IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

Addressing fears of invasion of privacy, Interior Minister Gideon Sa'ar said Monday the system complies "with the highest standards of information security and safeguard[s] privacy. I recommend that all Israeli citizens take part in the pilot and choose a smart ID," Haaretz quoted him as saying.

The pilot program was introduced in the cities of Rishon Lezion and Ashdod Monday, and in Herzliya and Kfar Saba Tuesday. It will run on a voluntary basis for two years before becoming compulsory, the paper said. By the end of the month, citizens across the country will be able to apply for biometric identity cards and passports.

During the two-year pilot project, Israelis will be able to opt for a new identification card or passport with electronic parts such as a secure chip, along with biometric data including fingerprint scans and a photo providing a facial profile that will go to a database.

Gideon Saar, minister of interior affairs, called on Israelis to "enter the era of smart documents," maintaining that the new technologies embedded in the cards would make them counterfeit-proof and protect Israelis from identity theft and related financial crime as well as from security threats.

Die jüngsten Versuche von Bundesinnenminister Otto Schily, den Bundesbeauftragten für den Datenschutz (BfD) Peter Schaar zu maßregeln, werden von Dr. Thilo Weichert, Leiter des Unabhängigen Landeszentrums für Datenschutz Schleswig-Holstein und derzeit Vorsitzender der Konferenz der Datenschutzbeauftragten des Bundes und der Länder, zurückgewiesen.

On April 28, President of Kyrgyzstan Almazbek Atambayev discussed with Prime Minister Sooronbai Jeenbekov and Chief of Staff of President's Office Sapar Isakov the start of introduction of electronic biometric passports in Kyrgyzstan, the presidential press office said.

Electronic biometric passport of a citizen of Kyrgyzstan is an identification document of a new type that corresponds to the international standard.

Was futurezone.ORF.at bereits vor zwei Jahren berichtete, wird nun Wirklichkeit: Das Lächeln auf Passfotos wird verboten.

Grund ist die Einführung von biometrischen Reisepässen, für deren Bilder strengere Richtlinien als für die bisherigen Ausweisfotos gelten.

Lebanese who require new passports before the biometric documents are issued would be advised to apply for short-term alternatives until the “e-passport” goes into use in 2015, thereby avoiding spending large sums on passports that will become obsolete.

Berlin-based German company, Bundesdruckerei GmbH (the Federal Printers) who are printing the new Libyan biometric passports, said that the first biometric passport should be issued in the last week of July if all sides keep to the agreed timelines.

Experts from Australia and Hong Kong are preparing feasibility reports on implementing biometric passports, said Immigration and Emigration Controller Chulananda Perera.

Introducing the ‘N’ series of passports, installing new equipment in the Documentation Examination Laboratory where the legality of passports and visas are examined and mainly used by airline officials and the CID, introducing an electronic travelling system and issuing visas online are the other suggestions and concepts submitted, Mr. Perera said, “We are rapidly working towards the practice of issuing visas online without delay,” he said.

What’s puzzling in the announcement is the fact that the current government did not take into account all the flaws that marred these projects, specifically the NID Project, nor did it do a proper analysis or study of them. Most advanced countries do not have an NID system but rather a Social Number that is only relevant to the Tax and Social Services. Contrary to international standards in the field, Libya is still insisting on continuing a project that was based on a security-phobic regime and not concerned in facilitating services to its citizens.

The move is significant for around 85,000 Pakistanis in Doha, who earlier had to go to Pakistan to upgrade their passports to machine-readable from the manual, handwritten ones, as countries around the world started enforcing the MRP as a mandatory travel document.

The UAE for instance, announced in summer that all Pakistanis travelling to the Emirate should have the MRP.

All e-Governance programs must remain citizen-centric as technology itself tends to become alienated to the needs of the people unless the citizens' social fabric is integrated with it.

“Today, we launched the e-passport. This is to anticipate forgery,” Justice and Human Rights Minister Patrialis Akbar told reporters at the House of Representatives.

The use of e-passports, or biometric passports, is mandatory by 2015 for countries that are members of the International Civil Aviation Organization. In Indonesia, though, the documents are being used on a trial basis.

The Minister of State for Interior, Mr. Humphrey Abba, sopke during a courtesy visit by the Nigerian Ambassador to the United States, Professor Ade Adefuye and said, “We are going to deploy enough mobile machines to the United Kingdom and Washington to fast track the issuance of the e-passport to Nigerians living abroad.

It is trialling a hi-tech system that takes passport and digital photos in 14 of its Postshops, including its Manners St branch in central Wellington.

The software behind the system could also let NZ Post capture fingerprints and voice samples for identification purposes.

After the deal, Gemalto will be working with the government to introduce state-of-the-art secure travel documents. The e-Passport initiative is part of the government’s aim of providing enhanced services and protection to its citizens through the use of latest digital security technologies. As part of the deal, Gemalto’s ICAO compliant Sealys e-Passport documents and full Coesys solution suite will be used to enroll citizens and issue personalized, secure travel documents. The company will also be providing training, support and maintenance services.