Smartphones and face recognition are being combined to create new digital travel documents. The paper passport’s days are numbered—despite new privacy risks.
From the article, it sounds more like they’re using shared databases and facial recognition more than smartphones or similar. So they’d presumably have the requisite devices at customs.
That doesn’t sound better. I get the shared databases, though it does introduce security issues. But the facial recognition that’s been proven flaked and flawed and based on biometric data that can be leaked and never changed… no thank you.
Fantastic, because we all know facial ID has no problems identifying non-white people.
I can see it now: Idris Elba getting picked up by the feds because O’Hare fired this thing up and recorded 700 Idris Elba’s All boarding different flights using different names.
Agreed. And even if there are devices plugged in and always running and (miraculously) always functional, what do you do in a disaster situation where all infrastructure is knocked out? That is the exact time you’d want to make sure there are no impediments to foreign support being able to enter the country. But with nothing physical to fall back on for identification, what would you do?
I’m all for digitizing currency and the like, I really never carry cash anymore. But ID documents are still crucial to have physical copies of, and the passport remains the only internationally recognized standard.
I am very much against digitizing currency as well. Not every place has connectivity, financial apps might have a problem running on custom ROMs like Graphene (which would probably be getting worse now), and most importantly - having ALL your transactions surveilled and agregated makes one uneasy.
I say don’t worry. There’s no way they will be able to change this system anytime soon. Even if airports are able to accommodate the change, it will be extremely hard for all borders and other checkpoints to do the same. We know how slow progress is for stuff like this. If this is implemented, it will not mean passports won’t still be required for a long time. My guess is a minimum of 20 years at the least before seeing any change.
New film plot: the airport’s facial recognition system can’t tell the difference between the intended copilot and their identical twin, a terrorist. Question is, is it a comedy about bureaucracy or an edge-of-your-seat thriller?
From the article, it sounds more like they’re using shared databases and facial recognition more than smartphones or similar. So they’d presumably have the requisite devices at customs.
That doesn’t sound better. I get the shared databases, though it does introduce security issues. But the facial recognition that’s been proven flaked and flawed and based on biometric data that can be leaked and never changed… no thank you.
Fantastic, because we all know facial ID has no problems identifying non-white people.
I can see it now: Idris Elba getting picked up by the feds because O’Hare fired this thing up and recorded 700 Idris Elba’s All boarding different flights using different names.
Agreed. And even if there are devices plugged in and always running and (miraculously) always functional, what do you do in a disaster situation where all infrastructure is knocked out? That is the exact time you’d want to make sure there are no impediments to foreign support being able to enter the country. But with nothing physical to fall back on for identification, what would you do?
I’m all for digitizing currency and the like, I really never carry cash anymore. But ID documents are still crucial to have physical copies of, and the passport remains the only internationally recognized standard.
I am very much against digitizing currency as well. Not every place has connectivity, financial apps might have a problem running on custom ROMs like Graphene (which would probably be getting worse now), and most importantly - having ALL your transactions surveilled and agregated makes one uneasy.
I say don’t worry. There’s no way they will be able to change this system anytime soon. Even if airports are able to accommodate the change, it will be extremely hard for all borders and other checkpoints to do the same. We know how slow progress is for stuff like this. If this is implemented, it will not mean passports won’t still be required for a long time. My guess is a minimum of 20 years at the least before seeing any change.
New film plot: the airport’s facial recognition system can’t tell the difference between the intended copilot and their identical twin, a terrorist. Question is, is it a comedy about bureaucracy or an edge-of-your-seat thriller?
“Starring Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart”
¿por qué no los dos?
Hard to do well—too much tone whiplash. I suppose it could work as very black comedy, with the right script and director. 🤔