Under a new agreement, the EU is set to receive biometric passports that will include fingerprints and photos despite security experts and privacy advocates arguments that the passports are technically flawed.  This new policy will take effect on June 29, 2009.

Many civil liberties groups oppose the use of fingerprints for technical as well as philosophical reasons. Philosophically, they are opposed to the creation of a computer database containing so much personal information about innocent citizens. Technically, they argue that biometric passports are only as safe as the existing paper documents they will replace, and could even make it easier for criminals to travel across borders once they obtain false biometric IDs.

Some security specialists agree. “There is a risk that border officials and police will rely too heavily on the technology, at the expense of old-fashioned techniques for identifying travelers,” said Richard Clayton, a security researcher based at the security laboratories at Cambridge University.

“With the existing passports, border guards look closely at people’s faces. If the emphasis switches to fingerprints there is a risk that you get rid of the human element in the job, such as observing if a person fidgets or looks nervous as they try to pass through passport control,” Clayton said.

Why do we allow politicians to be seduced by shiny technology?  The same thing will happen to those checking the passports.  At some point, people will stop looking at the person and rely solely on the technology.  Then, there will be huge problems.

Also of note, people without hands and those in certain professions, such as bricklayers, will now only qualify for special, 12-month only, temporary passports.  The major problem with this is that most countries in the world require a passport to have six months left on it before being allowed to enter.  Effectively, these people will have to apply for a new passport every six months.

Biometric passports in the USA and Australia aren’t very secure.  If similar methods are employed in the EU, then there’s no point in wasting the money to implement them.