stolen from us in recent years along the way.

    --
    If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
  2. Tools to make a wise voter choice by FriendlyLurker · · Score: 3, Informative

    If voting,be sure to check out these impressive tools to help make an informed choice in the European Parliament elections.
    http://www.laquadrature.net/wiki/Political_Memory

    http://www.laquadrature.net/wiki/Campaign-Save_amendment_138_and_Internet_Freedom_from_Council_of_EU#General_Advice

    For example can sort by amendment 138, see who was against:
    http://www.laquadrature.net/wiki/Telecoms_package_directives_1st_reading_details_by_score

  3. We have them for a long time! by carvalhao · · Score: 3, Informative

    Interesting news, considering that Portugal, an EU member since 1986, has been issuing these EU biometric passports for some years now. Actually, nowadays you may even enter Portugal through a completely automated passport control.