Results: RFID and Identity Management in everyday life - ITAS

e used. But this has not yet been discussed in the parliament. At the moment an alteration of the
law is prepared which will be discussed at the end of 2006 [35, 40]. There is already protest against
this, some say that at first the passport was to prevent look-a-like fraud but now the passport is to be
a broadly applicable control and tracking mechanism [2]. Other warn for function creep whereby the
technological possibilities of a central database will eventually be used, despite of privacy
implications [4, 5]. There are two main arguments to install a central database; to prevent counterfeit
and to fight terrorism [35]. The idea is to use a central database that can be accessed over the
internet in order to check the legitimacy of passports. In this way it is possible to verify the data on
the document itself, the data on the chip in the passport and the data in the central database which
makes it more difficult to change an existing passport [35].
An article in a Dutch newspaper stated that a central database is already constructed although the
parliament has not yet decided whether such a database is wanted [4, 5]. A minister reacts to this by
saying that a database is not yet being constructed; the ministry only examines the possibilities [40].
The Dutch ‘College Bescherming Persoongegevens’ (CBP) is opposed to a central database
because people have to prove their identity in many different occasions, which may cause coupling
of different databases [59].
A research in 2002 showed that facial recognition to prevent look alike fraud is insufficient.
Fingerprints and iris scans are much better usable for this purpose, although the use of iris scans is
more difficult to use and more expensive because of a patent on the technology. Therefore
fingerprints will be used [30].
The Netherlands further held a pilot with RFID-tags in passports between August 2004 and February
2005. Hereby a facial scan and fingerprints were stored on the passports chips of 14.504 participants
[37]. The research covering this pilot only looked at the practical use of the biometric data and not at
other aspects like privacy issues [37].
The introduction of the new passport in the Netherlands has been a bit chaotic. The media soon
came with stories that the photograph of many people was rejected at the municipal- or town halls
were they applied for a new passport [54, 55]. Later it appeared that a smile is not forbidden although
only a slight smile is accepted [52]. The rules were apparently not clear enough for all governmental
organisations [52]. Apart from unclear rules still 1,5 percent of the photographs was rejected by the
manufacturer after one week of issuing the new passports [52]. There have also been a few
passports with an unrecognisable photograph while the supplied photograph was meeting the
demands [55]. And some complain about the demands for the photograph because it almost
impossible to take a photograph of a baby with its mouth shut and facing the camera [53].
There are also reports that passport have been issued without a digital scan because the provided
photograph was not good enough [53, 54, 55]. People with such a passport might encounter
problems when travelling [54].
There have been different forms of protest against the new RFID passport. Some started a petition in
order to prevent the introduction [49]. Others even give the advice to put the passport in the
microwave in order to destroy the RFID-chip [58].
And some have questions about tracking and tracing, especially about the possible coupling of old
cases with fingerprints [51] There is also fear for control in general [50]. This is partly because the
chip can be read from some distance as mentioned above [6]. Some therefore suggest to put
aluminium foil around the passport [60].
Germany
Germany introduced the biometric RFID passport (called ePass) in November 2005 [1]. In March
2007 fingerprints will also be stored on the chip [44].. Later additional biometric data can be added,
like an iris scan and some genetic information.
German biometric passports are produced by the German Federal Printing Office (Bundesdruckerei),
using chips supplied by Philips and Infineon Technologies [20].
Data stored on the German e-passport chips will be encrypted using the RSA public-key
cryptosystem [20].
In Germany the idea has been put forward to sell personal data to cover the high costs of the
passport [18]. These costs could rise to about €270 when more biometric data is stored in 2008 [22].
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