Naked Science: My Face, My Passport

New US visa regulations will soon require the use of biometric passports with an embedded electronic chip holding vital biological data.

“…the Government is determined to put Britain at the forefront of international developments in the use of biometrics to protect our citizens from identity theft and to prevent abuse of our immigration system.” Home Office Minister, Beverley Hughes.

New US visa regulations will soon require the use of biometric passports with an embedded electronic chip holding vital biological data. The data will include a log of up to 1,800 special characteristics of your face which can be compared electronically against those of everyone else held in an international database.

These measures are hoped to counter the growing threat of terrorism. Yet how reliable are these methods in identifying faces? Some evidence suggests that human eyesight is a more reliable method. What would happen if someone was falsely identified? Is the development of this technology an economically efficient process? The public can join a panel of experts to discuss the future of facial recognition in international travel.

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