[Article] Irish travellers to get biometric passports

Victor

http://www.breakingnews.ie/2004/02/08/story133247.html

Irish travellers to get biometric passports
08/02/2004 - 1:46:21 pm

Facial recognition passports are expected to be introduced under plans drawn up by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Brian Cowen.

The minister said the biometric passports are needed because of Ireland's "economic and wider relationship" with America.

The United States is pressing foreign governments on the issue amid fears of another September-11-style attack.

Civil liberties groups here have criticised the proposal.

Victor

http://www.thepost.ie/web/DocumentView/did-545536361-pageUrl--2FThe-Newspaper-2FSundays-Paper-2FNews.asp

Cowen looks at introducing biometric passports
08/02/04 00:00
By Barry O'Kelly

Biometric passports are expected to be introduced under plans drawn up by foreign affairs minister Brian Cowen.

The facial-recognition passports, criticised by civil liberties groups, are needed because of Ireland's "economic and wider relationship" with America, according to Cowen.

The US is pressing foreign governments to introduce the passports amid increased fears of another September 11-style attack by al-Qaeda.

The passports are expected to contain biometric data, using fingerprints, iris scans or facial recognition techniques.

In a Dáil reply outlining his plans, Cowen noted that Ireland was one of 27 countries that participate in the US Visa Waiver Programme. This allows citizens to travel to the US for up to 90 days without a visa for business or tourist purposes.

"The US Enhanced Border Security Act, enacted after the September 11 attacks on New York, requires each country that participates in the visa waiver programme to introduce or have in place a programme to introduce biometric passports by October 26, 2004," he said.

"Given the numbers of Irish travellers to the US and the importance of our economic and wider relationship with that country, it is highly desirable that Ireland should remain a participant in the visa waiver programme.

"I am recommending to the government, therefore, that Ireland should introduce passports containing biometric information, subject to the conduct of a feasibility study of the detailed arrangements for implementing this."

Cowen added: "My department is developing a new Irish passport, which will be introduced later this year. The new passport will contain a polycarbonate, plastic datapage, which will be capable of incorporating a microchip on which biometric data can be inserted.

"It will, accordingly, be possible to move relatively quickly to the stage of producing biometric passports if a final decision to this effect is taken by the government."


How biometric security technology works
Iris identification is one of the established biometric systems already in limited use at airports such as London's Heathrow and Amsterdam's Schiphol.

It works by noting the distribution of characteristics such as striations, pits, filaments, rings, freckles and darkened areas within the eye's coloured membrane.

The scanner examines the iris with infrared light that reduces reflections and penetrates glasses and contact lenses, preventing eyewear from interfering with recognition.

The technology was first studied in the 1930s. It became commercially usable in the 1990s thanks to algorithms developed by John Daugman, a computer scientist at Cambridge University.

The technology measures more than 250 distinct features. Fingerprint analysis, by comparison, usually captures 40 to 60.

In 2001, Britain's National Physical Laboratory used Daugman's algorithms to compare more than two million samples. There were no false matches.

The company with the patent, Iridian Technologies, claims no two irises have yet been shown to be identical. "The chance is about one in a million that a person would be mistakenly identified," said a spokesman.

Victor

http://www.thepost.ie/web/DocumentView/did-318485962-pageUrl--2FThe-Newspaper-2FSundays-Paper-2FNews.asp

Biometric passports due within 18 months
27/06/04 00:00
By Ailbhe Jordan

Ireland has agreed to introduce biometric passports, which include biological data on the holder, within 18 months.

European Union interior ministers agreed at a council meeting last week to issue the controversial passports, which will contain up to 1,800 characteristics of a person's face on microchip.

``The government has decided in principle that we will introduce biometric passports, pending the results of an ongoing feasibility study,'' said a spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs.

The International Civil Aviation Organisation, which sets standards for travel documents, has agreed that all new EU passports will contain biometric information on the shape of a person's face.

Individual EU states can decide whether they want to include additional information such as fingerprints or iris scans.

``Biometric passports will mean that immigration check-points can become automated and that will make them faster and more convenient for travellers,'' said a government source.

The shift towards biometrics comes in the wake of the US Enhanced Border Security Act, which was introduced after the terrorist attacks of September 11.

The law requires each of the 27 countries participating in the US visa waiver programme to have a schedule in place to introduce biometric passports by October 26.

Traditionally, Irish citizens and citizens of other waiver countries could travel to the US for up to 90 days without a visa.

However, under the new US law, citizens of countries without a biometrics programme will have to obtain a visa for travel to the US and will be fingerprinted on arrival at US airports.

Consulting firm Bearing-Point already holds a contract worth up to €22 million to introduce a more secure Irish passport.

The government is expected to move quickly to add biometric requirements to that contract.

EU civil liberties groups have objected to biometric passports because of perceived data protection risks associated with the storing of biometric information.

``Within the EU there's very strong data protection law,'' said Malachy Murphy, co-chairman of the Irish Council of Civil Liberties.

``The problem is when you travel outside of Europe. There are plenty of countries where data protection laws are non-existent or very weak.''

Under the current proposals, personal data and biometric identifiers of all EU passport holders will be stored on the new information system, an EU-wide government database of crime suspects, witnesses and immigrants.