In a few years, your face will likely be your new passport, no matter where you live or travel.
For centuries people have been using some form of passport when traveling from one place to another. But widespread standardization of passports, as we know them today, didn't really begin until after First World WarWhen passports were commonly used as a security measure and to prevent spies from entering a country. still, some thought The passport would be considered “an anachronism in the modern world”.
But the use of paper passport – which was the first Digitized as “e-passports” with NFC chips in 2006—slowly undergoing one of its biggest transformations yet. The travel industry, airports and governments are working to remove the requirement to show your passport when flying internationally. Ultimately, you won't need to carry your passport at all.
Instead, facial recognition technology and smartphones are increasingly being used to check and confirm your identity based on travel details before you board a flight. Advocates claim that these systems can reduce the wait times and “friction” you experience at airports. But privacy experts caution that there is little transparency about the technologies being deployed, and their proliferation could lead to data breaches and greater levels of surveillance.
There is pressure around the world to remove paper passports. Airports in Finland so far, CanadaNetherlands, the united arab emiratesUnited Kingdom, Italyunited states, IndiaAnd elsewhere passport-free travel or various levels of the technology needed to make it possible are being tested. In October, officials in Singapore announced Its residents can fly out of the country without using their documents, and foreign visitors can “enjoy the convenience of passport-free clearance when departing from Singapore.” Officials claim that more than 15 lakh people have used the system.
“As I understand it, this is probably going to become mainstream travel in the near future,” says Athina Ioannou, a lecturer in business analytics at the University of Surrey in the UK. Who have researched various implications of privacy. Types of travel. Ioannou says the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated contact-free travel, and many efforts are driven by trying to move travelers through airports quickly.
While trials around the world are at different stages and use different technical infrastructures, they work in broadly similar ways: using information historically stored in your passport's NFC chip, including facial data. is stored digitally and linked to your phone. The EU is planning to build a official travel app For this. When you're at the airport, the phone can be shown, and the facial recognition camera will try to match your passport photo.