Problems With Dutch Biometric Passports

Finding these kinds of things are what trials are for, of course, but since these will be implemented all over Europe and North America in the next few years it is worth paying attention.

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A recent trial in the Netherlands to test the new biometric passport has revealed several practical problems and some technical flaws.

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Some technically savvy participants of What the Hack, a recent gathering of hackers in the Netherlands, demonstrated methods that could be deployed to remotely access and steal details from biometric passports, or falsify them.

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http://www.digitalmediaasia.com/defa...rticleID=10271
DigitalMediaAsia :: 19/09/2005

It's even funnier since research has shown that fingerprints seem to change very slowly when people start aging. Thus the fingerprints of a baby or toddler will be different once the person becomes an adult. Too different for the software to recognise them. The same when a person starts to age and becomes an elderly person. By then, the fingerprints will have changed even more. And the article forgot to mention that. :)
Fortunately, the changes in fingerprints can be monitored by updating them every 5 or 10 years, which is about the time that a passport is valid.

But hey, we get an EUR 10 discount for participating to this test. And passports are pretty expensive here.

I love that idea of facial scans though and just wonder if the software can handle excessive make-up or (for guys) beards. Am wondering how a clown would get past the scan when he's wearing full make-up.

Then again, I once saw a passport of some Arabic woman. She was photographed wearing a burka and that picture was used for her passport! One picture: 5 euro's. One passport, 40 euro's. wearing a burka on your passport picture, Priceless!

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Originally posted here by Katja


I love that idea of facial scans though and just wonder if the software can handle excessive make-up or (for guys) beards. Am wondering how a clown would get past the scan when he's wearing full make-up.

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What about gaining or losing weight ? It can happen over a short period of time. Hopefully they will have some way to check whether or not it scans correctly before people travel. otherwise it will cause a lot of hassle.

You would think that common sense verfication BEFORE travel would be there... but then again....

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I love that idea of facial scans though and just wonder if the software can handle excessive make-up or (for guys) beards. Am wondering how a clown would get past the scan when he's wearing full make-up.

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Facial scans are based on unchanging factors such as angles and distances between relatively unchanging features such as the distance between the eyes, nose, etc. Even if you get fat, you're eyes are still the same distance apart, and they form the same angle with the tip of your nose. It goes further than that, but I do not have the specifics. Weight loss and facial hair generally do not affect the accuracy of the scan, however, there are ways around it.


Anyone remember the study that said the Mona Lisa was a self portrait?