Aaron H. Prather

Twenty-First Century Passport Security

Overview of the advancements in  biometrics technology, biometrics security techniques, and biometric hardware.

A biometric passport is a combination of a paper and electronic identity document that used to authenticate the citizenship of travelers.  The biometric passport is valid for 5 years for first time applicants, compared to 10 years passports without biometric features.  The biometric passport is planned to have digital imaging and fingerprint biometrics placed on the radio frequency identification chip.   A biometric passport uses the most advanced technology to verify a person’s identity, looking the same as a regular passport, with the exception of the computer chip on the photo page.

Passports and ID cards are unlikely to actually use most the thirteen biometric indicators the government proposes to collect on all citizens.  Passports are to be now based on biometric testing, and the passport's critical information is stored on a tiny RFID computer chip, much like how information is stored on smartcards.

Biometric passports first appeared in Belgium around the in 2004, putting the country a pioneer in the field.  Biometric passports cannot be changed due to information only being able to be written to it once.  Biometrics automates the process that verifies an individual’s identity based on their physical characteristics.  Biometrics included in a static chip provides a means by which the identity of visitors may be verified, and hinders entry by imposters and the use of fraudulent documents.  Further advances in biometrics technology are growing all the time.

Biometric passport is a technology advancement that will spread across the world, and countries that have not adopted it will be alienated from rest of the world.  The biometric passport is believed to be as a foolproof method to stop passport cheats in their tracks.  A biometric passport is takes a scanned information of your photograph and stores it in a chip which is built into the passport itself.  The DNA biometric passport is in development and has yet to be implemented fully, and governments that wish to implement it need to plan to ensure a smooth transition from the present system to the new system.

Article Tags: Biometric Passport

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