Europe likely to opt for biometric passports Published: October 27, 2004, 5:56 PM PDT By Lars Pasveer
Ministers for European Union member states agreed on Tuesday to adopt biometric passports. The first biometric passports are set to arrive in 18 months. Initially, they will record the facial characteristics of the bearer. In three years, European travelers will also have to provide a fingerprint for the passport. The facial and fingerprint data will be stored on an embedded chip, along with a digital copy of the bearer's photo. The decision, made at a meeting of interior ministers in Luxembourg, is not yet final. Austria, Finland and the Netherlands have voiced minor concerns about the proposal, but they will probably not turn out to be insurmountable obstacles. The European push for biometrics is heavily influenced by a United States policy change for passports for people from "visa waiver" countries after the Sept. 11 attacks. U.S. plans to introduce a biometric passport requirement by this fall for these countries were widely seen as unrealistic. However, by Oct. 26 next year, all visitors from these countries will have to provide machine-readable passports with biometric data. < snip > http://news.com.com/Europe+likely+to+opt+for+biometric+passports/2100-1012_3 -5429679.html?tag=nefd.hed You are a subscribed member of the infowarrior list. Visit www.infowarrior.org for list information or to unsubscribe. This message may be redistributed freely in its entirety. Any and all copyrights appearing in list messages are maintained by their respective owners.
