Saturday, June 21, 2003

Herald Tribune

Computer chips would contain eye scans or fingerprints

PORTO CARRAS, Greece European Union governments may soon issue passports containing computer chips embedded with digital fingerprints or eye scans, according to a plan approved by European leaders Friday.

The "biometric" data would allow police officers to verify the authenticity of European passports, which have been counterfeited in significant numbers in recent years, officials said at their summit meeting here.

The chips would also be implanted in visas given to non-EU citizens, making it easier for governments to keep track of foreigners as they travel through borderless Europe.

The plan is just one of a series of agreements announced by European leaders Friday in a package of measures intended to coordinate the Union's immigration policies. But it could also become one of the most controversial.

Privacy activists oppose the computer chip idea, saying it could lead governments to track individuals more closely with detailed personal information.

"There is a complete lack of any kind of accountability with this," said Trevor Hennings, deputy director of Statewatch, a British organization that researches privacy issues. "There's no way to know what will be on the chip."

The agreement announced here Friday does not commit governments to a timetable for the chip-laden documents. The agreement says that "a coherent approach is needed in the EU on biometric identifiers" for visas and passports. It also allocates E140 million ($164 million) for further study of biometric identifiers and other immigration-related issues.

But an official from the European Commission, the Union's executive arm, said EU governments are bound by a timetable set out by the U.S. government after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Under the U.S. Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act of 2002, countries whose citizens enjoy visa-free travel to the United States - as is the case with most if not all of Western Europe - must issue passports with biometric identifiers no later than Oct. 26, 2004.

"The solution which is mostly likely is a chip in the passport containing fingerprints and eye scans," said Pietro Petrucci, a spokesman for the European Commission.

Officials said the Union would proceed with the biometric visa plan before moving on to passports.

The abolition of borders in continental Europe a decade ago has presented an added challenge for Europe's police forces in tracking foreigners around the EU. The Union's plan to include biometric information for visitors will be complemented by a database of visa holders that will be accessible to the police, whether in Berlin, for example, or Paris or Porto.

The United States, which does not require its citizens to carry ID cards, has for years used biometric "crossing cards" to help police its border with Mexico.

U.S. Embassies and consulates in Mexico have issued 6 million such cards since 1998. The cards include a digital photograph and two electronically collected index fingerprints, which can be checked against a government database of individuals caught violating immigration laws. International Herald Tribune