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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.)"

10 of 217 comments (clear)

  1. dumb sheep by Swiper · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Oh great, Just because the US has them, we have to get them as well, despite the very vocal criticism there has been....what a bunch of blind and deaf sheep we have as eurocrats!

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    ~We demand rigidly defined areas of uncertainty~
    1. Re:dumb sheep by Hurricane78 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Yeah, as if choosing one of a set of crooks would actually solve anything...

      What we need is a good old revolution. And I mean one with a new form of government following it.

      I propose metagovernment.org, for lack of a better form of it (for lack of having time to create one myself. :( ).

      --
      Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
    2. Re:dumb sheep by irae · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I wish I lived in Belgium since they don't have a government there.

      As my Belgian friend said, Belgium is the best example that a government isn't necessary.

  2. All your fingerprints by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    are belong to US, I mean EU.

  3. Disabled people = 2nd class citizens by gavanm · · Score: 5, Insightful

    People with no hands would obviously be exempt from the new fingerprint-based biometric passport system. Instead, they would have to apply for temporary, 12- month passports in order to travel, the MEPs agreed.

    I can see this being popular with advocacy groups....

    Especially when many non-EU countries are reluctant to welcome people with less than 6 months left on their passports. In effect many will have to apply for a temporary passport every 6 months.

    Stupidity at its best. If the passport biometrics indicate they have no hands, the it should be very easy to verify this.

    Either that or ask people for toe prints, or nose prints or stump prints.

  4. 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.

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    If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
  5. Political? by youknowjack · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This is almost certainly a political move; with terrorism being a scarier topic than privacy

    Nevertheless, the summary doesn't do justice to the article. The article suggests that experts agree the passports will be much harder to forge (impossible with current methods) - which is a big strength.

    In fact, the main argument against using biotech passports (in the article) is that authorities will begin to rely on them 'too much', which doesn't ring true to me, since biotech is inherently MORE reliable than, say, an official trying to identify someone by a small passport photo.

    I think the risk of misappropriation of bio-information is worth it, weighed up against the risk of terrorist or criminal activities which it seeks to mitigate.

  6. A necessity by Lavene · · Score: 5, Funny
    I think this is good since it helps stopping terrorists and pedophiles. Terrorists and pedophiles are constantly crossing the borders to terrorize us and molest our children. Terrorists and pedophiles. Terrorists and pedophiles.

    By giving up my privacy I help catch the terrorists and pedophiles. By registering my fingerprints and DNA I help catch the terrorists and pedophiles.

    The terrorists and pedophiles are everywhere. They must be stopped and in order to do so I must let the government read my e-mail, follow my web browsing, track my phone calls. It's the only way to stop the terrorists and pedophiles.

    By protesting you support the terrorists and pedophiles you damn pedophile terrorist. If you're not with your government you're with the terrorists and pedophiles.

    Terrorists! Pedophiles! Everywhere!!

    Must... give... fingerprint... to... stop... terrorists and pedophiles.

    1. Re:A necessity by Thanshin · · Score: 5, Funny

      That's what a terrorists would say to deflect suspicion. Or a pedophile.

  7. And the Swiss will vote in May by dago · · Score: 5, Interesting

    as the parlament changed the law to introduce biometric passports, a group of citizens sucessfully launched a referendum.
    As a result, they're going to vote on this in May, so this will be a good indicator as the people will directy decided.

    And before other people jump on the democracy aspect and representation in the EU, don't forget that many EU government/parlament (including mine) already introducted biometric passports and are directly elected.

    It will be also difficult to guess what the swiss result will be as they already 'confirmed' different EU decision in such referendums.

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    #include "coucou.h"