New high-tech passports not always picture-perfect

By Jonathan Krim
The Washington Post

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Federal researchers, academics, industry experts and some privacy advocates say fingerprints should be used instead to help thwart potential terrorists.

The enhanced U.S. passports, to be issued this spring for people obtaining new or renewed passports, will be the first to include what is known as biometric information. Such data can be a fingerprint, a picture of parts of eyes or of facial characteristics.

Under State Department specifications finalized this month, a chip woven into the cover of the passport would contain a digital photograph of the traveler's face. That photo could be compared with an image taken at the passport control station, and also matched against photos of people on government watch lists.

The department chose face recognition to be consistent with standards being adopted by other nations, officials said. It was reasoned that travelers are accustomed to submitting photographs and would find giving fingerprints to be intrusive.

But federal researchers who have tested face-recognition technology say its error rate is unacceptably high — up to 50 percent if photographs are taken without proper lighting. They say the error rate is far less for fingerprints, which could be added to the chip without violating the international standard.

"I don't think there's a debate," said Charles Wilson, who supervises biometric testing at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, an arm of the Commerce Department. "Fingerprints are much better."

According to agency tests, two fingerprints provide an accuracy rate of 99.6 percent. With face recognition, if pictures are taken under controlled circumstances with proper illumination, angles and facial expression, the accuracy rate is 90 percent.

The new system would differ from U.S. requirements for many foreign travelers, who are fingerprinted when they apply for visas to visit the United States. The visitors then have their fingers scanned when they enter the country to compare against the data on the visa.

Similar requirements are to be imposed for travelers from countries whose citizens do not need visas to come to the United States, who will be fingerprinted when they arrive in the country.

Privacy advocates argue that taking fingerprints is no more invasive than face recognition, and certainly not more than other Bush administration initiatives launched since Sept. 11, 2001, that have sought to link databases of buying habits, bank accounts and other personal information.
 
"The simple answer is that they don't want to put in a fingerprint biometric because they don't want to deal with the political recriminations," said Robert Atkinson, a member of a national-security task force at the nonprofit Markle Foundation, which studies digital issues. He also heads the Progressive Policy Institute, a part of the Democratic Leadership Council.

The concerns come at a time of heightened terrorism alerts and urgent calls for changes in national security from the commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks. Among its many recommendations were quick adoption of biometric passports and more secure drivers' licenses, although the commission did not specify which type of data should be used.

The State Department settled on face recognition as the biometric to comply with specifications set by the International Civil Aviation Organization, a Montreal-based standards agency affiliated with the United Nations.

The group designated face recognition two years ago, in part, because it would be easiest for most countries to implement and it was deemed the least likely to raise privacy concerns.

While the agency set face recognition as a standard, it said countries could add one or two other approved biometrics: fingerprints and scans of the eye's iris. Several European countries may add fingerprints.

With expiration dates varying among U.S. citizens, it will take years for the new system to affect everyone.

The U.S. government will consider adding other types of biometrics in the future, said Frank Moss, deputy assistant secretary of state for passport services. He added that several countries expressed privacy concerns over the use of fingerprints.

Moss said adding fingerprinting stations at passport-application offices would be a serious logistical burden, with roughly 8 million new or replacement passports issued each year.

He said the State Department will not take new digital photos. Instead, applicants for new or replacement passports will submit photos as they do now, and the department will digitize them.

Passport-photo vendors have been given updated specifications for taking the pictures, to help provide proper illumination and other specifications to maximize the effectiveness of the face-recognition methods, Moss said. The department hopes the program will pay for itself through a surcharge of about $10 per passport.