Singapore mulls biometric data in passports
Published: 29 Jul 2003 09:38 BST
Several Singapore government agencies have joined forces to study the feasibility of embedding fingerprints or eye scans onto computer chips planted inside the country's passports.
At present, Singaporeans do not need a visa to enter the US as the island-state is one of 27 countries under the US's visa waiver programme.
However, in the light of tighter of security policies after the 11 September terrorist attacks, US authorities have set an October 2004 deadline for Singapore to equip its passports with biometric identifiers.
According to a report in Singapore daily The Straits Times, the US Department of Homeland Security hasn't decided on the specific identifier to use but had earlier said safety measures such as fingerprints and photograph identification will be the minimum requirements.
Singaporean government bodies including the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority and IDA (Infocomm Development Authority in Singapore) are reportedly working with US agencies and world bodies such as the International Civil Aviation Organization to develop biometric standards for travel documents.
This announcement closely follows Australia's decision to adopt facial recognition software to weed out passport forgery. In June, Australian foreign minister Alexander Downer said the technology, which stores electronic portraits of passport holders onto tamper-proof microchips, could be implemented as early as next year.
The UK and the European Union also revealed similar plans earlier this year. In February, the UK Passport Service said it plans to include biometric cards containing identifiers such as iris scans and finger prints into British passports within the next four years.
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