| Author (Person) | Banks, Martin |
|---|---|
| Series Title | European Voice |
| Series Details | Vol.10, No.7, 26.2.04 |
| Publication Date | 26/02/2004 |
| Content Type | News |
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By Martin Banks Date: 26/02/04 BY THE end of next year, passports could be quite different from the plain document currently handed to immigration officials. As part of growing security concerns and attempts to clamp down on illegal immigration, the Europeans are due to have futuristic biometric passports. In addition to the old-fashioned photograph, they will carry a paper-thin microchip, able to store one of the 1,700 points on the face and at least one additional biometric identifier. Biometric features, such as iris recognition patterns or fingerprints, could be compared with a database to verify a person's identity. The database will hold other information, including whether the traveller had previously filed a passport application under another name. Facial biometric verification checks a person's identity against a document to ensure that the holder is the person to whom it was issued. Plans have already been approved by EU member states for biometric chips to be implanted in residents' permits and visas issued to foreign nationals travelling to the European Union's countries. However, when plans for biometric passports were last week unveiled by António Vitorino, justice and home affairs commissioner, concerns were quickly raised about the need for, and reliability of, such a scheme. Tony Bunyan, of UK-based civil liberties group Statewatch, says that while he accepts the need to combat terrorism, Vitorino's proposals pose many unanswered questions. "Above all, I question the basic necessity for such a scheme," he says. "It isn't biometrics that is the problem but the way such information will be used." Bunyan will voice his concerns at a public hearing at the European Parliament next Tuesday (2 March). The one-day hearing, called 'Biometrics: Striking the right balance', has been organized by the Liberal group in the Parliament. The Commission's plans, which require unanimous support from member states' governments, still have to be discussed by Parliament. Vitorino says the earliest that biometric data could be included in passports is the end of next year. Next week's hearing gives groups such as Statewatch a chance to quiz Vitorino and Bunyan will tell him he has serious reservations, particularly about the reliability of biometrics and the overall cost of such a scheme. Last year, researchers in Germany tested several of the technologies and successfully fooled most of them. Says Bunyan: "The database containing biometric information on millions of EU passport holders will be huge. Our big fear is that this could lead to an increase error rate and misidentification." Iris scanning - highlighted in the blockbuster movie Minority Report - is already used at Schiphol airport in Amsterdam, Toronto, Vancouver and six other Canadian airports. China, however, has ruled out using the method as an additional identity check because of public fears about the damage such scanning could do. But Markus Kuhn, a computer security lecturer at the UK's Cambridge University, said biometrics are gaining popularity because they are a relatively reliable way to verify an identity. "There is a great amount of information in the iris that makes it possible to reduce the false accept/reject ratios to less than one-in- a-million. Biometrics are useful as confirmation of your claimed identity." However, he says their usefulness broke down when used to pick out wanted individuals, such as suspected terrorists, from the mass of people passing through a checkpoint. With huge databases of biometric records it was likely that many people could be misidentified as being wanted or missed altogether, he says. With more than 60 million people travelling through London's Heathrow airport alone each year, even if an iris scanning system with 99.9% accuracy was used, it could still fail to recognize 63,000 individuals per year. Ultimately, these hi-tech solutions are only as good as the size of the databases they are compared to, says Professor John Daugman, who developed the algorithms used in iris recognition technology currently being tested by the UK Passport Service in a six-month pilot scheme to collect the biometric details of 10,000 volunteers. "All of this identification power by iris patterns could only help thwart terrorist attacks if terrorists were already enrolled in a database as terrorists," says Daugman, which, he adds, is "highly unlikely". Danish Liberal MEP Ole Sørensen, Parliament's rapporteur on the issue, will tell the hearing he remains "far from convinced" of the need for biometric visas or passports. He said: "I realize we have to do all we can to fight terrorism, but I wonder if this is a step too far. It has been said that once this biometric technology has been introduced, the authorities will be able to track almost everyone's movements. I find that very scary." Putting the case for biometrics is Gregory Johnson, a spokesman for the US Department of Defense's biometrics management office. He said: "The stuff that is on the market is here and now and reliable. There is a need for greater security. What we want to do is know that we have the right person in the right place doing the right thing." Vitorino's message to the hearing will be that his proposals do not pose a threat to civil liberties. "They strike a balance between meeting increased security needs and civil liberties," he says. "They are a good compromise." The European Commission adopted 18 February 2004 a proposal for a Regulation harmonising security standards, including biometrics, for EU citizens' passports. Article discusses the proposals and reaction from a range of organisations, plus a review of issues to be discussed at a ELDR Public Hearing on 2 March 2004: 'Biometrics, privacy & security: striking the right balance'. |
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| Subject Categories | Justice and Home Affairs, Values and Beliefs |
